GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Ask here if you experience technical problems with X4: Foundations.

Moderator: Moderators for English X Forum

DEKADENCE
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun, 30. Dec 12, 16:27

GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by DEKADENCE »

When I start a game (young guns at the starting station) my fps are at 110-120 and the GPU is utilized at 90+%. It feels perfectly smooth.

Then after a while...

Fps drop to 80 and GPU utilization drops with it to +/- 70%
Then FPS drop to 50-60 and GPU utilization drops with it to 40-50%

It's even more curious, if i enter the starting ship, the fps drops even lower and the GPU utilization too. If i exit it, it goes higher a little bit but remain very probematic. At one time, fps dropped to 8-10 and gpu utilization was below 5%

Why and how can I resolve this problem it is unplayable.

GTX 1080TI
7700K
SSD
16GB RAM
WINDOWS 10
Tested with 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.5 beta
Last edited by DEKADENCE on Sun, 16. Dec 18, 19:14, edited 2 times in total.
Dusty Shoe
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun, 17. Nov 13, 03:45
x4

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by Dusty Shoe »

Same suddenly started to happen with my game. Immediately after restart the game runs perfectly and after flying around station for like 5 min the GPU utilization starting to drop and fps as well. CPU runs at 60-70% so i don't think that's what bottlenecking the performance.
Savegame just in case: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YkJxJ ... wH0qrWz378
1.50 Beta
Win7 x64
CPU: i5 3550
GPU: GTX 970
20 GB of RAM
DEKADENCE
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun, 30. Dec 12, 16:27

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by DEKADENCE »

Dusty Shoe wrote: Sun, 16. Dec 18, 03:41 Same suddenly started to happen with my game. Immediately after restart the game runs perfectly and after flying around station for like 5 min the GPU utilization starting to drop and fps as well. CPU runs at 60-70% so i don't think that's what bottlenecking the performance.
Savegame just in case: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YkJxJ ... wH0qrWz378
1.50 Beta
Win7 x64
CPU: i5 3550
GPU: GTX 970
20 GB of RAM
There seems to be a difference with my issue. My problem persist even after a complete restart of the game or the PC. If i left a 40 FPS it will restart at 40 FPS. If it drop further at constant 20-30 but if i DO NOT save, it will restart at 40 like it was before. In all case the lower the fps, the lower the GPU utilization. If other games my GPU is 90-100% use, this one goes as low as 10-20-30%.
XTC0R
Posts: 401
Joined: Sat, 1. Dec 18, 19:58
x4

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by XTC0R »

Does the FPS go up again when you jump to an other sector?
DEKADENCE
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun, 30. Dec 12, 16:27

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by DEKADENCE »

Hello XTCOR,

I do not know. I did not reach that point yet since it was unplayable before I had to do it. It's an interesting question thought. What would that means if FPS go up or not after a sector jump?
CaptainRenolds
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat, 1. Dec 18, 21:39

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by CaptainRenolds »

Dusty Shoe wrote: Sun, 16. Dec 18, 03:41 Same suddenly started to happen with my game. Immediately after restart the game runs perfectly and after flying around station for like 5 min the GPU utilization starting to drop and fps as well. CPU runs at 60-70% so i don't think that's what bottlenecking the performance.
Savegame just in case: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YkJxJ ... wH0qrWz378
1.50 Beta
Win7 x64
CPU: i5 3550
GPU: GTX 970
20 GB of RAM
if your GPU is overheating this is what you would experience. Check your temperature just in case.
MasterBata
Posts: 29
Joined: Sun, 24. Nov 13, 16:49
x4

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by MasterBata »

I have GTX 970 and had the same issue with low fps and GPU not utilizing more than 30-40% - installing newest drivers resolved the problem.
Dusty Shoe
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun, 17. Nov 13, 03:45
x4

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by Dusty Shoe »

XTC0R wrote: Sun, 16. Dec 18, 09:30 Does the FPS go up again when you jump to an other sector?
Yes it does. FPS Goes back to normal after switching to another sector. Interestingly enough it only happens only me being docked or staying close to station for to long (scanning, searching for data leaks etc). Have been hanging out in space away from bases and it plays as good as before - no drops for extended amount of time. And no, GPU temp is around 50-60C. BTW last time i loaded the game FPS did not go to normal after reloading. So the problem is pretty similar to the OP. I had utilization dropped to 2-5% and FPS went far beyond playable (2-8FPS).
CBJ
EGOSOFT
EGOSOFT
Posts: 54289
Joined: Tue, 29. Apr 03, 00:56
x4

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by CBJ »

There is nothing unexpected about GPU utilisation going down at all. The game is most likely CPU-bound on your system, so when it gets busy, there's a longer gap between the GPU being sent data to process. Figures for CPU utilisation are not necessarily helpful here either as they don't take account of things like thread synchronisation time.

If you're having performance issues and want help with them then it would be much more productive to report details of your system (as requested in the very first thread in this forum) and details of what, specifically, you are doing when the performance drops. Performance issues when close to a station, for example, are commonly a result of sound driver issues, and may sometimes be solved by disabling the problematic sound device (NVIDIA sound devices seem to be particularly prone to this).
DEKADENCE
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun, 30. Dec 12, 16:27

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by DEKADENCE »

CBJ wrote: Sun, 16. Dec 18, 17:55 There is nothing unexpected about GPU utilisation going down at all. The game is most likely CPU-bound on your system, so when it gets busy, there's a longer gap between the GPU being sent data to process. Figures for CPU utilization are not necessarily helpful here either as they don't take account of things like thread synchronisation time.

If you're having performance issues and want help with them then it would be much more productive to report details of your system (as requested in the very first thread in this forum) and details of what, specifically, you are doing when the performance drops. Performance issues when close to a station, for example, are commonly a result of sound driver issues, and may sometimes be solved by disabling the problematic sound device (NVIDIA sound devices seem to be particularly prone to this).
I hear you about the required information but saying that there is nothing unexpected with the correlation between the GPU utilization and a persistent fps drops makes me think you did not really take the time to think about the problem. It is absolutely abnormal, even for a CPU bound game to see a GPU utilization dropping with the fps. The link is direct.

I'm talking about 120 FPS in the starting station with a 90-100% GPU utilization, then 80 fps with 60-70% then 40 fps with 40-50% etc. Come on man something is not working correctly here. The drop in GPU utilization is persistent its not for a few seconds or even a few minutes. At one point i was a 8 FPS with 1-10% GPU utilization. Permanently unless i restart a new game or load a save game anterior to this drop.

My drivers are up to date and i play a lot of other game without any problems.


GTX 1080TI
7700K
SSD
16GB RAM
WINDOWS 10
Tested with 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.5 beta

I'm doing absolutely nothing when the fps degradation occurs. I'm standing in the starting station and watch the performance monitor in my other monitor. After a few minutes, there is a permanent drop that deepens with time. With it, the gpu utilization drop. Even if I reload or reboot it doesnt come back to the smooth 120 fps i have when i start a fresh game. It's not stuterring the fps just go lower and lower and lower (incrementally) with time.
Dusty Shoe
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun, 17. Nov 13, 03:45
x4

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by Dusty Shoe »

Well if you insist =)

Version and language: 1.50 Beta, Steam, English

Whether or not your game is modified using any third party scripts or mods (see note below): Not Modified

Game start being played: Untested Explorer

Exact nature of the problem, where and when it occurs and what you were doing at the time: GPU utilization drops and FPS drops accordingly. So far was happening while being docked at the station or being around it (scanning? looking for dataleaks etc.).

Any possibly relevant changes you have made to your game, system, or software before the issue occurred: Upgrade to 1.50 Beta. Haven't seen anything like that in previous versions
DxDiag: https://pastebin.com/pRmteS6K
vulcaninfo: https://pastebin.com/vAHDsKeP
DEKADENCE
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun, 30. Dec 12, 16:27

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by DEKADENCE »

I restested everuthing another time with a new game and same problem happen. Gradual decline of both fps and gpu utilization its really a slow but constant decline.

I did not move at all. Just looking in front of me in the Young Gun starting location.
pref
Posts: 5625
Joined: Sat, 10. Nov 12, 17:55
x4

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by pref »

I can easily believe a 3550 is cpu bottlenecked, but a 7700k?
Sounds like a bug, unless there are other issues with HW.. are your cpu temps okay?
DEKADENCE
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun, 30. Dec 12, 16:27

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by DEKADENCE »

One interesting thing to note. If i press escape to go to the menu, the GPU utilization goes up.
CBJ
EGOSOFT
EGOSOFT
Posts: 54289
Joined: Tue, 29. Apr 03, 00:56
x4

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by CBJ »

I didn't say that the framerate drop was normal, but GPU utilisation dropping if most of the frame time is spent waiting for the CPU is a mathematical certainty.

The question is why the framerate is dropping, i.e. what the CPU is spending that time doing, and in what circumstances it does it. That's what we need the information to find out.

Dusty Shoe, a common cause for framerate drops around stations is related to sound driver issues. Normally these are caused by NVIDIA sound drivers, but in your case I'd say the Realtek ones from 2012 might be a candidate!
Dusty Shoe
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun, 17. Nov 13, 03:45
x4

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by Dusty Shoe »

CBJ wrote: Sun, 16. Dec 18, 21:46 I didn't say that the framerate drop was normal, but GPU utilisation dropping if most of the frame time is spent waiting for the CPU is a mathematical certainty.

The question is why the framerate is dropping, i.e. what the CPU is spending that time doing, and in what circumstances it does it. That's what we need the information to find out.

Dusty Shoe, a common cause for framerate drops around stations is related to sound driver issues. Normally these are caused by NVIDIA sound drivers, but in your case I'd say the Realtek ones from 2012 might be a candidate!
I kind of doubt it... But anyways will disabling the Realtek device help to rule this out? Or maybe there's another way to confirm that? There's no new drivers for the sound chip available. Btw why the FPS don't go up once i fly away from the station? And i have dropping GPU utilization as well. How these things related to each other?
DEKADENCE
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun, 30. Dec 12, 16:27

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by DEKADENCE »

CBJ wrote: Sun, 16. Dec 18, 21:46 I didn't say that the framerate drop was normal, but GPU utilisation dropping if most of the frame time is spent waiting for the CPU is a mathematical certainty.

The question is why the framerate is dropping, i.e. what the CPU is spending that time doing, and in what circumstances it does it. That's what we need the information to find out.

Dusty Shoe, a common cause for framerate drops around stations is related to sound driver issues. Normally these are caused by NVIDIA sound drivers, but in your case I'd say the Realtek ones from 2012 might be a candidate!
Roger that. Thank you for your answers.

I tried to overclock my cpu with the bios integrated tool (+15%). It seems to help. The decline took longer and at a certain point the gpu utilization went up but eventually it dropped again but not to dramatical level as before. Also, like i said if i go to the menu, the gpu utilization increase. Any clue?

P.S i disabled NVIDIA sound things in my device manager.
CaptainRenolds
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat, 1. Dec 18, 21:39

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by CaptainRenolds »

NVIDIA sound things? that's not very clear. u have Realtek sound - disable that.

Have you checked your temperatures?
CBJ
EGOSOFT
EGOSOFT
Posts: 54289
Joined: Tue, 29. Apr 03, 00:56
x4

Re: GPU utilization drops proportionally with FPS.

Post by CBJ »

I would not recommend disabling a Realtek sound device. Provided the drivers are up to date, they have a long record of being more consistent and stable than any other sound device with X series games.

Return to “X4: Foundations - Technical Support”