GPU usage spikes

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon' started by driedupfish, Jul 27, 2013.

  1. driedupfish

    driedupfish Guest

    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    AMD / Gigabyte / 3 GB
    Hi all,

    I've noticed that when playing some games like New Vegas and Torchlight 2, the GPU usage would be very erratic. GPU usage is low for these two games, jumping from 0 to 30ish %.

    OC is stable at 1100 / 1300 MHz but the clocks would alternate between base clock and overclock. (Meaning from 1100 MHz core clock down to 900 MHz then back up again). However, temperature rarely goes above 60c and I don't notice much stuttering when playing these games.

    This does not happen in other games I am also playing / have played.

    My question is: Is this GPU usage and clocks going all wonky bad for the GPU? I actually don't have any trouble playing New Vegas, game is pretty smooth and temp stays in the mid 50c. But I am afraid playing under these conditions would somehow damage my GPU.

    I've installed mods for both of these games. Upon disabling the mods for Torchlight 2, the GPU usage seems to be more normal. Clocks have also become stable. Enabling in game Vsync causes the GPU usage to spike even more.

    My specs:

    HD 7950 1100/1300 Mhz
    i5-3570k
    8 GB RAM
    WIN 8
     
  2. CPC_RedDawn

    CPC_RedDawn Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    10,411
    Likes Received:
    3,078
    GPU:
    PNY RTX4090
    What is your voltage on the overclock and what did you use to overclock it?

    Also what is your usage at idle? Do the spikes still happen when the GPU is idle. I would check processes running in the background you might have a bitcoin miner running that is using the GPU.
     
  3. driedupfish

    driedupfish Guest

    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    AMD / Gigabyte / 3 GB
    I am not running anything like that in the background. However, from time to time, the usage does spike to 48% even at idle. As a matter of fact, it is doing it right now. I do have HWinfo64 and Afterburner both monitoring at the same time, maybe they conflict? However, as I've stated this has not happen in other games.
     
  4. CPC_RedDawn

    CPC_RedDawn Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    10,411
    Likes Received:
    3,078
    GPU:
    PNY RTX4090
    Try and disable ULPS and reboot and see what happens?
     

  5. yasamoka

    yasamoka Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    4,875
    Likes Received:
    259
    GPU:
    Zotac RTX 3090
    Have you raised the power limiter to +20%?
     
  6. driedupfish

    driedupfish Guest

    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    AMD / Gigabyte / 3 GB
    Upon doing some research, it seems that I have to disable it via registry? Nah, don't wanna mess with my system registry.
     
  7. driedupfish

    driedupfish Guest

    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    AMD / Gigabyte / 3 GB
    Yes did that.
     
  8. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

    Messages:
    25,211
    Likes Received:
    9
    GPU:
    7950 Vapor-X 1100/1500
    GPU load is always erratic in Fallout 3 & FNV, it's the crappy engine.

    Idle spikes could be due to HW acceleration turned on in browser.....
     
  9. driedupfish

    driedupfish Guest

    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    AMD / Gigabyte / 3 GB
    Good to know. Thanks!

    But what I want to know is if there is any harm in playing a game when the GPU load is erratic.
     
  10. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

    Messages:
    25,211
    Likes Received:
    9
    GPU:
    7950 Vapor-X 1100/1500
    Well if it's overclocked it should stay at 1100mhz and not drop unless the vrm's overheat or it hits TDP limit.


    Your card doesn't happen to have 1.25v vcore does it?
     

  11. driedupfish

    driedupfish Guest

    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    AMD / Gigabyte / 3 GB
    Nope, vcore at 1.15v. When playing New Vegas gpu core temp stays around mid 50s and VRM temp at about 62c.
     
  12. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

    Messages:
    25,211
    Likes Received:
    9
    GPU:
    7950 Vapor-X 1100/1500
    It won't do any harm btw.
     
  13. driedupfish

    driedupfish Guest

    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    AMD / Gigabyte / 3 GB
    Thanks.

    I also want to ask what are somethings I should be aware of that may do harm to the graphics card? Besides high temp and voltage?
     
  14. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

    Messages:
    25,211
    Likes Received:
    9
    GPU:
    7950 Vapor-X 1100/1500
    ^A hammer? :D
     
  15. yasamoka

    yasamoka Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    4,875
    Likes Received:
    259
    GPU:
    Zotac RTX 3090

  16. Fox2232

    Fox2232 Guest

    Messages:
    11,808
    Likes Received:
    3,371
    GPU:
    6900XT+AW@240Hz
    @driedupfish: it's understandable that GPU clocks drops down because game places very small load on GPU.
    Then due to lower clocks utilization percentage is high enough to bump up.
    I would not worry unless you get microstutter from that.

    One of solutions would be give such game change to place more load on GPU (maximum antialiasing, aniso, ...)

    Use RadeonPro where you can get some additional load.
    Your issue gets worse with VSync because it limits number of rendered frames per second therefore decreasing GPU load.
     
  17. driedupfish

    driedupfish Guest

    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    AMD / Gigabyte / 3 GB
    I am playing New Vegas at the highest graphical setting possible already, and with high res. texture pack.

    I've read somewhere that if the GPU usage / clock becomes too erratic, prolong use may damage your card because the voltage delivered to your card is not consistent. For example, clocks spike up and down while you are playing a game. The voltage being delivered also goes up and down accordingly, this inconsistency may screw up your card. That's what I heard, not sure how legitimate it is.
     

Share This Page