[SOLVED] Why am I benchmarking so low with a 2070 Super? CPU Bottleneck? Low GPU Usage to blame?

CrabBattle73

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Specs:

Case - NZXT H510i

CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 3600

CPU Cooler - ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 AIO

GPU - Nvidia Geforce RTX 2070 Super

MOBO - Gigabyte B450M DS3H

RAM - Corsair Vengeance 2 x 8gb DDR4 3400MHz

SSD - 500GB T-Force Vulcan

HDD - Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM

PSU - Seasonic Focus 80+ Gold GX-750W Fully Modular

Display - MSI Optix G24c @ 144hz

So for some reason I'm scoring considerably lower on all my benchmarks but I'll take Unigine Heaven as an example now because its fresh in my mind.

Prior to upgrading my PSU from a 600W EVGA Bronze with a pig-tailed PCIE cable powering my GPU I was convinced that maybe I was starving the GPU of power as many had suggested that it's preferable to have two stand alone power cables running into those 6 and 8 pin slots on the card. So I upgraded to this badass new Seasonic PSU thinking in the absolute worst case scenario I upgraded my PSU to prepare for a next gen CPU and with a Gold rating I'll save a little on energy in the long run. I had a HORRIBLE stutter/frame dropping issue that crept up over 2-3hrs of the PC running, since I've changed out the PSU earlier tonight I still feel like my FPS is dropping suddenly quite often but it hasn't devolved to unplayable as it did with the old PSU so I'm moving in the right direction.

With the EVGA PSU I was scoring like 2100 on Unigine Heaven 1080p ULTRA
With the Seasonic PSU (and new PCIE cables) I'm scoring like 2500 on Unigine Heaven 1080p ULTRA

I'm seeing benchmark's online of people running the exact same 3600 and 2070 Super scoring 600+ higher than me
As well I've seen people with the 3700x -- albeit a substantially better CPU than the 3600 -- scoring +1000

The KEY difference I'm seeing watching their RTSS/MSI AB stats is that they're CONSISTENTLY at 95% GPU Usage the whole benchmark, while their CPU usage remains relatively low.

Conversely, I'll have my GPU usage never really get over 60% and hover on average around 40-50% while my CPU seems to be at about the same load, maybe a bit lower.

Admittedly the difference is only ~20FPS between my 100 and their 120 which doesn't seem too crazy but that's +20% more frames a second than me and I'm concerned it's because my GPU is slacking for some odd reason. I'm at the point where I'm thinking it has to be the 3600 bottlenecking it but let me know what you guys think because something feels wrong.

Thanks for your time and have a good evening!
 
Solution
Excellent! I am really glad that the problem was fixed that way.

It can be many, many, many, things that caused it. Conflicting programs, a wrong setting, corrupted windows files, messed up windows update and the list goes on.

If I were you, I would not run a benchmark after each and every software installation. You know how your system runs, you can most probably tell if it slows down or become less responsive.
IF that happens, check the last changes you made and undo them if possible.

My bet is that you will be fine for a long time.
How are your temps idle and in benchmark?

Do you have xmp enabled in bios?

Latest windows updates, gpu drivers, bios version?

Keep in mind that the videos you watched with similar setups might have oc'd gpu/cpu. Not saying that's the reason of your difference but it does play a role.
 

CrabBattle73

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How are your temps idle and in benchmark?

Do you have xmp enabled in bios?

Latest windows updates, gpu drivers, bios version?

Keep in mind that the videos you watched with similar setups might have oc'd gpu/cpu. Not saying that's the reason of your difference but it does play a role.



ALL ACCORDING TO HWMonitor
IDLE CPU
:

Average Temp: 50 Celsius
Average Usage: ~5-20% usage

During Unigine Heaven benchmark @1080p Ultra settings (load):

Average Temp: of about 57-58 Celsius
Max Temp: 66 Celsius

Utilization: Across 12 cores my max readings were, as percentages:
87, 46, 83, 63, 37, 21, 47, 58, 33, 18, 23, and 20
The row labeled "Processor" maxed out at 30%, perhaps and average of all 12 cores -- not sure?


IDLE GPU:

Average Temp
: 40 Celsius
Average Usage: ~3% usage


During Unigine Heaven benchmark @1080p Ultra settings(load):

Average Temp: ~57 Celsius
Max Temp: 61 Celsius

Utilization Avg: Around 65-70% for almost the whole benchmark
Utilization Max: 89%

....and perhaps the most intriguing part of all this? These readings and my final benchmark score do not change in the slightest between "Low" and "UItra" settings -- Surely something is capping my GPU's performance, holding it back, right?


-As far as XMP -- I've tried it enabled/disabled a handful of times. Doesn't have a huge impact either way but enabled obviously feels slightly better.

-I actually JUST had a Windows update get pushed to my PC so I finished that up prior to these benchmarks

-I'm apparently behind on Nvidia "game ready drivers" by 1 release:
456.55 - Release Date: Mon Sep 28, 2020 vs 456.71 - Release Date: Wed Oct 07, 2020 which I could've sworn I updated recently -- will update this driver after posting and let you know if it solves anything but I have a feeling it won't do much as I've had this issue for over a month since I built the rig now and a buddy of mine has the same GPU and has no issues.

-I updated my bios when I first built this setup last month which thankfully solved my chronic BSOD issue. I checked the make sure there wasn't a new chipset or anything as well as bios update last just last week and there was nothing new.

An anecdotal aside before I wrap up this reply -- I have a friend who uses a Ryzen 5 3600 and a Radeon (5700 or something like that? ) card who has the same exact stuttering as me (though he also runs stock CPU cooler so his temps aren't great compared to mine but this must not be the entire problem for either of us clearly)

My other friend who we play Warzone with has a 2070 super but the Ryzen 7 3700x and has no stutters and gets almost 100% GPU usage while we play together which is what's leading me to believe it may be CPU related and possibly it's bottlenecking my GPU as well as my 1st friends Radeon card.
 
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CrabBattle73

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So updating my Nvidia Driver didn't do much -- I'm still benchmarking the same and getting the same readings. Stutter persists. Low score and under-utilization of GPU remains.

I'd like to add that during this Unigine benchmark my frame counter is going NUTS. Jumping from 60-140 up and down and all in between extremely quickly. I don't know if this at all normal and it may be related to to my stutter as well as being another symptom of my graphics card acting up?

What are the odds calling Nvidia customer support would yield any positive input? Is an RMA in the cards for me for either my GPU or CPU? I'm having trouble believing that I'd be able to prove fault in either of their products because it's such an ethereal problem/symptom but someone somewhere is <Mod Edit> up in my set up and it's becoming an expensive game of trial and error as I upgrade my brand new $1000 set up piece by piece til it becomes a $2000 set up.

What would you all do in my situation?
 
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Xmp should have an impact to the results. All ryzen CPUs benefit from 3000+ MHz RAM. Some more than others.

Changing the quality of graphics and seeing almost the same result, indicates a cpu bottleneck and can be somewhat verified by the usage you see in some cores (not every application, software, game uses all cores).

I would suggest 2 more things before you change any hardware to the system.

First is to use DDU in safe mode to uninstall and reinstall your drivers. This will help to make sure there is nothing driver related acting up.

The second is to do a new clean installation of windows. That will make sure software is not the issue. I know that it's not something easy to do since you might not want to mess with your current installation but this will reduce the possibilities of what is to blame.

Make sure that xmp is enabled at the rated 3400 MHz in any case.
 

CrabBattle73

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Xmp should have an impact to the results. All ryzen CPUs benefit from 3000+ MHz RAM. Some more than others.

Changing the quality of graphics and seeing almost the same result, indicates a cpu bottleneck and can be somewhat verified by the usage you see in some cores (not every application, software, game uses all cores).

I would suggest 2 more things before you change any hardware to the system.

First is to use DDU in safe mode to uninstall and reinstall your drivers. This will help to make sure there is nothing driver related acting up.

The second is to do a new clean installation of windows. That will make sure software is not the issue. I know that it's not something easy to do since you might not want to mess with your current installation but this will reduce the possibilities of what is to blame.

Make sure that xmp is enabled at the rated 3400 MHz in any case.


Right, so XMP stays enabled for me @ the advertised 3200MHz so it's definitely not that.

I'll try DDU to uninstall/reinstall my nvidia drivers? Or all my drivers? There's probably more drivers than I even know how to locate, uninstall, reinstall manually if I'm being honest.

As far as a complete fresh install of windows -- is it possible to migrate my data from my SSD (Primarily large downloads like my games) to my HDD prior to this and then reformating/reinstalling everything on the SSD afterwards? I originally used the .ISO image I think it was called from a USB To install windows.

Will this require me to re-update my bios and AMD chipset drivers as well?

Just trying to make sure I know what I'm getting into so I can allot an appropriate amount of time. I may be able to get it done today before work which would be ideal. I think this is my best course of action right now as it seems a bit more simple than messing with all my drivers individually tbhj.

Thanks again!
 
DDU is only for gpu drivers. Clean windows install will remove everything else. If you are not comfortable with reinstalling windows then you can contact support instead.

I wanted to ask you a few more things. Have you run any games with lower FPS than expected or is it just benchmarks?

Since you are not a very experienced user, I won't suggest you to try and overclock cpu to see if there is a difference but you can also try using your gpu in another system to see if everything runs ok. This should be done after DDU has been used with no difference in the results.

To answer the rest of your questions, yes you can save any files in a different drive (highly recommended actually).
Bios has nothing to do with windows, it's motherboard related so it will remain as is, unless you want to update to a newer version (if exists one).
Chipset drivers and any other driver needs to be reinstalled.
 

CrabBattle73

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DDU is only for gpu drivers. Clean windows install will remove everything else. If you are not comfortable with reinstalling windows then you can contact support instead.

I wanted to ask you a few more things. Have you run any games with lower FPS than expected or is it just benchmarks?

Since you are not a very experienced user, I won't suggest you to try and overclock cpu to see if there is a difference but you can also try using your gpu in another system to see if everything runs ok. This should be done after DDU has been used with no difference in the results.

To answer the rest of your questions, yes you can save any files in a different drive (highly recommended actually).
Bios has nothing to do with windows, it's motherboard related so it will remain as is, unless you want to update to a newer version (if exists one).
Chipset drivers and any other driver needs to be reinstalled.


Nice, I'll try out DDU in the next few days to start before trying a full re-install of Windows then.

I don't think I'd be able to move the GPU to another system to be honest. I'm one of a few PC gamers that I know, most of my friends are console users.

As far as actual instances of games running with lower FPS than expected? Pretty much all of them I feel like. On the absolute lowest and most optimized settings in Modern Warfare I'm getting 60-100 FPS with that stutter slapped on top and my frames jumping all over the place. I've seen people benchmark better frames than this with my CPU/GPU combo on ultra than I can get on low.
The Witcher 3 has pretty similar performance, low-mid settings maybe 90-130fps with ultra not really drastically affecting this in a negative way, maybe a 15-20 frame difference. Same stutter, same frames flying up and down.
League of Legends, a game virtually any computer can run at lowest settings, I get around 120fps with all settings optimized for performance to get a competitive edge similar to how I optimize Modern Warfare. Stutter/frame drops.
Nier: Automata, more or less the same performance on high/low settings Not breaking 80FPS on this, stutter, etc. I play on low to squeeze every last bit of performance I can out of the game like the others. Although I've read online the game is kind of poorly optimized and has it's fair share of issues across the board.

The story is the same across the board -- GPU usage, stuttering likely caused by frames wildly spiking up and down in about a 40-50fps differential (though I haven't determined if this is normal or not?)

I haven't exactly tried a process of elimination with all my peripherals but I find it hard to believe they'd impact my GPU to behave the way it is so I've just been trying other things. As of right now I have plugged in 24/7:
-A Logitech keyboard which takes 2 USB ports on the back of my PC (1 for the keyboard 1 for the USB behind my num pad)
-A Corsair wireless Harpoon mouse. It's wireless dongle plugs into the port found on my keyboard. I've found this gives me better signal than it being under my desk.
-The charging cable for this mouse that just kind hangs out on the back til I need it
-A Corsair wireless headset dongle on the back of my PC
-A micro usb cable for my xbox controller
-Pair of $10 Logitech speakers which use the green audio jack

-Power cable for PSU
-Display port from GPU->Monitor1
-HDMI from GPU->Monitor 2
(I've tried disconnecting monitor 2, the original monitor, but it had no affect on anything. This stutter and lower than expected FPS existed before I got my new, main monitor so I wrote off the possibility it was display related pretty quickly.)
 
Although it does sound as a cpu bottleneck , which is indicated by the change of graphics quality having almost no effect on performance, a ryzen 3600 should not have that kind of issues. While in the lower mid tier of the 3000 line, still capable enough of handling most gpus without bottlenecks.

Your problem is either software related (very high probability) and DDU/windows reinstalled will fix it, or hardware being faulty (way lower probability).

Can you run a userbenchmark while you're at it? It's not a benchmark that I recommend usually and the results should not be trusted generally but most of the time, if something from the results stands out, helps identify a problem.
 

CrabBattle73

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Although it does sound as a cpu bottleneck , which is indicated by the change of graphics quality having almost no effect on performance, a ryzen 3600 should not have that kind of issues. While in the lower mid tier of the 3000 line, still capable enough of handling most gpus without bottlenecks.

Your problem is either software related (very high probability) and DDU/windows reinstalled will fix it, or hardware being faulty (way lower probability).

Can you run a userbenchmark while you're at it? It's not a benchmark that I recommend usually and the results should not be trusted generally but most of the time, if something from the results stands out, helps identify a problem.
Although it does sound as a cpu bottleneck , which is indicated by the change of graphics quality having almost no effect on performance, a ryzen 3600 should not have that kind of issues. While in the lower mid tier of the 3000 line, still capable enough of handling most gpus without bottlenecks.

Your problem is either software related (very high probability) and DDU/windows reinstalled will fix it, or hardware being faulty (way lower probability).

Can you run a userbenchmark while you're at it? It's not a benchmark that I recommend usually and the results should not be trusted generally but most of the time, if something from the results stands out, helps identify a problem.

Hey Dotas! Thanks for being so current and responsive with me, it seriously means a LOT.

So I had some issues with booting Windows in Safe Mode but eventually worked it out -- ran DDU, reinstalled newest Nvidia drivers and booted up Unigine Heaven as it's kind of been the standard in this thread so far. There was no performance increase whatsoever, so I don't think it's GPU Driver related.

Now for some very interesting results from Userbenchmark:

To start it's telling me my PC with the exact same hardware scored in the 34th Percentile (Yikes)

My CPU Scored an 85%(Excellent) which is about on par it seems according to this graph they're giving me.

**My GPU scored a 75.8%(Very Good) which is just barely above the "yellow" threshhold so something seems to be up here. In red text with a "!" it reads: "Performing below potential (0th percentile)" - and links me to a YouTube GPU OC Guide

3D DX9 31% @ 167 FPS
3D DX10 78% @ 230 FPS
and it didnt seem to test for DX11?

***My SSD scored a whopping 25.6%(Poor): "Relative Performance (0th Percentile) - Ensure that this drive is connected to a SATA 3.0 port with a SATA 3.0 cable"

45% Sequential
20% Random 4k

* HDD scored a 79.4%(Very Good) but tells me I'm "Performing below expectations (21st Percentile)"

My RAM Scored an 88.5%(Excellent) "Performing above expectations (61st Percentile)" Doing well in Multi-core and single-core, but kind of struggling in the Latency department with only a 47%

From what I can surmise my SSD is not in great shape? I recently re-seated both my SATA cables on the SSD/HDD end when I replaced my PSU and re-managed my cables but I'll give resetting the cables on the motherboard end a go ASAP to see if that solves this issue. If this doesn't work there's a chance they're not SATA 3.0 like it's suggesting and I'd have to order those in to see if I can eliminate that variable, and if that doesn't work: order a new SSD and RMA the old one.

This is, of course, assuming my SSD is the culprit. I've ran other SSD Health checking software on it before and done complete scans of it to make sure there was nothing wrong but I suppose those tests didn't check for data transfer/writing/reading speeds?


I'm not sure if it's okay to post links here so I won't but I'll screen cap this and/or save the link for later maybe for a DM if that's preferred if what I provided above isn't enough -- just let me know what you think!

Thanks again!
 
My pleasure to help! I enjoys loving these kind of problems.

Ok, these results do seem a bit off but if possible add the link of the results (yes you can post it) to have a better look.

I would be surprised if the ssd is the culprit. Yes it can cause problems but not reduced gpu performance. You can benchmark just the ssd to see how it performs, with crystalmark.

If you hadn't upgraded the PSU, that would have been one of my suggestions but you did and got a good one as well. The DDU did not help and that makes me think that it's not so much software related. Although it can not be crossed out.

Did you assemble the PC on your own?

I am running out of ideas and you might need to wait a bit for someone else to give another input if mine fail.
 

CrabBattle73

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My pleasure to help! I enjoys loving these kind of problems.

Ok, these results do seem a bit off but if possible add the link of the results (yes you can post it) to have a better look.

I would be surprised if the ssd is the culprit. Yes it can cause problems but not reduced gpu performance. You can benchmark just the ssd to see how it performs, with crystalmark.

If you hadn't upgraded the PSU, that would have been one of my suggestions but you did and got a good one as well. The DDU did not help and that makes me think that it's not so much software related. Although it can not be crossed out.

Did you assemble the PC on your own?

I am running out of ideas and you might need to wait a bit for someone else to give another input if mine fail.

First a link to my results: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/34279759

I have crystalmark and I don't think it said I had any issues with my SSD when I ran it last though I could be wrong, I'll give it another shot some other time -- especially if you dont think it's related to my GPU or framerate/stutter/performance issues then I'm not terribly concerned.

I did in fact assemble my PC myself. Is it possible re-seating my GPU might help? or does that seem like an unlikely fix?

Again, I'll try a full re-install of windows and all my software/drivers/etc. and if that doesn't work then I think I'll try to get ahold of Nvidia and see what they say or what they can do for me as far as an RMA/warranty. Worst case scenario of course as I don't have another GPU or PC to use while I'd wait for all that shipping time to pass.
 
Ok, please bear with me, this is gonna be time consuming but we need to cover many bases. Since you built the system, there might have been some things not done properly.

You should definetely try to reseat the GPU and replug each power connector to make sure they are secure and all the way in. I am assuming you use the first PCI-e slot in the motherboard for the GPU (the one closest to CPU). If not please switch to the that one. It won't be the problem but you never know.

While you are it, check each and every cable if it's all the way in. Make sure that the RAM sticks are also well in the slots and that you use slot 2 and 4 and not any other.
Please do that with the power off, prefereably not even connected to a wall socket and ground yourself before touching the system (just to be safe).

What are your temps idle and while gaming/benchmarking? Use HWInfo64 sensors only and take a screenshot if needed. You can upload images to imgur and then paste the link here.

Please download and install the latest chipset drivers .

When you open HWInfo64 you can untick sensors only and it will display your system information. It will open 2 windows, one is caalled system summary, please printscreen that too and upload it to imgur and then paste the link here. Second window, click on motherboard to see the BIOS version installed. printscreen again (or you can all have them in the same printscreen if it fits).

What power plan do you use in windows? Use the Ryzen Balanced power plan if you have anything else.

Those for now, get back to me when you can.
 
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CrabBattle73

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Ok, please bear with me, this is gonna be time consuming but we need to cover many bases. Since you built the system, there might have been some things not done properly.

You should definetely try to reseat the GPU and replug each power connector to make sure they are secure and all the way in. I am assuming you use the first PCI-e slot in the motherboard for the GPU (the one closest to CPU). If not please switch to the that one. It won't be the problem but you never know.

While you are it, check each and every cable if it's all the way in. Make sure that the RAM sticks are also well in the slots and that you use slot 2 and 4 and not any other.
Please do that with the power off, prefereably not even connected to a wall socket and ground yourself before touching the system (just to be safe).

What are your temps idle and while gaming/benchmarking? Use HWInfo64 sensors only and take a screenshot if needed. You can upload images to imgur and then paste the link here.

Please download and install the latest chipset drivers .

When you open HWInfo64 you can untick sensors only and it will display your system information. It will open 2 windows, one is caalled system summary, please printscreen that too and upload it to imgur and then paste the link here. Second window, click on motherboard to see the BIOS version installed. printscreen again (or you can all have them in the same printscreen if it fits).

What power plan do you use in windows? Use the Ryzen Balanced power plan if you have anything else.

Those for now, get back to me when you can.

I reseated my GPU and unplugged/replugged all power cables with no effect. Also the GPU is in fact in the top PCIE slot closest to CPU.

My RAM has been sat and re-sat a few times and is in slots "2" and "4" as you would say. It looks like this [CPU] [empty] [RAM] [empty] [RAM] -- so slots 2 and 4 as you would put it but as far as the slots are labeled on the board that's slots 1 and 3, they ascend from right to left in direction of the CPU.

My chipset drivers and bios are as both totally up to date.

I began on Ryzen High Performance but was reading from many many sources that Ryzen Balanced is actually slightly better so I switched to that a while back (I also read from a few sources saying that realistically these power plans don't really do too much for desktop PCs as much as they would do for a laptop, though that's beside the point)

Do you have any better ideas for sharing screenshots? Imgur is refusing to accept my cellphone number when I go in to create an account so I'm SOL with them.
 

CrabBattle73

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Okay so this will be somewhat tedious post so I'm going to break it up into two:

This post, being the first, will be readings of my hardware after my PC had been running and I had been gaming on for like 4-5 hours if not longer (typically when the stutter becomes utterly unbearable)

The next post, being the second, will be readings of my hardware immediately after a fresh reboot of my PC (the stutter and poor performance is still present, but it's more tolerable and I don't feel like I'm having a stroke)

HWiNFO System Summary:
https://imageshack.com/i/poxgFpzcj

UserBench GPU score: (only because I know I didnt give a screen shot earlier and for whatever it's worth here it is.)
https://imageshack.com/i/pnDyoL1qp


PRIOR TO REBOOT (Heavy stuttering)

GPU Idle:

https://imageshack.com/i/po25iSYlj

CPU Idle (1 & 2):
https://imageshack.com/i/pnRyozICj



GPU Load - mid Heaven:
https://imageshack.com/i/pnmvY8zCj

CPU Load - mid Heaven (1 & 2):
https://imageshack.com/i/povND8ASj

Unigine Heaven 1080p Ultra Score:
https://imageshack.com/i/pm17XUk1j

Note: I'm sorry for poor image quality on this first set of mid-benchmark readings. I had to shoot/crop photos from my phone and when I emailed them to myself I reduced the file size too far and they lost a lot of resolution in the process. In the next post the mid-benchmark readings are much higher res and easier to deal with.
 

CrabBattle73

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Part 2:

POST-REBOOT

GPU Idle:

https://imageshack.com/i/porz3oscj

CPU Idle (1 & 2):
https://imageshack.com/i/poaBEljuj

GPU Load - mid Heaven:
https://imageshack.com/i/po1GvjW6j

CPU Load - mid Heaven (1 & 2):
https://imageshack.com/i/pmvYn8JEj

Unigine Heaven 1080p Ultra Score:
https://imageshack.com/i/poicfWnwj

Hope everything you were looking for is visible here. If anything stands out to you I'd really appreciate the more input from you! Also a funny thing is that that 3100 Unigine score is the highest I think I've ever benched strangely enough not that it seemed to run any better but may be noteworthy.

Once again thank you for your time and effort my friend! Have a good week!
 
Thanks for the detailed answer. Imgur used to not need an account that's why I suggested it.

Ok let's start with the screenshots. First thing I notice is here:
https://ibb.co/VL8skRc

First red circle top left, shows rank 2 and 3 for RAM when it should not have been a sequential number. It should have been 1 and 3 or 2 and 4. I checked also in your motherboards manual and it shows that rank 2 and 3 are the 2 middle ones. But the problem is that it does show up as dual channel (second red circle bottom right), when it should not have been when the RAM are in incorrect slots. This baffles me a bit. Please make sure the RAM are indeed placed with an empty slot in between.

The rest of the screenshot do agree with your sayings that the system uses less of it's potential. GPU and CPU is used less while after reboot they use more percentage and with double the score in heaven benchmark.

Have you checked the PC for malware/viruses? Do you have anything else running in the background while gaming/benchmarking?

Side note: Your SSD has the correct cable of Sata 3, so no need to change it.
 

CrabBattle73

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Thanks for the detailed answer. Imgur used to not need an account that's why I suggested it.

Ok let's start with the screenshots. First thing I notice is here:
https://ibb.co/VL8skRc

First red circle top left, shows rank 2 and 3 for RAM when it should not have been a sequential number. It should have been 1 and 3 or 2 and 4. I checked also in your motherboards manual and it shows that rank 2 and 3 are the 2 middle ones. But the problem is that it does show up as dual channel (second red circle bottom right), when it should not have been when the RAM are in incorrect slots. This baffles me a bit. Please make sure the RAM are indeed placed with an empty slot in between.

The rest of the screenshot do agree with your sayings that the system uses less of it's potential. GPU and CPU is used less while after reboot they use more percentage and with double the score in heaven benchmark.

Have you checked the PC for malware/viruses? Do you have anything else running in the background while gaming/benchmarking?

Side note: Your SSD has the correct cable of Sata 3, so no need to change it.


That is strange, like I was saying my RAM are (from left to right AWAY from the CPU) in the 2nd and 4th slots.

But the the slots are actually labeled on the motherboard as such [4] [*2*] [3] [*1*] so technically they are in the correct channels as far as what this manual is telling me and how they are labeled on the motherboard. Very odd.

While I don't run anything in the background except for occasionally Discord or Skype for voice chat I haven't scanned for viruses/malware -- is Windows' built in services the best way to go about this? I know Norton/McAfee AVG and all that are all regarded as total trash bloatware.
 
That is strange, like I was saying my RAM are (from left to right AWAY from the CPU) in the 2nd and 4th slots.

But the the slots are actually labeled on the motherboard as such [4] [*2*] [3] [*1*]
That is correct, the manual says that you need to put it in the slot [*2*] and [*1*] yet the program shows that you have them in the 2 middle ones. Something is not right... Just for the heck of it, try putting them to [*4*] and [*3*] and tell me what the program tells you then. Run a heaven benchmark as well to see if it made any difference.

Use Malwarebytes to scan and you can uninstall it afterwards (that's what I do because it bugs me that wants you to go premium).
 

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That is correct, the manual says that you need to put it in the slot [*2*] and [*1*] yet the program shows that you have them in the 2 middle ones. Something is not right... Just for the heck of it, try putting them to [*4*] and [*3*] and tell me what the program tells you then. Run a heaven benchmark as well to see if it made any difference.

Use Malwarebytes to scan and you can uninstall it afterwards (that's what I do because it bugs me that wants you to go premium).

Gotcha, I actually started a full scan using Windows Defender/Windows Protection so I'll try the switching the RAM and running Unigine right after this finishes up in a few hours!

Is it possibly a Motherboard issue? I hate to upgrade to a new motherboard when the AMD 5000 series has basically been stated to be the last series using this AM4 socket but then again a 550 or whatever paired with a 5000 series Ryzen would keep me afloat for probably 4-5 years realistically.

EDIT: It's actually suggesting this scan could take 9hrs and that estimated time continues to increase as the scan goes on so I may end up cancelling it at some point if it doesnt start decreasing soon. For obvious reasons I can't wait that long on a scan right now lmaoooo
 

CrabBattle73

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Oct 5, 2020
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So I opted for a Quick Scan using Windows Defender and it found nothing. I haven't tried Malwarebytes just yet but I'll try that here shortly.

After switching My ram to the channels labeled 3 and 4 on my motherboard rather than the ones labeled 1 and 2.

HWiNFO is now showing that my RAM is slotted in "Row: 0" and "Row: 1" with Dual Channel active. I'm going to reboot to make sure XMP is enabled to be safe and then run Unigine and see if there's been any major performance differences.

EDIT: XMP was still enabled after moving the RAM around. Ran Heaven and it only scored a 2100 this time around. Going to set them back to the original channels they were seated in.

EDIT 2: Perhaps unrelated but noteworthy, when I went close HWiNFO it blue-screened my rig. Giving me a driver verifier error or something. This is about the only BSOD I encounter anymore albeit a rare encounter. I've ran verifier before and it never yields any problems so it might just be the way it is sometimes. Easy Anticheat was doing the same thing when I went to play Rogue Company, I never got it to actually boot without a BSOD so I gave up on that. Again probably unrelated but figured I'd point that out since it just happened.

EDIT 3: Ran Malwarebytes and it picked out a "Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP)" called PUP.Optional.InstallCore -- according to google it's some sort of adware maybe? Quarantined it and rebooted/re-ran Heaven. No noticable improvements on stutter or overall FPS. Though I did score 3200
 
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CrabBattle73

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Oct 5, 2020
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I ve run out of ideas. The only thing left to my mind is Windows reinstallation. I am going to ask someone else to give a helping hand here.

No worries! I had figured we were reaching that point anyways. I definitely appreciate all your help over the past week or so. I’m going to reinstall windows/format my SSD in an hour or so and if THAT doesn’t work I suppose I’ll call Nvidia for an RMA.


Again, thanks so much and If you think you know anyone else interested in wracking their brains to solve this mystery feel free send them my way
 

CrabBattle73

Reputable
Oct 5, 2020
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Okay so I did a fresh install of windows as well as completely reformating my SSD to wipe it clean...

....and so far? SUCCESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

My bios remained up to date as expected.
I let windows do all of it's available updates.
I updated my chipset drivers from the Gigabyte website.
I updated my GPU driver.
Installed HWiNFO 64.
Installed Unigine Heaven.
Ran a benchmark (accidentally only on High rather than Ultra) and scored a huge 6880, was seeing well over 300fps and ZERO stuttering.

So it was either bogged down by a piece of software somewhere. Perhaps I had too many hardware monitoring softwares which I read can cause issues? Though I never ran more than 1-2 at a time, and typically while gaming I didn't have any running.

It also may have been global settings configured within Nvidia Control Panel?

What's my best course of action to avoid this creeping back up on me do you think? Re-run benchmarks after every piece of software I install and after every setting I change within NVCP?

Thank you so so so much for workin with me on this!!! Wish we could have arrived at this point a bit earlier, I feel like a re-install of windows was kind of an anticlimactic solution after all the work we put into this lmaooo.

Let me know what you think.
 

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