Low GPU Utilisation at Game Start

[s.o.p.]

Hello everyone!

After many years, I’ve recently assembled a new gaming PC, featuring a Ryzen 5800X, 32GB DDR4-3600 RAM, and a 9060XT 16GB GPU. Everything is running at stock settings with the exception of undervolting for both the CPU and GPU, and I've tuned the primary/secondary/tertiary timings on the RAM (Hynix CJR @ 1.35V).

However, I’ve encountered an issue that I’m hoping someone here might be able to shed some light on. Upon launching X4: Foundations, I noticed that my GPU utilisation is consistently low (64-82%) even at the start of the game — specifically when flying over the starting station, with the GPU clocking in at 3319 MHz, and dropping to 2359 MHz when stationary inside the station.

Interestingly, the CPU isn’t the bottleneck here:

According to the SKU firmware, cores 4 and 5 are the most efficient and are treated with priority 1 by the Windows scheduler. They both maintain a stable 4850 MHz, with thread 0 utilising up to 67% and thread 1 at only 21%.

2-3 additional cores also maintain 4850 MHz, but are barely utilised.

All remaining cores are clocked at 3880 MHz, with similarly low usage.

This CPU behaviour aligns with what I’d expect (similar to results from 3DMark or other "older" titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider or Assassin’s Creed Odyssey), so I was expecting the GPU to be fully utilised at least at the start of the game. I assumed that the CPU limitations would only become evident later in the gameplay, particularly due to X4’s known reliance on single-core performance.

In contrast, in the aforementioned benchmarks and games, my GPU runs at 100% utilisation (even in 3DMark Fire Strike, where it only starts to limit at 576p with 97% GPU usage — still no clear CPU bottleneck).

The FPS is solid, with 126 AVG, 80 MIN, and 151 MAX at 1080p with standard settings, which is great. But I’m still puzzled by the low GPU usage, especially since even the primary threads don’t seem to be a limiting factor at this point.

Has anyone here encountered a similar issue or can offer an explanation?

Cheers and thanks in advance for any insights!

[CBJ]

I'm not sure where you got the idea that the game wouldn't be CPU-limited at the start of the game. The game is almost always CPU=limited because of the full universe simulation, which starts the moment you launch it, with the GPU only usually being the limiting factor in very, very busy situations. In the light of this, GPU utlisation in the range you mention seems perfectly reasonable.

What could be confusing matters is that CPU utilisation figures from Windows and some external tools are not always entirely accurate. The busiest thread will generally be using close to 100% of the available resource on the core on which it is running, but Windows may not report this correctly, for example if it shuffles processes from one core to another. There's generally one other core that is fairly heavily used, and a number of others that are used more lightly.

The only other thing that could result in lower CPU utilisation that expected could be if an issue with memory timing causing memory access to become a bottleneck. If you've been adjusting settings, you might want to restore them to the factory defaults in case something you've done there has had unintended side effects.

[s.o.p.]

Thanks for your reply – I really appreciate your thoughts on this!

Just to clarify, I fully understand that X4 is generally CPU-limited, especially with the universe simulation running from the get-go. I wasn’t under the impression that the game isn’t CPU-bound early on – I know it always is. My main curiosity is more about why the GPU isn’t fully utilised, particularly at the start of the game, when the CPU is not being pushed too hard. The GPU’s utilisation seems to cap around 64-82%, which feels a bit off considering the hardware I’m running.

You’re right that Windows (and some other tools) don’t always display CPU utilisation perfectly, and I get that the reporting might not be 100% accurate. But the thing is, in all of my other tests and games, the GPU consistently hits 100% utilisation, even in demanding titles. It seems unlikely that the usage readings would be incorrect only in X4, so I’m guessing the game is indeed CPU-limited from the start, as you mentioned, but I’m still left wondering why the GPU isn’t being pushed harder.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far based on your suggestions: I switched Windows to "Best Performance," disabled SMT in the BIOS, and have seen the GPU usage increase to about 72-92%, although it still isn’t hitting 100%. I’ve also run the memory at default settings (no tuning), and that hasn’t really changed much in terms of performance, either in benchmarks or X4 itself.

To be clear, I’m totally happy with the FPS – everything runs smoothly. I just wanted to get a better understanding of why the GPU isn’t being fully utilised at the start of the game when the CPU doesn’t seem to be under significant load.

[CBJ]

To put it simply, the GPU isn't being fully utilised because the framerate is limited to what the CPU can handle, so the GPU is idle for a while each frame. The idea that the CPU is not under significant load is where the confusion comes from; one or two critical threads are under full load.