CPU And GPU Underutilization

[chocy]

Im wondering if this is normal or some problem on my end. Games like Destiny 2 and Just Cause 3 aren't fully utilizing all, or even most of my CPU and GPU. They utilize my RAM but thats about it. I get lower framrates and lots of extreme stuttering in games even if im hitting 60 fps or above. I've uninstalled all GPU drivers (using DDU) and reinstalled them. Updated every driver possible. There is only 1 reason that i could think of that could be causing this issue, im only using a single stick of RAM, 8 gbs of DDR4 and im using a Ryzen 5 2600. The reason i believe this could be the issue is because everyone recommends using a dual channel kit of RAM. While im not 100% sure that using a single stick could cause this massive lack of performance, I have no other explanation. In Destiny 2 CPU utilization has never gone above around 20% while the GPU has never surpassed 17%. RAM usage stays between 70% and 85% which I believe is normal. I've tried every possible fix.

 

BENCHMARKS

Cinnebench R15 scores CPU-1253 cb. The CPU maxed out at 99%. And openGL- 107.85 FPS with CPU hovering between 16% and 17% and GPU never exceeding 11%. 3DMark Timespy overall score 3907. Overall Graphics Score - 3753, Test 1 25.44 FPS, Test 2 20.80 FPS. CPU Test Score 5104, FPS 17.14. The opening part put my CPU at 38-48% utilization with a max of 53%, GPU utilization stayed firmly at 37%. The second test put my CPU at 10% and GPU firmly at 12%. The third test CPU- 14% - 18% with a max of 20% with the GPU holding still at 27%. The CPU test 80% - 90% with a max of 91%.

 

SPECS

CPU- Ryzen 5 2600 @ 3.85 Ghz

GPU- MSI RX 570 8GB

RAM- Single Channel 8GB DDR4 @2133 Mhz

HDD- WD Blue 1TB

MOBO- ASUS Prime B450M-A

 

As i've stated, i have tried just about everything to fix this issue. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

Alex

 

EDIT: This is a new PC that i had built with my brother around the beginning of January. This problem existed on my old PC also, just with worse benchmark results and even more under utilization. Everything in my new PC is different EXCEPT the hard drive, which i had wiped before adding it to my new system. The HDD is about 6 years old if that helps at all, and yes I do intend on getting a new one and a additional SSD once i get the money. Any help regarding the issue seperate from the before stated would be very useful. Thanks.

Edited February 11, 2020 by chocy
Forgot to add the bottom paragraph.

[Samfisher]

It could very much be due to RAM.  RAM speed and bandwidth are pretty important for Ryzen, and for gaming in general.

[chocy]

1 minute ago, Samfisher said:

It could very much be due to RAM.  RAM speed and bandwidth are pretty important for Ryzen, and for gaming in general.

Thanks, I was hoping this wouldnt be the issue cause it's gonna be a while before i can get additional RAM, but thanks anyways.

 

Alex

[Samfisher]

3 minutes ago, chocy said:

Thanks, I was hoping this wouldnt be the issue cause it's gonna be a while before i can get additional RAM, but thanks anyways.

 

Alex

If you have friends or somewhere you can just borrow some RAM to test would be best, instead of spending and finding out the problem is elsewhere.  Also 2133 is really really slow.

[191x7]

What are you monitoring the usage with?

[AntiTrust]

1 hour ago, chocy said:

..

its not RAM, having a single stick vs a dual stick doesn't make THAT much of a difference. that being said - did you buy 2133mhz ram? or did you just forget to turn on the XMP profile in your BIOS? (check motherboard manual how to do this) 

 

for your low gpu usage, download GPU-Z, fire up a game and check the sensors tab. what does it say your PerfCapReason is? 

 

[chocy]

29 minutes ago, AntiTrust said:

its not RAM, having a single stick vs a dual stick doesn't make THAT much of a difference. that being said - did you buy 2133mhz ram? or did you just forget to turn on the XMP profile in your BIOS? (check motherboard manual how to do this) 

 

for your low gpu usage, download GPU-Z, fire up a game and check the sensors tab. what does it say your PerfCapReason is? 

 

Thanks for the help, and yes I didn't enable the XMP profile in my BIOS, so i did and my speed is actually 2866 mhz, so thanks. But when I open GPU-Z, there is no PerfCap reason tab. Do i have to enable it somewhere. I looked around and couldn't find anything related to it.

[chocy]

39 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

What are you monitoring the usage with?

I was using Task Manager to monitor the usage.

[chocy]

1 hour ago, Samfisher said:

If you have friends or somewhere you can just borrow some RAM to test would be best, instead of spending and finding out the problem is elsewhere.  Also 2133 is really really slow.

Another user helped me with the RAM, it's not actually 2133 mhz, its 2866 mhz. I had forgotten to enable the XMP profile in my BIOS. I'll try and see if my brother will let me borrow a stick to test it out. Thanks for the help.

[191x7]

16 minutes ago, chocy said:

I was using Task Manager to monitor the usage.

Bad choice. Doesn't monitor the GPU-s properly.

Use MSi Afterburner with turned on Unified GPU monitoring.

[chocy]

7 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

Bad choice. Doesn't monitor the GPU-s properly.

Use MSi Afterburner with turned on Unified GPU monitoring.

I went ahead and did that. I ran around in D2 in the tower, EDZ, and Mars and got around 55-60% utilization. There could be slight improvements in the numbers because I had increased max power draw about 30 min ago. Thanks for the info.

[BTGbullseye]

4 hours ago, AntiTrust said:

its not RAM, having a single stick vs a dual stick doesn't make THAT much of a difference.

Actually, for Ryzen, it very much so does. I did quite a bit of testing on this point when I first got my 2400G. Solely affecting the CPU side of things, it's a difference of 10-15% performance loss by running single channel instead of dual. If including GPU it's nearly double that, but that is to be expected. Speed difference is pretty significant as well. Going from 2133 to 3200 with equivalent latency timings produced a nearly 7% performance boost.

[Samfisher]

4 minutes ago, BTGbullseye said:

Actually, for Ryzen, it very much so does. I did quite a bit of testing on this point when I first got my 2400G. Solely affecting the CPU side of things, it's a difference of 10-15% performance loss by running single channel instead of dual. If including GPU it's nearly double that, but that is to be expected. Speed difference is pretty significant as well. Going from 2133 to 3200 with equivalent latency timings produced a nearly 7% performance boost.

And will also massively smooth out frametime.  I was having a horrid time with Destiny 2 one day and was wondering what suddenly made it so stuttery.  OBS was dropping frames like mad, games was giving me eye ache.  Turns out my BIOS randomly reset and it was running at stock 2133MHz and not 3600 CL16...  A quick reboot and loading my profile fixed that real quick.

[AntiTrust]

20 hours ago, chocy said:

Thanks for the help, and yes I didn't enable the XMP profile in my BIOS, so i did and my speed is actually 2866 mhz, so thanks. But when I open GPU-Z, there is no PerfCap reason tab. Do i have to enable it somewhere. I looked around and couldn't find anything related to it.

I updated my gpu-z to 2.29 like yours - I have a perfcapreason still. Is yours turned off in the settings? its really handy when your experiencing low gpu usage because it tells you what the limiting factor on your gpu is and can help you track down the issue. its a good starting point. 

 

may want to also get in contact with your gpu manufacturer for a possible RMA - (ie a return) they will have some advice for troubleshooting as well. may as well start getting in contact with them now as it can take forever to get a response. 

[chocy]

2 hours ago, AntiTrust said:

I updated my gpu-z to 2.29 like yours - I have a perfcapreason still. Is yours turned off in the settings? its really handy when your experiencing low gpu usage because it tells you what the limiting factor on your gpu is and can help you track down the issue. its a good starting point. 

 

may want to also get in contact with your gpu manufacturer for a possible RMA - (ie a return) they will have some advice for troubleshooting as well. may as well start getting in contact with them now as it can take forever to get a response. 

No it's not off in the settings, I dont't even have the option for it. It is just missing from GPU-Z. And in regards to the RMA thing, i'm not going to be able to do anything like that because the GPU i'm using was my brothers old one. (Not really "old", more like 3-4 months of normal usage). He got rid of the box it came in and he didn't do the warranty stuff. I'll try to see if I can fix GPU-Z and if I can't i'll just have to wait till I can test my rig with more RAM and see if that fixes the issue. Thanks

[xAcid9]

perfCap is only available on Nvidia GPUs. 

[AntiTrust]

1 hour ago, xAcid9 said:

perfCap is only available on Nvidia GPUs. 

damn, sorry OP I didnt know this