# how to maximize GPU usage?



## raident30 (Jun 8, 2009)

my rig is in my profile under my avatar, im just asking on how to maximize my GPU's usage. my gpu's usage is only 65% max with the average of 50%, 40ish % something is the minimum in all of the games im playing (eg. BF3, Crysis 2, The Witcher 2, Skyrim, Dragon Age 2).. how can i get the full potential of my GPU? i have one theory and that is my CPU is bottlenecking it... any thoughts?


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## Fusioncha0s (Jan 31, 2012)

Well depends if u have a nvidia or ati gpu. Nvidia has a setting where u can run ur vid games solely off ur gpu. Otherwise u can try over-clocking it to go beyond ur max settings. Most newer games should run off the gpu only.


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## raident30 (Jun 8, 2009)

how can you be sure? i have an nvidia card and its overclocked.... are you just guessing? i need precise answer...


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

You can check your cpu usage during gaming. It's possible, you aren't stressing the cpu or gpu...which is a good thing if you are happy with your game performance.

No reason to stress anything unless necessary.


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## raident30 (Jun 8, 2009)

Dogg said:


> You can check your cpu usage during gaming. It's possible, you aren't stressing the cpu or gpu...which is a good thing if you are happy with your game performance.
> 
> No reason to stress anything unless necessary.


the bad thing is CPU usage is almost 100 in its four cores, and i get only 40 FPS average on BF3 on high settings... 30 would be the lowest and 60 MAX with vsync on a 1366x768 res.. i should be getting more than 30min FPS with a gtx 560 on this resolution...


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## MonsterMiata (Jan 5, 2010)

What are the settings used? Its possible the cpu might be a bottleneck but i find this unlikely at your resolution. Are you using AA?


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## raident30 (Jun 8, 2009)

yes with AA post set to high, AA deferred off... CPU at almost 100% usage and GPU at 65% max...


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## MonsterMiata (Jan 5, 2010)

I would suggest a Cpu upgrade and go from there. Something similar to a 940 or better would fix your issue.


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## raident30 (Jun 8, 2009)

im upgrading to a i5 2500k next month... hopefully it would use the GPU to its fullest.....


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## MonsterMiata (Jan 5, 2010)

raident30 said:


> im upgrading to a i5 2500k next month... hopefully it would use the GPU to its fullest.....


Well the issues with what you want is not all games stress a gpu to 100% This is because the game does not require that much power. Turn vsync off iff you really prefer max frames per second the gpu can output. Id suggest disabling AA.


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## raident30 (Jun 8, 2009)

i'll try that out, are all GPUs like this? all im saying is i payed for a gtx 560 and overclocked it to that of a Gtx560ti.. its only putting out a minimum of 30 FPS with a 65% usage, my theory is, if it uses more than 65% like 90% then that's a 25% gain in performance and it may improve my Minimum FPS greatly to like 40+ from 30...


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

It would be very wise to replace your PSU with a good quality unit with sufficient power for the 560 before being too concerned with increasing the GPU performance.
That 560 is surely taxing that 500W FSP unit.
You need to be at 650 for the 560 and 750W if you are considering a 560 ti.


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## MonsterMiata (Jan 5, 2010)

raident30 said:


> i'll try that out, are all GPUs like this? all im saying is i payed for a gtx 560 and overclocked it to that of a Gtx560ti.. its only putting out a minimum of 30 FPS with a 65% usage, my theory is, if it uses more than 65% like 90% then that's a 25% gain in performance and it may improve my Minimum FPS greatly to like 40+ from 30...


Your theory is incorrect. The purpose of the gpu is to render frames. If your gpu can render say 60 fps and it only requires 30% of its power to do so then thats all it will use. Your issue might be that cpu however. Im running a gtx 460 and can not get much more then 50 fps with AA enabled. The card just doesn't have enough power for it. Yours is very similar to the 460.

If you disable AA and set your settings to high then im sure you will find the game quite enjoyable.


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## raident30 (Jun 8, 2009)

Tyree said:


> It would be very wise to replace your PSU with a good quality unit with sufficient power for the 560 before being too concerned with increasing the GPU performance.
> That 560 is surely taxing that 500W FSP unit.
> You need to be at 650 for the 560 and 750W if you are considering a 560 ti.


im very much considering upgrading my current crap PSU to a corsair tx650...



MonsterMiata said:


> Your theory is incorrect. The purpose of the gpu is to render frames. If your gpu can render say 60 fps and it only requires 30% of its power to do so then thats all it will use. Your issue might be that cpu however. Im running a gtx 460 and can not get much more then 50 fps with AA enabled. The card just doesn't have enough power for it. Yours is very similar to the 460.
> 
> If you disable AA and set your settings to high then im sure you will find the game quite enjoyable.


how about SSAO and HBAO? do they tax FPS greatly?


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## MonsterMiata (Jan 5, 2010)

raident30 said:


> im very much considering upgrading my current crap PSU to a corsair tx650...
> 
> 
> 
> how about SSAO and HBAO? do they tax FPS greatly?


HBAO can yes, it was worth about 5-8 fps for me on average. SSAO isn't so hard though.


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## raident30 (Jun 8, 2009)

which one do you use? HBAO or SSAO? whats your settings and average FPS?


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## MonsterMiata (Jan 5, 2010)

raident30 said:


> which one do you use? HBAO or SSAO? whats your settings and average FPS?


I use all high settings with no AA. SSAO is what i use also. This plays at 1080p with about 50fps average. Yours should hopefully be similar.


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## raident30 (Jun 8, 2009)

do you enable vsync? whats your minimum FPS?


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## MonsterMiata (Jan 5, 2010)

raident30 said:


> do you enable vsync? whats your minimum FPS?


Yes i do, iv never seen it dip below 40. Vsync keeps it nice and smooth. Just give it a try. Im sure you will find it playing alot better.


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## raident30 (Jun 8, 2009)

yes i will try that out, i hope it will have a good performance even in B2K!


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