What's causing the lag on your mg gaming pc is likely a bottleneck.
What's causing the lag on your mg gaming pc is likely a bottleneck.
Hey everyone, over the past few days I've been trying to figure out why my frame rate has dropped from 60 to 10-25 FPS. This happens in games like Skyrim (with mods) and GTA V. Besides issues caused by incompatible mods that lead to lag, it looks like I might be facing a bottleneck. Even though I'm using the recommended settings and lowering them from medium to high (even to ultra), the problem persists.
My PC specs are:
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 980, 4GB GDDR5 (16GB RAM), GDDR3 Intel Core i7-4770 - 3.40GH/s, 1TB HDD (three copies).
I’m wondering if there’s a component causing this bottleneck. If not, how can I test for one? I’m new to the idea of bottlenecks and want to know if there’s a way to reduce them.
If a bottleneck exists, what upgrades should I consider? I’ve heard that sometimes swapping an HDD for an SSD or adding an SSD can help, even though it’s not a permanent fix.
Thanks a lot!
Update:
Yes, Skyrim runs well without the mods.
Also, my GTA V is on ultra settings, and my GPU memory usage is hitting 2900-3400 MB. On GPU-Z, the GPU load is between 30-75%, rising during intense moments like car crashes or shooting. The CPU is around 40-50% while about 7 GB of my 16GB RAM is being used.
I’ve also tried lowering the settings, but lag spikes still occur.
Additionally, my HDD seems to be spinning up extremely often on the “resource monitor.” This is even more annoying since I found a friend who just got a new PC with these specs:
- Intel i5-6600K, Radeon R7 370, 600W PSU, 16GB DDR4 Dual-Channel RAM, 250GB SSD, 500GB HDD.
She’s running the game on ultra with 90 FPS and only using about 500 MB of VRAM (without overclocking). She has up to 8 GB of shared memory, while I have only 3. Not sure if that’s a factor.
Appreciate the help and any insights on why I’m experiencing these issues, and why my friend seems to have better performance with a less powerful card.
A bottleneck happens when one part can't match another's speed; typically the CPU and GPU are involved. Your parts seem balanced, so a bottleneck isn't likely the issue.
Checking Skyrim without mods might work since it uses a lot of VRAM; start there first. Tools like GPU-Z and MSI Afterburner can track VRAM use. For GTA V, the advanced graphics settings are extremely demanding on the GPU, even high-end cards, so disable them if they're not needed.
A bottleneck happens when one part can't match another's speed; typically the CPU and GPU are involved. Your parts seem balanced, so a bottleneck isn't likely the issue.
Checking Skyrim without mods might work since it uses a lot of VRAM; start there first. Tools like GPU-Z and MSI Afterburner can track VRAM use. For GTA V, the advanced graphics settings are extremely demanding on the GPU, even high-end cards, so disable them if they're not needed.
A bottleneck happens when one part can't match another; usually the CPU and GPU are involved. Your parts seem balanced, so it's unlikely to be the main issue.
Checking Skyrim without mods works fine.
For GTA V, the advanced graphics settings really strain the GPU, even with high-end cards. Disabling them first might help.
GPU-Z shows VRAM usage, and MSI Afterburner can track it too.
On GTA V, ultra settings are very demanding on the GPU, so if they're not turned off, performance drops.
Lag spikes continued even when lowering settings, but not completely fixed.
Also, my HDD is spiking a lot on the 'respurce monitor'.
This is especially annoying since I found a friend with a new PC that has these specs...
Intel i5-6600K, Radeon R7 370, 600W PSU, 16GB DDR4 Dual-Channel, 250GB SSD & 500GB HDD
She runs GTA V on ultra with 90fps and only about 500MB of VRAM, without overclocking.
She mentions having up to 8GB of shared memory, while I have only 3—maybe that's a factor.
Thanks again for the advice and any insight into why my friend is doing better despite her lower specs.
Your friend likely needs to run GTA V at the very lowest settings to get 90 fps and only 500MB of VRAM usage. Shared memory isn't the issue here. Test GTA V at the absolute minimum settings to resolve the problem. If that doesn't work, consider replacing the HDD, assuming your games are stored there.
The problem with Skyrim seems to be related to VRAM, so check the GPU-Z for VRAM consumption with mods enabled.
Your friend probably needs to play GTA V at much reduced settings to reach 90 fps with 500MB VRAM usage. Shared memory isn't the issue here. Start GTA V at the absolute lowest settings and check if it resolves the problem. If it does, then you should tweak your graphical settings. If not, consider replacing the HDD (assuming your games are stored there).
The problem with Skyrim seems to be related to VRAM, so using GPU-Z can help you monitor how much VRAM is being used with the mods.
With Skyrim, if your VRAM usage reaches high 3000 MB, it might be time to reduce the mods. Also, note that your friend got better FPS with the same settings as you but had VSync issues. It's worrying that your GPU is outperforming hers in VRAM usage (around 500 MB vs your 3000 MB).
As suggested, you might try lowering the settings to improve performance. Could she be getting better results with a weaker GPU? Might her GPU be auto-overclocking or the CPU auto-overclocking?
Regarding storage, would switching from an HDD to an SSD help? Also consider upgrading your cooling system since it's currently built into the GPU and CPU.
The 500MB VRAM consumption suggests your friend is running GTA V at a reduced resolution with many features turned off. VRAM usage can quickly increase in this scenario.
Using an SSD won't significantly boost the frame rate, only affecting save and load times.
Upgrading cooling isn't necessary unless your hardware is overheating, which doesn't appear to be the case.
The 500MB VRAM usage strongly indicates your friend is playing GTA V at much lower settings than you.
The 500MB VRAM consumption suggests your friend is likely playing GTA V at a significantly reduced resolution with many features turned off. It’s not surprising that VRAM usage rises quickly under these conditions. Running the game on an SSD won’t boost frame rate, only affecting save and load times. Unless your hardware is overheating, a better cooling solution isn’t necessary at this point. The 500MB figure strongly indicates she’s playing the game at much lower settings than you are.
I’ll need to find out exactly how much VRAM was being used, even though I’m sure she was running it at 1080p with all settings at their maximum. While I know the usage was much lower than mine, she mentioned it was “all settings maxed” and I recall her saying that.
The tips you gave seem to have helped. Initially, I played GTA V with all advanced graphics enabled and used GPU-Z, which showed my memory usage reaching about 3500MB and my GPU load at 99%. I didn’t know how long that lasted, as the tool only displayed the peak. In terms of FPS, I managed around 60 frames with full settings, but dropped to 10–30 when experiencing crashes or intense scenes.
After turning off all advanced graphics settings, I kept normal graphics on but disabled GPU-Z to see the maximum usage. My GPU load stayed between 40–70%, while memory usage only slightly decreased to about 3400–3500MB.
Could these numbers be harmful to my PC? The 99% usage definitely isn’t ideal, and it’s unlikely to be beneficial. Also, regarding her gameplay, is it possible she could be running the game at maximum settings while using only 500–100MB of VRAM in 1080p? That seems unlikely given the stats.
Lastly, are my overall system and graphics card capable of handling these newer games at high settings? I’m not sure if I’m being overly optimistic.
The advanced graphics are using up a lot of VRAM, which greatly affects the GPU's performance. This explains the 99% usage and the frequent frame drops. High GPU consumption is mainly due to the settings you've selected. I suggest checking TotalBiscuit's GTA V port report for insights on optimal settings; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUEYJS799dI. The GTX 980 is a solid GPU and should still have a long lifespan.