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Low frame rate in games but also low CPU+GPU usage

user100monkey

user100monkey

user100monkey

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Joined
19 Nov 2010
Posts
117
Hello,
I really want someone to take a stab at explaining this one for me.

Getting low frame rate in a lot of games (blizzard titles esp) but CPU usage and GPU usage are very low, say round 30% usage with 10fps as an example in diablo3.

Can anyone explain why this might be?
Fresh OS install has not improved matters.
 
user100monkey said:
Q6000 oc'ed to 3.3ghz
4gb RAM
Nvidia 970
Vsync off.
Click to expand...
Your Q6600 will bottleneck the GTX970 big time, especially considering Diablo only uses up to 2 CPU cores or something...

My old Q6600 overclocked to 3.60GHz would bottleneck my old 5850 in games that don't use all 4 cores, nevermind a GTX970 that's about 3-4 times the speed.

You need a newer CPU and platform for improving performance for low-threaded games.
 
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Blizzard games do not make good use of multi core processors unfortunately.
Check your task manager whilst in game. You will see 1 core at 100%, 1 at 50%, and 2 barely being used...
For best performance in Blizzard games, get a fast dual core and overclock the nuts off of it.
I can't hit 144fps in Blizzard games on max settings, even with an i5 quad at 4.4GHz!
I would expect a lot more than 10fps in Diablo 3 tho with that spec.

AH check that you have DSR disabled in nvidia control panel, that might explain it if you are trying to run it at 4k resolution ;)
 
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I'd definitely upgrade the CPU. I noticed a huge improvement going from a Q6600 to 2600k.

You can get a fairly decent Z77 platform for less than £200 by scouring the MM (if you had access).
 
vintage-x said:
I think it might be your CPU holding you back.
Might be time to look at an upgrade
Click to expand...

I appreciate your feedback but this is the point of the thread.
I can't see how the CPU is holding me back if when i am dropping frames its only been utilized by 30-60%.

Its not even showing as one of the four cores as reaching anywhere near 80%
 
I have been eyeing up an upgrade to:

I5-4690k
MSI z97
Samsung 250g 840 Evo
corsair hydro H80i
8gb teamgroup 2666mhz

But i just don't want to drop the cash just yet as my current CPU isn't showing as the bottleneck on my system. If my CPU was clearly hitting 90%+ usage then yes but its under 50% load for a lot of the time during these FPS drops.
Using afterburner OSD to show GPU and CPU usage % along with FPS
 
Newer Intel CPUs will give you a decent performance bump in Blizzard games,but even with my Xeon E3 1230 V2 running at 3.7GHZ,I can get dips down to around 20FPS at times during Nephalem Rifts in D3 when in multiplayer matches.

Even in the D3 thread people have had similar experiences with D3 too with the Core i7 4770 too,so even though a better CPU will help a lot,there are limitations on the server side too IMHO.
 
Yeah D3 and WoW arent good places to look if ya like FPS, with my system i get drops of very low fps depending on big fights, in d3 ill be grinding along fine on 60 fps then a crusader joined my groups and starts throwing horses everywhere and my fps goes through the floor. At least Heroes of the Storm runs nice and smooth. :)
 
user100monkey said:
I appreciate your feedback but this is the point of the thread.
I can't see how the CPU is holding me back if when i am dropping frames its only been utilized by 30-60%.

Its not even showing as one of the four cores as reaching anywhere near 80%
Click to expand...
There are games (Blizzard games in particular) which the game engine do not use more that 2 CPU core, this is why you don't see more than 50% in overall, as at least 2 cores are not being used.
 
Marine-RX179 said:
Your Q6600 will bottleneck the GTX970 big time, especially considering Diablo only uses up to 2 CPU cores or something...

My old Q6600 overclocked to 3.60GHz would bottleneck my old 5850 in games that don't use all 4 cores, nevermind a GTX970 that's about 3-4 times the speed.

You need a newer CPU and platform for improving performance for low-threaded games.
Click to expand...

Yep. My Q6600 bottlenecked my 5850 as well
 
Thank you for the feedback all.

My question in essence is why is the frame rate so low when the CPU (not even a single core) is not maxed nor is the GPU maxed. If these two are not maxed what is the bottleneck.

Please see image i have uploaded
http://postimg.org/image/5qbuw1gap/

Showing CPU and GPU usage in starcraft2 @ 60fps
Then it shows the CPU and GPU usage in starcraft2 when the game renders @ 30fps

Now the only thing even close to get bottle necked is CPU core4 @ 84%. But the game engine should be running a simple game logic loop such as
for( get user input
apply game logic
render
)
It should loop though that as fast as it can, in this case 28.6 times a second. The reason for it being 28.6 is some component must be maxed and unable to the loop any faster.
 
CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
Newer Intel CPUs will give you a decent performance bump in Blizzard games,but even with my Xeon E3 1230 V2 running at 3.7GHZ,I can get dips down to around 20FPS at times during Nephalem Rifts in D3 when in multiplayer matches.

Even in the D3 thread people have had similar experiences with D3 too with the Core i7 4770 too,so even though a better CPU will help a lot,there are limitations on the server side too IMHO.
Click to expand...

Ah this is interesting to hear, as everyone else in my guild reports solid 60fps whilst running the Nephalem Rifts and whilst i get in extreme fights down to single figure FPS
 
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