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SC2 not using 100% GPU... Got a good CPU/GPU

L

lobski2

Gawd
Joined
Oct 16, 2009
Messages
969
GTX 480, @ 820core
Q9550 @ 3.7ghz

Whenever I play, even the intense 4v4 matches, my GPU usage never goes over around 80... It hovers and fluctuates between 60-80. I thought it was GPU intensive? I hear of people getting 100% gpu usage in sc2, but it's not the case for me, even with a pretty good CPU.
I'm on the 258 forecewares.

What could be the problem? :confused:
 
A game not using 100% of either your GPU or CPU does not necessarily indicate a problem by itself. Are you getting low performance for your settings?

SC 2 is really more of a CPU limited game relatively speaking. What resolution are you running at?

The GPU issue you heard about is likely related to menu rendering, where the game does not cap itself during menus with vsync off, causing very high fps which caused cards with inadequate cooling to overheat.
 
Um. What is the problem? You're not getting 100% gpu usage because it doesn't need to. It's more CPU intensive than it is GPU.
 
Swap your card for a GT250 or something. That should give you what you are looking for.
 
I'm gaming at 2560x1600, at max. FPS isn't a big issue, but it drops to 20s in big battles, but I get pauses for about a second or two randomly.

Won't the GPU throwing 100% at sc2 fix these hitches?

edit: I am concerned because I've heard of people saying sc2 using 100% of their GPU (This was after the menu bug was fixed).

Perhaps that only applies to lower-end cards?
Are there any 480 owners with sc2?
 
lobski2 said:
I'm gaming at 2560x1600, at max. FPS isn't a big issue, but it drops to 20s in big battles, but I get pauses for about a second or two randomly.

Won't the GPU throwing 100% at sc2 fix these hitches?
Click to expand...


no because the games not really coded that great.. its a cpu bottlenecked game..
 
lobski2 said:
I'm gaming at 2560x1600, at max. FPS isn't a big issue, but it drops to 20s in big battles, but I get pauses for about a second or two randomly.

Won't the GPU throwing 100% at sc2 fix these hitches?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure this is 100% accurate, but here goes:

Your FPS are determined by the slowest component/variable. If your GPU is at 100% and your cpu is at 60% it typically means your GPU is limiting you, in your case it isn't so plain. (again disclaimer i do not know for sure) You, I believe are limited by something not reported plainly, something else is capped out. <insert list of components on a gpu> <insert other hardware in a pc> I also believe for multi threaded games the jobs aren't simply split between the cores, a particular thread may be the limiting factor. Hopefully someone can further elaborate my claims or disprove them with accuracy.
 
Yea SC2 just wasn't designed to tax your GPU the way some games can. Like most Blizzard games , CPU CPU CPU CPU or die.
 
lobski2 said:
I'm gaming at 2560x1600, at max. FPS isn't a big issue, but it drops to 20s in big battles, but I get pauses for about a second or two randomly.

Won't the GPU throwing 100% at sc2 fix these hitches?
Click to expand...

No. Even hypothetically if your other components are not a limiting factor at all depending on how the program is designed and what it is required to at the moment, it still may or may not be constantly maxed at 100%. This applies to both the GPU and CPU. It is actually why stress test programs like Furmark and Intel Burn Test for example are actually designed in a way to artificially stress those components.

Is your CPU at 100%? Generally with what you describe with large amount of "objects" on screen is more likely a CPU limit issue, or possibly memory.
 
oolong8 said:
Wondering if upgrading to phenom x4 will improve performance from a X3
Click to expand...


like limitedaccess said.. SC2 doesnt scale for shiot passed 2 cores.. higher clocks will get you a far better gain then more cores in this game..
 
lobski2 said:
I'm gaming at 2560x1600, at max. FPS isn't a big issue, but it drops to 20s in big battles, but I get pauses for about a second or two randomly.
Click to expand...

Pausing mid-game, I'm assuming you're playing online. If so, this is due to B.net, and the way they implemented a waiting system for laggers. This is primarily cause of your internet connection, or anyone's internet connection, making for unbelievably gay online matches :)
 
End0rphine said:
Pausing mid-game, I'm assuming you're playing online. If so, this is due to B.net, and the way they implemented a waiting system for laggers. This is primarily cause of your internet connection, or anyone's internet connection, making for unbelievably gay online matches :)
Click to expand...

ithats part of it.. but its caused by people having insanely high end system running high frame rates or running without vsync.. then you get some one trying to play the game on a system from 2001 running insanely low frame rates.. so the high frame rate people suffer because they are way ahead of the slower people.. its why most resource hog RTS games limit frame rates to 30 when playing online.. horrible anti-lag implementation and p2p hosting, yay!
 
Depends entirely on your settings.

The game requires X amount of work from the CPU to calculate a new frame and Y amount of GPU work, the frame rate you get in the end is the lowest of the 2 numbers, so if your CPU can only calculate all the AI routines and game code enough for 30 frames each second, and your GPU can draw all the graphics at 60fps you will still only get 30fps.

The thing is that the load on the CPU for each frame is fairly static, you can't do much to change it, where as the GPU it's based on what graphics settings you have. If you're not loading at 100% on the GPU then it probably means you're CPU limited, you can spend that idle GPU time applying better graphics such as higher levels of AA and AF.

Check your CPU load, it should be more or less 100% (of at least 1 core),if it's not then there could be some kind of problem.
 
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