Low GPU usage on gtx 980 (Need professional help)

[TagTiCal]

A week ago, i received my new custom pc and downloaded and played many different games ranging from minecraft to grand theft auto 5 and many other triple A games however, i noticed that my gpu usage remained relatively low about 50%-80% rarely hitting 100%. I am suspecting that i my pc might be bottleneck, the gtx 980 i bought was not a second hand and is brand new, so i least suspect that the problem is due to the damage of the card itself (never caused any physical damage to it)

 

My pc specs

-i5 4690k (I overclocked it to 4.2ghz with hyperthreading ON)

-GTX 980 Asus STRIX (Modest over clock Core:1299mhz Memory:7050mhz)

-Z97x-UD3H Gigabyte (Certified for overclocking)

-G.skill 8gb 1600mhz RAM

-Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5 7200rpm

-CX600m (Modular PSU and very stable)

-Spec-03 carbide

Internal temps are good 67 degrees Celsius on full load

 

Gta 5:80-90 fps on normal-high settings with a flickering on the textures that are further away 

csgo: 250fps (a little strange as i thought it would be around 400+. i know i only can see 60fps but it worries me that most people who have a gtx 980 have managed to get 400+fps)

Bf4:80+fps ultra with msaa x4

*all games are ran at 1080p

*running nvdia driver 358.50

 

When I was playing these games only bf4 manage to utilize above 80% of the gpu usage while the rest remained pretty low around 50%, i am a little confused if my pc is bottleneck or its running just fine. If its a bottleneck what should i do fix it? Thanks in advance!

[Bittenfleax]

@TagTiCal Try taking off the overclock and see if it is better. Also, what temps are you getting (you can look with MSI Afterburner) It could be thermal throttle but I doubt it.

 

Also, your PSU is a "tad" low. You have no headroom as the 980 needs 500w and below. So combined with other things, you might not be getting enough power.

[Sir Asvald]

@TagTiCal Try taking off the overclock and see if it is better. Also, what temps are you getting (you can look with MSI Afterburner) It could be thermal throttle but I doubt it.

 

Also, your PSU is a "tad" low. You have no headroom as the 980 needs 500w and below. So combined with other things, you might not be getting enough power.

Yeah. Also, are you from Birmingham? I saw your location under your Avatar.

[Bittenfleax]

Yeah. Also, are you from Birmingham? I saw your location under your Avatar.

Yeah, haha.

[Sir Asvald]

Yeah, haha.

Yeah, I'm in Birmingham Studying at Birmingham City Uni.

[TagTiCal]

I am running a 600 watt modular power supply, nvdia website says 500watt minimum and I am not running Sli, so I have bypassed that power issue. I removed my cpu and gpu overclock but my gpu I am getting better gpu usage . But I am still pretty worried if there I something wrong.. That was 30 seconds of driving around the city. There is still some flickering in the graphic is that normal?

[Bittenfleax]

Yeah, I'm in Birmingham Studying at Birmingham City Uni.

Haha nice. What are you studying? 

[Morgan MLGman]

Two things:
1. an i5-4690k does not have hyperthreading so I'm really curious how did you turn it on
2. Your power supply is garbage if you want to power your system with it, especially if you're overclocking your components.

[Bittenfleax]

I am running a 600 watt modular power supply, nvdia website says 500watt minimum and I am not running Sli, so I have bypassed that power issue. I removed my cpu and gpu overclock but my gpu I am getting better gpu usage . But I am still pretty worried if there I something wrong? That was 30 seconds of driving around the city. There is still some flickering in the graphic is that normal?

Yes, but on full load your GPU would be using up to 500w (maximum). Then you have your CPU running at 102w full load without overclock. So if your system was at full load, you have already surpassed your power delivery capabilities which can cause stuttering, frame drops, blue screens, crashing and throttling. Also, with a 600w PSU, you have no headroom, ESPECIALLY whilst overclocking. However, I doubt it would take this much but it is always possible.

 

I recommend getting a new PSU. Not a Corsair CX series, go with one of their more "high end" series. Go with 750w if you want to overclock go 800w to be safe. PSU's are very important and having a poor quality on can affect everything in your system. 

 

EDIT:

Changed power usage to power delivery

[Morgan MLGman]

Yes, but on full load your GPU would be using up to 500w (maximum). Then you have your CPU running at 102w full load without overclock. So if your system was at full load, you have already surpassed your power usage which can cause stuttering, frame drops, blue screens, crashing and throttling. Also, with a 600w PSU, you have no headroom, ESPECIALLY whilst overclocking.

The wattage is fine, do you even know what you're talking about? His entire system after overclocks twice as big wouldn't take 500W, let alone his GPU.

It's the quality of the power supply that might be the issue, it's a CX series PSU and it's not meant for high-end hardware, especially if you want to overclock.

[rik1254]

Download Heaven Benchmark, set it at extreme windowed settings and see if you can hit 90%+ utilisation.

 

Don't worry about the total power draw, my x99 system with a 980 barely drew 400W, it's the quality of the power that's important.

[TagTiCal]

Ohh dayum I used to thought it was driver error, corrupted os, hardware failure and I didn't know that the 500w stated by nvdia was for the gpu component only... Damn damn damn... But can you confirm that an i5 4690k paired with a gtx 980 is ok and if csgo requires a better gpu like i7 in order to get the 400fps I see on youtube?

[Bittenfleax]

The wattage is fine, do you even know what you're talking about? His entire system after overclocks twice as big wouldn't take 500W, let alone his GPU.

Whilst overclocking he needs head room. He has none. The maximum power consumption for a 980 is 500w... and with overclocking it can reach that.

[Bittenfleax]

Ohh dayum I used to thought it was driver error, corrupted os, hardware failure and I didn't know that the 500w stated by nvdia was for the gpu component only... Damn damn damn... But can you confirm that an i5 4690k paired with a gtx 980 is ok and if csgo requires a better gpu like i7 in order to get the 400fps I see on youtube?

CPU is fine. No bottlenecks apart from power. (Well @Morgan MLGman disagrees) 

 

Some people disagree about power but I would not skimpt out on £30 and risk having not enough. 

[Morgan MLGman]

Whilst overclocking he needs head room. He has none. The maximum power consumption for a 980 is 500w... and with overclocking it can reach that.

Do some reading. TOTAL SYSTEM POWER CONSUMPTION under full load

[comicsansms]

-i5 4690k (I overclocked it to 4.2ghz with hyperthreading ON)

 

How does one turn on hyperthreading on a CPU without hyperthreading?

[Bittenfleax]

Do some reading. TOTAL SYSTEM POWER CONSUMPTION under full load

+ GPU Overlock + CPU + CPU Overlock + Everything else + shitty quality PSU. That can be near 500w - 550w. And imagine trying to peak a low quality PSU near its maximum power output? It will just end badly.

[TagTiCal]

Two things:

1. an i5-4690k does not have hyperthreading so I'm really curious how did you turn it on

2. Your power supply is garbage if you want to power your system with it, especially if you're overclocking your components.

The K versions all come with hyper threading, can be disabled or enables in BIOS

[rik1254]

The K versions all come with hyper threading, can be disabled or enables in BIOS

 

No i5's come with hyperthreading....

[Morgan MLGman]

The K versions all come with hyper threading, can be disabled or enables in BIOS

They do not, what the actual... K version means that you can overclock the CPU.

 

 

+ GPU Overlock + CPU + CPU Overlock + Everything else + shitty quality PSU.

 

Overclocking his entire system wouldn't make it take more than around 450W, the quality of the PSU is the issue, not its wattage.

[TagTiCal]

Wait so who is right and who's giving me the wrong info? Morgan you are saying that my whole pc would get about 327 watt under load including cpu and other components? And am I right to say it's the psu that is giving me such crappy results when I overclock?

[TagTiCal]

No i5's come with hyperthreading....

I must have misread then, it could have be turbo boost instead which I saw in the bios.

[rik1254]

I must have misread then, it could have be turbo boost instead which I saw in the bios.

 

Easy mistake, especially when you are having issues, your mind wanders, everyone does it.

Here's the simplified version.

You have a DECENT PSU. However, the GTX 980 is a high end card. The CX range of PSU's do not have the ability to sustain enough power delivery to the GPU for hard gaming.

 

While the GTX 980 + typical system draws less than 350W, in gaming, the GPU requires a high quality power delivery; something that the CX range cannot do efficiently.

[Sir Asvald]

Haha nice. What are you studying? 

Computer networks

[Bittenfleax]

Here's the simplified version.

You have a DECENT PSU. However, the GTX 980 is a high end card. The CX range of PSU's do not have the ability to sustain enough power delivery to the GPU for hard gaming.

@Morgan MLGman This is what I ment.