Low framerate without maxing out on any resources.

[Blimm.5028]

For some reason my GPU usage doesn't go above 35%, and my CPU usage sits around 70%, both with perfectly reasonable temps, but I'm still sitting on ~25 frames per seconds without vsync or capped framerate.

I'm looking to upgrade my computer in the near future, but I have no idea what's going wrong here.

[Infusion.7149]

You shouldn't look at total CPU usage but per core. It is highly likely the main thread is 100% on one core.

Try lowering model limit and dropping shadows/reflection to off.

If your CPU is not a Ryzen 2rd gen or 3rd gen chip or Intel 6th gen i5 or better level of instructions per clock and clock rates it's probably time to get a new CPU. Ryzen 5 3600 series is a decent upgrade for anyone on older chips: wouldn't buy anything without PCIe 4.0 going into 2021.

[fluffypaws.2860]

@Blimm.5028 said:For some reason my GPU usage doesn't go above 35%, and my CPU usage sits around 70%, both with perfectly reasonable temps, but I'm still sitting on ~25 frames per seconds without vsync or capped framerate.

I'm looking to upgrade my computer in the near future, but I have no idea what's going wrong here.

Hi, can you please post your full specs here including GPU driver version. Thank you

[KrHome.1920]

• If your GPU usage is not at 99 or 100%, then:
• are you using a frame limiter or vsync? If not:
• is your vram or system ram full? If not:
• then you are CPU bound, no matter how your CPU usage looks like.

In your case: since your 25 fps are fps drops (so obviously no limiter) and GW2 has pretty much never ram issues, you are most likely CPU bound.

The GPU usage is a very reliable way to check whether GPU or CPU is the limiting factor in your PC, while the true (!) CPU usage can't be illustrated perfectly. Even if you are looking at the cores isolated you can already be CPU bound if one core is at below 99%.

Since your CPU is at 70% I guess you are running the game on a quad core CPU. 70% overall usage is a typical value for a quad core in GW2 at the point where one of the cores hit 100%. A 16 core CPU would have a usage below 30% when it starts limiting. That's how it is with old APIs like DX9 or DX11. They have a mainthread at 100% core usage that bottlenecks the whole CPU.

[Blimm.5028]

@Mack.3045 said:

@Blimm.5028 said:For some reason my GPU usage doesn't go above 35%, and my CPU usage sits around 70%, both with perfectly reasonable temps, but I'm still sitting on ~25 frames per seconds without vsync or capped framerate.

I'm looking to upgrade my computer in the near future, but I have no idea what's going wrong here.

Hi, can you please post your full specs here including GPU driver version. Thank you

CPU: i7 6700 (non k)GPU: GTX 1070 (451.67)RAM: 16 GB (1600 Mhz, dual channel)Storage: SATA SSD, GW2 on a separate SSD to the OS

[fluffypaws.2860]

@Blimm.5028 said:

@Mack.3045 said:

@Blimm.5028 said:For some reason my GPU usage doesn't go above 35%, and my CPU usage sits around 70%, both with perfectly reasonable temps, but I'm still sitting on ~25 frames per seconds without vsync or capped framerate.

I'm looking to upgrade my computer in the near future, but I have no idea what's going wrong here.

Hi, can you please post your full specs here including GPU driver version. Thank you

CPU: i7 6700 (non k)GPU: GTX 1070 (451.67)RAM: 16 GB (1600 Mhz, dual channel)Storage: SATA SSD, GW2 on a separate SSD to the OS

You've got a good GPU, more than enough for GW2. What resolution are you playing at ? As KrHome said you're likely CPU bound.

You can run the game using the d912pxy (dx9 > dx12) - here is the guide ( please read it and watch the video guide )

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/110553/want-to-use-directx-12-dx12-for-gw2-heres-a-guide-on-using-the-d912pxy-on-windows-10#latest

Run with version 2.2.1 and the pre-compiled shader pack. Don't forget to configure the PSO Cache " load_pso_cache=1 "

https://github.com/megai2/d912pxy/releases/tag/v2.2.1

Shader pack

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1V59UCT_pBLxSe9xEaCYhAR-LII_VaquW?usp=sharing

Loading times will increase that's normal .

Let me know how the game runs for you then :)

[ArmoredVehicle.2849]

That kind of GPU usage in this game is quite normal, I have the game open as I write this and it's only at 32% while in LA.

As for your CPU, it's a bit old but far from bad and can still hold its' own even in more recent titles, those 8 threads help it live a bit longer. Can you please post your graphics settings? And also in which areas are you getting 25 fps, in many cases the old maps (core) should run at over 80 fps with your system, the new ones are a bit more demanding but not as low as 25fps across the board.

Graphics Wise: Shadows, Reflections and Character Model Limit are a CPU killer. Those settings for me are as:

Shadows: MediumReflections: Terrain and SkyCharacter Model Limit: Medium (sometimes I reduce this depending on the area/event

[maddoctor.2738]

In which area of the game do you experience the frame drops?I have a 6700k and have no issues in most areas, outside heavily populated areas, like during meta events or in Lion's Arch

edit: also about your ram speed. the slowest supported DDR4 for 6700 is 1866 with 2133 being optimal. 1600 MHz is for DDR3L not DDR4, what kind of PC are you using?

[Taniniver BlindDragon.9503]

Character model limits and quality. When many players are around (e.g. wvw blob fights, world bosses), having those on highest vs. lowest can be the difference between 60 FPS and <20 FPS. The game becomes massively bottlenecked by a single CPU core, so much so that GPU usage actually drops as it isn't sending enough frames to use it fully.

It doesn't matter how fast your CPU is - I'm on a Core i9 9900K at 5 GHz and a GTX 1080 Ti, and I still run character model and quality at lowest except when I'm in instanced content like a fractal or raid that limits the number of people that will be around - then it's fine on highest.

[Blimm.5028]

@maddoctor.2738 said:In which area of the game do you experience the frame drops?I have a 6700k and have no issues in most areas, outside heavily populated areas, like during meta events or in Lion's Arch

edit: also about your ram speed. the slowest supported DDR4 for 6700 is 1866 with 2133 being optimal. 1600 MHz is for DDR3L not DDR4, what kind of PC are you using?

One with a DDR3L board?There's a reason I'm looking into upgrades.

Lions arch and the HoT maps are the worst offenders.

[Blimm.5028]

@ArmoredVehicle.2849 said:That kind of GPU usage in this game is quite normal, I have the game open as I write this and it's only at 32% while in LA.

As for your CPU, it's a bit old but far from bad and can still hold its' own even in more recent titles, those 8 threads help it live a bit longer. Can you please post your graphics settings? And also in which areas are you getting 25 fps, in many cases the old maps (core) should run at over 80 fps with your system, the new ones are a bit more demanding but not as low as 25fps across the board.

Graphics Wise: Shadows, Reflections and Character Model Limit are a CPU killer. Those settings for me are as:

Shadows: MediumReflections: Terrain and SkyCharacter Model Limit: Medium (sometimes I reduce this depending on the area/event

Graphics settings literally don't matter. I'm getting 20-50 frames per second at 900x600 resolution as well as 1440p. Turning shaders down nets me like a 5-10 fps increase, but that looks terrible.

[Blimm.5028]

@Mack.3045 said:

@Blimm.5028 said:

@Mack.3045 said:

@Blimm.5028 said:For some reason my GPU usage doesn't go above 35%, and my CPU usage sits around 70%, both with perfectly reasonable temps, but I'm still sitting on ~25 frames per seconds without vsync or capped framerate.

I'm looking to upgrade my computer in the near future, but I have no idea what's going wrong here.

Hi, can you please post your full specs here including GPU driver version. Thank you

CPU: i7 6700 (non k)GPU: GTX 1070 (451.67)RAM: 16 GB (1600 Mhz, dual channel)Storage: SATA SSD, GW2 on a separate SSD to the OS

You've got a good GPU, more than enough for GW2. What resolution are you playing at ? As KrHome said you're likely CPU bound.

You can run the game using the d912pxy (dx9 > dx12) - here is the guide ( please read it and watch the video guide )

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/110553/want-to-use-directx-12-dx12-for-gw2-heres-a-guide-on-using-the-d912pxy-on-windows-10#latest

Run with version 2.2.1 and the pre-compiled shader pack. Don't forget to configure the PSO Cache " load_pso_cache=1 "

https://github.com/megai2/d912pxy/releases/tag/v2.2.1

Shader pack

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1V59UCT_pBLxSe9xEaCYhAR-LII_VaquW?usp=sharing

Loading times will increase that's normal .

Let me know how the game runs for you then :)

I'm already using d912pxy. It helps with consistency, but doesn't actually improve my averages, which are still unacceptably low. Resolution doesn't matter. 900x600 = 1440p. Literally no change in framerate, so CPU bound seems likely, but non of my threads go over 80% usage, so I'm figuring there has to be something else. I'm not thermal throttling either.

[fluffypaws.2860]

@Blimm.5028 said:

@Mack.3045 said:

@Blimm.5028 said:

@Mack.3045 said:

@Blimm.5028 said:For some reason my GPU usage doesn't go above 35%, and my CPU usage sits around 70%, both with perfectly reasonable temps, but I'm still sitting on ~25 frames per seconds without vsync or capped framerate.

I'm looking to upgrade my computer in the near future, but I have no idea what's going wrong here.

Hi, can you please post your full specs here including GPU driver version. Thank you

CPU: i7 6700 (non k)GPU: GTX 1070 (451.67)RAM: 16 GB (1600 Mhz, dual channel)Storage: SATA SSD, GW2 on a separate SSD to the OS

You've got a good GPU, more than enough for GW2. What resolution are you playing at ? As KrHome said you're likely CPU bound.

You can run the game using the d912pxy (dx9 > dx12) - here is the guide ( please read it and watch the video guide )

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/110553/want-to-use-directx-12-dx12-for-gw2-heres-a-guide-on-using-the-d912pxy-on-windows-10#latest

Run with version 2.2.1 and the pre-compiled shader pack. Don't forget to configure the PSO Cache " load_pso_cache=1 "

https://github.com/megai2/d912pxy/releases/tag/v2.2.1

Shader pack

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1V59UCT_pBLxSe9xEaCYhAR-LII_VaquW?usp=sharing

Loading times will increase that's normal .

Let me know how the game runs for you then :)

I'm already using d912pxy. It helps with consistency, but doesn't actually improve my averages, which are still unacceptably low. Resolution doesn't matter. 900x600 = 1440p. Literally no change in framerate, so CPU bound seems likely, but non of my threads go over 80% usage, so I'm figuring there has to be something else. I'm not thermal throttling either.

Yeh there's something really wrong going on ! Btw, just checking your GPU primary is the 1070 and you're not using theIntel® HD Graphics 530 SoC whilst playing GW2.. Just thought that might explain why your FPS are shoobar

[fluffypaws.2860]

Can you try a fresh re-seating your GPU in the PCIe slot as well. Can you confirm your GPU is running in PCIe 3.0 x16 mode ?