[SOLVED] Why is my GPU usage so low in games?

[prophet051]

Hi,

so, my (pre-built) PC that I bought last year performes decent. But in games I do not get the performance that I should since my GPU only sits at around 45% usage. It should not be a bottleneck issue since nothing else in my system sits at 100% usage while gaming. It should also not an overheating issue.

Examples:
GTA V: I average around 90-110 fps in the benchmarks. In game my GPU usage sits at said 45%, my CPU at around 35% and I only get 50-70 fps.
Minecraft: GPU usage sits at around 30-50% when playing with shaders. But like every single shader from Extreme ones to simple ones only give me around 60-70 fps and less when there is a lot built.


In Benchmarks, I do not get this Issue. There the GPU sits at 95% the whole time. This is where I realize it is also not a heat issue since the GPU averages 63°C .
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/27806249

I scored 42 678 in Night Raid

AMD Ryzen 5 3600, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 LHR x 1, 16384 MB, 64-bit Windows 11}

www.3dmark.com

http://www.3dmark.com/spy/28404967

I've tried to fix this by contacting the Nvidia support, since I thought they might have a solution to this issue. But it did not really help.

My system contains:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 @4.2 Ghz
Nvidia RTX 3070
2 x 8 GB RAM @ 3200 mhz
250gb Samsung ssd
1tb HDD

I sometimes think about reinstalling Windows and all my drivers to see if that helps.

I hope someone can maybe help me.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

are these games installed on a slow HD, maybe 5400rpm?

this can limit the amount of data being read and fed to the CPU which in turn will limit the data being fed to the GPU which will also in turn limit the amount of frames being rendered.

usage % would be low because there isn't much data being loaded at a fast enough rate for the components to be pushed very hard.

 

[prophet051]

are these games installed on a slow HD, maybe 5400rpm?

this can limit the amount of data being read and fed to the CPU which in turn will limit the data being fed to the GPU which will also in turn limit the amount of frames being rendered.

usage % would be low because there isn't much data being loaded at a fast enough rate for the components to be pushed very hard.

I don't know what the rpm is, but it says smth about 6gb/s.

This is my HDD that I run my games on (ST1000DM003-1SB102) --> https://www.amazon.de/Seagate-Desktop-interne-Festplatte-SATA/dp/B005T3GRNW?th=1

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

i would get a nice fast 2.5" SATA SSD for games.
HDD will limit load times for textures, models, and all onscreen images
and also provide slower save time and save reload time in many games.

you also don't state what resolution and in-game settings you're using in these games.
try lowering resolution to 720p and lowest possible in-game settings just to see what type of difference in fps appears.

 

[prophet051]

i would get a nice fast 2.5" SATA SSD for games.
HDD will limit load times for textures, models, and all onscreen images
and also provide slower save time and save reload time in many games.

you also don't state what resolution and in-game settings you're using in these games.
try lowering resolution to 720p and lowest possible in-game settings just to see what type of difference in fps appears.

oh shoot. I normally play on 1080p resolution. And using different resolutions doesn't really affect the GPU utilisation for me.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

using different resolutions doesn't really affect the GPU utilisation for me.

utilization and performance are not exactly linked.
for example some games can still offer 200+fps with low CPU & GPU utilization.

if significantly lowering resolution and in-game settings doesn't offer more fps then you have a problem elsewhere in your system.

 

[prophet051]

if significantly lowering resolution and in-game settings doesn't offer more fps then you have a problem elsewhere in your system.

ok so I tried what you said in GTA V. I lowered the resolution to smth like 800x600 and the fps stayed the same. Then I chaged the resolution to 2715x1527 and the fps stayed the same again. BUT the GPU utilisation did in fact step up by like 10-20%

 

[geofelt]

Games will be cpu limited or gpu limited.
Not necessarily at the same time.
It might alternate from one to the other.
That makes analysis confusing at least.

Your two games are mostly single threaded so far as my reading goes.
Your 3600 has 12 processing threads.
If a part of the game was single threaded, like the master thread,
the total cpu utilization might be 100%/12 or only 8%.

Your test with lower settings is indicative of a cpu limitation, almost certainly single thread related.

What can you do?
You can try overclocking.
Ryzen cpu performance is dependent on fast ram.
Changing to 3600 speed will help.

Run the cpu-Z bench.
You should get a single thread number like 515:
https://valid.x86.fr/bench/ptjz47
With such a nice graphics card, look to upgrade to a 5600x.

 

[prophet051]

Your two games are mostly single threaded so far as my reading goes.
Your 3600 has 12 processing threads.
If a part of the game was single threaded, like the master thread,
the total cpu utilization might be 100%/12 or only 8%.

What can you do?
You can try overclocking.
Ryzen cpu performance is dependent on fast ram.
Changing to 3600 speed will help.

Well I just listed these games as examples. This happens also in other games where I still get a good amount of frames, but the GPU utilisation is still only at around 45%.

I am also not sure about the CPU being that much of a problem since all I can find about the R5 3600 with the RTX 3070 says it will not Bottleneck it in any significant way... Therefore the CPU should not have that much of an Impact to make the GPU be stuck on 45%. Do not forget in Benchmarks it does go to 95%.

 

[geofelt]

When you test a game by lowering the graphics settings, it lets the gpu loaf a bit.
Since the gpu is no longer the limiting factor, the limit should be identified as the cpu.
Many cores does not necessarily help.
Many cores is a plus if you are playing multiplayer with many participants.
Benchmarks tell you something, but what counts is how YOUR games play.