I seem to have a computer bottleneck problem...maybe?

[LetalisK]

So, I'm having a computer issue(that has a strange twist at the end, I'll get to it). I'm playing The Old Republic and I'm having pretty crappy frames per second. My FPS ranges between 15-47 across several different areas with different graphical intensities in the game. So, I did a test with my video card and CPU to see what was bottle necking and I'm just confused now.

My results in summary: When in a graphically low intense setting, my CPU floated between 85% and 95% load while my video card was around 30% load. At a graphically high intense setting, my CPU was around 65% load and my video card was at 65% load as well. The area I was in, whether it seemed more graphically intensive or not, only affected the load percentage by a couple numbers in both directions. However, it did affect my overall FPS(there is a 10-15 FPS difference between FPS in areas across all settings).

Edit: Also, temperatures stayed constant, with my CPUs cores remaining at 33-39C and my video card around 45-52C(it stays in this range even when I do a burn test on it). Also, I don't know if it's important, but a months ago my video card had heating issues so I replaced the thermal compound on the chip. The compound must have been bad, though, because I had to replace it again a couple days ago.

So, my questions are:

1. Why is it my CPU load actually went down so significantly when the graphics were higher?
2. Why is it the area is not really affecting the loads of my CPU and video card so much, but still affects my FPS so much?
3. The twist: Last friday, I was getting 110 FPS in low intensity areas with max settings but now I'm down to 47 FPS on lowest settings. What the hell...?

Do I have a bottleneck issue? Could it be something else?

 

[ResonanceSD]

What's your CPU/GPU/RAM/Motherboard/PSU?

 

[ResonanceSD]

Also given that it's an MMO, check your network speeds.

 

[LetalisK]

What's your CPU/GPU/RAM/Motherboard/PSU?

Post your specs.

Motherboard: Asus P5Q-Pro
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 3.33ghz(game has a minimum of dual core at 2ghz)
RAM: 4gigs, unsure of manufacture, think it's Corsair(game minimum is 2gb)
Video Card: Radeon HD 4870(game minimum is Radeon X1800 or a card with 256mb onboard RAM)
PSU: Corsair TX 750W
Sound Card: Just the onboard sound card, never needed anything fancier since I use headphones
OS: Vista Home Premium 64bit
Usually run games at 1280x1024

I built this computer myself back in '08 and it pretty much ran any game on max beautifully(though as it's aged I've had to slowly cut back on shadows).

Also given that it's an MMO, check your network speeds.

They're good. This is definitely not a lag issue as I get better ping with SWTOR(when it's not hiccuping) than I have with any other online game.

Is your video card going bad? That might be it.

This is a possibility. I may have played chicken with my video card for too long. When it first started going out(re: overheating) a month or so ago, I kind of put off replacing the thermal compound for a while and just increased my fan speed to keep it cool. Though, when it started to overheat and artifact the second time*, I replaced the compound immediately. So, it could very well be my video card, but I didn't want to replace my video card and it turn out it was actually the processor or something else that needed to be replaced.

* Edit: This could mean my card was just old and dieing or that the compound I used was crap, which is entirely possible since the tube was from '08.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Your CPU barely meets the minimum specs. It's not a bottleneck, it's performance.

 

[LetalisK]

Your CPU barely meets the minimum specs. It's not a bottleneck, it's performance.

I thought this could be the case too, but now I don't understand why I was getting 110 FPS for several days.

Edit: Also, how big of a role does the CPU play in shadows in games? Or is that going to be primarily an issue with my video card?

 

[octafish]

snip
1. Why is it my CPU load actually went down so significantly when the graphics were higher?

Ahhh the classic. The less the GPU has to work, like when playing at a low resolution or running on low settings, the faster work gets sent to the CPU. If you have the GPU sending less info to the CPU because it is doing more processing then the CPU doesn't have to process as much information so fast.

2. Why is it the area is not really affecting the loads of my CPU and video card so much, but still affects my FPS so much?

Can you monitor the temps of your 4870? It may be that despite the low loads the Card is throttling down to reduce the temperature. You may not have done as good a job on the thermal paste as you thought, or indeed the paste may have not been the best.

3. The twist: Last friday, I was getting 110 FPS in low intensity areas with max settings but now I'm down to 47 FPS on lowest settings. What the hell...?

Do I have a bottleneck issue? Could it be something else?

Since there was a change, I'd guess something else, is the card seated properly? Are the power connectors firmly plugged in? Of course the card may have gotten cooked as you said. Good news is with a 750 watt PSU you have a lot of headroom for a replacement.

 

[LetalisK]

Ahhh the classic. The less the GPU has to work, like when playing at a low resolution or running on low settings, the faster work gets sent to the CPU. If you have the GPU sending less info to the CPU because it is doing more processing then the CPU doesn't have to process as much information so fast.

So from this information, it's safe to assume my GPU is not the bottleneck in this situation, since the highest it ever got was 65% load, even with all settings maxed? And for some reason I always thought information, specifically graphical rendering information, flowed from the CPU to the GPU, not the other way around. That cleared up a lot of confusion on my part and now I see how it's a problem with my CPU.

Can you monitor the temps of your 4870? It may be that despite the low loads the Card is throttling down to reduce the temperature. You may not have done as good a job on the thermal paste as you thought, or indeed the paste may have not been the best.

Yes, and idling it is 43C and in the game it only ever got to 52C and I know I can get it hotter and be fine. From experience I've learned it won't throttle, it'll just got as hot as it safely can and then tell me to go fuck myself while it crashes the program or just artifacts the hell out of it until it's unplayable. That doesn't start happening until around 95C though.

Since there was a change, I'd guess something else, is the card seated properly? Are the power connectors firmly plugged in? Of course the card may have gotten cooked as you said. Good news is with a 750 watt PSU you have a lot of headroom for a replacement.

Yeah, I checked all that. There could be one other possibility, in that I remember I updated my drivers hoping it was a driver problem that was causing the artifacting I saw in game, so I think I'll load up my old driver and see what happens. A driver could inadvertantly impact how a CPU and GPU interact, right? Making them less efficient? Edit: btw, is there any kind of driver history I can look at on the computer to see what driver I had? I'm not quite sure which driver I had before this, though I have a vague idea.

 

[LetalisK]

snip for notification

*facepalm* So, guess what bumped me back up to getting 100 FPS? That's right, an older driver. It was the driver fucking things up. Though, the one I went back to, I figured out it was the driver I had before, is known to have issues with shadows, which might explain why shadows are so hard on my GPU right now. So I'm going to experiment with the drivers between what I have now and the up-to-date ones to see if I can find one that works well with shadows.

 

[Digitaldreamer7]

ATI just pushed a new set of drivers about 2 days ago, did you update? That could be it.

Also, Specific engines have different quirks, for example, World of Warcraft.. If I turn on sunshafts I go from 140fps to 30fps. If I set the shadows to high, it shits out.. low, ultra, good all work in excess of 100fps. In deus ex: HR if I turn on Tesselation it shit's out (pre patch).

IMO it's probably not your system, the game is brand new with lots of bugs. Update your drivers, Check other games to see if you see any performance problems that you didn't have before, check the patch notes and technical forums for SWTOR before you blame your system.