Terrible performance following GPU upgrade (Low GPU Usage)
Terrible performance following GPU upgrade (Low GPU Usage)
I have been playing GTA V on my desktop without any performance problems since 2015. My system specifications were: i7 2600k @ 4.6ghz, 16gb RAM, 7200rpm HD, GTX 970 SC. With these specs, I could play smoothly at 1080p around 60fps. Recently, I upgraded my GPU from the GTX 970 SC to a GTX 1070ti SC. Yesterday, after the upgrade, I started GTA V for the first time and was shocked by the poor performance.
Here are the problems I encountered:
1. Start menu and main menu had very slow performance. When launching the game, the menu would stutter heavily, showing around 35fps, while moving the mouse felt like only 10fps.
2. In-game performance was terrible even at 1080p with medium settings. At 1080p and 800x600 scaling, I still couldn’t reach 60fps in GTA Online. I tried lowering the resolution but it didn’t improve things.
3. Frequent micro stutters and occasional macro stutters. The game would stutter excessively, especially while walking around a garage or driving through town, with long pauses that could last nearly a second.
Additional details:
After installing the 1070ti, I updated the driver to version 399.24 during a clean installation. Steam confirmed there were no issues. I’m aware that stutters in GTA are often due to slow HD, but I used the same HD as before and even moved the game folder to a newer one just to test, yet the problems persisted.
Anyone have any ideas about what might be causing this, or how to fix it?
When you switch your GPU, it's advised to use DDU to remove the previous drivers. Try that.
Is your RAM set up in dual channel? How much extra memory does Windows reserve from it?
Can you share complete GPU information while under stress so we can check for any unusual behavior?
What is your CPU utilization?
unlikely, i've been using the new GPU for around two months and everything else is working perfectly (Assetto Corsa, Assetto Corsa Competizione, Crossout, Beware, CS:GO, PUBG and other games tested)
I think it's on dual channel, I have four sticks of 4gb each. Is there a way to verify if dual channel is active? With just the task manager open, it's using 3.5gb. How can I get full GPU statistics? I expect to see CPU usage after reinstalling the game. Right now.
I removed the game, cleared the folders at /Documents and /Appdata, restarted the computer, and reinstalled it again.
The first issue mentioned (poor menu performance) appears resolved—it now runs at 64fps with just 20% of my GPU usage.
However, the in-game performance remains subpar, dropping below 70fps at 1080p with minimum graphics settings.
During loading screens, GPU usage was about 40%, while gameplay stayed around 20%.
CPU usage consistently hovered between 60% and 80%.
I adjusted the graphics settings by clicking "Tick almost all graphics options" one click to the right (normal options increased performance, OFF set to normal, MSAA/FXAA disabled, advanced graphics left off).
This approach maintained stable performance at 1080p with medium to high graphics settings, keeping frames below 60fps (40–55fps).
During gameplay, GPU usage remained near 20% and CPU usage stayed in the 60–80% range.
Both tests recorded "Log to file" in GPU-Z, but no log file was generated.
Here are some additional updates on my saga...
I downloaded the DDU tool, executed it in safe mode, wiped all display drivers, and then installed the latest Nvidia driver (417.71).
When I tried to run GTA again, the performance remained unchanged.
At least the menu problems and stuttering issues disappeared after a full reinstall.
I observed that my GPU usage was between 20 and 39%, with clock speeds around 700 MHz, which is significantly lower than expected (over 1600 MHz).
I re-enabled "prefer maximum performance" in the Nvidia driver, and this time the clock stabilized at 1772 MHz.
However, the GPU usage dropped even further to about 14–25%, and the FPS stayed between 40 and 55.
I still don’t fully understand what’s happening.