Nvidia 1050 (Notebook) GPU usage at 0% in Overwatch

[JuliaR24]

Hey, guys!

 

I am having a very annoying problem with Overwatch. I know some of you might roll your eyes at it, but hear me out. I bought a new laptop about a week and a half ago and although it has pretty good specs, Overwatch simply refuses to use the dedicated Nvidia GPU. I have seen people complain about performance drops in this game and their problems seemed to have been fixed by just updating drivers and setting the game to use the dedicated GPU. But mine wasn't solved just with that. I have set the game to use the GPU from the Nvidia Control Panel, I set every power plan and option I could find to High Performance, installed the latest updates for Windows, Intel and Nvidia. In fact, there is hardly anything I didn't try. I will attach a list down below. The laptop is a Lenovo Yoga 730 15 inch with the following specs:

• Intel Core i5 8th gen 1.6 Ghz
• 16 GB DDR4
• 256 GB SSD
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 4GB
• Windows 10 Home edition 

I will also add the DxDiag and MSInfo files for whoever is interested.

 

The Nvidia GPU continues to stay at 0% usage in Overwatch. The Intel GPU takes over and struggles really bad to render models, there's incredible lag and annoying audio stutter. Sometimes the audio cuts off completely. I thought it could be a problem with the hardware but for other games, it works perfectly. I played SimCity, City Skyline, Planet Coaster (with a pretty big park map), MTG Arena and the Nvidia GPU was used instead of Intel, there was no lag or stutter, it indeed performed as it should. In Overwatch... nothing, nada, zero! And the game recognizes the graphics card, it shows up in the video settings in-game. Even BattleNet uses it when I play a video (like the new "Reunion" video currently showcased in the launcher). 

 

At this point, I am more frustrated that I don't understand why it won't work in Overwatch. I've looked up reviews of this laptop weeks before I bought it and in one of them, they included Overwatch in the list of games that were tested on this machine. It ran at about 90 fps on high settings with the GTX 1050. I don't want to be able to play the game at impeccable 120 fps, ultra settings, it's a laptop for goodness' sake. I just want to play it. Also, I should mention, I didn't buy this laptop for gaming, I'm well aware that it most certainly can't withstand any and every game. I am actually very happy with how it performs with other things I use it for (work, digital art, graphic design). But I would've expected to at least be able to enjoy an occasional Overwatch game with my boyfriend.

 

I tried contacting the Blizzard Support, and while they have been incredibly patient and understanding, none of their solutions worked. They keep suggesting there is some power option that limits the GPU usage but I set every option to high performance. And today they hit me with "One very important thing when playing on a laptop I want to mention is that you should have the laptop connected to the power supply"... I don't even know how to reply to that. I am not that dumb as to not have the laptop plugged in this entire time. And to add insult to injury, they end the message with "wish you a great day and a lot of fun playing :)" Oh, I had a lot of fun playing... other games! (sorry for the rant, I had to get it out of my system).

 

I would very much appreciate it if anyone would at least explain why this is happening and why only with Overwatch. I am this close to just giving up on trying to play this game altogether. 

 

What I tried so far: 
  

Spoiler

 • Setting all Overwatch and Battlenet executables to use the Nvidia GPU from the Nvidia Control Panel;
    • Updating Intel and Nvidia drivers;
    • Updating OS;
    • Reinstalling the Nvidia driver; 
    • Enabling the graphics card from BIOS; 
    • Changing graphics settings in-game to the lowest possible; 
    • Disabling the integrated GPU (stupid idea, I don't know why people suggest it); 
    • Disabling the in-game overlays from Geforce Experience and Windows (the ones for recording gameplay); 
    • Disabling fullscreen optimization for Overwatch; 
    • Scanning and repairing the game files; 
    • Re-installing the game;
    • Doing a clean re-install of the Nvidia driver without GeForce Experience;
    • Changing resolutions;
    • Resetting graphics driver software;
    • Setting Nvidia as main PhysX processor and as preferred graphics processor in Global Settings;
    • Setting Windows power plan to High Performance;
    • Turning off all Lenovo background processes; turning off the Intel background processes too;
    • Testing other games with the Nvidia GPU as preferred graphics processor from the Nvidia Control Panel (other games run smooth and make use of the Nvidia GPU);
    • Enabling and disabling Vsync;
    • Setting Overwatch and Battlenet to High Performance in the Display options from the Windows settings;
    • Adjusting the Image settings in Nvidia Control Panel to prefer quality over performance;
    • Starting Overwatch with Nvidia GPU as default (from the right-click menu);
    • Setting Overwatch and Battlenet to run as administrator;
    • Setting Nvidia Control panel to run as administrator too;
    • Setting every power option I could find to High Performance;
    • Disabling HPET using Command Prompt;
    • Enabling Windows Secondary logon (per Blizzard CS's advice);
    • Completely reinstalling graphics drivers using DDU and manual downloads;
    • Deleting the Overwatch "Settings_v0" file from My Documents;
    • Cleaning the Blizzard Cache and Tools folders;
    • Setting CUDA cored for Overwatch to use Nvidia GTX 1050 from the Nvidia Control Panel;
    • Turning it on and off again...

 

 

P.S.: I attached some screenshots of how the Nvidia GPU is being used in the BattleNet application.

New_DxDiag.txt

New_MSInfo_2.txt

[LukeSavenije]

maybe power settings? they can disable the 1050. try setting it off

[Franck]

Seems to be outputting on the IntelHD instead of the 1050. Check the nvidia panel, there is a section that you have a drop list with a list of games. Check specially overwatch. It could be possible some settings where changed somehow for the game specially.

[JuliaR24]

On 11/4/2018 at 9:56 PM, LukeSavenije said:

maybe power settings? they can disable the 1050. try setting it off

Not sure what power settings you mean. Nothing is set to power saver, everything is on high performance and there is no option to turn it off. 

 

12 hours ago, Franck said:

Seems to be outputting on the IntelHD instead of the 1050. Check the nvidia panel, there is a section that you have a drop list with a list of games. Check specially overwatch. It could be possible some settings where changed somehow for the game specially.

Both Battlenet and Overwatch are set to use Nvidia from the Nvidia Control Panel. Battlenet uses it (as shown in the screenshot), Overwatch doesn't.