Low FPS, Low GPU and CPU usage

[00RaZoR11]

Solution:

If someone finds this thread, I hope I can help:

I disabled HPET (high precision timer) and VT-d in the mobo's BIOS, and that solved my problem with the Witcher 3 and DOOM.

Those are intel technologies that supposedly work with Win10 to improve performance, but in certain applications (such as these games) they have a negative impact. (I'm not too sure about VT-d, however. So if you use integrated graphics, you might want to leave that enabled.)

On my board they were under the "Chipset" tag. (Gigabyte z270 hd3p f5)

 

Original question:

Hi everyone, I'd like at least an explanation why the following is going on with my setup.

In some games, like Doom, The Witcher 3, Fallout 4 and Dark Souls 3, which are quite heavy games as far as I know, nothing in my pc works at its maximum potential.
GPU usage is hovering between 40-80%, cpu usage stays around 30-60%, RAM usage is below 6gb, and yet framerate hardly ever reaches even 60 (during easy-to-run scenes).

 

I have an i7 7700k, 8gb hyperx savage, and r9 280x, 680w 80+ gold psu, on Win10 64bit, a single 1920*1080@60 monitor.

So far I've found these tips around the web, but they didn't help.

• Temps are controlled: max 55 on GPU, max 70 on CPU, top 140mm case fan pulling air over the ram.
• Clockspeeds are as they should be, they never drop under load: 1110/1510mhz (core/mem) on the 280x, 4.9Ghz on the i7, 2400mhz on the ram.
• There are no framerate limits: no v-sync, no rivatuner limit, no ingame limit
• Cpu power saving modes and AMD ULPS are disabled (through BIOS and Afterburner)
• DirectX, GPU driver, BIOS, games are all up to date. I used the latest DDU in safe mode, then installed 17.4.4 Crimson
• Running background applications are: Gigabyte AppCenter, Rapoo Mouse driver, Realtek audio and Intel rapid storage.
• I've tried setting the games' priority to high and real time, and have seen no visible improvement.
• Ingame graphics settings sometimes cause an increase in GPU usage, but still not >90%, framerate stays low (<60).
• Fullscreen/borderless modes bring no noticeable changes.
• Win 10 power plan is on high performance.
• Power connectors are securely attached.
• Monitor is connected to the 280x, not the mobo.
• Benchmarks can stress the individual components to 100%, no issue there.
• AMD control panel is currently not installed, so it can't interfere with anything, but removing it did not help the situation.

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for any insight in advance.

 

In addition:

The issue was present on my old AM3+ system, too.
Windows had been reinstalled on that, because of corrupted thumbnail cache, but this issue had existed before that corruption, as well.

The AM3+ and this Z270 mobo are both Gigabyte boards, but THAT can't be the problem, right?? (they both have the latest BIOS)
Also, max bus speed is set to Gen3 in the BIOS.

Furthermore:

fallout 4, dark souls 3 and assassin's creed syndicate work fine, I'm a dumbass for mentioning them earlier, sorry.

Edited May 2, 2017 by 00RaZoR11
Adding new information, noting progress, adding solution

[Luke m]

If anything i suggest mother board. Also if you overclock it that might be able to give it more wiggle room

 

Is there a chance you have a fps caped game

[OnionRings]

Games won't always have your GPU at 100%, happens to me too.

[00RaZoR11]

Just now, Luke m said:

If anything i suggest mother board. Also if you overclock it that might be able to give it more wiggle room

This issue was present on my old AM3+ base, too. Gigabyte 990x mobo, fx8320@4.8, and the same 280x.
Every component is currently overclocked. Further boost (<1200mhz) on the gpu core just makes the usage drop even further.

 

[00RaZoR11]

2 minutes ago, OnionRings said:

Games won't always have your GPU at 100%, happens to me too.

But there seems to be nothing preventing it from working harder. Framerate is low, temps are relatively low, and also as far as I know these games are quite well written.

[Constantin]

You have an R9 280x, what do you expect?

Lower the game settings.

[Morgan Everett]

Is VSync enabled?

[Artechz]

2 minutes ago, Morgan Everett said:

Is VSync enabled?

 

Have you even read the question? He says he has no V-Sync enabled anywhere.

10 minutes ago, Constantin said:

You have an R9 280x, what do you expect?

Lower the game settings.

 

That's not the point, his (CPU and GPU) usage should be higher.

[COUPER MILLAR]

Reinstall chipset and graphic drivers. 

[00RaZoR11]

Brand new mobo, I installed the mobo drivers yesterday, the AMD driver today.
Also, the issue was present on my old AM3+ based system.

[Morgan Everett]

7 hours ago, Artechz said:

 

Have you even read the question? He says he has no V-Sync enabled anywhere.

 

Yeah, I read it. I just missed the bit where he said he had VSync disabled.

 

OP: what settings are you using for each of the games you mention? What performance, roughly, are you getting for each?

[00RaZoR11]

7 hours ago, Morgan Everett said:

OP: what settings are you using for each of the games you mention? What performance, roughly, are you getting for each?

Doom: lowest preset, every switchable option is off -> 40-75 fps, 50-80% gpu, ~55% cpu

openGL, Fullscreen, vsync off, anti-aliasing off, colorblind mode off, motion blur off

Usually things don't match up: 70 fps at 60% gpu usage and 40 fps at 50% gpu usage. Seems weird to me.

Cpu usage hovers around 55% all the time. I presume the 7700k @4.9ghz can't be a bottleneck.

Fallout 4: seems to be working fine (on ultra), I'm going to remove it from the examples, my bad

Dark souls 3: same as fallout....... I know, I'm an idiot

The Witcher 3: I'll test it later, I don't have the time right now. I played it yesterday for a few minutes, this is what I remember: gpu was around 70% and cpu wasn't high, either. Framerate was well below 50 (in a city). Mostly medium settings: medium level of detail, shadows and textures, draw distance at high. Post processing stuff is off, fxaa enabled, no ambient occlusion, nVidia tech off.

(FYI I didn't check fallout and dark souls, only doom and the witcher, and since those are good games, I assumed the issue persisted in all games. Previously the fx8320 bottlenecked the shit out of the 280x, that must've been the reason behind the poor performance in a lot of games)

[OnionRings]

20 hours ago, 00RaZoR11 said:

But there seems to be nothing preventing it from working harder. Framerate is low, temps are relatively low, and also as far as I know these games are quite well written.

 

Honestly, bro I have no idea, as I said I have the same problem in certain games, for fallout 4 my GPU is almost always at 0% unless it's loading a chunk, but other games like witcher 3 its at 100% all the time pumping away. Is it the game? Type of game? Idk. I hope you get it figured out though, it seems to be more troublesome for you and not me since you have a weaker card.

 

Edit : Have you investigated your PSU? You said the connectors are secure, have you tried new connectors and or a new PSU? What PSU do you have?

[00RaZoR11]

3 hours ago, OnionRings said:

Edit : Have you investigated your PSU? You said the connectors are secure, have you tried new connectors and or a new PSU? What PSU do you have?

Be Quiet Straight Power e9 680W.
It is not in stores anymore, but it's 80+ Gold, and cost about 100usd (without taxes). It's a good piece, the cables are strong, the fan is silent and it doesn't get hot (it gets warm, but definitely stays below 40C).

According to CPUID HWmonitor:

12V rail: 11.952 - 12.096

5V rail: 5.010 - 5.040

3.3V rail: 3.336 - 3.360

Seem to be fine, however I don't know how far these should be from the exact values.
Also, benchmarks (Valley, Heaven, 3dMark) and other games (like AC syndicate, R6 Siege or even PU's Battlegrounds) do use the gpu at 95-100%.

So I'm betting on the driver, the games, or the OS.

[00RaZoR11]

14 hours ago, OnionRings said:

Honestly, bro I have no idea.

 

On Mon May 01 2017 at 3:09 AM, Morgan Everett said:

OP: What performance, roughly, are you getting for each?

 

On Sun Apr 30 2017 at 8:03 PM, Artechz said:

That's not the point, his (CPU and GPU) usage should be higher.

Hi guys, I just thought I might give you an update.
I found that there are intel technologies in the BIOS called VT-d (some sort of "GPU passthrough") and HPET (High Precision Timer). These should theoritically improve overall performance working with Windows 10, but for some reason they limit GPU usage in certain applications, such as Witcher 3 and DOOM!

Having disabled them, now I get 60+ FPS in witcher, 90-99% gpu usage, and 70-150 fps in doom, at 95-99% usage.
FYI: HPET and VT-d were under the "Chipset" category in my Gigabyte-z270-hd3p mobo's bios.

I also read that overclocking ram could help a lot in witcher 3 (and probably some others, too), so I'm gonna give that a try soon.

 

Thanks for your help!

Edited May 2, 2017 by 00RaZoR11
I wans't clear the first time

[Artechz]

9 hours ago, 00RaZoR11 said:

Thanks for your help!

Thank you for letting us know how to solve your problem

[BlastYourMind]

On 2.5.2017 at 7:35 AM, 00RaZoR11 said:

 

 

Hi guys, I just thought I might give you an update.
I found that there are intel technologies in the BIOS called VT-d (some sort of "GPU passthrough") and HPET (High Precision Timer). These should theoritically improve overall performance working with Windows 10, but for some reason they limit GPU usage in certain applications, such as Witcher 3 and DOOM!

Having disabled them, now I get 60+ FPS in witcher, 90-99% gpu usage, and 70-150 fps in doom, at 95-99% usage.
FYI: HPET and VT-d were under the "Chipset" category in my Gigabyte-z270-hd3p mobo's bios.

I also read that overclocking ram could help a lot in witcher 3 (and probably some others, too), so I'm gonna give that a try soon.

 

Thanks for your help!

THANK YOU SO MUCH !!! <3 <3 <3

THIS PROBLEM WAS A PAIN IN THE ASS AND THANKS TO YOU I'VE FIXED IT !!!

God bless you !

Have a great day !!!

[00RaZoR11]

On 2018. 07. 03. at 5:24 PM, BlastYourMind said:

THANK YOU SO MUCH !!! <3 <3 <3

You are welcome, mate. I'm really happy it helped you!