Low GPU usage in games and low fps spikes

[TowersFlowers]

I have posted about this problem I've been having with my pc before, where I start a game and it runs just fine for about 10-20 minutes and then theres intense fps spikes and lag that got fixed only if I shut down the pc and turnt it back on, it looped like this. I was not sure what to do so I messed around with some settings but nothing seemed to work. I decided to check my afterburner and see what was happening during these fps spikes and noticed low gpu usage and I'm not sure how to fix it.

Thanks in advance for anyone replying to the post, this has been pretty frustrating so any help is great!

 

Specs: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/TowersFlowers/saved/9KDDcf
I know looking at the whole spec list is boring so I have an i7 8700k CPU and a 1080ti GPU, they've never had thermal issues since I swapped the old gpu cooler for a new one, max temps reach 72C with a throttle temp of 84C. CPU stays nice and cool too with a corsair AIO.

[Aibakins]

What game are you playing and do you have vsync enabled (if yes disable it)

[TowersFlowers]

1 minute ago, Aibakins said:

What game are you playing and do you have vsync enabled (if yes disable it)

I play COD:MW 2019 multiplayer and Apex Legends, no vsync on any of them, when I start playing on cod I get like 200-250 fps

[Aibakins]

Is the power management settings for windows/nvidia set to high/consistant/performance instead of power saving?

[TowersFlowers]

30 minutes ago, Aibakins said:

Is the power management settings for windows/nvidia set to high/consistant/performance instead of power saving?

The power management setting for windows is set to balanced and nvidia is set to optimal, I just downloaded fresh drivers so its on optimal, but I usually change it to adaptive although it barely makes a difference. I just changed a setting that was related to PCI power saving which could be causing it, wish me luck.

[bob.blunderton]

Make sure to have your system set for max performance power profiles.

Make sure you're not in DX11 if that's an option.  Make sure to use Vulkan or DX12 if this is an option.

It's possible in DX11 and below to have this issue where one CPU core is choking on draw calls, but I'm not familiar / have never played a COD game.

Make sure the graphics detail is not exceeding VRAM amounts, some games will tell you, other times you'll have to look in afterburner for it (afterburner will tell you the requested or desired amount asked for, which isn't always the same as 'needed' amount, which you must use DX dev tools for or look in the game engine for it).

Make sure you don't have other apps open that randomly hog the cpu cores from time to time or a lot all the time.

[TowersFlowers]

1 minute ago, bob.blunderton said:

Make sure to have your system set for max performance power profiles.

Make sure you're not in DX11 if that's an option.  Make sure to use Vulkan or DX12 if this is an option.

It's possible in DX11 and below to have this issue where one CPU core is choking on draw calls, but I'm not familiar / have never played a COD game.

Make sure the graphics detail is not exceeding VRAM amounts, some games will tell you, other times you'll have to look in afterburner for it (afterburner will tell you the requested or desired amount asked for, which isn't always the same as 'needed' amount, which you must use DX dev tools for or look in the game engine for it).

Make sure you don't have other apps open that randomly hog the cpu cores from time to time or a lot all the time.

I will try the max performance profile on nvcp, the only thing I don't like about it is having high clock speeds while being in the desktop. COD MW uses DX12 as its graphics api, that should not be an issue. I know it is not a CPU issue, it's a GPU issue, I captured it while playing.

[bob.blunderton]

6 minutes ago, TowersFlowers said:

I will try the max performance profile on nvcp, the only thing I don't like about it is having high clock speeds while being in the desktop. COD MW uses DX12 as its graphics api, that should not be an issue. I know it is not a CPU issue, it's a GPU issue, I captured it while playing.

Okay, just offering to help.

I would really recommend you find a COD forum to post this on, too.  I am sure quite a few folks there have encountered and fixed this issue.  Do google search it too, just to maybe find another issue you didn't think of.  Google can be amazingly useful to that end.

[TowersFlowers]

7 minutes ago, TowersFlowers said:

I will try the max performance profile on nvcp, the only thing I don't like about it is having high clock speeds while being in the desktop. COD MW uses DX12 as its graphics api, that should not be an issue. I know it is not a CPU issue, it's a GPU issue, I captured it while playing.

I said something pretty ignorant I didn't mean, CPU issues can cause GPU issues too, I'll check temps and usage on it, I know its OCd by default and runs 4.4 GHz all the time.

[TowersFlowers]

1 minute ago, bob.blunderton said:

Okay, just offering to help.

I would really recommend you find a COD forum to post this on, too.  I am sure quite a few folks there have encountered and fixed this issue.  Do google search it too, just to maybe find another issue you didn't think of.  Google can be amazingly useful to that end.

Yeah I've been looking into them but it doesn't help much bc the problem doesn't happen on cod only, it's on all games.

[bob.blunderton]

Watch your power voltage and amperage in HWinfo64 when these lags occur, and log them if possible.

If your power supply is getting tired, especially true when hot as everything works less well when hot short of SSD drive NAND, it may fail just slightly (vs instant power off or big hardware-murdering poof of smoke), and that's just enough to keep your CPU or GPU from running full boost.  The same can happen if your VRM (on motherboard next to CPU or GPU's VRM too) gets too hot, it'll throttle back.  If it's right on the edge, these things can happen.

 

However, before you fiddle with the hardware any more than you already have, search and find LATENCYMON (Latency Monitor), it's free, and shouldn't come with spyware of any kind.  Leave it run while you use the PC until you notice lagging, and check it out.  If you see lagging, it'll tell you what's going on, and that it will say which 'thing' or process is causing this, such as the video driver NVKLMDD or whatever the Nvidia display driver kernel module is called now.  The fix for this is DDU to nuke the driver install, download new VGA drivers and then install those as a clean install.

 

Also, overclocking a graphics card's memory, or a graphics card that's borderline defective or binned wrongly can have parity errors in memory (video graphics memory is parity), and if you get enough errors it'll slow things down just like you're having, lots of micro-stutters!.

Down-clock that VGA memory there a bit, not much, like 200mhz ~ 250mhz, you can test & tune back up later, but if lowering it up to 500mhz doesn't make it play nice, you know that might not be the cause.  Sometimes cards can turbo too high and hit temp or power issues after a bit of gaming, too.  Sometimes you can control these settings in apps like Afterburner and make it calm itself down a bit at the expense of just a few FPS.

Micro-stutters are a pain in the butt to ferret out, but it's possible.

 

Also, lag in latencymon can sometimes be attributed to video memory parity errors, keep that in mind (it will go away if downclocking the memory slightly fixes it).

I had an issue with my radeon drivers crashing like mad, the GPU core clock was going too high over spec and causing micro stutters and hitching, WITHOUT me ever trying to tell it to go over spec on any Windows 10 install (7 was fine, oddly), setting it down 30~40mhz less than default fixed that.

 

These things do happen.  There's no one-size-fits-all golden cure, but that's why these forums are here.