Issue:
I bought a Vega 56 last week and I have been trying it out in some games and in some games it performs worse than my old rx 480 while in others it performs as expected. It performs above average in benchmarks.
In Overwatch it's utilization is usually at 97% (never 100%) This is the best performign title on the card by far.
In Beat saber and other VR titles it just throttles the card to save power and reach 90 hz which I suppose is alright.
However, if I play a game like Witcher 3 it just throttles for no reason to a wonky 20-44FPS at 1440p on my 144hz monitor, missing it's freesync range. My cpu hovers around 30-60% on all cores, no cap on my ram. Gpu and CPU temps are sub 77C, HBM doesnt go above 81C while the GPU just sits at ~60% utilization with lowered clocks sucking up sub 100W power. If I don't set the minimum stage to 7 the clocks, power usage and fps will go even lower. As I mentioned earlier, in Overwatch it does fine and in many games it pulls this off.
I've attempted many changes in overclocks and undervolts, put max power at +50%. I updated all drivers, bios, chipset drivers and windows to latest version with no changes. Changed from 1 2x 6+2 pin cable in 1 cable to 2 different 6+2 pin cables with no change. Power saving modes are all off.
TLDR:
Low gpu utilization with no bottlenecks
What can I do about this to fix this problem? Is this a hardware or software issue?
Hardware:
Reference Vega 56
i7 6700K @ 4.6ghz
2x8 3Ghz DDR4 ram dual channel
Z170 Pro Gaming motherboard
Corsair RM Series RM750x (PSU)
1440P 144hz Freesync monitor+ 1080P 60hz monitor + Oculus rift
Software:
Windows 10 build 1903
Amd 19.6.1 drivers
Latest chipset drivers
Latest Bios for my MoBo
An update:
It's a multi display issue.
I found that booting my PC without my 2nd monitor oplugged in increases the fps from ~ 37 to ~ 63 in Witcher 3, it stays around 1200-1300 clockspeed and 45-90% usage which does not reach the 1530 clock I have in Overwatch with 97% usage.
Booting my pc without my 2nd monitor is not a viable solution for me however....
Have you tried an older version of the Adrenalin driver. I noticed other users having weird problems with the Vega 56 using the latest drivers. Just remember to run DDU in Safe mode https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html to remove the traces of old GPU drivers, then after your PC restarts install the older version of the driver.
If you want to run 2 screens (not a good idea for gaming) than add more RAM to the machine
Thanks for the responses I ended up fixing it by getting a new M2 nvme drive and going with a completely clean windows install. I tried doing a complete reinstall of the AMD drivers with the DDU which did not work so it may have been a Windows 10 issue rather than an amd driver one.
I have lots of panels but I stick to on panel to simplify things
esuni wrote:
Thanks for the responses I ended up fixing it by getting a new M2 nvme drive and going with a completely clean windows install. I tried doing a complete reinstall of the AMD drivers with the DDU which did not work so it may have been a Windows 10 issue rather than an amd driver one.
Brief word about DDU--not even the author of the program recommends that DDU be used constantly--it's actually meant for times in which the standard AMD driver install routine encounters problems. Suffice it to say that I've been using the standard AMD install routines for years--and I can count the problems I've had with it on less than two fingers, all the way back through the entirety of the Catalyst driver releases...;) DDU is very aggressive about which files it deletes, and there is a real chance that it may delete something that shouldn't be deleted--which can cause untold related GPU problems that are hard to trace. I have DDU myself for emergencies--just haven't needed it. Last comment, the way you word your response above you have me speculating about your previous Windows boot drive--may have been something wonky there that the new NVMe boot drive fixed! Glad you got it sorted, though!