is the cpu a bottleneck if utilization is all over?

[ExoMale]

okay so 2 days ago i purchased a gtx 660 which despite wrong screen/wrong res used at the time had dramatically increased my Doom and Cod: IW gaming using high settings, with doom it does detect 2 screens, so guess that comes in to account even though the game is single screen, but monitoring my performance via gpu-z sensor and Task manager for cpu i have noticed probably more with doom maybe that the gpu load goes to like 98% or stays above 90% and cpu cycles between 50-100% very rare it went below 50.

now these are the frame increase between gt 710 & gtx 660.

710 1gb:

Cod:iw - 7-14fps
Doom - 10-20fps

didnt have 2 screens setup at the time to monitor so went by fraps counter.


660 2gb:

Cod:iw - 34-60fps
Doom - 34-60fps

mostly stays between 45-55fps and was monitoring this time.

i am very happy with the performance increase and smooth gaming im getting, Doom actually fast paced now ha, but i am curious if there is a bottleneck and which its from without seeming too obvious?

 

[LuckyBenski]

Well if your GPU is pegged at 95%+ then it's not being held back.

If the CPU is over 50% and going to 100% that sounds pretty balanced. It's possible some Windows/background tasks are the thing pushing usage up periodically.
Stop overanalyzing and enjoy gaming

 

[Armageus]

Sounds like you have vsync on.

Turn it off and retest

 

[ExoMale]

Thanks for replies.

Ha yeah I am enjoying gaming, I just never used to monitor so often and so I get unsure like, well it sounds like I’m good then lol.

Ah funny you say that, I think in one of the games at least I did notice v-sync was on, I always thought that was best to have on to eliminate any screen tearing? Anyways I will turn it off and retest as suggested.

 

[Armageus]

Ah funny you say that, I think in one of the games at least I did notice v-sync was on, I always thought that was best to have on to eliminate any screen tearing? Anyways I will turn it off and retest as suggested.

If you experience tearing and notice it (some people don't), then yes the best option is to have it on. However if you are looking for bottlenecks, then you need it disabled in order to allow the gpu to render as many frames as possible, and see what the cpu load is with that level of gpu load.

 

[Phil2008]

I say if its running smooth enough with vsync on, why max out your gpu by turning it off.

 

[Armageus]

but monitoring my performance via gpu-z sensor and Task manager for cpu i have noticed probably more with doom maybe that the gpu load goes to like 98% or stays above 90% and cpu cycles between 50-100% very rare it went below 50.

You can use Afterburner's OSD to display gpu/cpu load, temperatures and more on top of your game.
http://msi.com/page/afterburner

 

[LuckyBenski]

I say if its running smooth enough with vsync on, why max out your gpu by turning it off.

Exactly what I do. Settings to allow high enough FPS to match monitor, vsync to lock it to that framerate. Then GPU doesn't go mad rendering simple games.

 

[Armageus]

I say if its running smooth enough with vsync on, why max out your gpu by turning it off.

Exactly what I do. Settings to allow high enough FPS to match monitor, vsync to lock it to that framerate. Then GPU doesn't go mad rendering simple games.

Depends if you are playing multiplayer, in which case the reduced input lag can be a benefit (assuming you aren't susceptible to the possible tearing)

 

[ExoMale]

thanks for replies.

i got caught up so i never got chance to check and been away, but yeah other than the odd stutter that dips to the 30's which id assume is normal for my hardware on such games, it does play smooth, like i said Doom is now the fast paced game its meant to be, granted was on my smaller res screen, but it is dual screen selected for that game and nothing be wrong changing to medium settings, i was just curious if there was an issue, but obviously there isnt ha.

i had forgotten what i used once before to monitor in games, so thanks for prompting me about afterburner.


oh and i havent tried either game in multiplayer though i doubt doom has such option, but some of my games that do have online ran okay with my 710, so can only imagine my 660 bettering that experience anyways.

 

[LuckyBenski]

Honestly the GT 710 isn't a qualified graphics card. Like the 610, 210 and 310 etc, it's just a token chip to produce graphics for a given generation. It's not on the same scale as other cards in its generation. Any x50 card ever would likely outperform a 710 by miles. I'm amazed you were playing current games on it at all!