4 years ago

Frame drops, input lag, low GPU utilization in certain locations

## Frame drops, input lag, low GPU utilization in certain locations or looking in certain directions

When i stand in certain locations and look in certain directions (particularly towards the center of the map), my frames drop from ~140-200 down to ~100-110. This happens especially on Worlds edge and Olympus, around cities (fragment in particular) or inside buildings. I get low GPU utilization, and sluggishness.

PC SPECS:
Ryzen 7 3700X: PBO enabled, custom fan curve (chipset driver version 3.10.08.506)
MSI RX Vega 56 8GB: 1500 MHz max frequency, custom fan curve (driver version 21.10.2 WHQL)
2x8 GB, DDR4, 3200 MHz, CL16 (dual channel, slots A2 & B2) (XMP enabled)
ASRock B450M Pro4 (BIOS version P5.30 (latest of march 2022))
EVGA 650 Watt (model: 100-N1-0650-L1, 80+ white)
Monitor: AOC 27G2G4 (144 Hz, Freesync, connected with display port)
500 GB SSD M.2 via SATA, 1 TB HDD via SATA
USB keyboard, mouse, and mic

OS: Win10 Pro 21H2 64-bit (build 19044.1586)
Connection: Ethernet (DSL, 12 mbit/s down, 1 mbit/s up)

* Ive attached a HWiNFO64 screenshot, and a DxDiag

- OS and game are both installed on the SSD
- Freesync enabled (vsync disabled both in the drivers and ingame)
- Steam launcher
- Frames capped to 140 fps with RTSS
- mostly low ingame settings

ABOUT THE PROBLEM:
I dont experience this problem in any other games (warzone, BFV). All other games run perfectly for me.

Ive had this problem for a really long time (years probably), but it just got so annoying

I recorded a video showing the problem: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/8ltvn4svgq9ggid/2022-03-09%2014-33-40%20-encd.mp4?dl=0 (its a hotlink to the video on dropbox)

Notice how i get 140+ fps looking in some directions (this is my expected frame rate), and then when i turn towards the center of the map, it plummets to 100 fps. I also get a lot more input lag when this happens (due to more than just the low fps; the game feels really sluggish), and my GPU utilization drops to around 70%.

When i play other games, my GPU is at 100% for a long time without issues as well. GPU temps dont go over 70 celcius when ingame, with capped frames (140 fps).

In this game, i would expect a constant 140 fps on low settings (except for when dropping from the dropship, or in smoke-filled places of course). When looking at a wall, like in the video, i would expect like 200 fps.

I ran Memtest without errors, so the ram should be fine

EDIT (cpu bottleneck, fixed mistakes, added screenshot and dxdiag.txt): When i increase the graphics to high, my GPU usage gets higher. It seems like im CPU bound, but only on a couple cores. See my attached screenshot: 'TaskManager CPU Charts.jpeg'. Notice how 4 of the threads are constantly spiking to 100%. Notice that at any point in time, theres always one thread that is at 100% usage. Im guessing that the load is being shifted to different cores to avoid overheating just a single core (and maintaining boost). Also, notice that many of the threads arent even being used at all.

WHAT IVE TRIED:
- restarting game
- restarting PC
- restarting router/modem
- closing background apps
- switching through all the fullscreen modes (including fullscreen 'exclusive')
- changing ingame graphics settings
- trying different texture streaming budgets
- toggling freesync, and switching through all the ingame vsync modes
- uncapping fps, and capping using drivers, game launch codes, RTSS
- flushing dns
- lowering mouse polling rate
- enabling windows game mode
- using different windows performance plans
- disabling FSO
- playing with a VPN
- setting affinity and priority for r5apex.exe
- switching launchers (currently on steam)
- running game as admin
- running 'verify game files' in steam
- clearing gpu shader cache
- trying different display drivers (21.4.1, 21.6.1, 21.8.2, 21.10.2, 22.1.2, Pro21.Q4)
- DDU-ing display drivers
- reinstalling all the drivers given on my MoBo's website
- disabling cpu multithreading (just weakens my cpu)
- flashing new bios (4.30, 4.60, 5.30)
- clean booting (RUN > msconfig > services > unchecked all non-microsoft services)
- clean reinstalling windows (by formatting ssd, then booting from bootable usb, using the media creation tool) (game files were sideloaded)

- redownloading the entire game

DxDiag.txt86 KB

18 Replies

Bolted_Fault
4 years ago
Please check your CPU temp. I found my cooler had failed and I was reaching 100C, causing my i7 to throttle. Took months before I noticed the high cpu temp. Replaced cooler and all is well in the world now
CdrKEEB
4 years ago
Sounds exactly like my problem.
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Season-12-FPS-problems-are-caused-by-increased-CPU-intensity-CPU/td-p/11334468
KAece_T
4 years ago
@Bolted_Fault Thank you, but i my CPU temps dont go over 70 celcius. Please see the vid that i linked (the link is working right?)
KAece_T
4 years ago
@CdrKEEB Just saw your post.. I was also thinking that it was a CPU bottleneck.

I made a mistake in my OP: i now find that when i bump all my graphics to high, i get full utilization. My TOTAL cpu usage is well below 100%, but after watching my video (which i linked) a few more times, i see that most of the time, there is always a single core which is maxed out. (90% or higher).

My Afterburner stats refresh frequency is only 1 Hz, so sometimes it looks a little misleading. Instead i used task manager, changed the graph to 'show logical processors', and changed the refresh speed to 'high'.

From the graph, it definitely looks like a single core bottleneck, but its not consistent.. it kind of spikes up to 100% for a short time and back down, while some cores arent even being used. From what i understand from my programming classes, this is situation is a pretty good example of bad cpu multithreading optimization.

We are being bottlenecked by our cpu's SINGLE CORE performance, and since no processors exist with much higher than 5 GHz frequency, theres no hardware upgrade that will help
Bolted_Fault
4 years ago
Try updating your BIOS. Also force GPU physx instead of CPU. (Does apex us Physx?)
KAece_T
4 years ago
@Bolted_Fault Please read the PC specs section of my post. I am on the latest BIOS and have tried a few other versions. Also, i am using an AMD RX Vega 56, whereas Physx is for Nvidia GPUs.
Bolted_Fault
4 years ago
I apologize I’m not sure how I strayed from the rtx and i7 issues.
KAece_T
4 years ago
@Bolted_Fault Oh i understand, thank you for trying to help
GuntherWolfgang
4 years ago
Im having the same issues, i usually run the game fairly well between 200-240.
But i do not have CPU or GPU issues.
No temp issue, no high usage, cpu seems to use 3-5 cores at most times.
So idk what this is.... there's honestly something new everyday with this crap game.
Im getting sick of having to fine tune the game every season or rather every other week like its a racing car at a pit stop.
KAece_T
4 years ago
@GuntherWolfgangz What kind of specs do you have? From looking at other posts, this seems to be mainly affecting AMD people.. not sure if its an AMD CPU or GPU thing though.
Also, why do you think that youre not having CPU / GPU problems? In my case, i have low utilization on both, but it seems like my GPU is being bottlenecked by my CPU. However, its not being reflected on my total CPU usage chart, because its only a single thread (or two) which are at 100% usage. Try monitoring CPU usage for each core/thread while ingame; you might be having the same problem!