Low GPU Usage

[Ransu90]

Hi, I just got a GTX 560 Ti installed in my computer and then I started Oblivion while EVGA's Precision utility was running. After loading my game, I noticed that the frame rate is between 20 and 30 while outdoors and the GPU usage is around 25 and 30%. When the GPU usage changed, the frame rate changed with it. It never goes above 30%, though. This doesn't happen with most of my other games. Is there any way to fix this? Here are my specs:

 

EVGA Nvidia GTX 560 Ti

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 clocked at 3 GHz

OCZ Platinum 4 GB 1066 DDR2 RAM

Corsair 750 watt power supply

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

 

Game quality is set to Ultra High with HDR, 4x anti-aliasing, 1680x1050 resolution, and I have Qarl's texture pack along with a few other things. Screenshot showing EVGA Precision info in top-left corner: http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/2889/oblivion201102222331472.jpg

Edited February 23, 2011 by Ransu90

[InAComaDial999]

Low GPU utilization is a sign of video memory thrashing. That is, your video card is constantly swapping textures in and out of video memory. This causes the GPU to wait idle while the textures load, which is why you're seeing such low utilization.

 

The cause of this is obvious: you're using a texture replacer with huge textures. Switch to one of the resized QTP versions, or just stick with vanilla textures.

[Ransu90]

Low GPU utilization is a sign of video memory thrashing. That is, your video card is constantly swapping textures in and out of video memory. This causes the GPU to wait idle while the textures load, which is why you're seeing such low utilization.

 

The cause of this is obvious: you're using a texture replacer with huge textures. Switch to one of the resized QTP versions, or just stick with vanilla textures.

 

That helped a bit. I disabled the texture mods and the GPU usage is reaching 63% at the maximum, though. Still not using the full power like most of my other games do. I even increased my CPU clock to 3.4 GHz. Any other suggestions?

[Striker879]

I'm curious what you're seeing for GPU memory usage. I use Bloom myself (because I don't like the contrast and lack of shadow detail I see in-game with HDR). Without AA I'm usually around mid 400Mb on each of my SLI'd 8800GTS 640Mb. When I enable 8x AA I start out closer to 500Mb per card after a minute or two of jogging outdoors. When I start seeing over 600mb per card in my G15 keyboard display I know it's time to start saving 'cause the CTD is coming soon. I don't think the game engine is very good at freeing up old video memory so the garbage slowly accumulates.

[InAComaDial999]

That helped a bit. I disabled the texture mods and the GPU usage is reaching 63% at the maximum, though. Still not using the full power like most of my other games do. I even increased my CPU clock to 3.4 GHz. Any other suggestions?

 

What frame rate are you getting at 63% utilization?

[Ransu90]

What frame rate are you getting at 63% utilization?

 

It's about 50 at 63%. I had to run around and find a spot where the GPU usage would go up to 60% or more and this is the result: http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/213/oblivion201102241449460.jpg

 

 

I'm curious what you're seeing for GPU memory usage. I use Bloom myself (because I don't like the contrast and lack of shadow detail I see in-game with HDR). Without AA I'm usually around mid 400Mb on each of my SLI'd 8800GTS 640Mb. When I enable 8x AA I start out closer to 500Mb per card after a minute or two of jogging outdoors. When I start seeing over 600mb per card in my G15 keyboard display I know it's time to start saving 'cause the CTD is coming soon. I don't think the game engine is very good at freeing up old video memory so the garbage slowly accumulates.

 

In the first screenshot I was using Qarl's texture pack and the memory usage was at 696 MB. Now with the textures turned off, it's at 488 MB in the screenshot I just posted. My graphics card has 1024 MB total memory.

Edited February 24, 2011 by Ransu90

[Ransu90]

So is there any way to achieve 90-100% GPU usage in this game?

[Striker879]

I'm wondering why you're trying to achieve a GPU utilization as opposed to frame rate. I apologize for not checking your screenshots before, but I see now you've increased your frame rate substantially from screenshot 1 to 2. Oblivion has an older game engine not well suited to take advantage of modern hardware (e.g. no way to transfer Havok processing to GPU). It's also not a FPS nor an on-line game so frame rate isn't as important for optimum performance. The games you are comparing it to are quite possibly optimized to take advantage of todays hardware. Playing experience (which is a blend of many factors, frame rate being one, balanced against image quality, game play immersion and others) is what is important at the bottom line. Would you be satisfied if you achieved 95% GPU utilization but only got 5 frames per second? I think not, it would be a pretty slideshow. Numbers that utilities like EVGA Precision output are good tools to help us achieve the playing experience we desire. I use MSI Afterburner to drive my G15 keyboard display and track GPU temps, fan speeds and memory usage. I find monitoring memory usage invaluable for predicting when the inevitable Oblivion CTD is imminent. CTD detracts from my playing experience so I keep an eye on it ... the fan controller does a fine job with GPU temps and I scarcely notice them. Focus on the bottom line.

 

Just my opinion. :thumbsup:

[InAComaDial999]

It's about 50 at 63%. I had to run around and find a spot where the GPU usage would go up to 60% or more and this is the result: http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/213/oblivion201102241449460.jpg

 

Another thing to keep in mind is that Oblivion's game engine processes events and scripts on a per-frame basis. If you have a lot of mods that use scripts that run every frame, then that processing will necessarily impact your frame rate.

 

I would think though that with the processor and GPU you have, you should be able to hit more than 60fps pretty consistently. My machine (Core i7 920, 6GB, Radeon 5870) has no problem keeping 60 FPS pretty much everywhere, indoors or out, in Oblivion at 1920x1080 with details maxed out (I always run with vsync enabled). I use a bunch of mods but nothing that globally replaces textures or places excessively complex meshes in the game world. But like I said there are plenty of things that can hit your FPS, stuff like CM Partners companions and all their scripting in particular are bad about that.