GPU shows 0% usage in games

[KevG]

Hi all

Not sure if this is the right forum place to post but if not I'm sure admin will move it.


I know I need a new rig, but whilst waiting for a few months I thought until I have the money ready I would throw some old bits together to at least try and play battlefield 1.

Using an old AMD fx-6100 with 16GB ram with Radeon RX 480 4GB graphics card, Windows 7 64Bit, latest Radeon drivers and all others drivers updated and MSI Afterburner

onboard gfx disabled

The following situation happens with the 6 cores parked and unparked.

I loaded up Battlefield 1.

During the game startup, Afterburner shows GPU usage 0%, CPU usage 30-35% and FPS 60

after choosing a server to play on and during the game loading the only thing that changes is CPU usage which goes up to 50-55%

Once in the game afterburner shows GPU usage is still at 0%, CPU usage varies between 95 and 100% and FPS drops drastically down to around 19 to 24. A serious bottleneck on the CPU.

I have checked the game with graphics settings on low and on ultra, but still, GPU usage is 0%

I know that the mobo isn't good enough to play battlefield 1 but what I don't understand is why it is showing 0% GPU usage.

yes, I have checked everything and rechecked and triple checked.

I also know that Windows 7 can only run DirectX 11, and DirectX 12 is best for AMD GPU's and DirectX 12 ships with Windows 10 which I currently do not have and the FPS can be affected by not using DirectX 12, and Battlefield 1 is CPU intensive.

But not actually using the GPU during the running of the game is perplexing, to say the least.

Hope someone here can explain why the GPU isn't being used except as a glorified VGA card just to see things on the monitor.

TIA

KevG

 

[StarShock]

Afterburner doesn't love AMD graphics cards, I would guess that it showing 0% is probably nonsense. I do think the frame drops are likely a CPU bottleneck, but I think your GPU is likely working more or less fine.

Try using AMD wattman to look at what your graphics card is doing.

 

[KevG]

Thanks for the quick replay

When in BF1 and trying AMD wattman the screen turns green and completely locks everything up even the normal soft restart button doesn't work, had to turn it off at the wall socket.

Also noticed in the software where you click to get to wattman the GPU name does not appear but does in system

have they removed that in adrenalin ????

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Quite a few videos and reviews out there but new ryzen CPU small the lower end FX chips quite a bit ! Specially at 1080p and give older cards a little extra leg room !

Using the higher spec FX chip

 

[KevG]

Hi all

Just a quick update on what I have done.

Here is a screenshot before I did anything as can be seen GPU 0% usage and CPU usage at 100% with 23 FPS





I have updated the OS to windows 10

windows 10 downgraded the Radeon software from Adrenalin ver 18. whatever it was to crimson 17.1.1

DirectX 12 has been installed.

And here is an image after the upgrade to Windows 10





As you can see the GPU is now being used but does vary the usage, here GPU usage is 100% and the CPU usage has dropped to 90% usage and now with a 58 FPS

Yes, the CPU still is bottlenecked but at least the GPU is being used and the FPS has increased thereby making Battlefield 1 playable for now.

Will still need a few more tweaks to sort out

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Might find running DX11 is better, depends on the core. Found first Gen i cores DX12 helps a lot but not so much with modern ones .

Slap in ryzen 2600 bundle Dela and should see higher FPS, specially if you go on multiplayer