GPU and CPU are not at 100% usage, yet not getting consistent framerates

[Elarion]

I'm using RTSS to see my hardware usage. My system currently has a i7-8700k and a 4070Ti in it. 32GB of DDR4, EVGA G5 1000W, Fractal Torrent case, Samsung 970 M.2 SSD, DH-15 cooler. I play on a 165hz monitor with G-Sync. I configured everything using this Blur Busters guide that I've seen thrown around on here, reddit, and elsewhere.

 

My issue right now is, no matter what game I'm playing, my 1% lows and 99% average are not stable. I limit my FPS to somewhere around 160 for all games, per the guide above, and the current FPS number fluctuates around, but mostly sits at a solid 160. The 99% average displays around 130, and the 1% lows is constantly down at around 20. This happens on Halo Infinite, Minecraft, Returnal, Witcher 3, pretty much any game I play. And I feel it when I'm playing too. It's like the feeling when something snags your clothes as you're walking. Very irritating, and it doesn't feel good.

 

My GPU usage never goes above 30% though. And it sits at around 40 degrees. CPU usage never goes above 60%, and it sits at around 60 degrees.

 

What exactly gives here? If the usage isn't maxed out, why am I not blasting perfect frames out to my monitor?

[YoungBlade]

What is your per core CPU usage? Overall CPU usage is only relevant if it's near 100%.

 

It's likely that just a couple of cores are at 100% while the rest are underutilized, as most games can only fully leverage a few threads.

[TatamiMatt]

3 minutes ago, Elarion said:

I'm using RTSS to see my hardware usage. My system currently has a i7-8700k and a 4070Ti in it. I play on a 165hz monitor with G-Sync. I configured everything using this Blur Busters guide that I've seen thrown around on here, reddit, and elsewhere.

 

My issue right now is, no matter what game I'm playing, my 1% lows and 99% average are not stable. I limit my FPS to somewhere around 160 for all games, per the guide above, and the current FPS number fluctuates around, but mostly sits at a solid 160. The 99% average displays around 130, and the 1% lows is constantly down at around 20. This happens on Halo Infinite, Minecraft, Returnal, Witcher 3, pretty much any game I play. And I feel it when I'm playing too. It's like the feeling when something snags your clothes as you're walking. Very irritating, and it doesn't feel good.

 

My GPU usage never goes above 30% though. And it sits at around 40 degrees. CPU usage never goes above 60%, and it sits at around 60 degrees.

 

What exactly gives here? If the usage isn't maxed out, why am I not blasting perfect frames out to my monitor?

Whats your entire system specs?

[PDifolco]

3 minutes ago, Elarion said:

I'm using RTSS to see my hardware usage. My system currently has a i7-8700k and a 4070Ti in it. I play on a 165hz monitor with G-Sync. I configured everything using this Blur Busters guide that I've seen thrown around on here, reddit, and elsewhere.

 

My issue right now is, no matter what game I'm playing, my 1% lows and 99% average are not stable. I limit my FPS to somewhere around 160 for all games, per the guide above, and the current FPS number fluctuates around, but mostly sits at a solid 160. The 99% average displays around 130, and the 1% lows is constantly down at around 20. This happens on Halo Infinite, Minecraft, Returnal, Witcher 3, pretty much any game I play. And I feel it when I'm playing too. It's like the feeling when something snags your clothes as you're walking. Very irritating, and it doesn't feel good.

 

My GPU usage never goes above 30% though. And it sits at around 40 degrees. CPU usage never goes above 60%, and it sits at around 60 degrees.

 

What exactly gives here? If the usage isn't maxed out, why am I not blasting perfect frames out to my monitor?

CPU bottleneck...

CPU aren't used at 100% in gaming when you have more than 4 cores, games can't use all threads and only run on some of them

But then if the cores are slow (yours are by today's standards) it caps GPU  usage

It happens even with the most powerful CPU at low res or in crappy optimized games (hello Dragon Dogma 2 )

[Elarion]

3 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

What is your per core CPU usage? Overall CPU usage is only relevant if it's near 100%.

 

It's likely that just a couple of cores are at 100% while the rest are underutilized, as most games can only fully leverage a few threads.

Is there a way to configure RTSS to show that? I'm not seeing it at the moment.

2 minutes ago, TatamiMatt said:

Whats your entire system specs?

I updated my initial post to display them.

[GuiltySpark_]

8 minutes ago, Elarion said:

i7-8700k and a 4070Ti in it

You're going to see CPU induced bottlecking causing inconsistent frametimes. This can happen pairing a modern 4070Ti with a 7 year old CPU. 

[191x7]

A mid range GPU paired with a low end CPU, if you're playing on a low end resolution you're expected to have a huge bottleneck.

[Elarion]

59 minutes ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

You're going to see CPU induced bottlecking causing inconsistent frametimes. This can happen pairing a modern 4070Ti with a 7 year old CPU. 

56 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

A mid range GPU paired with a low end CPU, if you're playing on a low end resolution you're expected to have a huge bottleneck.

Yeah, that's fair. I'm playing at 1440p mainly. Do I have to go current gen with my CPU? I was hoping to avoid the expensive CPU and motherboard upgrades. I don't like having a crappy motherboard, and I use a lot of I/O, so they're usually very expensive.

[YoungBlade]

1 hour ago, Elarion said:

Is there a way to configure RTSS to show that? I'm not seeing it at the moment.

You can. There are options to show each individual thread's utilization separately.

 

It should be in Afterburner properties under the Monitoring tab, further down the list.

[TatamiMatt]

1 hour ago, Elarion said:

Is there a way to configure RTSS to show that? I'm not seeing it at the moment.

You can also show it through taskmanager

[GuiltySpark_]

IMO, the best tool for the job and coincidentally takes the least setup (at least compared to the tinkering mess of setting up RTSS just the way you want it) is Intel PresentMon. 

 

One button combo to turn on the overlay and you're presented with the most useful graphs, especially the GPU Busy metric. The best tool to show CPU limitations affecting GPU performance. 

 

 

[191x7]

1 hour ago, Elarion said:

Yeah, that's fair. I'm playing at 1440p mainly. Do I have to go current gen with my CPU? I was hoping to avoid the expensive CPU and motherboard upgrades. I don't like having a crappy motherboard, and I use a lot of I/O, so they're usually very expensive.

Well, you don't have to go with the current gen, you can go with AM4 like a 5800X3D with a B550 board. Or you can go with a B760 board with ddr4 support and an i5 13600K or i7 13700K.