System Bottlenecking a GTX 1080?

Hardware GPU
1

I've seen plenty of threads on this, and according to them, my cpu should be fine and not bottlenecking.
Too long? Don't want to read? Here's the simple version - Why won't my graphics card go to 100% utilization in some games? example, Far Cry 3, maxed out, 8XMSAA, 45-65% usage. Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Maxed out, same deal. What's up with that?

I have an AMD FX-8350 clocked at 4.6 GHz on all cores on a Gigabyte 990FXA UD3 AM3+ motherboard.

I am using a 1080p 60 fps panel (Upgrading to 1440p 144 hz soon, so don't give me bs for using 1080p with a GTX 1080 :D )

650 Watt Rosewill PSU

I have the Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 1080 running in OC mode with a little OC using the Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming Engine. Runs unigine heaven at 1987 Mhz steady at like 67C 100% usage.

So the issue is with a few games.. and utilization on the card.

So let's set the scene, if possible.

I ordered the card last week, it arrived today. Pretty excited, upgrading from a Sapphire R9 270X Dual-X OC card which has served me well since November of 2014. Popped the card into the slot, booted up. Used AMD's clean uninstall utility to uninstall all the AMD drivers/programs etc. Installed Nvidia's drivers. tried out Star Wars Battlefront, getting 45 FPS on one map with everything maxed out while recording gameplay with PlaysTV. Thought that was kind of odd.... lowered the resolution scaling back to 100%, default and it was 60 fps or more.. but not nearly 120 fps as people who are benchmarking the game are getting :/ CPU usage 60-70% GPU usage about 60% star wars battlefront usually around 70 some fps @ 1936 MHz steady

Opened up Far Cry 3, maxed that out, 8XMSAA, not recording. Getting 55 FPS, just running around. ummmm, okay? Looking at the sky gets me about 120. again, around 50% utilization, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate, same deal. Far Cry 4, same deal. Is it because of the 8XMSAA? other settings, still the same deal with usage, between 50-60% in most games while the CPU is at around 50-60%. Sometimes even higher like 74%. Is it because of my power supply?

Any assistance would be appreciated....

Feel free to ask for more details on anything, I want to get this resolved if possible.

2

FPS does seem low, what's your cpu usage for all of these?

Edit: on all cores

3

Best way to tell if there is a bottleneck is to look at simalar benchmarks and see if you are getting similar fps or not. 650 watts should be enough for the 1080 and 8350.

4

Not getting similar FPS at all, that's the issue... people are getting 120 FPS or more in battlefront with the same settings as me, and I'm here getting like 70 fps

CPU usage was about 70% for battlefront, and about 50-70% for far cry 4, assassin's creed syndicate etc.

5

what are you specs? might be a problem somewhere else like a HDD

6

I haven't read about anyone running a GTX 1080 in a PCIe Gen 2 slot. I wonder if it's coming on PCIe bandwidth.

7

The HDD is a 5400 RPM WD Blue where I have all my games stored

https://gyazo.com/ec71883d634598b7a9e7f1641c24a24e

I'm HOPING it's a system/cpu bottleneck and not something wrong with the GPU. It runs great in benchmarks like heaven/valley/furmark. But the cpu usage when running those is like 10-15%, nothing major.

8

That might be your problem.

You could try this: For AMD it is called "dynamic super resolution", I think Nvidia has something similar. Try enableing it and load up Witcher3. That should max it out.

I don´t trust them! Could be your PSU but I doubt it.

Gen2 x8 is enough (=Gen3 x4 aka Thunderbolt speed)

1 Like
9

An FX 8350 and a GTX 1080? Sounds like a bottleneck to me right there, but I am not sure how much it will affect games, mileage varies. Although you overclocked the heck out of it, so the CPU couldn't have been that bad.

10

Running battlefront just now, about 35% GPU usage the whole time while the CPU usage is at 70%. So I'm assuming that's a clear indicator of a CPU bottleneck lol

11

Depends on the core utilization, but 70% doesn't really sound like a bottleneck to me. If it were pegged at 99-100%, THEN it would be a bottleneck for sure.

Can you check the usage of your individual cores while gaming? If the game only runs on 4 of your 8 cores and those are maxed out, your CPU is bottlenecking the card indeed. But if the game can use all 8 cores, there's something else going on.

12

Well you gaming with a new high end GPU at 1080p so right there it's going to bottleneck. Also your 8350 will bottleneck the GPU as well. Once you upgrade to 1440p it will be a lot better. But your cpu will always hold it back

13

That 70% could simply be the CPU pushing 100% on 6 of it's cores, and if the game only utilizes 6 cores, then this is a bottleneck.

14

https://gyazo.com/4bb58b5b1d7e20e0363b066498d1518e

15

Your cpu will indeed bottleneck the GTX1080 in certain cpu demending games.
Even at 1440p.