Unstable and wacky GPU usage.

[Lucarov]

Specs:

It's an OEM eMachines (ET1331G-05W mobo) with a 300w Power Supply, 8 GBs of DDR2 RAM, AMD Athlon II X4 650 3.0 GHz, and a Gigabyte GT 1030 (GDDR5). 

OS is Windows 7 Home Premium.

It's not by any means a decent PC but it should handle the games I'm interested in flawlessly. 

 

Issue:

My GPU usage is very inconsistent when running games, jumps between 50%-70%. In some games it locks at around 70%. It doesn't draw 100% unless the game is supersampled or something that is really resource-intensive. 

In Farcry 2 at Ultra, in the intro scene (When you're in a Jeep), it runs at a solid 60 FPS and 90%+ usage, however, if you look to, for example, the left, usage goes down to 50 (resulting in 30 FPS). Then, when you wake up in the bed and the Jackal is talking to you, usage goes down to 50% back and and there's 45 FPS.

In Killing Floor 2 at High, 60 FPS, the game simply locks at 70%, with some spikes going to 75% or 80% if there's too much stuff going on (6 players, Endless mode, wave 25)

Same with Fallout 4. It locks at 60%-70%, but in this case it doesn't even reach 60 FPS, it stays at 35-45.

 

Stuff I've Already Tried:

Disabling Vsync. 

FurMark CPU & GPU Burner tests draw a consistent 100% usage. Temps don't go further than 60 C.

Tried different drivers (Yes, I used DDU).

'Prefer Maximum Performance' at NVIDIA Settings.

Same with Windows Power Options.

Already unparked CPU cores.

Already enabled 'Force Constant Voltage' in MSI Afterburner.

 

So:

It isn't thermally throttling.

It isn't the power supply neither the wattage, since it can achieve 100% usage and maintain it at benchmarks.

It isn't bottlenecking. The CPU never reaches 100% not even in a single core,

The GT 1030 isn't faulty, because this same problem happened with a GT 730.

 

This is my first time building a PC and so far it has been a hellish (but somewhat fun and entertaining) experience. Any kind of suggestion is appreciated.

 

PS: Please, don't suggest about buying a new mobo, power supply, or start trash talking about the GT 1030; I GET IT, IT ISN'T A GAMING CARD. 

I'm on a real tight budget and where I live parts are ridiculously expensive.

 

[emosun]

49 minutes ago, Lucarov said:

8 GBs of DDR2 RAM, AMD Athlon II X4

firstly this is your problem , your system is considerably old with the cpu being 8 years and no L3 cache and the oem emachines board being over 10 years old.

55 minutes ago, Lucarov said:

My GPU usage is very inconsistent

this is a mistake , you need not look at the gpu usage % as it will vary wildly for no real reason. A gpu can show 30% usage just from moving the mouse around or show 100% usage even though it's just playing a 2d youtube video. Use the gauge to determine if the gpu is in some sort of use..... but ignore the actual number it's pretty meaningless.

57 minutes ago, Lucarov said:

It isn't bottlenecking. The CPU never reaches 100% not even in a single core

the cpu doesn't really have to reach 100% , anything around 70-80% is in the ballpark enough.

 

with that athlon at best performing only a bit faster than an old Q6600 which is a sub 10$ cpu.... I wouldn't ever expect it to run modern heavy titles well with any gpu really. The title would have to have little to no cpu load.

1 hour ago, Lucarov said:

Please, don't suggest about buying a new mobo, power supply,

In that case my suggestion is lower your settings and your expectations. run low settings , low resolutions , internally render lower as well. And come to terms with the cpu being too slow for what most consider normal usage even outside of games.

[Lucarov]

17 hours ago, emosun said:

firstly this is your problem , your system is considerably old with the cpu being 8 years and no L3 cache and the oem emachines board being over 10 years old.

this is a mistake , you need not look at the gpu usage % as it will vary wildly for no real reason. A gpu can show 30% usage just from moving the mouse around or show 100% usage even though it's just playing a 2d youtube video. Use the gauge to determine if the gpu is in some sort of use..... but ignore the actual number it's pretty meaningless.

the cpu doesn't really have to reach 100% , anything around 70-80% is in the ballpark enough.

 

with that athlon at best performing only a bit faster than an old Q6600 which is a sub 10$ cpu.... I wouldn't ever expect it to run modern heavy titles well with any gpu really. The title would have to have little to no cpu load.

In that case my suggestion is lower your settings and your expectations. run low settings , low resolutions , internally render lower as well. And come to terms with the cpu being too slow for what most consider normal usage even outside of games.

In first place, I'm not trying to play anything modern nor heavy except Fallout 4.

Second place, if I'm not wrong, resolutions and graphical settings have nothing to do with CPU power (Except lightning or shadows)

 

I understand that the CPU is old and weak, and you're saying that it's causing a bottleneck with my GT 1030, and that I should lower my expectations, but if so, why do even old games like X3 Terran Conflict run like shit? And it's obviously related to GPU power, because if I lower graphical settings, it runs fine. I played this on a Intel HD 4400 and a i5-4210U, and it ran better.

 

But okay. Sure, the CPU is so weak it can't even play decade old games.

 

I'll just install a legit Windows 7 copy and I'll hope it solves it.

 

Anyway, thanks for replying.

[fringie]

1 hour ago, Lucarov said:

In first place, I'm not trying to play anything modern nor heavy except Fallout 4.

Second place, if I'm not wrong, resolutions and graphical settings have nothing to do with CPU power (Except lightning or shadows)

 

I understand that the CPU is old and weak, and you're saying that it's causing a bottleneck with my GT 1030, and that I should lower my expectations, but if so, why do even old games like X3 Terran Conflict run like shit? And it's obviously related to GPU power, because if I lower graphical settings, it runs fine. I played this on a Intel HD 4400 and a i5-4210U, and it ran better.

 

But okay. Sure, the CPU is so weak it can't even play decade old games.

 

I'll just install a legit Windows 7 copy and I'll hope it solves it.

 

Anyway, thanks for replying.

I think you're overestimating the performance of that system. The CPU is terrible, the GPU can hardly be called a GPU. Honestly, your only options is to either lower expectations or get a new pc - this one is NOT worth upgrading. I'm not sure what prices are like where you live but you can get parts pretty cheap these days to at least get into gaming, there's so much 4-6 year old hardware that is very cheap and will get u a decent 720p-1080p gaming experiance. I'm not sure what you meant by the point regarding the i5 but I'm sure the i5 will be better with its igpu.

 

 

[Lucarov]

5 hours ago, fringie said:

I think you're overestimating the performance of that system. The CPU is terrible, the GPU can hardly be called a GPU. Honestly, your only options is to either lower expectations or get a new pc - this one is NOT worth upgrading. I'm not sure what prices are like where you live but you can get parts pretty cheap these days to at least get into gaming, there's so much 4-6 year old hardware that is very cheap and will get u a decent 720p-1080p gaming experiance. I'm not sure what you meant by the point regarding the i5 but I'm sure the i5 will be better with its igpu.

 

 

Mobile i5 (1,7 GHz)  and a iGPU equivalent to a GT 610 runs some games better than a GT 1030 and a CPU with almost double the clock speed.

 

I know my PC is hot garbage but all I'm trying to play are old games.