Why in't my GPU usage at 100%?

[nj4ck]

Hey forum,

 

just ran the Unigine Valley benchmark over both my monitors at 3840x1080, just to see how well my R9 290 would do. I noticed that my GPU usage, as shown in Afterburner, is jumping around like crazy and not staying at 100%, as I had expected, Vsync disabled.

 

I'm running an i5 4670k @ 4.4GHz, (see signature for full specs), so I doubt that this is a bottleneck. I also noticed that my GPU frequencies drop as soon as the GPU usage drops, but I don't think my card should be throttling @ just over 80°C, should it? Also, wouldn't the GPU usage stay at 100% while the card throttles? Why are both the usage and the frequencies dropping here?

 

Here's a screenshot from afterburner: (the large gap in the middle is between two runs in Unigine Valley)

 

Sorry for the german btw, "GPU Auslastung" means GPU usage and "Prozessortakt" means core clock.

 

[Tea1337]

 Not everything will be used at 100%, the graphics card doesn't need to go to 100% in order to play games and such. It's just not that intensive of a game I'm assuming

[nj4ck]

 Not everything will be used at 100%, the graphics card doesn't need to go to 100% in order to play games and such. It's just not that intensive of a game I'm assuming

Its Unigine Valley, it's a benchmark designed to push graphics cards to the max. My R9 290 is averaging 27 fps at 3840x1080, it's not the right time for my GPU to sit back and relax :angry:

[7850OC]

cpu bottleneck ?  :rolleyes:

[nj4ck]

cpu bottleneck ?  :rolleyes:

With a 4670k @ 4.4GHz?

[Bagmup]

Its Unigine Valley, it's a benchmark designed to push graphics cards to the max. My R9 290 is averaging 27 fps at 3840x1080, it's not the right time for my GPU to sit back and relax :angry:

 

I thought the dips were at the scene changes.

[nj4ck]

I thought the dips were at the scene changes.

That makes sense, never thought about that. Can anyone confirm their GPU behaving in a similar way?

[Bagmup]

That makes sense, never thought about that. Can anyone confirm their GPU behaving in a similar way?

 

My 270X does the same thing.

[nj4ck]

My 270X does the same thing.

Ok, that's a relief. Thought I might not be getting all the performance out of my components. Thanks.

[WAR MAN]

well that's what Benchmarks are made for  pushing Balls to walls

[trevorsom13]

Your gpu is throttling, look at the temps.

[WAR MAN]

Your gpu is throttling, look at the temps.

it's not ,it does at 100°

[Tr3vor]

I don't know about that scene change theory you got. If that was the case, those are some very very long transitions.

[nj4ck]

it's not ,it does at 100°

Its running in the mid 80s, but the VRMs get extremely hot, approacging 100C. As you can see from the graphs, the core clock does go up and down, but it's mostly only a few MHz. It only really drops when the GPU usage drops. Doesn't look like throttling to me, though. Wouldn't it usually drop to 400-600 MHz when throtling?

[nj4ck]

I don't know about that scene change theory you got. If that was the case, those are some very very long transitions.

I believe the drops are actually shorter than they look in afterburner. I can't ckeck up on that right now though, I'm in the process of installing a waterblock on the GPU

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

if it did when Gaming ,there is a small chance there is a problem, but in a benchmark it always gets up to 99~100% load, nothing is wrong with that , you're set mate 

[Aphala]

it's not ,it does at 100°

That's not so good...Usually soldering melts at 110. But since it's not a continual problem since Benchmarks are made to find the top performance out of your Rig. Seems fine my good Sir.

[SkilledRebuilds]

Raise your MSI AB Power Limit to 20or50+% & disengage any weird limiting factors.

[WAR MAN]

Its running in the mid 80s, but the VRMs get extremely hot, approacging 100C. As you can see from the graphs, the core clock does go up and down, but it's mostly only a few MHz. It only really drops when the GPU usage drops. Doesn't look like throttling to me, though. Wouldn't it usually drop to 400-600 MHz when throtling?

that's iiiit ,but still heat is not as dangerous to vram as it is for the GPU ,you see most RAMs out there run with out cooler on em