Why so low FPS

[Lopak]

Hi, I'm wittnessing a strange phenomenon with ATS. According to NVIDIA app, my GPU runs at 35-40% only, and CPU at 30-35%, but still - I get only about ~22 FPS. Why's that? In ETS2 I'm easily running at 95-97% GPU, so why not in ATS? It does quite puzzle me. Any idea what might be the cause?

[Qrazy]

The real question is, why not include your system specs in a thread about FPS?

[Wolfgang]

With that little information:
Because of your poor hardware.

[Lopak]

Yeah, I was just wondering why the hw is not fully used by ATS, especially when the (almost?) identical engine in ETS2 is able to use it up to its max. I hoped for some 'easy' answer like 'DX11' vs 'DX12' or something like that (I'm not expert, don't even know if DX version can have that impact, it was just an example). Let it be, I was just curious. Can stick to ETS2 that runs >40 FPS on the same hw, why not.

[Trump G.O.A.T-POTUS]

It must be hardware, I cap myself at 100 fps with a 4080 super. Could go uncapped higher, but why?

[Lopak]

Thanks for your willing to help (it's appreciated), but don't spend more time on it. I just found it strange to see the main components running at 1/3 of their capabilities. If at least one of them would be close to 100%, I wouldn't question the poor outcome at all. But seeing them going on 1/3 only, my common sense suggested they could do better :-D As I said, especially if they indeed do better in a game that is supposedly running on the same engine.

There must be some bottleneck somewhere - either in other hw component (memory?) or in the game itself. I was just curious, actually it doesn't really matter that much. So, let it be, and thanks again :-)

Just to complete the overall pic - here are my specs. It's really an ancient system, although it has been updated during the time and runs ETS2 decently enough for me:
Operating System
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 860 @ 2.80GHz 45 °C
Lynnfield 45nm Technology
RAM
16,0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 657MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD P55-GD65 (MS-7583) (CPU 1) 41 °C
Graphics
ASUS VA24E (1920x1080@60Hz)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (Gigabyte) 37 °C
Storage
1863GB Samsung SSD 870 EVO 2TB ATA Device (SATA (SSD)) 32 °C
3726GB Western Digital WDC WD40EZRZ-00GXCB0 ATA Device (SATA ) 31 °C
3725GB Western Digital WD Elements 25A3 USB Device (USB )
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS50 ATA Device
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

[mojo_musica]

Helpful hints from players on this forum:

If you've previously used the TAA graphics mod, delete all files from it.
Make sure the game and Steam are not running in compatibility mode.
Make sure your Windows swap file is set to 'system managed'IMPORTANT
Disable the NVIDIA overlay
Disable the Discord overlay
Disable the Steam overlay.
Do not have any programs running in the background, especially Discord, browsers, Internet chat or messaging.
Reduce any scaling back to 100%
Don't overclock your GPU, even if it is factory overclocked.
You may need more than 20GB free on the system drive for swap files
If you are on NVIDIA and have previously used the Profile Inspector for better anti-aliasing, all SCS profiles MUST be restored to driver default, for game version 1.50.
If you use DSR, deactivate it.
Turn off or reduce SSAO
Clean all system fans, make sure all grilles are free from dust and the cooling works properly for the system, the PSU, the GPU and CPU.

Always make sure your graphics drivers and Windows are both fully up to date.

Many players have unrealistic expectations of what their hardware is capable of, and attempt to force very high frame rates in unsupportable resolution settings. That GPU isn't going to hit 4K @ 120 fps with ultra settings and 400% scaling. Aim for 60 fps and detail settings that look good at whatever your monitor's native resolution is without scaling at over 150%.

[straiton]

OP,
because ATS only uses one or two cores, your overall cpu usage of 35% doesnt show the full picture. I think you will find one or two cores are at close to 100%.
You need more CPU, it cant provide info to the GPU fast enough, so the gpu is waiting around to put something on the display.

ATS is more demanding on cpu/gpu than ETS2

If you have an aftermarket air or water cooler for your cpu, you can overclock the cpu to say 3.5-4 GHz, and get a decent FPS boost. Google.
But if you only have the stock cooler, it may be easier/cheaper to just upgrade your cpu/ram/motherboard to something more recent.

[Wolfgang]

Jesus Christ, you are 100% CPU bottlenecked with that ancient CPU. In fact, your CPU is way below minimum specs for the game.

[Riftwind]

Grass and Sao seem to lower my fps. If i turn off the taa and up the scaling that seems better than 100% scaling and taa. Could just APPEAR that taa lowers fps though.

[Lopak]

Originally posted by straiton:

OP,
because ATS only uses one or two cores, your overall cpu usage of 35% doesnt show the full picture. I think you will find one or two cores are at close to 100%.
You need more CPU, it cant provide info to the GPU fast enough, so the gpu is waiting around to put something on the display.

ATS is more demanding on cpu/gpu than ETS2

If you have an aftermarket air or water cooler for your cpu, you can overclock the cpu to say 3.5-4 GHz, and get a decent FPS boost. Google.
But if you only have the stock cooler, it may be easier/cheaper to just upgrade your cpu/ram/motherboard to something more recent.

This is the type of answer I hoped for Thanks! I didn't know about the way cores are used, now it makes sense to me. I also didn't know ATS was more demanding than ETS2. I expected them to be more-or-less equal. Thanks again.

[mojo_musica]

Originally posted by Lopak:

Originally posted by straiton:

OP,
because ATS only uses one or two cores, your overall cpu usage of 35% doesnt show the full picture. I think you will find one or two cores are at close to 100%.
You need more CPU, it cant provide info to the GPU fast enough, so the gpu is waiting around to put something on the display.

ATS is more demanding on cpu/gpu than ETS2

If you have an aftermarket air or water cooler for your cpu, you can overclock the cpu to say 3.5-4 GHz, and get a decent FPS boost. Google.
But if you only have the stock cooler, it may be easier/cheaper to just upgrade your cpu/ram/motherboard to something more recent.

This is the type of answer I hoped for Thanks! I didn't know about the way cores are used, now it makes sense to me. I also didn't know ATS was more demanding than ETS2. I expected them to be more-or-less equal. Thanks again.

They are exactly equal as far as the core game and GFX engine are concerned. The differences are cosmetic, just the scenery and trucks differ.
Both games use the SCS game engine which they own and have developed, and are still developing, the Prism engine. If anything ATS is less demanding on GFX, Europe is more scenic and tightly packed, ATS is comparatively quite empty and open.

[straiton]

ah, ok then. I always thought ATS was more demanding
Doesnt explain the OPs totally different experience though. Maybe he has some setting different he's unaware of, between the two?

[ttower]

Originally posted by straiton:

ah, ok then. I always thought ATS was more demanding
Doesnt explain the OPs totally different experience though. Maybe he has some setting different he's unaware of, between the two?

The newer an area of the map is, the more demanding it is generally. For a while, all of ATS was newer and more demanding than most of ETS2. It has balanced out now with ETS2 and ATS reworks and both games having older and newer DLC.

[mojo_musica]

Originally posted by straiton:

ah, ok then. I always thought ATS was more demanding
Doesnt explain the OPs totally different experience though. Maybe he has some setting different he's unaware of, between the two?

It isn't just the game options which affect the graphics, there are many settings in Windows and especially Nvidia Control Panel, or the Nvidia App (previously Experience) which can make huge changes to how the games look and play. I believe there are similar programs for AMD (Radeon) GFX cards.
Many players are unaware that these exist and that they can be completely different for ATS and ETS2, even if the game settings are identical.

[Wolfgang]

I'm still pretty sure that the game is serverly bottlenecked by the ancient CPU from 2009 (old enough to get a drivers licence now) which is so far below minimum specs that calling it underpowered is an understatement.

Btw. that RAM is also slow. My RAM runs at about 5x that speed and even it isn't considered to be fast by todays standards.