Modded Skyrim FPS drops.

[Deleted3082751User]

right. judging by them pics, your CPU and GPU are being very lazy. especially the cpu, i suspect a potential throttling (CPU is holding the GPU back). it looks like you have Core Parking enabled (if so this will frequently shut down your CPU cores, which will in turn throttle the Graphics Card). as your cpu is frequently hitting 0% usage. which means core parking is enabled. if the cpu cores go to sleep, then this will throttle the GPU which explains the frequently low framerate, and if we look at your mods a lot of them are resource intensive and should be pushing both the CPU and GPU to much higher usage. so i can only assume that core parking is frequently shutting down the cores of your cpu, or you have power saving mode profile active, or you have an Insufficient Power Supply.

 

the usage of the cpu and gpu seems very low. however i will say i have not played skyrim in a long time, so i dont know what the average usage would be, however i do play a heavily modded fallout 4, and my gpu usage is constantly 100% usage, with my processor averaging around 50 - 80% usage. so as you can imagine your average usage compared to mine seems very strange. (low usage = low performance, just like in real life, when your tired that would be low usage of the brain, and thus your perform much worse as a comparison) - granted my game is heavily modded, but even so the difference between both systems usage is very different, your game is pretty heavily modded as well, in the sense you are running quite a few demanding mods. the only difference is the enb that i am running is most likely more demanding than yours, but still that wont make such a huge difference in our systems usage.

 

Heavily modded or vanilla, the CPU usage is still way too low, indicating a problem.

 

Note: Skyrim and Fallout 4 (since they share the same engine) are Both CPU Intensive Programs, and thus you can see the problem here.

 

 

anyway heres some things to do (these should fix the issue)

 

1. open Start - go to Control Panel - locate Power Options - and select High Performance plan (located by clicking on Addition Power Plans) - then click save

 

2. open Nvidia Control Panel - Click on Manage 3d Settings - Locate Power Management Mode - Select Prefer High Performance.

 

3. Disable Core Parking - open Start - go to Control Panel - locate Power Options - and select High Performance plan (located by clicking on Addition Power Plans) - click on Change Plan Settings - Locate Processor Power Management - Change Minimum and Maximum Processor State to 100% (if less then) - Also while you are here, click on Hard Disk - and change Turn of hard disk after "20" minutes to "0"

 

Note: the above should disable Core Parking, make sure you monitor your cpu usage when playing skyrim, to make sure that the cores are no longer reaching 0% usage)

 

Note: if core parking is still enabled after you try the above, i will post other ways of disabling it, however the other ways would require you to edit the windows registry, which is more advanced tweaking. or alternatively their is a program that disables it, but likewise the program would simply make changes to the registry, so its essentially an automatic solution to the same thing.

 

if all of the above makes no difference then your PSU should me brought into the equation (assuming its not this from the start) because the only other thing would be that your processor and graphics card are simply not getting enough juice (power).

 

so the only other question is, What is the make and model of your power supply including wattage.

 

so yea case in point, your low GPU framerates is very likely connected to your low CPU usage. CPU = Brain of the Computer, GPU = Eyes of the computer, just like a human body, the brain is required for sufficient functionality. in this case the eyes require a strong brain for maximum performance. (again another comparison lol, its the best way to understand imo)

Edited October 26, 2017 by Guest

[Robathon]

I will double check these settings once I'm home from work, but I do know I'm on High Performance in Power Options and that I have my hard disk to never turn off. Just can't recall the others at the moment.

 

As for a power supply, I have a 600 watt Corsair CX series.

 

Your comparisons to the human anatomy are spot on!

[Robathon]

 

2. open Nvidia Control Panel - Click on Manage 3d Settings - Locate Power Management Mode - Select Prefer High Performance.

 

 

All the other settings were set already, but this one in NVIDIA Control Panel was not. Here are the results after the adjustment!

 

https://img00.deviantart.net/960b/i/2017/299/7/5/screenshot_3_by_irobathon-dbru793.jpg

 

I exited Frostfruit Inn, traveled across the tundra, and went inside a few buildings in Whiterun. As well as a couple outside the hold. There was one incident where my FPS dropped to 20. It was when I encountered the companions in battle outside with three followers and three horses around my character, but otherwise I remained in the range of 30 to 40 FPS. While I won't count my chickens before they hatch, it seems we've made some progress here!

[Deleted3082751User]

definitely progress :smile: - especially as your GPU and CPU usage are looking much better.

 

however with that said, i just took another look at your other performance monitor specs, and noticed that your GPU usage was averaging at 0% usage, thus basically meaning it shut it self down.

 

which gives me a very funny feeling, that i actually believe your skyrim is actually alternating between your integrated graphics (the graphics built into your processor as pretty much all intel processors have inbuilt graphics accelerator, basically an inbuilt graphics card) and your GPU, if this is the case this would definitely explain the very low framerates

 

so what i would do is disable the inbuilt graphics card for your cpu, this will force skyrim to always use your actual graphics card, to do this would require you to go into your bios, and disable integrated graphics, however i cant really help with this since your bios will definitely be different to mine (i have the EUFI Bios which is an vastly updated bios, its all digital), but yea, have look in your bios and look for integrated graphics setting and disable it.

 

things to look for would be:

 

Intergrated Graphics

 

or

 

iGPU

 

or alternatively let us know what motherboard you have, and i could research the setting for you. (basically i will google your mobo bios and locate the setting you would need to disable)

 

also i just done a bit of research, and it seems your power supply is very much a hit or miss, as accordingly they are not designed for gaming. also they actually got downgraded to a tier 4 from a tier 3,

 

 

so to explain what this means, here is yet another comparison, this is what these Power Supplies are rated as, we will use sports for the comparison xD

 

Tier 1 = Platinum - (the best of the best - ideal for extremely high end machines, such as quad graphics card setups,)

 

Tier 2 = Gold - (very good - Ideal for High End Machines, such as Dual Graphic Card Setups)

 

Tier 3 = Silver - (Not bad, would be good for light gaming)

 

Tier 4 = Bronze - (pretty bad, only good for light tasks, typically internet browsing, or very basic tasks)

 

Information on Power Supplies

 

 

the power supply is the single most important thing in your computer, i know that goes without saying, however a lot of people like to forget this (this is literally in general, not aimed you specifically), you will always want to be spending in the triple digits when getting power supply, the thing is with a power supply, it becomes even more important the more powerful hardware it will have to supply to, not only that, but the important things, are protection for the power supply, which includes high quality components, and the fact that if its a cheap power supply, if it blows up it will take everything else with it, so if you (in general) skimped on it and only spent double digits or less, their is a very good chance that sooner or later you just lost 4 digits. basically meaning cheap power supplies tend to have bad components in them, typically if they blow up, they will literally take out, the graphics card, Processor, motherboard and memory with it. so as you can imagine, that is a lot of money you have just lost. it should be noted this bit here is strictly not aimed at you, it is literally general information to share. and recommendations when getting a desktop pc. the priority component is the power supply, even if it costs more then a GPU. especially because as mentioned a bit above, the power supply is the only thing that can destroy everything else if it fails (literally everything else in your computer). more expensive power supplies are built with much better and higher quality components which in turn gives the power supply protection against, storms, short circuit etc etc , this in turn means all your other components are safe, if that power supply happens to pack up, and not only that but also, high quality power supplies will also last much longer. for example, i had my previous power supply for over 4 years, and it is still running to this day. i only changed it though because of my much more powerful system, and basically because i done a complete system upgrade. if it lasts until 2018 then that power supply will have lasted 5 years :tongue:

 

also cheap power supplies, can also cause Fires if they blow up, so yea, its not just your computer that will be at risk.

 

and for the last comparison of the day: the Power Supply = the Heart of the computer

 

 

Note: in the spoiler i am just explaining how important a power supply is, i put it in the spoiler though, so you Don't have to read it if you don't want to, and also if you know all about computer hardware then you could safely skip it, but i like to share knowledge and thus put it their.

Edited October 27, 2017 by Guest

[Robathon]

 

or alternatively let us know what motherboard you have, and i could research the setting for you. (basically i will google your mobo bios and locate the setting you would need to disable)

 

 

It seems I'll need this assistance! I wasn't able to locate the UEFI Firmware Settings through Advanced Startup. I have an Asus Z-97A motherboard. For one reason or another, the model hasn't registered in my System Information either. Simply says Not Available. I had to pull my records to find out which one I had installed.

 

As far as my power supply goes, I'll eventually upgrade it to something else! As is it's lasted me three years and gotten me through a modded Skyrim, Witcher 3, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda and a plethora of other games.

[Deleted3082751User]

in your bios look for primary graphics settings and set it to PCI (Probably in the advanced settings tab in the bios)

 

as for power supply i recommend the following below:

 

Evga Supernova 750 ( the power supply i currently have, these are tier 1 power supplies, meaning they are some of the very best) 750 simply indicates 750 watts, for your system i would suggest 500 watts, you would not need more then that unless you are aiming to get x99 processor and gtx 10 series graphics cards. 500 watts is ideal for mid range systems which yours is, 750 watts is ideal for high end machines (and is very capable of running dual graphics card setups), and 1000 watts are strictly for extreme system setups (Specifically quad graphics card setups).

 

Xfx Black Edition (my old power supply that has lasted almost 5 years, again these are tier 1 power supplies)

 

Note: you will know if a power supply is of high quality, strictly based on how heavy they are, if they are very heavy, this indicates they have high quality components, meaning they have many protections and will last a long time and will give true power to your components, and should they pack up your other components will not be put at risk. if the power supply is very light or simply light, then they have low quality components, and have a high chance and not only giving far less power then advertised but have a chance at putting your components at risk. again never skimp on power supplies. always spend the most on the power supply you aim to get. also do a lot of research on power supplies. to get a good idea on how realiable they are, the power supply as mentioned before, is the heart of the computer. extremely important.

 

for future reference, the quickest way to find out what hardware you have, all you have to do is simply click on start, and type Dxdiag, direct x diagnostics tool, will tell you all the hardware you have, you would simply google the model of the mainboard.

 

another thing why its very important to get atleast a tier 1 or tier 2 power supplies is because of how much power goes through all rails, the most important is the 12v rail (which is for Graphics Cards), cheap power supplies will fluctuate in how much power they give on all rails, this is either dangerous to the components or the power supply will simply not give enough power to the components, also the standards of each power supply also plays a major factor, i strongly suggest getting a gold rated power supply for the most optimal power distribution, it is not necessary to get a platinum power supply. however platinum power supplies can save on electricity bills, but not by much. the power supplies i listed above are gold rated power supplies. the xfx is also has seasonic parts, and seasonic is known for making very good stable power supplies.

Edited October 29, 2017 by Guest

[Robathon]

in your bios look for primary graphics settings and set it to PCI (Probably in the advanced settings tab in the bios)

 

 

In the Advanced Settings tab, I have System Restore, System Image Recovery, Startup Repair, Command Prompt, Startup Settings and Go Back to the Previous Version.

[Robathon]

I made it into the UEFI Bios Utility by hitting Del the moment my computer started. Literally have a split second to do it. Anyway, I do not have a Primary Graphics setting. The closest I have to that is PCI Express Slot and M.2 Bandwidth. That's set to "PCIeX1 1 and 2 slot at X1 Mode". Other option in the menu is M.2 Mode.

[Deleted3082751User]

hmm. well what we could do is simply disable it in windows, as that should override the settings anyway.

 

go to start - Control panel - Device manager: and look for integrated graphics, i cant tell you where this will be however, as i am on windows 7 with unsupported hardware, my i7 7700k does not have windows 7 support so likewise my integrated graphics will not show up in window 7. (this only effects my integrated graphics however, everything else works perfectly fine, in fact it runs so much better then windows 10 anyway lol) for the record i do own both windows 7 and windows 10, but i every time i have tried windows 10 i have very soon gone back to windows 7 again, for me windows 7 is far superior in every single way, it runs like a dream, and i have many issues with windows 10, for simple thing like body slide and outfit studio causing windows 10 to crash and other issues. xD

 

edit: the setting in the bios should be under Integrated Peripherals, however i have never needed to disable mine so again i cant really say where this will be. i have looked at images of your bios but i cant find it.

Edited October 29, 2017 by Guest

[Robathon]

I managed to do it in BIOS! It was set to auto and I changed it to PCI. It was several layers deep and labeled Primary Graphics Display.