Vid card limiter?

[morgilroka]

I noticed while gaming... that my video card seems to be limiting itself in the activity it throws out.

I have a xfx 7870 DD. I have it overclocked to 1150mhz core and 1250mem. So nothing crazy that would be unstable. (By the way this was happening before the overclock so i doubt it would make that difference.)

My 3570k is also overclocked to around 4.3ghz. And it isn't capping out usage (which would be a bottleneck?).

The video card seems to cap under 50% activity. This isn't because frame caps or vsync, i have unlimited FPS active.

Ideas?

 

[dbaaz]

CPU Thermal Throttling? Have you kept an eye on your cpu clock speeds?

 

[morgilroka]

It's always running at 4.3! Also, i use a 212EVO and the temps are very good never go over 55gaming

 

[bystander]

It is still very possible your CPU is bottlenecking the GPU. It is also possible that you need to increase the power usage, for the GPU, within the CCC. Your CPU is bottlenecking when 1 core is at max capacity, even if several other cores are not.

Is this issue in a single game, or in many games?

 

[morgilroka]

None of the cores really go above 60% usage. The power has been cranked up to +20% in CCC on the gpu.

This has happend in WoW and assassinscreed3. Haven't tested any others

 

[morgilroka]

According to CPU-Z, the core speed is at 4.3 while games are on. Video card still capping around 55% usage. No limits set to fps ingame

 

[bystander]

I have seen the GPU usage from AMD cards to be way off from what it should, so that can be a possibility. Also, WoW has a internet component that may play a factor as well. What are your FPS anyways?

 

[morgilroka]

Well i play on one of the highest populated servers, so it's super busy and alot to render out. I got around 45-55 fps in the main city.
on high + a couple ultra settings.

The FPS is fine for me, it's just the fact that the card seems to limit itself at 50% activity. I read somewhere else, that since WoW was designed for one core (further upgrades made it better but still same engine).. It maybe capping out that core and bottlenecking, Which is a possibility..
My activity seems to stay about the mid marks on my cpu though. so idk

 

[bystander]

I thought you just told me that none of the cores go above 60% in the post before. That said, 45-55 in the most populated cities used to be pretty standard fair. I don't know if things have changed though. Back 3-4 years ago, in the large cities, no one got over 40 FPS.

 

[morgilroka]

On the more dead servers with nobody around i can grab up to 200fps. and other zones. But yet again, my graphics card still stays at half activity... is there another program other than CCC that can monitor it? maybe bad readings..

 

[bystander]

On the more dead servers with nobody around i can grab up to 200fps. and other zones. But yet again, my graphics card still stays at half activity... is there another program other than CCC that can monitor it? maybe bad readings..

I recently loaded up my 6950's to test something out, and found their usage was way lower than they should be (around 30-40%) on something my 680's run at near 100%, but their performance was what they should have been.

I was using MSI Afterburner to read their usage. There may be an issue with current AMD drivers that are messing up their usage readings.

That said, if going to an empty server ups FPS that much, it is more likely the CPU is holding things back and not the GPU.

 

[morgilroka]

Don't know much more of what i can do, both my gpu and cpu are overclocked... Guess time to wait for them to upgrade their engine and get new hardware when it's released.

 

[bystander]

Don't know much more of what i can do, both my gpu and cpu are overclocked... Guess time to wait for them to upgrade their engine and get new hardware when it's released.

This is the standard for all MMO's. In large cities, all MMO's struggle. There are just too many people and NPC's to track for current CPU's.

 

[morgilroka]

Make sense, thanks for the help anyways. Not that i was was anooyed by the situation, just thought maybe something was causing this more than just a simple issue on their end.