Question RX 6600 XT Low power draw, voltage and frequency

[swazive]

I recently upgraded from a GTX 950 to an RX 6600 XT and when playing games the fps was much lower than expected. (examples - 80 - 120 fps on apex legends 1080 max, 180 fps on rainbow six benchmark at 1080 high) When monitoring the gpu it showed that the voltage rarely passed 750Mv when playing games and power draw was around 50w. The gpu clock was also very low, some games it ran at 800-1.2k MHz and some others 2GHz. Running benchmarks like 3DMark Timespy and Furmark shows that the card is running normally in those, as it works how I would expect, using the full TDP of the card and boosting to 2.6GHz. I have opened a support ticket with Sapphire and they have told me to play my games on 4k as 1080p isnt demanding enough, which isn't alot of help. What else can I try to fix this?

Things I have tried so far:
Fresh install of drivers (multiple times)
Updating bios
Changing power plan
Increasing power limit in Radeon Settings
Turning on/off freesync
Changing graphics profile

System specs
Ryzen 5 2600 @4.1GHz
Sapphire Nitro+ RX 6600 XT
MSI B450M Gaming Plus
1x16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000MHz
Corsair CX650M PSU
I should also mention temps are very low, CPU averages about 55 degrees in gaming, and the GPU sits around 65 under load.

 

[bignastyid]

Only using single channel ram is going to limit a Ryzen cpus performance which will nerf your FPS.

 

[dotas1]

1x16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000MHz

Single channel ram for Ryzen CPUs is bad it decreases the performance by even 50% in some titles.
I suggest you buy a dual kit of 3200 or 3600MHz RAM.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kCg7eVN6N9w

 

[logainofhades]

Single channel ram is definitely holding you back, and in some titles, your CPU could potentially hold you back some. First thing to do is fix the single channel ram issue.

 

[swazive]

I know that single channel ram is limiting, however I'm more concerned as to why the gpu only draws a third of it's tdp? It never hits 100% usage and hovers at around 40% ingame with it never boosting core clock. CPU usage never goes above 60% as well so even if it's being limited it isn't a complete bottleneck. I should mention I never had this issue with my old graphics card, it was always working how it should even though I know it was bottlenecked.

 

[bignastyid]

I know that single channel ram is limiting, however I'm more concerned as to why the gpu only draws a third of it's tdp? It never hits 100% usage and hovers at around 40% ingame with it never boosting core clock.

It's not getting enough data from the cpu. 3D mark is not not cpu limited(or atleast its really hard to make the cpu the limit in such benchmarks) and the gpu runs fine.

In games the cpu determines the max potential FPS and it seems that max potential is below what the gpu is capable of and the gpu usage is reflecting this.

If you use VSR to to run the game at 4k(but display it at 1080p the gpu usage) will go up but FPS will not as the higher resolutions requires more GPU horsepower at the same FPS.

 

[swazive]

Ok, that makes sense. I tried using VSR and noticed exactly what you said, GPU usage went up but fps dropped, so it is definitely a ram issue? Would this ram be suitable? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B083VN3..._dl_7R9Y5YA6BDQA36BA1B6Z?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[logainofhades]

That ram is fine, but a bit overpriced. You can get a faster 3600 kit, for less. You may need to run it at 3200 speeds, but I would suspect it should be able to run 3200 CL14, which is a great combo, for your CPU.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B083VN3...c_dl_7R9Y5YA6BDQA36BA1B6Z?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

 

[swazive]

Ok, thanks all for the help. I've ordered the ram, will see how it goes when it arrives tomorrow.

 

[swazive]

Just installed the new memory, identical results. Playing minecraft and it was definitely smoother, however framerate was in 15 fps of what i was getting before. (55 fps with shaders) CPU usage ranges from 35 to 55% so I don't really know where to go from here. GPU usage stays at 60% with lots of drops in usage.

 

[dotas1]

Did you enable DOCP/XMP with the new RAM?

Can you run a UserBenchmark and post the link to the results here?

 

[swazive]

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/45437303
Just played some apex, gpu and cpu usage actually seemed normal and the gpu was boosting to 2600ish MHz. However what I noticed is that it often dropped to 80% usage and power draw still seemed lower than tdp. In some areas fps dropped to as low as 80 but on average stayed between 130 and 165 which is more promising. Xmp is enabled, ram is running at 3200mhz. The usage doesn't apply for all games though, in minecraft gpu usage still sits at 30-55%.

 

[dotas1]

From the userbenchmark I can only see that you are running out of free space on the SSD. Unfortunately most SSDs need a lot of free space to work on the advertised speeds. Most of the time if they are below 30 -35% of free space they become really slow at almost the same speed as a normal HDD.

 

[swazive]

So if I free up space will performance improve? Or is that unrelated?

 

[dotas1]

It should be better when it comes to loading or entering a new area, other than that, it won't be much better.

 

[RodroX]

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/45437303
Just played some apex, gpu and cpu usage actually seemed normal and the gpu was boosting to 2600ish MHz. However what I noticed is that it often dropped to 80% usage and power draw still seemed lower than tdp. In some areas fps dropped to as low as 80 but on average stayed between 130 and 165 which is more promising. Xmp is enabled, ram is running at 3200mhz. The usage doesn't apply for all games though, in minecraft gpu usage still sits at 30-55%.

Apex and R6S are not two games that would keep the GPU usage at +90% all the time, and probably are been limited a bit by the R5 2600.

I would really try and test how "everything" (CPU, GPU, RAM) work with some AAA games, for example the likes of Tomb Raider, Battlefield, Monster Hunter World, No Man Sky, Assassins Creed just to name a few.

 

[swazive]

Managed to clear some storage, so hopefully that improves it. I don't own many AAA games but I tried Yakuza Kiwami 2 and similar story. When I change anti aliasing from FXAA to SSAA 2X frame rate goes from 100 to 35 fps, but usage increases and clock speed and power consumption is more consistent. I prefer higher framerate over graphics but how can I get the same utilization on lower setting?

 

[RodroX]

Managed to clear some storage, so hopefully that improves it. I don't own many AAA games but I tried Yakuza Kiwami 2 and similar story. When I change anti aliasing from FXAA to SSAA 2X frame rate goes from 100 to 35 fps, but usage increases and clock speed and power consumption is more consistent. I prefer higher framerate over graphics but how can I get the same utilization on lower setting?

When you play at lower settings 1080p most of the load goes to your CPU. If your CPU can handle enough frame to the GPU you may see the GPU get a high usage, but if other wise you wont. Usually at lower settings your GPU wont have much work to do, since theres no much to process visual wise.

Saldy I do not know that game so I don't know how it should play on your system. What I can tell you is that SSAA needs to be very well implemented and the game engine very well polished to not kill your FPS.

 

[swazive]

I know that lower settings equal less gpu load and more cpu load. What I don't understand isthat I can turn up settings, yet GPU usage is still low if not lower. I want to play minecraft with shaders but I can't because it's performing at 15fps with only 15-30% gpu usage..

 

[InvalidError]

I know that lower settings equal less gpu load and more cpu load. What I don't understand isthat I can turn up settings, yet GPU usage is still low if not lower. I want to play minecraft with shaders but I can't because it's performing at 15fps with only 15-30% gpu usage..

The GPU will only run as fast as it needs to in order to keep up with whatever it receives from the CPU, If the GPU is "stuck at low usage/clocks" then it usually means it is sticking its thumbs up its * waiting for the CPU to send it stuff to do.

If you want to fix your "low GPU usage problem" then you have to figure out what the game engine is getting stuck on CPU-wise, such as a misbehaving addon.

 

[swazive]

So what are the things it could be? Can it be a windows problem? For minecraft specifically, I have heard issues where one core is being utilized at 100% and all other cores doing nothing, but this isn't the problem. Could reinstalling windows help? I don't really want to do this but if it will fix it then i can try it

 

[RodroX]

Go into your mothebroard manual, and see if you installed the new 2x8GB RAM the way its shown on page 4 (DIMMA2 and DIMM B2 the center image).

 

[ivantlt]

Hey there, I have the same issue as yours, also a ryzen 5 2600 + xfx rx 6600 xt quik 308. Before I upgraded, I was having Zotac 1070 mini as my GPU, it had a stable 110 fps+ in Apex, but now having 6600xt I can only get 75~110 very unstable. I'm using an 850w gold PSU and dual-channel 3200hz ram which is more than enough for the GPU to function well, but the GPU usage can't get above 75% most of the time and the fps is unacceptably low compared to an old GPU 1070. Is there any solution or follow-up regarding the issue? That will help a lot!

 

[blaze00]

hi bro i have same issue with you,like i play farcry 5,monster hunter world etc. it only draw 40-50w,and fps like stuck around 40,but when play some amd coops games like re2/3,assassin's creed valhalla it can run up to 100+w at gpu pwr,the fps also can go above 100.

mine 6600xt is gigabyte eagle,16 gb ram single channel 1600mhz,i7 6700.

but in those games with low power,i set resolution to 2k the power draw like 80w and fps still 40,when up to 4k the power draw 100+ and fps is still 40,i have no idea what is happening...

 

[swazive]

You should just be able to reinstall windows, a fresh install fixed it for me.