I'm having a frustrating issue with my wife's PC. The GPU isn't reaching its full power and stays stuck around 50-60% usage. Occasionally, we manage to get it to function normally, but it always defaults back to that lower usage, leading to FPS drops. We've attempted everything from a complete PC reset to using DDU, but nothing seems to work. The GPU doesn't appear to be overheating and works perfectly in my own PC. Here are the specs: Ryzen 9 5950x with NZXT AIO, 1000W Corsair power supply, RTX 5080, 1TB M.2 SSD, and 32GB G.Skills DDR4 RAM running at 4000MT/s, all on an ASUS ROG Strix B550 Gaming WiFi 2 with Windows 11 Home.
5 Answers
Something seems off. I have an RTX 4080 Super with an i5 13600K, and I can run Arc Raiders at 1440p, 240Hz, with ray tracing. My GPU utilization is usually between 70-99%, depending on the scene. Try setting your in-game performance overlay to detailed and check what's highlighted as the limitation.
What games are you experiencing this issue in, and at what resolution? If you're playing something like an esports title at 1080p, it's possible your CPU isn't keeping up to push enough frames to the GPU.
If your wife is noticing issues with GPU performance, you might be slowly overheating the card without knowing it!
What does that even mean?
Have you checked your power settings? Make sure they're set to maximum performance. In the NVIDIA control panel, you should also set the option to 'Prefer maximum performance' for better results. How are you measuring the 50-60% GPU usage? I've been using Afterburner to monitor my GPU and CPU power. Remember, don't exceed 100% on the power limit without proper cooling skills!
Yes, my power plan is set to high performance, and I've been using NVIDIA Game Overlay and Task Manager for monitoring. I haven’t changed anything in Afterburner.
Based on your specs, it seems like your system is CPU-limited. The 5950x might not be delivering frames fast enough to fully utilize the 5080. There's likely nothing wrong with the GPU itself.
That's odd, though—my CPU usage is only around 40% when I run the game.
We're playing Arc Raiders at 1440p.