low cpu frequency and ocasional GPU usage drops

[Josip Broz Tito]

Can anyone else confirm having this? I play with DX12, the GPU is at 100% load most of the time and CPU is not even working at its highest clocks which i never seen in videogames before. Is it like that for other people? And very rarely GPU usage drops which leads to short freeze.

[Johetan]

For me it uses the full ghz, but its at a 100% at all times...

[trek554]

maybe bother to do the most logical first step which is to list your actual specs?

[Johetan]

Originally posted by trek554:

maybe bother to do the most logical first step which is to list your actual specs?

For me it's 6600k i5 not OC, gtx1070,16gbRAM, installed ob SSD, the graphic settings don't do **** cpu wise.

[Rugi]

Same Problem
i5 7600k
gtx 1070
16 gb Ram

cpu is nearly 100%, gpu 4-5% , leads to short freezes

[Jo3yization]

Same issue here; i7-6700k, dual channel ram, 1070 ti, all temps are good but the CPU clockspeed is dropping down abnormally when it should be sitting at 4.2ghz. Almost like core-parking or some other strange driver issue is causing it.
https://youtu.be/1aSDd0-agc8

It's not thermal or Power limit throttling either, can sit on max in Intelburn//prime95//realbench without hitting any limits. So it seems more like an issue with the game, I took this vid in September though and have yet to test with recent patches to see if it's resolved.

[Colts]

I don't have this problem myself I got my 4.6ghz cpu clock no problem but simple bandaid fix would be to change power options to performance which would prevent CPU from downclocking or you can manually change the settings yourself
Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings --> Advanced Plan Settings
Scroll down to: Processor Power Management:
Min processor state: 100%
Cooling: Active
Max processor state: 100%
https://imgur.com/a/abm6gPi

Unfortunately this will prevent your CPU from downclocking even when idle so when not playing SOTTR you will likely want to reset this setting to:
Min processor state: 5%
Cooling: Active
Max processor state: 100%

For me idle cpu temp will be 37-40 when not downclocking and when allowing cpu downclock I get 27C-30C(Mostly 30C the longer the cpu is idle for the more it goes down) So keep that in mind. If you don't mind extra 10 or more CPU temp on idle leave it at 100% min 100% max and you'll never have to worry about having this issue.

[Colts]

Originally posted by Rough:

Same Problem
i5 7600k
gtx 1070
16 gb Ram

cpu is nearly 100%, gpu 4-5% , leads to short freezes

That's a pretty severe cpu bottleneck wow, what speed is your ram? Doesn't make much sense as i5 7600k should not be bottlenecking your 1070 so bad that it only gets 4-5% GPU usage. Of course this is going to lead to short freezes as your CPU is holding your GPU back from being full 100% utilization. How frequently does this happen? Might want to make sure your CPU is not downclocking while gaming try my method above.

[Jo3yization]

Ok I found something weird, I went over the first benchmarks I took when I first got the game in september & noticed under *DX11* the clockspeed and frame latency are stable, but overall lower than DX12, but in DX12 the cpu clockspeed is fluctuating & framerate is higher, I'll have to test after the patches since september to see if the issue is still there but this seems to be more of a CPU overhead//API issue rather than the CPU or game itself. https://youtu.be/9OKVPIOxtMY

And yeah I know I can set power limit to max and run 100% speed all the time, but I prefer the C-states & dynamic clock/power saving to be left on so it's not running full bore @ idle so the band-aid fix is a weak fix for me since high performance mode tends to get "stuck" without a reboot.

To be honest I wouldnt have even noticed the CPU clockspeed was fluctuating if it wasnt for the fact I run an overlay & someone happened to mention it on my gameplay vid in DX12, the game felt like it was running fine otherwise in spite of apparent "30ms" frame latency that could be seen as stutter, I dont think its a severe issue but annoying nonetheless.

[Colts]

lol nothings stopping you from setting it to min 100% when using the game and back to min5% when not playing game until the issue gets resolved....

But I am on i7 4790k oc ~ 4.6ghz running min 5% max 100% and have no issues game maintains 4600mhz at all times.

My BIO
Im running dynamic mode
C-state: Auto
C1E: Disabled
Hyperthreading on
Turbo boost off.
Enhanced Turbo: Auto

[Jo3yization]

Did you test in DX12 & does your CPU drop right down @ desktop? Seems strange that it would affect Skylake & not Haswell, though I guess the GPU/drivers could be at fault too.

Fresh tests I just took show they havent fixed the problem between now and Sept. https://youtu.be/Am8951dIL8c

[Colts]

Originally posted by Jo3yization:

Did you test in DX12 & does your CPU drop right down @ desktop? Seems strange that it would affect Skylake & not Haswell, though I guess the GPU/drivers could be at fault too.

Fresh tests I just took show they havent fixed the problem between now and Sept. https://youtu.be/Am8951dIL8c

I only play in DX12 for HDR and yes my cpu down clocks on idle at desktop. CPU clock min via afterburner is 800 max 4600. While playing I used OSD via rivatuner to confirm 4600mhz is CPU Core Clock and yeah does seem strange to affect Skylake and not haswell most likely something in your settings unless other skylake users are also affected.

EDIT: Couple things to note going over your graphic settings quickly not that all of these would make difference but
I have
depth of field off
motion blur off
and I am not using exclusive full screen as its buggy I would try without exclusive full screen on and see what happens.

Also I am mostly using my 4k 60hz TV in 1440p HDR mode but also have 1080p 144hz monitor that doesn't have issue either.

This review here is using Intel i7 6850K @4.0GHz and a AMD Ryzen 7 1700X @ 4.0GHz and he didn't have this issue. https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/software/shadow_of_the_tomb_raider_pc_performance_review/7

[Jo3yization]

Thanks for the info,, the overclock3d is lacking though since if I ran the benchmarks *without* an overlay, the FPS results are very similar(no severe fps drops in DX12), if it wasnt for MSI afterburner and frame latency(which overclock3d didnt cover), I would assume everything was normal. I'm also not a huge fan of motion blur or depth, just ran them for an apples to apples comparison with my September benchmarks to see if anything improved.

[Colts]

Originally posted by Jo3yization:

Thanks for the info,, the overclock3d is lacking though since if I ran the benchmarks *without* an overlay, the FPS results are very similar(no severe fps drops in DX12), if it wasnt for MSI afterburner and frame latency(which overclock3d didnt cover), I would assume everything was normal. I'm also not a huge fan of motion blur or depth, just ran them for an apples to apples comparison with my September benchmarks to see if anything improved.

yeah np you can compare benchmark results with youtube videos as well like this one below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leeVzPN_mZU

If his cpu was downclocking his gpu usage wouldn't be so consistently at 98/99% Only problem is you don't know if hes forcing cpu clock to be same at all times or not.

Found a youtube video that also has same problem as you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_69sYkcOyQ

[Colts]

Here is another that doesn't have the issue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI7BZJPTPjU

maybe comment on the video and see if he allows cpu to downclock on idle. Best way to fix it would be to find someone else using 6700k without issue and see what settings they running in bios and such.

[Colts]

something else I just thought of is you could try setting Shadow of the tomb raider to run in high priority in the task manager. Another thing you could do is go to graphic settings under display settings in windows 10 and add shadow of the tomb raider in there and set it to high performance for your GPU. It may be a graphic setting but it might also help in telling windows not to downclock your CPU while playing SOTTR.

https://imgur.com/a/DNqnZ2D