Nvidia Low FPS w/ Low GPU Load

Gaming
1

Hello, I have been faced with an issue I have not been able to resolve. I would like my GPU to run at maximum or close to maximum load on every game I play. I have a 60hz monitor, so I am not looking to get more fps than 60, but in some games my GPU load is really low, and so is my FPS. I feel like if my GPU would just work harder and use more of a load I could get up to my wanted 60fps, but I don't know how to force it to use more of its power to give me more fps.

Here is an example of my low fps with low gpu load.

http://i.imgur.com/2UUBcQk.png

As you can see I am only getting 25fps w/ a gpu load of only 27% and a temperature of 45c. My CPU is only at 36% with its temerature is at 53c (CPUID says its at 37c, but the TMPIN2 is the one that seems to be the right temperature.) My physical memory is only at 4.2gb out of 8gb. 

If you look at my Clock Speed you can see its current clock is at 1032 with an estimated max of 1150. With such low fps and all the extra power to spare, why doesnt my gpu use more of its assets to get me more fps?

Neverwinter was just the example I decided to show you, it does this for other games as well.

My drivers are up to date.

"Preferred Maximum Performance" is on in Nvidia Control Panel.

Zalman Z9 U3

GA-78LMT-USB3 Motherboard

120GB Kingston SSD Boot Drive

2 x Seagate 500GB 7200rpm Sata Drives in Raid 0 (I store all games here)

8GB DDR3 Ram

AMD FX-6300 CPU

Gigabyte GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB Graphics Car

2

There's also a setting "single display performance mode" but I don't think it will affect games.

It might just be some software issue, if this hasn't happened until now, reformat and reinstall drivers and try multiple drivers before returning the card.

3

I noticed the word "video" right next to your frame counter; are you recording? If you are, it could be a setting to save space. I know with FRAPs, if I set it to record at 30FPS (which is a logical choice since YT only supports 30FPS), it will cap my FPS. I expected it to record all my frames, and encode at 30FPS on the fly, but instead it locked my actual framerate to 30FPS, making gaming difficult.

The only other time I've experienced this is with Tekkit/Minecraft. My FPS will be really low, even while using my Maxwell 860m. I realized that Tekkit is based on an old version of Minecraft, which only pegs one core; even a Core i7 4810MQ, with a 3.8GHz Turbo, my framerate still sucked, with frequent dips thanks to Turbo Boosts rapid fluctuations. Moral of the story, it could be poor optimization, but it would appear that Guild is making good use of your system resources... relatively speaking.

4

Even if your CPU is only using 36%, it could still be bottlenecking because as I recall task manager counts each core as a part of 100%; i.e. with 6 cores, each core running at full speed would add 16% so if it's only stressing two cores to full load that could be ~36%

5

Make sure your CPU is set to 100% in idle and full load in power options 

6

Thanks for the quick replies!

TropiKo, I'll give the single display a try, but like you said I don't think it will have an effect.

jerm1027, I am using Dxtory, it's kinda like Fraps, but I am not recording, just using it to show my fps. If I was recording it would be orange like.... (finds random image on Google)

http://i1156.photobucket.com/albums/p575/Kumail_Raza/rough_zps0e841196.png

There it is showing 2 numbers 1 represents how many fps you are seeing on your monitor and the other represents the fps it is recording at. in this pictures case its showing 5fps and recording at 5fps.

I also use it to limit my fps when I can get over 60fps in games, because I only have a 60hz monitor. Here are some examples of me doing this.

http://i.imgur.com/RHJ5KUt.png

http://i.imgur.com/uN9NJBb.png

Morgoth780, I have some screenshots of the CPU usage per core, it does seem to be doing what you are saying, just not at 100% per core. Maybe this screen will help you out.

http://i.imgur.com/UpJjyx6.png

Cellprocessing, I'm not 100% sure how to do this, I'll try to look it up and give you results.

 Edit: I changed some of my graphics setting in game to mess with some things, so my GPU load went up some, but the problem still remains. (just letting you know why gpu load went up.)

7

I guess my idea is wrong. Didn't really expect to be right anyway.

What power supply do you have?

8

CoolerMaster V700

http://www.coolermaster.com/powersupply/v-series-psu/v700/

9

jerm1027, I am using Dxtory, it's kinda like Fraps, but I am not recording, just using it to show my fps. If I was recording it would be orange like.... (finds random image on Google)

http://i1156.photobucket.com/albums/p575/Kumail_Raza/rough_zps0e841196.png

There it is showing 2 numbers 1 represents how many fps you are seeing on your monitor and the other represents the fps it is recording at. in this pictures case its showing 5fps and recording at 5fps.

I also use it to limit my fps when I can get over 60fps in games, because I only have a 60hz monitor. Here are some examples of me doing this.

Well, I wonder if you miss-set  something within Dxtory. I also limit my FPS as well to keep temps nice and low since I have absurd ambient temps during the summer (32c - 38c on warmer days). Personally, I use RivaTuner Statistics to monitor and limit FPS; it's bundled with EVGA's Precision X. It's also bundled with MSI's Afterburner (basically the same thing), which is what I'm using on my laptop. Try running the game without Dxtory and see if the problem persists. Use FRAPs or RT (RivaTuner) to monitor the FPS.
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Cellprocessing, I believe this is the setting you were talking about, all looks good i believe.

http://i.imgur.com/Y8mEh66.png

jerm1027, I tried playing the game with Dxtory off, didnt install another Frame Counter though, but my GPU load, clock speeds, and everything else seem to be the same with it off.

http://i.imgur.com/KH6a1BX.png

For some reason it's activating the boost on the card. Maybe bad optimization is just the answer, but there are too many games out there I have this problem with, and I don't see much about people seeing it or talking about it.

11

That's it