Maximum utilization of my GPU?

[swchoi89]

Hi Everyone,

I am now curious about something: please bare with me as I am not really computer-savvy.

Is it possible that my GPUs are not 100% utilized? For example, refer to my spec below (i5-4670K + two GTX 770s). How will I know that my GPUs are only utilizing, say 50% of its full power, when I play games?

If I end up finding out that my GPUs are under-utilized, how do I force it to use 100% of its power? And will this cause any issues?

Thank you

(I have a friend who recently overclocked his CPU from stock and led to a conclusion that the GPU is now less intensive and puts more burden on the CPU or something... this led to my question above)

 

[lehtv]

How will I know that my GPUs are only utilizing, say 50% of its full power, when I play games?

You can see GPU usage in monitoring apps like GPU-Z or MSI Afterburner.

If I end up finding out that my GPUs are under-utilized, how do I force it to use 100% of its power? And will this cause any issues?

There are a few reasons for GPU usage not being 99-100%:
- your FPS is being limited by VSync or an artificial FPS limiter (you shouldn't need VSync on 120hz though)
- CPU bottleneck
- SLI not perfectly implemented in whichever game you're playing
- game not well optimized and not using available GPU power despite no CPU bottleneck - not entirely sure about this

I have a friend who recently overclocked his CPU from stock and led to a conclusion that the GPU is now less intensive and puts more burden on the CPU or something...

This makes no sense. Overclocking the CPU improves CPU performance which can only increase GPU utilization. The processor's clock speed has nothing to do with how much "burden" there is on the processor, that's determined by whatever is being processed.

 

[swchoi89]

@lehtv

Thank you for the detailed response!

Sorry, why don't I need Vsync on a 120Hz monitor? I thought Vsync was always a must to provide smooth frame production? Or maybe I am misunderstanding. I remember when I had a 60Hz monitor, without Vsync would produce stuttering and un-smooth quality.

 

[lehtv]

Sorry, why don't I need Vsync on a 120Hz monitor?

The point of VSync is to eliminate most of the screen tearing that results from having a framerate higher than the monitor's refresh rate. But there are downsides to VSync. Framerates below the monitor's refresh rate can stutter a little and appear less smooth, and VSync introduces input lag due to the requirement for the GPU to wait for refresh before sending another frame. On 60hz, the benefits outweigh the downsides, but on 120hz, screen tearing is much harder to notice, so you'll want to turn VSync off and enjoy the reduced input lag and smoother sub-120fps motion.

 

[swchoi89]

The point of VSync is to eliminate most of the screen tearing that results from having a framerate higher than the monitor's refresh rate. But there are downsides to VSync. Framerates below the monitor's refresh rate can stutter a little and appear less smooth, and VSync introduces input lag due to the requirement for the GPU to wait for refresh before sending another frame. On 60hz, the benefits outweigh the downsides, but on 120hz, screen tearing is much harder to notice, so you'll want to turn VSync off and enjoy the reduced input lag and smoother sub-120fps motion.

Much appreciated!!!

 

[PrincessFrosty]

The point of VSync is to eliminate most of the screen tearing that results from having a framerate higher than the monitor's refresh rate. But there are downsides to VSync. Framerates below the monitor's refresh rate can stutter a little and appear less smooth, and VSync introduces input lag due to the requirement for the GPU to wait for refresh before sending another frame. On 60hz, the benefits outweigh the downsides, but on 120hz, screen tearing is much harder to notice, so you'll want to turn VSync off and enjoy the reduced input lag and smoother sub-120fps motion.

Just quickly correct some of this, Vsync eliminates all tearing, not just most. Tearing occurs even when your frame rate is lower than your refresh rate it just occurs less frequently per second. Whether the benefit outweighs the cost or not is really just down to user preference for example I never use vsync at all because I can't stand input latency and tearing doesn't visually bother me, everyone's preferences are slightly different.

 

[KingFatty]

OP, why do you have the desire to force your GPUs to work harder?

When you go for a leisurely walk, do you want to be sweating and out of breath as though you were running, even though you don't have to hurry?

If your GPUs are performing the task you are asking of them, then it's great if they are not 100% utilized because you save energy, run cool and quiet, and don't waste power while getting the job done.

If you have an older game that runs at 1000 frames per second (FPS) and works the GPUs at 100%, you will not notice that benefit and just waste energy. Instead, you can force a frame limiter to make the GPUs work only as hard as you'd need them to work to generate a good experience, say 120 frames per second limit. That way you get all you need from them, and don't waste power. In this example, if 1000 FPS uses 100% power, then you could limit the FPS to 120 and only use 12% power.

Basically, why waste the extra power to get 1000 FPS if it doesn't benefit you in any noticeable way?

Maybe another question you could ask is: if I have GPU power to spare, how can I improve my graphic quality? This could depend on the game or the ability to add quality enhancements in the driver settings.

 

[swchoi89]

OP, why do you have the desire to force your GPUs to work harder?

When you go for a leisurely walk, do you want to be sweating and out of breath as though you were running, even though you don't have to hurry?

If your GPUs are performing the task you are asking of them, then it's great if they are not 100% utilized because you save energy, run cool and quiet, and don't waste power while getting the job done.

If you have an older game that runs at 1000 frames per second (FPS) and works the GPUs at 100%, you will not notice that benefit and just waste energy. Instead, you can force a frame limiter to make the GPUs work only as hard as you'd need them to work to generate a good experience, say 120 frames per second limit. That way you get all you need from them, and don't waste power. In this example, if 1000 FPS uses 100% power, then you could limit the FPS to 120 and only use 12% power.

Basically, why waste the extra power to get 1000 FPS if it doesn't benefit you in any noticeable way?

Maybe another question you could ask is: if I have GPU power to spare, how can I improve my graphic quality? This could depend on the game or the ability to add quality enhancements in the driver settings.

Hi, thanks for the reply.

So I noticed last night that in game (Aion, released in 2008 ish, uses CryEngine), my GPUs only utilize 50% or less. And in game, I sometimes get 20FPS. It is never 60FPS.

I know that poor programming and optimization is one leading factor as I am not the only one who experiences such drop in performance. But when it drops to 15FPS, it becomes unbareable and does not make sense for such an old game to challenge my GPUs like that. I get solid 60FPS+ in Diablo 3.

 

[lehtv]

Just quickly correct some of this, Vsync eliminates all tearing, not just most.

In theory, it perhaps does. But in practice, it's still possible to get tearing with VSync enabled because it doesn't work perfectly in every game.

 

[tweakboy]

You have one of the fastest cards in the world. Why run stupid benchmarks with it. Play games. Benchmarks are a waiste of time imo...