Low FPS at low CPU and low GPU Usage

[NWA99]

Hello there,

So I recently upgraded my PC from an Intel i5 4690K paired with an MSI R9 390 on an ASUS Z97-A to a Ryzen 7 1700 with an ASUS ROG GTX 1080 Ti Strix on an ASUS Prime x370 Pro Motherboard with two 8GB Corsair RAM sticks. Both HDD's, the SSD and the PSU (EVGA B2 750W) are being used in the new build as well.

So after having finished the build, I naturally started testing some games, like Cities Skylines, CIV VI, The Witcher 3, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, Far Cry Primal, Hitman or Watch Dogs 2. And here's the problem. Almost all of them are running on low FPS - like 60ish. Considering that almost all of these games were running at a minimum of 70-80 FPS on High to Ultra settings on my previous build, reaching 60 FPS, with the Witcher 3 being the exception reaching about 70 FPS, is reallyslow for this new build. The funny thing is those FPS are the same on ALL settings. You would think, if it's a hardware related problem, the frames would tank, if you, for example, set Super Samling x2 in Hitman, but no, it stays exactly the same, with just the GPU usage going up a little, meaning there is undoubtedly more FPS to be gained, if there was no problem. I've also noticed that in Hitman, for example, the game is at about 150 FPS while at the loading screen and then suddenly drops to about 58 FPS, so I think it's somehow being forced to go down that much.

 

I'm using a Freesync 1080P monitor, which I had bought for my previous AMD build. However, I did not disable Freesync, as it is permitting me to play at 75Hz compared to the 60Hz if disabled. I tried disabling it, but it's still the exact same. I also tried unplugging my second monitor, but that did not help either. However, there is one thing that is somewhat strange. I just installed Titanfall 2 on my PC and I'm getting very high FPS (around 150 FPS) as it should be, so maybe it's a problem with all the games? I didn't think of reinstalling them, as it's kind of a pain to do so. Also, I tried using both DX11 and DX 12 on most of the games, if they supported them both and was getting the same results. Also, VSync was disabled too.

 

So I had a look at MSI Afterburner, and the GPU was not being exhausted at all, hovering between 30-50% and staying relatively cool at about 55°C, with a maximum of 65°C. Looking at RyzenMaster and HWmonitor for the CPU usage, I noticed the same thing: CPU staying at about 40-50% usage, while reaching a maximum of about 55°C. Looking at the task manager, I saw that there were no background applications running that would drastically decrease performance. Just the likes of TeamViewer or Dashlane (which I both disabled while troubleshooting too). I did not overclock anything so far, except using the D.O.C.P. on the RAM to reach its advertised 3000Mhz, which worked flawlessly. Prior to that, the problem also occured so it's not the D.O.C.P. that is causing a problem. I tried disabling MSI Afterburner, along with RivaTuner which supposedly causes problems sometimes - nothing. I also turned off Geforce Experience - nothing. 

 

I set Ryzen's Balanced power plan and also tried High Performance mode; still nothing. Before installing the new GPU I had used DDU to uninstall the AMD Crimson drivers and I also uninstalled anything Intel related later using Revo. All drivers are up-to-date and BIOS is also on the newest version. All power connectors, cables and plugs are attached correctly and were re-plugged a couple of times. There are 5 case fans installed so thermal throttling should and is not the problem, as all components are also staying relatively cool. I tried doing some benchmark runs, and both the CPU and the GPU were stressed to 100% and getting high scores.

 

I considered doing a fresh install of Windows, as was recommended by AMD for Ryzen, but it's just too much of a pain to be done, so I was hoping somebody could help. I had a look at the following thread, and looked at the final solution, which was disabling Virtualisation (which is disabled by default on Ryzen) and disabling HPET. I did disable HPET, but still nothing changed, games are reaching about 60 FPS while not utilizing the GPU and CPU to their max.

At this point, any help would be highly appreciated, so thank you kindly in advance!

 

Edited September 2, 2017 by NWA99

[Thermosman]

Make sure you are using high performance power plan, but I doubt that this is the cause.

[Thermosman]

Also check that there is no max framerate set in the settings of games

[LehransMedallion]

Please fix you post as it is invisible to night theme users. This can be done by editing your post, highlighting your text, and pressing the "Remove Format" button right next to the size drop down box.

 

On topic: Re-installation, though painful, is often a good idea with a new build. Odd things happen when you try to migrate an old installation of Windows to a new one. It is a pain, but so is having these issues pop up.

 

Try to re-install a random game in your library to see if that helps. It could also be an issue with the nVidia driver and testing the past 2 or 3 versions wouldn't hurt.

[paddy-stone]

You really might need to re-install windows to get the best out of this build.. and also fix these issues. It's well known that switching platforms WILL almost always give you problems trying to run windows without a fresh install. IIRC linux is a LOT more forgiving with stuff than windows and can handle hardware swaps relatively easily compared to windows.

I think you'll just have to bite the bullet and re-install if you don't want to deal with problems keep cropping up.

[NWA99]

Okay so thanks for your replies, I did press the Remove Format button now, don't know, however, if it worked.

 

So, I did try the High Performance mode, before I changed to Ryzen's Balanced Power Mode. It didn't get any better unfortunately. As for max framerate, there is none set, neither in-game, nor in RivaTuner or in the Nvidia Control Panel or elsewhere. 

 

As this post is my second here on the forums (In fact, my first one was the exact same, but posted over at the graphics cards troubleshooting board, but it didn't get any answers for several days), and a few days have passed, I indeed reinstalled Windows 10, which unfortunately did not do any changes either.

 

So now, I've come to the conclusion, that neither the GPU, nor the CPU are being utilized "wrongly", as a few other games are working properly, such as Titanfall 2, Sniper Elite 4, Witcher 3 and Ghost Recon Wildlands, meaning they're utilizing the GPU and the CPU propely with their usage going up to about 70 or 80%. My only hope right now, is that the games themselves are somehow faulty, which means I will be uninstalling the likes of Far Cry Primal or Hitman using Revo Uninstaller (just to make sure everything gets removed to the last bit) and reinstalling them. Maybe then, will they somehow "adapt" to the newly installed hardware and work properly!

 

I will keep you guys up-to-date as soon as I've done so! Thanks again!

[LehransMedallion]

12 minutes ago, NWA99 said:

Okay so thanks for your replies, I did press the Remove Format button now, don't know, however, if it worked.

It did. Much appreciated!

 

12 minutes ago, NWA99 said:

I will keep you guys up-to-date as soon as I've done so! Thanks again!

No problem! Always happy to help. Hope to hear good news!

[NWA99]

1 hour ago, TBA said:

No problem! Always happy to help. Hope to hear good news!

 

Okay so I did reinstall Far Cry Primal now. Unfortunately, nothing better. Don't know what's up really, I have tried out all possibilities..

 

I'm going to sleep now, tried solving this problem all night long, and tomorrow I will have another look at it. Try and reinstall all the software that is necessary for many games, like MS Visual C++ or DirectX. Maybe then something will happen.

 

But thank you for your input and any other tips are highly appreciated!