GPU usage spikes causing lag in games

[Segwayrider]

Hey.
So lately I´ve noticed noticed lag in some games (demanding games such as RDR2, but also lighter games such as Risk: Global domination). For a few second (maybe 2-4 sec) the picture freezes before going back to normal. Just when the picture come the fps goes down to around 40 or below before returning to its normal 80 ish (RDR2). I´ve noticed that every time this happens there is a spike down in GPU usage (using the game bar whatever its called (windows+g)), So I assume its to due something with the GPU.
Now in the little overflow icon there (^) there is the NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready, with the tekst behind that saying " - Drive update is available" However when I click it, its want me to log into GeForce experience (I'm pretty sure I dont have an account, and would prefer not to create one if I can avoid it) So should I create an account and see if I can update the driver?
The thing is that if I go into device manager and try to update the driver from there, it states it already has the best drivers installed. Also windows updates can´t find any... well updates.
I tried restarting the laptop, and the NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready icon didn't show up for a bit (though I still experienced lag), just the NVIDIA control panel. It is now back however.
Ill attach some screenshots of RDR2 and Risk usage of GPU (the one which use 100% is RDR2).
Any help would be appreciated. I'm pretty sure I just have to update the driver, but if that's over GeForce experience or the Clevo webside (CLEVO Driver Download) ( I belive the VGA one is NVIDIA), I´m not sure. Also would I have to remove the files for the driver I already have, if it is indeed a driver update?
Thank you for your time!


specs:
Stel & Display
Nova Serien: 15.6" Mat Fuld HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900 12 Core CPU (3.1GHz-4.3GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Hukommelse (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Grafikkort
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1. lagringsdrev
2TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
1. M.2 SSD-drev
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD(2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Hukommelseskortlæser
Integreret Micro-SD Hukommelseskortlæser
AC-adapter
2 x 230W AC Adaptor
Strømkabel
2 x 1 Meter Europæisk Strømkabel (Kettle Lead)
Batteri
2 x Nova Series 62WH Lithium Ion batteri
Termisk pasta
STANDARD KØLEPASTA TIL TILSTRÆKKELIG KØLING
Lydkort
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema
Trådløst netværkskort
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ TRÅDLØS-AX 1650 M.2 GAMING + BLUETOOTH 5.0
Muligheder for USB/Thunderbolt
1 x USB 3.2 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.2 PORTE + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Tastatursprog
NOVA SERIES DANSK TASTATUR
Operativsystem
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Enkeltlicens [KUK-00001]
Operativsystemets sprog
Danmark - Dansk sprog
Windows gendannelsesmedie
Windows 10 Gendannelsesfil på flere sprog - Ubegrænset downloads fra online-konto
Office-software
GRATIS 30-dages prøveperiode af Microsoft 365® (Operativsystem kræves)
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BullGuard™ Internet Security - Gratis 90-dages licens inkl. Gamer-tilstand
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Kun Windows 10)
Skærmkabler
1 x 2 METER DVI-D KABEL
Tastatur & Mus
INTEGRERET 2-KNAPS TOUCHPAD-MUS
Webkamera
INTEGRERET 1MP HD WEBCAM
Garanti
3 års guldgaranti (2 års afhentning & returnering, 2 års reservedele, 3 års arbejde)
Garanti ifm. døde pixels
1 År Garanti ifm. døde pixels Inkl. Arbejde & Befordringsomkostninger
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3 DAGSLEVERING TIL DANMARK
Byggetid
Standard Konstruktion - Omkring 13 til 15 arbejdsdage
Velkomstbog
PCSpecialist Velkomstbog - Danmark

 

[ubuysa]

I would suggest you use the Clevo provided driver, because you know that's optimised for your chassis. Only if that doesn't solve your issue would I go to the Nvidia website and look for the latest (generic) driver for your GPU and OS.

When replacing graphics drivers it's always wise to use DDU first to remove all traces of earlier drivers.

 

[FerrariVie]

Yeah, you can always go to the Nvidia website and download the drivers directly. I'm confident also that if you select advanced install, you should have the option to not install Geforce Experience, just the drivers. While I agree with @ubuysa , the drivers provided by PCS are really old (April/2020) and could have bugs that were fixed on later versions, as well as some features that only newer drivers will provide (like Nvidia Broadcast, in case you want it).

I'm not sure if updating the drivers is going to solve your issue, but I think it's the first thing to try. Just let us know in case it doesn't, as we might need to investigate it further. I used to play RDR2 with no issues in the past using always the newer driver available (I do have GeForce Experience), but have not played it for a few weeks now.

 

[ubuysa]

Yeah, you can always go to the Nvidia website and download the drivers directly. I'm confident also that if you select advanced install, you should have the option to not install Geforce Experience, just the drivers. While I agree with @ubuysa , the drivers provided by PCS are really old (April/2020) and could have bugs that were fixed on later versions, as well as some features that only newer drivers will provide (like Nvidia Broadcast, in case you want it).

I'm not sure if updating the drivers is going to solve your issue, but I think it's the first thing to try. Just let us know in case it doesn't, as we might need to investigate it further. I used to play RDR2 with no issues in the past using always the newer driver available (I do have GeForce Experience), but have not played it for a few weeks now.

I certainly agree that PCS drivers may be outdated, but given the problem it's essential I belive for the OP to install a driver that is known to be optimised for that chassis. That's why I suggested Clevo, if its one of theirs. TongFang don't have a public repository so it has to be the PCS version.

 

[FerrariVie]

I certainly agree that PCS drivers may be outdated, but given the problem it's essential I belive for the OP to install a driver that is known to be optimised for that chassis. That's why I suggested Clevo, if its one of theirs. TongFang don't have a public repository so it has to be the PCS version.

It is a Clevo chassis, so that's actually a great idea. Instead of using PCS's version, go to clevo website and download the drivers that they have there: CLEVO Driver Download

It's only from May, but still a bit better than PCS's.

 

[Segwayrider]

Hey
So because I was a bit busy (and procrastinating/ scared I would ruin something when I needed the pc) i havnt updated the driver before now. Recording to the nvidia control panel, the one I've downloaded from clevo is the same driver version I had before.( 457.20) I can see on nvidia that theirs is version 461.09. It's worth pointing out I downloaded a never version from clever (the file that says N_VGA_1225.Zzip) which is from the 28 of December). Also I didnt use DDU, (since honestly it looked a little complicated and I was scared I would do something stupid) just did a clean install option in the menu when running the install. My screen temporarily went black, then came back slightly odd looking, so I'm pretty sure the old driver got uninstalled, since I remember it did that after reinstalling windows and I didnt have a gpu driver. The brightness shortcut key didnt work and I remember that from reinstalling windows).
Anyway just Played RDR2 and it still seems to be happening

 

[FerrariVie]

That is one thing that is hard to identify the issue, and I would say that it's likely software rather than hardware. Is the CPU also spiking at the same time (maybe in the reverse order, like spiking up) that the GPU freezes for a few frames?

Also, you can use the game bar to bring up the resources widget, make it expanded and try keeping an eye on a software (rather than the game) that might be stealing resources from your CPU or GPU when the spike happens.

 

[Segwayrider]

well I've tried for the last 30-40 min to make it show again and i havnet. Who knows maybe it pulled itself together after your comment. I dont think the cpu spikes. Maybe there is like a 1% difference but nothing I noticed, and it does go up and down a few percentages without anyting happening. Anyway I did grab a screenshot of the resource thing. Pretty neat! didn't know that was a thing so thank you for informing me.
Im not sure why discord uses 9% gpu though, seems a bit high.
Ill keep an eye on it and post back if I manage to capture a spike.

 

[FerrariVie]

well I've tried for the last 30-40 min to make it show again and i havnet. Who knows maybe it pulled itself together after your comment. I dont think the cpu spikes. Maybe there is like a 1% difference but nothing I noticed, and it does go up and down a few percentages without anyting happening. Anyway I did grab a screenshot of the resource thing. Pretty neat! didn't know that was a thing so thank you for informing me.
Im not sure why discord uses 9% gpu though, seems a bit high.
Ill keep an eye on it and post back if I manage to capture a spike.

Yeah, 9% is pretty high, especially if you're not streaming or using it while in-game.

So try removing as much unnecessary software as possible for gaming, like amazon video and discord and check if the hiccups still happen. Hopefully is something as simple as that

 

[jamiephillips909]

You can also use your facebook account to log into geforce exsperiance just incase thats a option for you

 

[Segwayrider]

You can also use your facebook account to log into gefore exsperiance just incase thats a option for you

I try my best not to combine different kinds of account (gaming, social, personal, study/work ect), as well as accounts in general. Thanks for the suggestion though
It´s one of the reasons i dont want vr from oculus anymore (owned by facebook)

 

[jamiephillips909]

I try my best not to combine different kinds of account (gaming, social, personal, study/work ect), as well as accounts in general. Thanks for the suggestion though
It´s one of the reasons i dont want vr from oculus anymore (owned by facebook)

Its a shame its a brilliant bit of software that detects your gpu and updates it accordingly but understand your point of view

 

[SpyderTracks]

I try my best not to combine different kinds of account (gaming, social, personal, study/work ect), as well as accounts in general. Thanks for the suggestion though
It´s one of the reasons i dont want vr from oculus anymore (owned by facebook)

Very sensible! I’m exactly the same!

 

[FerrariVie]

Very sensible! I’m exactly the same!

Yeah, every time you're using your Facebook account to log in into any site or app, you're automatically consenting to share your FB data (and possibly your friend's) with it.

I always prefer to create individual accounts for each.

 

[Segwayrider]

Yeah, 9% is pretty high, especially if you're not streaming or using it while in-game.

Apparently there is something called hardware acceleration on discord that uses your gpu to make discord smoother. When thats turned off the max use of my gpu from discord ive seen is 1% (mostly stays on 0%) not tested while in game however

 

[Segwayrider]

Well the problem persist. Just played civ 6, which only use an avg of 50 of the gpu. still get spikes (downwards). temp are about 70 for both cpu and gpu.

 

[og_kush]

which driver do you use is it desktop rtx 2070 or mobile?

 

[Segwayrider]

which driver do you use is it desktop rtx 2070 or mobile?

mobile. driver from clevo (the laptops chassie* with the model number of my laptop (there were some x's in it which I took as being it could be any number here. otherwise they didnt have the model number)

 

[Martinr36]

mobile. driver from clevo (the laptops chassie* with the model number of my laptop (there were some x's in it which I took as being it could be any number here. otherwise they didnt have the model number)

Your best bet is to download the Notebook driver from Nvidia and install it after removing the existing driver using DDU

Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) download version 18.0.8.4

Download Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) - Remove AMD/NVIDIA/INTEL Graphics Drivers Cleanly - DDU is a driver removal utility that helps you completely uninstall AMD/NVIDIA graphics card drivers and packages from your system, leaving no leftovers behind, including registry keys, folders, files...

www.guru3d.com