Hi,the game is unplayable on my machine, but has no issue on a colleague's PC with the same specs but a different CPU.nVidia GTX 1060, i7-7700HQ, 16GB of RAM, Win 10. The CPU on the other PC is an i5-6500.25 fps in the first scene after the cutscene, looking at the city. Lowest settings, FSR performance. Lowering rendering resolution makes no difference.Before the latest patch the CPU was always at 100%, now it's at around 60-70%. GPU around 50%. VRAM at 90%. I attach the dxDiag file.Tried deleting shader cache, different GPU drivers, putting the process on high priority. Shader cache size is set to unlimited. Building the shader cache is abnormally slow (about 1 hour), rechecking at game start takes about 1 minute. The cache build time and difference with the other PC leads me to believe it's a CPU utilization issue.

Try disabling any graphical overlay (nVidia Overlay, Steam Overlay, any other third-party overlay) and see if this helps. Beyond that, I would run some other benchmark applications on both machines to see if you can narrow down the problem further if the above doesn't work.

Your CPU and GPU are below minimum system specifications even for the lowest graphics settings.You can find the minimum system requirements at the link below:Dragon Age™: The Veilguard - PC System RequirementsThe minimum specification for an Intel CPU is an i5-8400, which is a desktop 8th generation core processor with 6 cores. Your system is running a mobile 7th generation processor with only 4 cores. The minimum Nvidia GPU is a desktop GTX 970. Your GPU is a mobile GTX 1060 which is less performant than a desktop GTX 970.The Intel processor in another system you mentioned that is capable of running this game was an i5-6500. This is a desktop processor. You cannot directly compare the performance of most metrics regarding desktop and mobile processors. Also, since the system you are referencing is likely a desktop system, your colleague is likely using a desktop GTX 1060, which has a 15-20% performance advantage over the mobile variant of the GTX 1060. The desktop GTX 1060 exceeds the minimum Nvidia GPU requirements for Veilguard for the lowest graphics settings.Without meeting minimum system specifications, your situation is impossible to troubleshoot correctly.It is unlikely with the current system configuration you are using that you will be able to achieve a level of performance that is considered playable.

You really can't argue that your system specifications are below the minimum requirements listed by the people that actually made the game. It is a fact. A fact you may not like, but a fact none the less.Note that the minimum requirements, which your system does not meet, are for 1080p @ 30 FPS, so, unless you are running at a resolution substantially below 1080p, achieving 60 FPS is just not realistic.I don't know why you think that somehow your system is capable of defying the listed minimum system requirements.Feel free to link to a video that shows a system matching your specifications, a mobile platform, NOT a desktop system, achieving the performance of which you believe your system is capable of achieving.Also, for some reason you haven't done the basics to ensure your system is performing at 100%.If you want to try and squeeze as much performance out of your system as possible, you may want to start with updating your BIOS/UEFI to the latest revision. Yours is 4 revisions behind the latest version, being E16L2IMS.311, which was released 6 years ago. This type of system BIOS also contains video firmware, so you may not even be running the latest version of the video BIOS for your system.Your Nvidia driver is from 08/14/2024, which predates Veilguard itself, so you aren't even running a version that contains the optimizations for Veilguard, which were introduced in October 2024. The current driver version compatible with your GPU and OS was released on December 05, 2024. I would suggest giving that a try.Your audio drivers are terribly out of date, being from 2017. This can also be said for most of your other system drivers. You need to learn how to update your drivers outside of the ones provided by your OEM.Start with the above updates, at an absolute minimum.

Change your screen resolution to the 4k one (even if it shouldn't be) and put your FPS at 120 but @ 1/2 and for me it fixed mine way better.

One possible explanation about why a CPU better than another one performs worse is related to thermal paste (or pads). If it is an option, try to replace the paste or pads. Notice the fact that I shoot in the dark here. It might be something else (even the power supply or MB problem) but replacing the thermal paste can't hurt and offers 50% chances to fix the issue. The thermal paste (pads) have the capacity to transfer the temperature to heat sink as fast as possible before the thermal throttling kick in. When thermal throttling happens the CPU reduce the power in order to prevent physical damage and even the sensor fails to report the sudden temperature spike. Temperature sensors and monitoring (similar to "The average CPU temperature is 70°C") will only mislead, as it is unable to report the temperature spikes.

Unplayable performance on PC, underutilized CPU and GPU

12 Replies

CorlainValez
Rising Adventurer
9 months ago
You really can't argue that your system specifications are below the minimum requirements listed by the people that actually made the game. It is a fact. A fact you may not like, but a fact none the less.
Note that the minimum requirements, which your system does not meet, are for 1080p @ 30 FPS, so, unless you are running at a resolution substantially below 1080p, achieving 60 FPS is just not realistic.
I don't know why you think that somehow your system is capable of defying the listed minimum system requirements.
Feel free to link to a video that shows a system matching your specifications, a mobile platform, NOT a desktop system, achieving the performance of which you believe your system is capable of achieving.
Also, for some reason you haven't done the basics to ensure your system is performing at 100%.
If you want to try and squeeze as much performance out of your system as possible, you may want to start with updating your BIOS/UEFI to the latest revision. Yours is 4 revisions behind the latest version, being E16L2IMS.311, which was released 6 years ago. This type of system BIOS also contains video firmware, so you may not even be running the latest version of the video BIOS for your system.
Your Nvidia driver is from 08/14/2024, which predates Veilguard itself, so you aren't even running a version that contains the optimizations for Veilguard, which were introduced in October 2024. The current driver version compatible with your GPU and OS was released on December 05, 2024. I would suggest giving that a try.
Your audio drivers are terribly out of date, being from 2017. This can also be said for most of your other system drivers. You need to learn how to update your drivers outside of the ones provided by your OEM.
Start with the above updates, at an absolute minimum.
ilsabri
New Novice
9 months ago
Just one example for the mobile GPU, you can find more for the same CPU: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl8ymrUlBC8 Again, thanks for the suggestions but that info is incorrect.
That's 1080p with FSR quality. FSR performance at 720 or with upscaling can do close to 60 without issue. You can also see the desktop GPU does not have a significant difference in performance in Veilguard by comparing benchmarks.
I tried different driver versions, including the most recent ones, before creating a thread. That nVidia driver was rolled back after other users suggested it had better performance in this title. Some non-OEM drivers for laptops cannot be updated for issues with compatibility, but I will check if I glossed over some that are compatible.

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Unplayable performance on PC, underutilized CPU and GPU

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