Why Isn't My GPU Running at Full Capacity?
Asked by
TechyNinja42
I'm using a Ryzen 9 5900x and a 5070ti, but my CPU and GPU never seem to hit 100% usage while gaming. I thought I might be CPU bottlenecked, but I've monitored my cores on Task Manager and none of them reach full capacity. During gameplay in Arc Raiders, I noticed I'm getting the same FPS whether I'm on low settings or max settings at 2560 x 1440. I'm also playing Icarus, but only getting about 40 FPS on medium settings without ray tracing. I've checked a few bottleneck calculators, and they suggest I'm not bottlenecked, so I'm really confused about what's going on.
Answers
Are you sure there isn't some kind of frame limitation enabled? I noticed you said in Arc Raiders you're hitting around 60 to 70 FPS, but in other titles like Valorant, you're capping at 240 FPS, which is awesome! Maybe the issue is specific to certain games? My setup with a 5950x and a 5070ti can push harder in many scenarios at 1440p.
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You really don’t need your CPU to max out to be bottlenecked. Many games can’t maximize the potential of the 12 cores in the 5900x, so it's normal to see low usage. With the pairing of a 5900x and a 5070ti, there may be some moderate CPU bottlenecking happening due to the age difference in the tech.
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Even if your GPU is at 95% usage, you're still in that GPU-limited zone. But if your GPU's only hitting 40% usage, that points to a different issue. It's likely that some games can't fully utilize the capabilities of your powerful CPU.
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Just a heads up, CPU cores don't have to hit 100% to indicate you're not bottlenecked. Modern games often don't utilize CPUs like the 5900x efficiently, especially with 12 cores. Forget about those bottleneck calculators; they’re pretty inaccurate. A better way to check is to use a tool like Intel's PresentMon. It can show you whether the CPU and GPU are working in sync. If the CPU is lagging behind while the GPU is ready to go, that's your bottleneck.
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