GPU Utilization spiking and dropping after new patch

[I HATE STUART LITTLE]

I have a 6750XT and R5 5600 with 32 GB ram, so it's not the worst or best rig. Before update I was getting 60 fps and now its like 25. In game overlay shows HUGE spikes and dips in GPU util. so I have absolutely no idea what's going on lol

[azogthedefiler25]

It's not just you. Rtx 3080 12 gb here and I noticed I only get a consistent 98% gpu usage during cutscenes. That's the only time performance is steady in this game. When I'm walking around in game the performance is all over the place. The fps goes all the way to 123 fps at times, and to as low as 40 fps.

[iCTEKGUY]

Noticed something similar since latest update.

System Config: R7 1700X/RTX 2060 w/ 32GB ram 32" 1440P GSYNC 144Hz

Running 1080P/Windowed VSYNC - Off / Capped @ 60fps

Similar settings to BenchmarKing's - https://youtu.be/eqqgW_7hosY?t=866
*Exceptions - Dynamic Object Texture Quality - Ultra
*Environments Texture Quality - Medium
*Visual Effects Texture Quality - Low
*Screen Space Reflections - Off

Game will out of nowhere drop from 50-60fps down to 8-12fps and frametime is pinned at 50+ ms w/ GPU Usage pinned at 100%

Now I am noticing texture mapping issues during cut scenes as well.

Using latest GeForce Drivers Version: 531.61

[episoder]

what sort of storage drives you are using? i don't see dips in gpu utlization or fps, but i can definetely tell when my cpu is busy loading a new area. if your ssd is too slow you may see some stalling here and there.

also... the texture manager saw great improvement. make sure you running the highest settings possible without overshooting the video memory budget, so it doesn't try to balance the budgets and constantly reloading things. this could stall or increase cpu time or load higher textures then capable and overfilling vram.

[Cryiox]

Disable ReBar. TLOU hates it on AMD GPUs, 67x0 XT in particular for some reason.

[iCTEKGUY]

Originally posted by con:

same here, 3070ti, all high settings with object textures set to medium, averaging 60fps on 1440p DLSS quality. seems absolutely fine until i do something like cause a gore effect (i.e killing an enemy) and then it drops down to 5fps and crawls up to 10fps and doesnt ever recover from it

Just arrived at the Power Plant/Tommy and frames dropped again, this time when looking at the river. I managed to make it to the Bulldozer and frame rate briefly returned though dropped again as I approached the gate ahead of the cut scene.

*So that was an interesting development, as it normally doesn't return at all and I usually just quit and return to desktop, as it remains pinned at 100% and 8-14fps at the menu screen.

@episoder - Using a 500GB SSD, Boot drive is a M.2 NVME SSD
Like I said, was decent before the latest patch...

[iCTEKGUY]

Originally posted by episoder:

what sort of storage drives you are using? i don't see dips in gpu utlization or fps, but i can definetely tell when my cpu is busy loading a new area. if your ssd is too slow you may see some stalling here and there.

also... the texture manager saw great improvement. make sure you running the highest settings possible without overshooting the video memory budget, so it doesn't try to balance the budgets and constantly reloading things. this could stall or increase cpu time or load higher textures then capable and overfilling vram.

I've set

*Geometry Settings all to - Low
*Texture Settings all to - Low
*VRAM Usage is 5713/5968MB

GPU remains pinned at 100% usage (frametime 89+ ms) and VRAM currently 5852MB, while CPU usage is at 8%...

[episoder]

Originally posted by iCTEKGUY:

I've set

*Geometry Settings all to - Low
*Texture Settings all to - Low
*VRAM Usage is 5713/5968MB

GPU remains pinned at 100% usage (frametime 89+ ms) and VRAM currently 5852MB, while CPU usage is at 8%...

is that with framerate cap on? what's the gpu frequency at? not sure if a gpu can pin at a lower power state and still reach 100%.

also try this: limit the framerate of the game in the nvidia control panel and force vsync in there. then disable the framerate cap and vsync in the game. the game's vsync doesn't work anyway.

this setting works great on my rig. running 60 fps cap and synced to a 144 hz panel. avoids tearing pretty much.

[iCTEKGUY]

Originally posted by episoder:

is that with framerate cap on? what's the gpu frequency at? not sure if a gpu can pin at a lower power state and still reach 100%.

also try this: limit the framerate of the game in the nvidia control panel and force vsync in there. then disable the framerate cap and vsync in the game. the game's vsync doesn't work anyway.

this setting works great on my rig. running 60 fps cap and synced to a 144 hz panel. avoids tearing pretty much.

*Geometry Settings - ALL HIGH *Except Draw Distance (Low)
*Texture Settings - ALL LOW *Except Texture Sampling Quality (Ultra)
*Turned back on the Reflection Settings (Per video recommendations)

No issues thus far. Arrived at the University. Everything running solid.

*GPU Usage 54% - 70%
*CPU Usage 45% - 84%
*VRAM Usage 6092/5968MB (Actual 5847MB)

[episoder]

Originally posted by iCTEKGUY:

*Geometry Settings - ALL HIGH *Except Draw Distance (Low)
*Texture Settings - ALL LOW *Except Texture Sampling Quality (Ultra)
*Turned back on the Reflection Settings (Per video recommendations)

No issues thus far. Arrived at the University. Everything running solid.

*GPU Usage 54% - 70%
*CPU Usage 45% - 84%
*VRAM Usage 6092/5968MB (Actual 5847MB)

that vram usage is pretty high for low textures. what resolution you're running at? you're not trying to run 1440p, do you? that 2060 is way under spec for 1440p. 1080p even.

i would suggest 900p with dlss. medium textures. low or medium shadows (cause they are kinda gpu heavy). low settings in general. that 2060 doesn't have a lot of beef.

[iCTEKGUY]

Originally posted by episoder:

that vram usage is pretty high for low textures. what resolution you're running at? you're not trying to run 1440p, do you? that 2060 is way under spec for 1440p. 1080p even.

i would suggest 900p with dlss. medium textures. low or medium shadows (cause they are kinda gpu heavy). low settings in general. that 2060 doesn't have a lot of beef.

I agree with regards to VRAM usage being high. They still have much work to do.

Like I said previously, I am playing the game @1080p Windowed, VSYNC OFF, Frame Cap @60fps and DLSS Quality.

The GPU isn't breaking a sweat, the VRAM unfortunately is at it's limit.

Prior to this update, I was actually able to run the game with Texture Settings on High. Now I have to have them on Low.

[episoder]

Originally posted by iCTEKGUY:

I agree with regards to VRAM usage being high. They still have much work to do.

Like I said previously, I am playing the game @1080p Windowed, VSYNC OFF, Frame Cap @60fps and DLSS Quality.

The GPU isn't breaking a sweat, the VRAM unfortunately is at it's limit.

Prior to this update, I was actually able to run the game with Texture Settings on High. Now I have to have them on Low.

they didn't change anything in this regard. they lowered the vram usage in 1.0.2.0. and it's not gone up again. they apparently implemented something that auto manages your texture budget tho. high textures is too much for a 6 GB card. that will overflow and spill into the ram. that makes the game slow or unstable.

medium textures should easily fit into the vram you actually have if the render resolution and shadow resolutions are low enough to have the space left. that's the balance you gotta find. it may look blurry on your 1440p screen, but delivers the most visuals, performance and fps you can get.

[kgkong]

You should be able to play on the High preset but first you gotta adjust a few settings.

Most important ones to adjust are CPU heavy settings as you're on a 6 core CPU. The 6 core CPUs get a real heavy working with this game. So turn down Draw Distance and Animation quality.

The second most important adjustments you gotta make are the vRAM settings to keep your total estimated game vRAM usage underneath your GPU's maximum.

Turning down too many GPU specific settings is gonna cause your system to try and render more frames. More frames to render means more frame prep your CPU has to do. It's already gonna be working really hard to do it's regular job withb 6 cores, you don't wanna add any unnecessary frames from under-specing GPU bound settings. So focus on texture settings between medium and high until you find that sweet spot for your GPU video memory.

Lastly, you should be able to play on 1440p with FSR Quality enabled and possibly set sharpness to 50 or 67, or 0 for the best quality on FSR. DLSS/FSR quality should make a game render resolution of 960p which should also help offset the vRAM demand while you're outputting at 1440p.

Originally posted by Bleak Odie:

I have a 6750XT and R5 5600 with 32 GB ram, so it's not the worst or best rig. Before update I was getting 60 fps and now its like 25. In game overlay shows HUGE spikes and dips in GPU util. so I have absolutely no idea what's going on lol

[iCTEKGUY]

Originally posted by episoder:

they didn't change anything in this regard. they lowered the vram usage in 1.0.2.0. and it's not gone up again. they apparently implemented something that auto manages your texture budget tho. high textures is too much for a 6 GB card. that will overflow and spill into the ram. that makes the game slow or unstable.

medium textures should easily fit into the vram you actually have if the render resolution and shadow resolutions are low enough to have the space left. that's the balance you gotta find. it may look blurry on your 1440p screen, but delivers the most visuals, performance and fps you can get.

Yup. Slightest drop in frame rate, though manageable @1440p60

*The only thing I've changed now is the DLSS Sharpening to 0...since I read that it's not working at the moment.

Otherwise frametime is sitting around 15.9ms (at it's lowest)

Thanks for the info!

[Flanker1Six]

WOW! Absolutely boggles the mind; all the CPU, GPU, and Windows settings tinkering you guys are having to go through to get this game to "sort of" run.

It's like buying a new vehicle and having to let the air out of one of the four tires; either not turn the radio on at all, or only have it tuned to the strongest station, remove all the exterior antenna/mirrors etc to reduce drag, you can use the cruise control but not for anything more than 40MPH, and WHATEVER you do DON'T let anyone sit in he back seat or it won't run at all!

JEEZO PETE!

[MishaTX]

Originally posted by Flanker1Six:

WOW! Absolutely boggles the mind; all the CPU, GPU, and Windows settings tinkering you guys are having to go through to get this game to "sort of" run.

It's like buying a new vehicle and having to let the air out of one of the four tires; either not turn the radio on at all, or only have it tuned to the strongest station, remove all the exterior antenna/mirrors etc to reduce drag, you can use the cruise control but not for anything more than 40MPH, and WHATEVER you do DON'T let anyone sit in he back seat or it won't run at all!

JEEZO PETE!

Oh, but there's NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS MASTERPIECE! Just replace that "potato" of yours that runs everything else on ultra, REEEEEEEEEEEE!

/sarc

Thanks. You made me laugh, because you're so right!