[killeraxemannic]

Ok so I have an interesting question to put in front of everyone....

If I have vsync on,

and my GPU usage is less than 100%

BUT my FPS is less than 60

does that mean that I have a cpu bottleneck,

or not enough ram? Or maybe this is a driver related issue?

Games I see this scenario sometimes are Homefront, BC2, Crysis 2, Dragon Age 2.

I noticed this because I started using a monitoring program that shows FPS. DX version, GPU Temp, and GPU usage percentage.

Discuss!

 

[ezveedub]

Turn off V-Sync. You won't need it unless your having issues with the screen image.

 

[killeraxemannic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ezveedub Turn off V-Sync. You won't need it unless your having issues with the screen image.

I leave it on in all my games... If I have it off and the FPS is above 60 it gives me a headache

 

[munaim1]

vsync removes the tearing if your using a 60hz monitor.

EDIT: Its not a bottleneck if your capping it your self by enabling vsync

 

[ezveedub]

Quote:

Originally Posted by killeraxemannic I leave it on in all my games... If I have it off and the FPS is above 60 it gives me a headache

Huh? So you want the V-Sync on and get 60+FPS? V-Sync adds more work to the GPU. I don't run it at all.

 

[IXcrispyXI]

well first we need to determine what game he is playing first and what settings he is using
cause i could go turn metro2033 all the way up and get only 20-30fps and start complaining im gettin bad fps

 

[munaim1]

When you say less than 60 fps, what is it averaging at and in what games and what drivers are you using?

 

[ezveedub]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IXcrispyXI well first we need to determine what game he is playing first and what settings he is using cause i could go turn metro2033 all the way up and get only 20-30fps and start complaining im gettin bad fps

I know, but V-Sync will kill FPS also, but he said he gets a headache if its off and above 60FPS

 

[IXcrispyXI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ezveedub I know, but V-Sync will kill FPS also, but he said he gets a headache if its off and above 60FPS

yes but he could have other settings that aint right, cause if i put metro on dx11 it strains my gpu bad but on dx9 or 10 its fine even he might have his aa up too high (doubt it with a 570) but it could be possible he is getting a bottleneck somewhere,
thats why he posted here. also i thought you only get headaches (for some people) if they put the monitor hertz up, cause i cant play on a 120hz monitor cause it screws up my eyes but a 60hz is fine and i dont run vsync because i feel it runs better

 

[ezveedub]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IXcrispyXI yes but he could have other settings that aint right, cause if i put metro on dx11 it strains my gpu bad but on dx9 or 10 its fine even he might have his aa up too high (doubt it with a 570) but it could be possible he is getting a bottleneck somewhere, thats why he posted here.

I couldn't tell ya anything on that. I haven't ran a Nvidia card in years

 

[killeraxemannic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IXcrispyXI well first we need to determine what game he is playing first and what settings he is using cause i could go turn metro2033 all the way up and get only 20-30fps and start complaining im gettin bad fps

All of the above games I play completely maxed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by munaim1 When you say less than 60 fps, what is it averaging at and in what games and what drivers are you using?

Most of the time they all run at 60fps but there are times during explosions, heavy battles, exc where the FPS drop to around 30-40. When this happens I am noticing that the GPU usage is not at 100%. It is usually at around 80 or so. I am using the latest nvidia beta drivers.

 

[IXcrispyXI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by killeraxemannic All of the above games I play completely maxed. Most of the time they all run at 60fps but there are times during explosions, heavy battles, exc where the FPS drop to around 30-40. When this happens I am noticing that the GPU usage is not at 100%. It is usually at around 80 or so. I am using the latest nvidia beta drivers.

running at 1080p i presume? cause when i play games and there are explosions ect my fps does drop but only like 10-15
edit: try using playclaw it'll tell you ur cpu usage as well because it ur cpu is hitting 100% ur fps will suffer as well

 

[killeraxemannic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IXcrispyXI running at 1080p i presume? cause when i play games and there are explosions ect my fps does drop but only like 10-15

Yep 1080p! And yes I am seeing the same thing. I am just trying to figure out why the FPS is dropping because the graphics card is not at 100% usage when it does.

 

[IXcrispyXI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by killeraxemannic Yep 1080p! And yes I am seeing the same thing. I am just trying to figure out why the FPS is dropping because the graphics card is not at 100% usage when it does.

check my edit above might help to determine whats goin on

 

[brettjv]

Since you're under 60fps, the fact that v-sync is on is most likely irrelevant to the equation. Presumably the same situation ... where fps is under 60fps in these parts, and you get < full gpu usage, exists regardless of v-sync being on, correct?

In this case, CPU bottleneck is a good 'starting point' for your suspicions. However, contrary to popular belief, it's not the only reason for lower-than-full GPU usage. At all. It can also easily just be a problem with the driver/game relationship, i.e. the coding of each of them aren't interacting optimally. You know how some games get better performance over time with newer drivers? This is why.

Another (and somewhat related) possibility is that in these particular scenes, you're experiencing a bottleneck WITHIN the card(s) ... remember, the 'gpu usage' is measured at a specific point in the 'pipeline' of the card's operation (and I wish I knew where that point was, but I personally don't) ... but the card has many subsystems that can act as bottlenecks ... texture/pixel fillrate, geometry calcs, ROP/rastering, memory bandwidth, and memory amount, to name some of them. 'Running out' of vram, for example, could certainly cause gpu usage to go down, because it becomes a bottleneck to the operation of the rest of the card.

So ... it's hard to say, unfortunately. I have what you are describing happen a lot myself as well, and I know it happens sometimes where it is NOT coming from a CPU-bottleneck. And it is friggin annoying.