GPU Utilization drops whilst gaming

[DebatED Nothing]

Whilst playing games (CS:GO, PS2, DOTA 2) my GPU usage will occasionally tank from 60-70% down to 3 or 4% for a few seconds, causing a really bad frame rate drop as a result. The fact that it occurs in multiple games leads me to believe it's not to do with the game or engine (the games are all different engines). When I test my GPU under Furmark it seems stable, and when I test my CPU under prime 95 or other similar benchmarks it's stable as well. Any help or should I just RMA my graphics card if possible?

[lh99]

the problem is, your gpu should be on 99% when playing games, but i had the same problem in gta once, it helped to disable v sync

[DebatED Nothing]

Just now, lh99 said:

the problem is, your gpu should be on 99% when playing games, but i had the same problem in gta once, it helped to disable v sync

What? So my GPU needs to be 99% while in use? This doesn't seem right to me.

[lh99]

Just now, DebatED Nothing said:

What? So my GPU needs to be 99% while in use? This doesn't seem right to me.

I´m not 100% sure, but when u play games for maximum performance it should of course be at 99% and not at 70% of it´s potential. At least it´s in every video i´ve seen and by me so.

[DebatED Nothing]

Just now, lh99 said:

I´m not 100% sure, but when u play games for maximum performance it should of course be at 99% and not at 70% of it´s potential. At least it´s in every video i´ve seen and by me so.

Yes I know that obviously I'm not pushing the GPU to the max if it's only on 70% or so, but that doesn't explain the fact that it will just drop down to 2-3% usage whilst still in the game.

[HPWebcamAble]

2 minutes ago, DebatED Nothing said:

What? So my GPU needs to be 99% while in use? This doesn't seem right to me.

In the best case scenario, the GPU is your system's bottleneck for game FPS.

It will usually be pinned at 100%. This does not damage it, it's high temps that damage it.

 

If your GPU is NOT always at 100%, some other part is limiting the GPU. It might be that you've set the max FPS lower than your GPU is capable of, or another component, like the CPU, is slower than the GPU.

[lh99]

1 minute ago, DebatED Nothing said:

Yes I know that obviously I'm not pushing the GPU to the max if it's only on 70% or so, but that doesn't explain the fact that it will just drop down to 2-3% usage whilst still in the game.

i mean´t with this, that there could be generally sth wrong with your gpu or driver. or do u have some kind of frame cap activated, that would explain it why the low usage

[DebatED Nothing]

Just now, HPWebcamAble said:

In the best case scenario, the GPU is your system's bottleneck for game FPS.

It will usually be pinned at 100%. This does not damage it, it's high temps that damage it.

 

If your GPU is NOT always at 100%, some other part is limiting the GPU. It might be that you've set the max FPS lower than your GPU is capable of, or another component, like the CPU, is slower than the GPU.

This isn't my question. I understand this. Please read my original post.

[Moonzy]

well the 8350 should handle the 770 quite well

 

try uninstall your current gpu driver using DDU and install 361.xx or 362.xx drivers, dont install the latest ones and try it out

[DebatED Nothing]

Just now, Moonzy said:

well the 8350 should handle the 770 quite well

 

try uninstall your current gpu driver using DDU and install 361.xx or 362.xx drivers, dont install the latest ones and try it out

How do I get drivers that aren't the most recent ones? Are they available on the nvidia site or what?

[DebatED Nothing]

I should add that when it happens the GPU is not being limited by anything at all. The thermals are fine, Ram and VRam usage are low to moderate (below their limits), CPU usage is fine, CPU temps are fine. There is (on the face of it) no cause for the drops in usage.

[Majestic]

Are you running the games off of that CavGreen HDD?

[Moonzy]

3 minutes ago, DebatED Nothing said:

How do I get drivers that aren't the most recent ones? Are they available on the nvidia site or what?

just search for em... like 361.91

[Majestic]

6 minutes ago, DebatED Nothing said:

How do I get drivers that aren't the most recent ones? Are they available on the nvidia site or what?

Nvidia.com, beta & legacy drivers. Don't google them, you can get spam/ad sites.

 

EDIT: http://www.nvidia.co.uk/download/driverResults.aspx/98843/en-uk

 

But first answer my question, because it would explain a lot.

[DebatED Nothing]

36 minutes ago, Majestic said:

Are you running the games off of that CavGreen HDD?

No. Of the games that are affected, two of them are on a Corsair Force GT SSD, and another is on a samsung 850 evo. I only have my backups on the caviar green.

[DebatED Nothing]

Okay, just uninstalled drivers with ddu and restarted, downloading 361.91 now. Will update and hopefully this fixes something.

[DebatED Nothing]

Well, I think something I did made it better, not sure what (I back updated my graphics drivers and cleaned some stuff off the almost full SSD) but I did get a couple of instances of it occurring anyway

[DebatED Nothing]

Any more suggestions?