General question regarding GPU/CPU usage and FPS

RamboFB · 11 Jul 2020 at 10:23

Hello,

I have fairly basic question regarding my GPU/CPU usage and expected frame rates. When running certain games I am noticing that my FPS is not really going above 60 FPS, which for me is totally fine but when I look at my CPU/GPU usage they are both at around 60%. My very basic thinking would be shouldn't the GPU be working harder to try and get to a higher FPS? Certainly when I turn the settings up very high the GPU is working at 99% but returning unstable FPS. To confirm the game is GTA5, my monitor is 144hz and I am connected via a DP cable. Windows shows my monitor as 144hz and that option is available within the game. When I run the bench I do get a max 85 - 90 fps. This isn't really much of an issue for me, I am just curious why the GPU would behave like this? I also considered bottlenecks, if anything I think it might be my RAM. Not so much the capacity of my RAM but the speed (DDR3 - 1600mhz) which is sluggish by today standards. My CPU is still a capable 4c/8t, I think.

If anyone has any thoughts/suggestion or just to put me right, I would be very welcomed to hear them. Thanks for reading.

Zefan · 11 Jul 2020 at 10:34

If you're not seeing 100% on either CPU or GPU then there's something else going on, you're right. My first thought would be check whether you have v-sync on. The fact that you get above 60fps in the benchmark suggests v-sync isn't on, but it's a good place to start.

RamboFB · 11 Jul 2020 at 10:52

Zefan said:
If you're not seeing 100% on either CPU or GPU then there's something else going on, you're right. My first thought would be check whether you have v-sync on. The fact that you get above 60fps in the benchmark suggests v-sync isn't on, but it's a good place to start.

Thanks for the quick reply, much appreciated.

I do have v-sync off, I have the same settings as the attached video.

The test system here does have a better CPU (i5 9400f) and RAM (16GB(2x8GB) DDR4 3000MHz) but I would have thought I should't be miles away given I have the same GPU.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GONNpRwl6Rs

Joxeon · 11 Jul 2020 at 11:01

Is it just GTA 5 that this is happening on?

It sounds like frames are being set to a 60 cap somewhere

RamboFB · 11 Jul 2020 at 11:11

Joxeon said:
Is it just GTA 5 that this is happening on?

It sounds like frames are being set to a 60 cap somewhere

No some other games as well.

I just ran heaven bench, GPU 99% usage, extreme settings, 70 - 80fps.

Tried another game, 100fps, 70% GPU usage.

To confirm I do have MSI afterburner and the power limit is set to default, 100%.

I really don't understand whats going on.

I messed about with NVIDIA GeForce Experience and choose optimal settings, it did change a few settings that I had, 70 - 80 fps, but the usage is closer to 98% now.

Maybe the way I had the game set was bottlenecking the RAM or CPU, I am not sure.