CPU/GPU not max utilisation?

[=X51=VC_]

Flying in VR, I've just bumped up my supersampling to see how my performance would be with a higher resolution headset, and noticed something odd. My frame times increased quite significantly despite my CPU and GPU utilisations not being maxed out. My rig:

 

i5-9600K

RTX 2080

32GB DDR4 RAM @2666MHz

M2 SSD

 

After a two hour session my max CPU utilisation in that time was only 80% and my max GPU only 90%. If it's struggling to meet the 90FPS my headset is set to, why is it not using all of it? Anything I can do to squeeze that extra 10-20% and get better frame rates?

 

Thanks!

Edited June 24, 2020 by =X51=VC_

[dburne]

You overclocking that cpu?

[=X51=VC_]

1 hour ago, dburne said:

You overclocking that cpu?

 

No I'm not but it has no issue going to 100% in DCS. I shouldn't need to overclock it to get max utilisation.

[dburne]

21 minutes ago, =X51=VC_ said:

 

No I'm not but it has no issue going to 100% in DCS. I shouldn't need to overclock it to get max utilisation.

 

Ok then.

 

After a two hour session my max CPU utilisation in that time was only 80% and my max GPU only 90%. If it's struggling to meet the 90FPS my headset is set to, why is it not using all of it? Anything I can do to squeeze that extra 10-20% and get better frame rates?

 

 

Edited June 24, 2020 by dburne

[Jaws2002]

If you are not hitting your set frame rates, either the GPU or the CPU should get to 100%. 

 In my case, the CPU doesn't get anywhere near 100% in any game. DCS is more CPU intensive than Il-2, so that may explain why you are hitting 100% CPU in that one. 

 I think you may have some GPU issue. Check your cooler, fans and airflow. 

Edited June 24, 2020 by Jaws2002

[grcurmudgeon]

Bandwidth dealing with moving the extra pixels around?

[=X51=VC_]

@dburne what Jaws2002 said. You don't understand my question. I should get better frames until either CPU or GPU is at 100% but neither ever gets there.

 

3 minutes ago, Jaws2002 said:

If you are not hitting your set frame rates, either the GPU or the CPU should get to 100%. 

 In my case, the CPU doesn't get anywhere near 100% in any game. DCS is more CPU intensive than Il-2, so that may explain why you are hitting 100% CPU in that one. 

 I think you may have some GPU issue. Check your cooler, fans and airflow. 

 

My GPU hit 80 degrees C during that time, my CPU only 60. GPU temp throttling in that case?

 

But in DCS I get higher GPU utilisation as well, not 100% but nearly. Obviously I'm CPU limited in DCS and that's fine, but not utilising 100% of either in IL2 is fishy.

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

10 minutes ago, Jaws2002 said:

If you are not hitting your set frame rates, either the GPU or the CPU should get to 100%. 

 

2 minutes ago, =X51=VC_ said:

I should get better frames until either CPU or GPU is at 100% but neither ever gets there.

 

This is a incorrect. You may be limited by single thread CPU performance even when all cores are showing less than 100 percent due to distributed utilization.

[Jaws2002]

9 minutes ago, Mitthrawnuruodo said:

 

 

This is a incorrect. You may be limited by single thread CPU performance even when all cores are showing less than 100 percent due to distributed utilization.

 

 

You are actually right. 

[WheelwrightPL]

4 minutes ago, =X51=VC_ said:

@dburne what Jaws2002 said. You don't understand my question. I should get better frames until either CPU or GPU is at 100% but neither ever gets there.

 

 

My GPU hit 80 degrees C during that time, my CPU only 60. GPU temp throttling in that case?

 

But in DCS I get higher GPU utilisation as well, not 100% but nearly. Obviously I'm CPU limited in DCS and that's fine, but not utilising 100% of either in IL2 is fishy.

 

No CPU can ever be 100% utilized all the time, because that would require 100% parallelization of processing.

That's impossible because there will always be time when CPU sits idly waiting for GPU, RAM, I/O etc: to finish their task, before the next task can be handed over to it (assuming it is CPU-specific task which depends on that previous task's results). That's called serialization of processing and is common in ancient game engines such as IL2.

[jollyjack]

Did you set minimum power management for the CPU to 100%?

 

[dburne]

37 minutes ago, =X51=VC_ said:

@dburne what Jaws2002 said. You don't understand my question. I should get better frames until either CPU or GPU is at 100% but neither ever gets there.

 

 

My GPU hit 80 degrees C during that time, my CPU only 60. GPU temp throttling in that case?

 

But in DCS I get higher GPU utilisation as well, not 100% but nearly. Obviously I'm CPU limited in DCS and that's fine, but not utilising 100% of either in IL2 is fishy.

 

You don't understand my answer. You asked how to get better fps. 

That is ok though, enjoy whatever you do.

 

[jollyjack]

80 C seems a bit too much, although Intel had a dual core processor some 12 years ago running at that temp.

 

Are you on a laptop? maybe time for a thorough cleaning job, especially removing dust from coolers.

For a PC there are various options for a better cooling system.

[=X51=VC_]

52 minutes ago, WheelwrightPL said:

No CPU can ever be 100% utilized all the time, because that would require 100% parallelization of processing.

 

That's fair enough and it makes sense, but then is this a measurement inaccuracy? I'm using Openhardwaremonitor for all this utilisation and temp checking. In DCS the main core the game is running on goes to 100% and stays there for extended periods of time while playing, but in IL2 it's never above ~80%. Which is fine if I'm GPU limited instead, as that does see utilisation in the 90s percent wise.

 

46 minutes ago, jollyjack said:

Did you set minimum power management for the CPU to 100%?

 

Yup, that's already set and it hits 100% in other programs.

 

35 minutes ago, jollyjack said:

80 C seems a bit too much, although Intel had a dual core processor some 12 years ago running at that temp.

 

Are you on a laptop? maybe time for a thorough cleaning job, especially removing dust from coolers.

For a PC there are various options for a better cooling system.

 

I'm on a desktop with some extra cooling fans, may need to take it apart and check/clean the GPU fans specifically. Although today was a particularly hot day, I have only started measuring temps recently so I don't know what "normal" is. And I don't know how accurate the OpenHardwareMonitor temp readings are.

Edited June 24, 2020 by =X51=VC_

[Jaws2002]

52 minutes ago, jollyjack said:

Did you set minimum power management for the CPU to 100%?

 

"Balanced" power plan is not good for gaming. You should be using "high performance". 

[=X51=VC_]

Yeah mine is on max performance I've optimised all that obvious/basic stuff already.

 

I am looking at maybe overclocking as well to get better performance long term, but for now I just wanted to understand why it looks like it's not fully using what it has, and if I can do anything about it.

[dburne]

2 hours ago, =X51=VC_ said:

Yeah mine is on max performance I've optimised all that obvious/basic stuff already.

 

I am looking at maybe overclocking as well to get better performance long term, but for now I just wanted to understand why it looks like it's not fully using what it has, and if I can do anything about it.

 

 

Your i5 9600k CPU has 6 cores. At default settings it's max single core turbo boost is 4.6 GHz. The remaining cores run at 3.70 GHz.

IL-2  benefits greatly  on single core performance, especially in VR. It does not just lay it on that core running 4.6 GHz, it is constantly hopping it around to all the cores. So it may have 4.6 GHz pushing it one moment, and 3.7 GHz pushing it another moment, and so forth and so on.

K series of Intel chips are very easy to overclock. In the bios of your Motherboard, you can set individual core multipliers. Say 46 for each core if you want all cores to run 4.6 GHz. The mainboard bus speed is 100 MHz, so 46x100 MHz = 4.6 GHz.

 

If you have a decent cooler, it would behoove you to get those 6 cores running consistently at the same speed. If the cooler allows like get them all running at 4.6 GHz or maybe even a little higher. If your CPU core temps under load were only 60c you certainly have some headroom there temp wise. TJ Max ( max safe temp) on that chip I believe is 95c. Although I sure would not let it get quite that high. In the 70's whist gaming should be fine.

 

Your GPU is running a little warm, GPU's can take some higher temps, however it does affect it's Nvidia Boost ability. 2080's will usually start to throttle down when the temp gets into

the 60's. The higher it goes, the more it will throttle down. Might check your case cooling airflow there. Are you running something like Afterburner or EVGA Precision X1?

You can set up GPU fan curves there depending on GPU temp, or even fixed fan percentages like max it out whilst gaming. to help keep the GPU temp down. I use Precision X1 with my EVGA RTX 2080 Ti FTW3, and I have never seen my GPU hit any higher than 65c whilst gaming, usually it is in the upper 50's.

 

What headset are you running? I see it is a 90 Hz headset. Be aware, there is not a system today, that will yield a constant 90 fps in VR throughout all the game to avoid motion reprojection or Oculus ASW. . One can get close, but not quite there yet. I have a pretty stout rig running at 5.2 GHz on all 8 cores, and I am there with my Rift S ( 80Hz device) probably 90-95% of the time. But there are times like with heavy clouds ASW will kick on on me for a little bit.

But you should be able to get and keep some consistent performance with decent results with your system.

 

I will add, when I overclock my cores, I do a little at a time and test in between with a stress test. I use Intel Extreme Tuning Utility which has a built in stress test you can run. I will make an adjustment, then stress it for about 30 min, and if all is well go a little higher. At some point will need to add a little vcore voltage to the CPU.

I keep an eye on my core temps as I stress it. When I get it to where I about want it, I then stress it for at least a good hour again keeping an eye on core temps.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2020 by dburne

[DarKcyde]

I have a 9600k too.  CPU typically runs 33-50%. 

 

1 Core = IL2

1 Core = GPU driver (draw calls basically)

1 Core = everything else, like VR calculations

 

Most sim games only really occupy 2 cores.  There are a few games now that are heavily multithreaded, likely because of their console roots.  However most stuff is basically single core.  So your CPU is running at 100%... of one core.  That means 16.7% in task manager or whatever program you use.  The more cores you have (haha ryzen people) the worse it looks.

 

 

[jollyjack]

11 hours ago, =X51=VC_ said:

I'm on a desktop with some extra cooling fans, may need to take it apart and check/clean the GPU fans specifically. Although today was a particularly hot day, I have only started measuring temps recently so I don't know what "normal" is. And I don't know how accurate the OpenHardwareMonitor temp readings are.

 

In the need for speed (for video editing and IL2) i got a 9700K last year in a sales offer with a better NVDIA GPU card.

Been messing with settings, and it seems fast enough even at balanced settings.

 

CPU averages at 37 to 40 Celsius. But i got a water cooler; certainly recommended. All fans blow outwards, and the whole bottom of the case is set as air intake, with an added dust filter over the whole length. For about 7 months now NO dust!. My old (work PC for audio etc) PC has an air cooler, 5 years old, and boy, what a dust was really stuck in the cooler block.

Had to take it apart. From now on a water cooler for me ...

 

PS i am still struggling with an occasional horizontal line moving downwards with a clouded IL2 sky.  V-sync on or off seems to have no influence.

 

Tool: https://openhardwaremonitor.org/downloads/

[=X51=VC_]

@dburne thanks. Using OpenHardwareMonitor it shows all my cores running at 4.3Ghz, and all cores at different times hit 80% utilisation but never 100% like they do in DCS.

 

I checked BIOS without changing anything and turbo boost multipliers are 46, 45, 45, 44, 44, 43 for the six cores, so I guess the last one is letting the others down because it's trying to sync them?

 

I have the original Vive. Depending on what settings I am willing to sacrifice I can hit 90 FPS consistently, but if I'm getting a headset upgrade I need to know how it behaves when I push the resolution much higher. In that case I know 90 is unrealistic with my setup but if I can help it a little I will try.

 

For cooling, I have intake at side and lower back, with one fan at upper back and two at the top (I assume all blowing out). But my PC is close to a wall on the intake side and I can't change that. I try to vacuum the case grids when it looks dusty but I guess I need to take it apart and do a proper clean. Unfortunately cooling upgrade isn't on my list at the moment.