Unique Problem: CPU Load = 100% | GPU Load = 0%

The title says it all. Lately I have been playing Medal of Honor 2010 and 007: Blood Stone and I have been getting terrible FPS. Both games lag significantly.

While I am playing the games, both my CPU cores go to 100% and my GPU Load remains at 0% (Info from GPU-Z).

Note: I played Modern Warfare 2 flawlessly when I was on Windows Vista couple months ago.

Why isn't my PC using GPU? Why am I getting such terrible FPS?

Model: HP Pavilion DV6500 CTO
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate Edition x64
Processor: Intel Core2Duo T7300 @ 2.00GHz
Memory: 4 GB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce 8400M GS
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

your computer is using the GPU if the game launches at all, GPU-Z is reporting incorrectly.

what settings and resolution are you using in these games?

try lowest settings and 1024x640 if you have a 16:10 monitor, or something like 1088*612 if you have a 16:9 monitor.

the lower resolution and low settings will allow your graphics card to produce more frames each second, which will make the game run smoothly. it is very likely that this is the problem- the 8400m gs is a very low power graphics card and barely meets the minimum specifications to run the game.

 

I was playing at the highest resolution which was 1280X800 while playing blood stone. I lowered the resolution to 1024x768 and set the graphics quality to low. This improved the game play significantly but there is a little lag still.

I don't understand why this is happening now. I played Modern Warfare 2 with out a problem a couple months ago on Vista with highest resolution.

Also, I checked the temperatures for my processor cores right after game play. It was around 190F (88C).

Is this normal temperature for my processor (Core2Duo T7300)?

Can too much processor heat cause lower FPS?

Thanks for your help.

 

This confirms GPU bottlenecking.

It seems that nothing is technically wrong with your system.

 

What is GPU bottlenecking? I'm a noob so I would really appreciate it if someone explained it to me.

If the problem is GPU bottlenecking, then why was I able to play Modern Warfare 2 without any problem?

I'm thinking it is a temperature problem. I had my laptop for over 3 years and I'm guessing the dust on the inside is increasing the temperature and either the GPU or the CPU is throttling down.

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

That is your problem. And if it doesn't become a significant issue now, it will very soon with heavy stress.

 

GPU bottlenecking refers to your system being held back due to the GPU, it's the least powerful aspect of you computer so the program will only run to the GPU's capabilities, even if the CPU could go further.

That's my best way of explaining it.

 

If he was able to play it before obviously his GPU is capable.

Try reinstalling your graphics card drivers. The fact taht gpu-z can't recognize it makes me kinda think they're screwed up.

 

I installed the latest graphics driver and GPU-Z started recognizing GPU load but I still have the same problem.

I'm left with one conclusion: my laptop is overheated when I'm playing games and the GPU/CPU are throttling down to keep running.

Is this possible? Are my temperatures normal?

Thanks.

 

You may need to check on the GPU running on this game. In years past some of the game software would check and if your GPU was not able to run the game as it was written , or if the software saw that your CPU was more powerful than the GPU in the game , the game would default to software mode for the Video, and in doing so would render the game with the CPU.


This to me looks like it is doing exactly just this. This is may be why his CPU is at 100% load !

 

The CPU temperature is a little high. It might be throttling if it is 88C after the game. But that fact that it improved when you turned down the graphics settings means that the GPU is the culprit.

I think the real problem is that your GPU is extremely inadequate. It was very weak when it was new, and it is woefully slow now. Just because you could play MW2 just fine doesn't mean anything. The minimum requirements for MW2 are a lot lower than MOH 2010. Your graphics card does not meet the minimum requirements to play the game. MOH 2010 requires a desktop 7800GT to be playable. Your laptop 8400m GS is quite a bit weaker than that.

This is simply not possible with modern games.

He was never able to play it. He was playing MW2, not MOH 2010, which has much higher minimum requirements.

 

Medal of Honor and Blood Stone both have very high system requirements. Your GPU, the 8400m gs, does not meet these requirements. You can verify this on the back of the retail package or on the steam retail page if you bought it from steam.

You do, however, meet the minimum requirements to play MW2 on your machine.

This may be why you noticed an extreme variation in performance between these 3 separate games.

You could try running blood stone or medal of honor in an even lower resolution, like 640x480 or 800x600, to improve performance further.

 

What they said, your GPU just isn't powerful enough =/

Turning the settings to lowest will help you, although I think you should be able to keep the resolution up since it depends more on the CPU (correct me if i'm wrong).

 

no resolution depends on the video card, as it has render and load bigger textures etc

 

your 8400 is a little bit better than my x1400, you can't play most 2007+ games on it reasonably

 

Thank you Trottel and masterchef341 and everybody else for contributing. You guys cleared up a bunch of questions I had.

I guess it is time to buy a new laptop. What do you guys think about the new Dell XPS 15 with NVIDIA GeForce GT 435M 2GB graphics?

Or should I go for a more powerful system? My budget is around $1500.

Thanks for all your help.

 

get ati 5870m or nvidia 460/470m

 

Thanks Key001.

Do you know what laptops offer these cards?

 

Make a new thread in this forum: http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/

 

with a $1500 budget, you want something basically top of the line for a gaming laptop

 

You need to check again before making a statement that it is not possible.
I did not say it was this game ,I said it needed to be checked, and yes there are modern games still on the market that do this. And there is support software that is installed from some games that will do just what he is seeing.

So please do not tell a new user that something is not possible in games or software even if it is a newer package.


Now not to make this any more complicated than it already is getting, the main thing I see here that he has written is that his notebook is not powerful enough to run what he is trying to run.

 

Key001, I see that you are using an "external XFX Radeon 5750 1GB + PE4L" how are you doing that?

can you give me more info on your setup? I would like to setup something similar and avoid spending on a new laptop.

Pictures and a list of components would be nice.

Thanks.

 

There are no new games that render in software mode unless it's some small indie game. It is not possible for CPU's to manage the 3D environment in any of the current games.

Resolution has nothing to do with bigger textures. Texture sizes are the same, unless you choose, if the game allows it, larger textures (for more detail). The video RAM is important for textures, Total bandwidth (bus width and memory speed) have to do with resolution.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/418851-diy-vidock-experiences.html
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