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100% GPU Usage normal? R9 390

SteWoo

SteWoo

SteWoo

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Joined
21 Nov 2011
Posts
73
Location
Liverpool
Hey guys. Bit confused at what should be 'normal' behavior from my R9 390 which I received as a replacement from my RMA'd R9 290X.

I gave it a test run on BF4 and Sniper Elite V3 but notice on MSI Afterburner that the GPU usage is constantly 100% in game. The temps are fine, sitting at around 56c, but sitting at 100% GPU usage doesn't seem right to me?

However I read this reddit post and this post which both seem to say that 100% GPU usage is expected behaviour during game play for the 390?

Can anyone enlighten me as to what expected behavior should be for a 390 in game with regards to GPU usgae, core clock etc?
 
!00% GPU is that you would want, as it mean the graphic card is getting fully utilised and is not being held-back/bottlenecked by the CPU etc.

Short answer to your queston- it is a good thing.
 
well your core clock should be at 1040 in bf4.

What resolution are you running as i find it a little odd that it is on 100% all the time considering your CPU. Although it is what you want, it normally takes a CPU with more grunt to let the GPU fully stretch its legs, could be mantle magic. If your clock is 1040, load is 100% and fps is good, then there is nothing to worry about
 
Unless your restricting the FPS using vsync or and FPS cap then 100% gpu usage is normal, if your getting 500 fps or something just cap it to save some electricity if your bothered about that kinda thing, i cap everything to 59FPS, not only to save 100% gpu usage but because it make games look a lot smoother using multiple cards.
 
Core clock is sitting at 1040. Resolution is 1920 x 1080.

I just found it a little odd as I've never experienced any GPU I've had sitting at 100% usage on most games. So the long and short of it is 100% usage isn't a bad thing?

I know my CPU is a little out of date; your saying this would usually bottle neck the GPU usage? Potentially why on previous cards I've never seen usage continually at 100%?
 
SteWoo said:
Core clock is sitting at 1040. Resolution is 1920 x 1080.

I just found it a little odd as I've never experienced any GPU I've had sitting at 100% usage on most games. So the long and short of it is 100% usage isn't a bad thing?

I know my CPU is a little out of date; your saying this would usually bottle neck the GPU usage? Potentially why on previous cards I've never seen usage continually at 100%?
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What I'm suprised is that you have even been able to get it to 100% with that cpu.
 
Dygaza said:
What I'm suprised is that you have even been able to get it to 100% with that cpu.
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I think with BF4 and Sniper Elite V3 both games utilizing the use of 6 cores or more certainly help a lot.

Try a more dated graphic intensive game that would only utilize no more than two cores (i.e. Crysis 1), and the CPU bottleneck will surely shows its ugly head :p
 
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You should always have 100% gpu usage when gaming.

Unless using vsync or frame caps.

If its not 100% you have a problem / bottleneck.
 
Thanks guys. Enlightened me as to what's expected from a GPU. I was always under the misconception that the more powerful the GPU the less usage it should show. I was wrongly thinking high GPU usage means the card can't cope with the load it's under.
 
SteWoo said:
Thanks guys. Enlightened me as to what's expected from a GPU. I was always under the misconception that the more powerful the GPU the less usage it should show. I was wrongly thinking high GPU usage means the card can't cope with the load it's under.
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Yeh

100% usage means its making as many fps as possible.

Less than 100% means it could be making more but its not for some reason.

So if ur sat at 50fps but at 80% usage then youv'e got something bottlenecking your gpu and stopping it from making say 60 that your monitor refresh rate is.
 
pandem0nium said:
Thats not a great replacement card. You should have got a 390x if anything.
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Probably gave me a 390 instead of a 390X because a 390 is similar to the 290X price? Or should I have received a 390X because it's the same family as I had previously?
 
SteWoo said:
Probably gave me a 390 instead of a 390X because a 390 is similar to the 290X price? Or should I have received a 390X because it's the same family as I had previously?
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390 is the same power as a 290

290x is exactly the same as a 390x with 50mhz boost in speed
 
Yea, 390 is 290x performance because it must guarantee to hit at least 1500MHz (6000MHz effectively) on the memory clock at stock, whereas the 290x hitting no higher than stock 1250MHz (5000MHz effectively) or all the way up to 1550MHz (6200MHz effectively) stable is complete memory lottery. What the 390 lacks in the stream processor counts is made up by the guaranteed high memory clock comparing to the 290x.

Also with extra 4GB vram, I would say the 390 is a pretty reasonable replacement for the 290x.
 
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