Question Why do I have low FPS when my CPU ang GPU not fully loaded?

Jan 28, 2024
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So I have this problem where my CPU and GPU is loaded around 30 - 50% but i have about 100 fps for some reason, when my PC clearly could provide me more FPS.

Here is the picture of what happening. I have updated GPU drivers and BIOS, XMP profile for RAM is on.

I have RTX 3060ti, 12600kf, 16gb ram.
why-do-i-have-low-fps-when-my-cpu-ang-gpu-not-fully-loaded-v0-6s3qa064m5fc1.png

UPD: Thank You all for your responses and your time!
 
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PCG Dash

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Apr 7, 2023
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Do you have any power saving settings enabled in Windows?

Sometimes GPU software can include different performance settings that can affect your framerate pretty substantially too, so definitely spend some time making sure all of your settings are correct!
 
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Jan 28, 2024
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Do you have any power saving settings enabled in Windows?

Sometimes GPU software can include different performance settings that can affect your framerate pretty substantially too, so definitely spend some time making sure all of your settings are correct!
I'll check but I'm pretty sure that i don't have something like that turned on
 

Zloth

Community Contributor
GPU and CPU aren't the only things in there. The CPU can't do its command until the memory is all in the right place, for instance.

Also, you've got one core at 75%, which is already pretty busy. Games tend to be single-threaded programs, so they can only use one. Actually, there's another core way up over 50%. It might be the game keeping a second thread going for something, but you could also have other stuff running in the background. If you run Task Manager as an admin, do you see other stuff taking up CPU time?

P.S. Try checking how the framerate changes as you change graphics options. That will help diagnose where the bottleneck is.
 
Do you have any power saving settings enabled in Windows?

Sometimes GPU software can include different performance settings that can affect your framerate pretty substantially too, so definitely spend some time making sure all of your settings are correct!

Sometimes people aren't aware as well that a background app they are using is sucking up resources. It's kind of hard for us to verify if 119 FPS is "low" when you don't even say what game it is though.
 
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GPU and CPU aren't the only things in there. The CPU can't do its command until the memory is all in the right place, for instance.

Also, you've got one core at 75%, which is already pretty busy. Games tend to be single-threaded programs, so they can only use one. Actually, there's another core way up over 50%. It might be the game keeping a second thread going for something, but you could also have other stuff running in the background. If you run Task Manager as an admin, do you see other stuff taking up CPU time?

P.S. Try checking how the framerate changes as you change graphics options. That will help diagnose where the bottleneck is.
There is no other process that uses my CPU, so I don't think that's the prioblem.
And about framerate - It don't changes at all, no matter if I'm on ultra or minimal settings
 
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Sometimes people aren't aware as well that a background app they are using is sucking up resources. It's kind of hard for us to verify if 119 FPS is "low" when you don't even say what game it is though.
That's DOTA 2, sorry that i didn't mention it before. And I wasn't meaning that 120 FPS is really low, i just don't understand why the game not using more power that my CPU clearly have, to give me more frames.
 
I recommend going into Nvidia Control Panel (right click Nvidia logo in bottom right of task bar, go to Control Panel not GeForce Experience). There are a lot of options here you can change. For example,

Power Management to Prefer Maximum Performance
Vsync to Off
CUDA Cores to All
Triple Buffering to Off
Turn off Maximum Frame Rate

Then go into your Windows power settings (click Windows logo, type “power”, go to Power and Sleep Settings), in the right side under Reated Settings click Additional Power Settings and make sure High Performance is checked. While you’re in Windows Settings, go to Display, scroll to the bottom and go to Graphics Settings. Add Program for the .exe of Dota 2, add, then select High Performance.

My last suggestion is to make sure XMP is turned on in your BIOS. This will give you an FPS boost for sure if it’s not already turned on.
EDIT: Look up ResizeBAR firmware tool from Nvidia, could be worth a shot if it’s not enabled already.
 
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Zloth

Community Contributor
An online game, then. Looks like there's a maximum FPS for the game, but it's capped clear up at 240.

I wonder if network speed can cap framerates in that game? If it's only getting data fast enough to update everything's changes 100 times a second, there's no point in drawing more than 100 frames per second - the frames would just show the exact same image.
 
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That's DOTA 2, sorry that i didn't mention it before. And I wasn't meaning that 120 FPS is really low, i just don't understand why the game not using more power that my CPU clearly have, to give me more frames.

No, it's certainly not considered low, especially in a game like that which is tactical. In fact the only type games it would be considered low in are the fast paced eSport type shooters where 300 or more FPS is preferred so you don't have to aim a bit ahead of opponents that are moving across the screen.

And therein lies the answer to your question. It depends totally on the game you're playing, and I don't think the FP S or CPU/GPU usage you're seeing are abnormal for that game.
 
An online game, then

So each action you take—key press, mouse twitch, click—has to travel thru the typical 15-20 servers to reach the destination server running the game. The effect of your action then has to travel back to you thru 15-20 servers until it reaches your screen.

You can find out how many 'steps' or 'hops' in your situation with the traceroute command.

It's amazing this can happen many times per second.
 
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Jan 28, 2024
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I recommend going into Nvidia Control Panel (right click Nvidia logo in bottom right of task bar, go to Control Panel not GeForce Experience). There are a lot of options here you can change. For example,

Power Management to Prefer Maximum Performance
Vsync to Off
CUDA Cores to All
Triple Buffering to Off
Turn off Maximum Frame Rate

Then go into your Windows power settings (click Windows logo, type “power”, go to Power and Sleep Settings), in the right side under Reated Settings click Additional Power Settings and make sure High Performance is checked. While you’re in Windows Settings, go to Display, scroll to the bottom and go to Graphics Settings. Add Program for the .exe of Dota 2, add, then select High Performance.

My last suggestion is to make sure XMP is turned on in your BIOS. This will give you an FPS boost for sure if it’s not already turned on.
EDIT: Look up ResizeBAR firmware tool from Nvidia, could be worth a shot if it’s not enabled already.
Thanks for your recommendations, but sadly all of these was already setted right
 
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An online game, then. Looks like there's a maximum FPS for the game, but it's capped clear up at 240.

I wonder if network speed can cap framerates in that game? If it's only getting data fast enough to update everything's changes 100 times a second, there's no point in drawing more than 100 frames per second - the frames would just show the exact same image.
Nah, i have 1GB/s ethernet. And also - it gives me max fps when nothing complex happens in the game, this drops in FPS often happens only if there is a lot of thing happening
 
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No, it's certainly not considered low, especially in a game like that which is tactical. In fact the only type games it would be considered low in are the fast paced eSport type shooters where 300 or more FPS is preferred so you don't have to aim a bit ahead of opponents that are moving across the screen.

And therein lies the answer to your question. It depends totally on the game you're playing, and I don't think the FP S or CPU/GPU usage you're seeing are abnormal for that game.
Thank You! So, as I understand, there is nothing I can do about it, right? Like for me it is pretty strange and illogical that my CPU/GPU has more resources than game is using, when it could use more and give me more frames. Is that just game optimization problem?
 
Thank You! So, as I understand, there is nothing I can do about it, right? Like for me it is pretty strange and illogical that my CPU/GPU has more resources than game is using, when it could use more and give me more frames. Is that just game optimization problem?

Like some people say, "It's not a bad problem to have", and in this case, as I said, it isn't really a problem at all. When I first got my 8700K it was in some games being used about 20-30 %, and my GTX 1080 in those games was running at anywhere from 60% to 70%.

Now that I have a 13700K and RTX 4080, the same scenario repeats. Some games just don't need nearly as much from your CPU and GPU. As long as your actual game performance is plenty good enough, which yours obviously is, it just means your hardware is more than capable of handling the game.

Maybe try playing a game like A Plague Tale Requiem on max settings, THEN you will see much higher usage. It's not that "there is nothing you can do about it", its that nothing NEED be done about it, because there's no problem to solve.
 
Jan 28, 2024
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Like some people say, "It's not a bad problem to have", and in this case, as I said, it isn't really a problem at all. When I first got my 8700K it was in some games being used about 20-30 %, and my GTX 1080 in those games was running at anywhere from 60% to 70%.

Now that I have a 13700K and RTX 4080, the same scenario repeats. Some games just don't need nearly as much from your CPU and GPU. As long as your actual game performance is plenty good enough, which yours obviously is, it just means your hardware is more than capable of handling the game.

Maybe try playing a game like A Plague Tale Requiem on max settings, THEN you will see much higher usage. It's not that "there is nothing you can do about it", its that nothing NEED be done about it, because there's no problem to solve.
Ok, Thank You!
 
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