GPU usage randomly drops resulting into a massive FPS drop

[Cheems]

So i have seen so many forums about this problem but I'm gonna ask anyway.

While playing DCS with minimal graphics settings I can get massive FPS drops. I'm able to fix these FPS drops by turning off my VR headset for about 10 sec and then turn it back on and with about 1/3rd of the time the FPS is fixed back to normal. If the FPS isn't fixed I turn the headset off and on again until it is fixed again.

Every time I have one of these FPS drops I noticed that in task manager my GPU usage goes from giving 70% to DCS and 30% to my VR application > to 30% DCS and 70% to my VR application.

I have noticed that this problem occurs more frequently in busy servers where there are a lot of players or a lot of enemy moving AI. But it isn't constant on these busy servers. I can just fly a little bit longer than normal until I get this FPS drop. I also have days where I play on a full Growling sidewinder PVP (for an hour) server and I never get any FPS drops.

I have already tried several things:

1. In Nvidia control panel I put power management for DCS only in to 'Prefer maximum power' and of the VR oculus application to 'Optimal power'
2. In windows settings enable 'Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling' and as well put in Graphics performance preference DCS in high performance

I don't know any other possible fixes i can do.

I've attached a video showing the FPS drop. You can visibly see when it starts to lag and as well as see at the same time the GPU usage of DCS drop [note that when i stopped recording i turned off and on my VR headset for ~10 sec and the FPS went back to normal as well as the GPU usage went back to 60/70ish %]

[Corax The Destroyer]

I have a very similar issue as well. Only difference is that mine will reset itself and go back to full fps after a few seconds. It also happens a lot around super carriers and hi traffic areas. It has made the game honestly unplayable for me. Sorry that you are having the same issue. :(

Log from most recent flight after updates attached as well.

 

Ryzen 7 5800x

Radeon 6800xt

64GB 3200 ram

dcs.log

[Mr_sukebe]

A drop in GPU processing implies that your GPU is having a rest, as it’s waiting for something else within your PC.  Things that spring to mind are:

- loading of textures to the VRAM

- if you’re running a complex mission, that your CPU core running DCS (which is primarily run single core) is maxed out.  This can be partly dealt with by running a dedicated server locally, which will offload AI logic, such as pathfinding

- your preload radius is too high.  From just playing around, I found that having it maxed out is very bad for RAM use and stutters.  I’ve now set mine around 45%

[Corax The Destroyer]

The only thing to this is that my preload is down to about 40% and this wasn't an issue until after the June update. I was able to play on high setting in vr and maintain 30+ fps. But now on low settings it stutters like crazy.

[Cheems]

I have 32GB of ram installed so i dont think my preload radius is the problem.

Also these lags can happen when im just idle in a solo mission without any other AI in the whole map. I dont know if VRAM is a problem when im all alone in a map while just sitting in the cockpit.

 

[DuRiN]

Hi there, which headset have you got? have you seen perfomance tab in task adminstrator to see if GPU usage goes to 100%?

[Cheems]

1 hour ago, DuRiN said:

Hi there, which headset have you got? have you seen perfomance tab in task adminstrator to see if GPU usage goes to 100%?

I use the Oculus quest 2. I have been monitoring my GPU usage every time i fly in DCS and its never 100%, it stays always around 97%.

[RuskyV]

Check your GPU temperature make sure it’s not hitting 85’c what tends to happen after is the GPU will start to under clock. This happens to help cool the card, for what ever reason this happens before the fans ever ramp.

Use a program like nvtune and manually override the fan and set it to 90% or even 100%. It will be a lot more noisy but the fan will take care of the heat far better than the under clocking. From memory I have never seen the fan ramp more than 45% in nvtune even after hitting above 85’c

might also be worth ramping the CPU fan if you can, similar behaviour is also used for intel CPUs now lithography and TDP are so much smaller, temperatures become an even bigger factor.

[Cheems]

On 8/14/2022 at 10:37 AM, RuskyV said:

Check your GPU temperature make sure it’s not hitting 85’c what tends to happen after is the GPU will start to under clock. This happens to help cool the card, for what ever reason this happens before the fans ever ramp.

Use a program like nvtune and manually override the fan and set it to 90% or even 100%. It will be a lot more noisy but the fan will take care of the heat far better than the under clocking. From memory I have never seen the fan ramp more than 45% in nvtune even after hitting above 85’c

might also be worth ramping the CPU fan if you can, similar behaviour is also used for intel CPUs now lithography and TDP are so much smaller, temperatures become an even bigger factor.

Thank you for the info, but for me that is not the case. I just now checked the GPU temp with MSI afterburner and turned the fan speed at max. I flew for a while in DCS and my GPU was at a constant 62'c. Still i got massive frame drops which where the result of course of my GPU usage of DCS.exe dropping below my Oculus program. I were able to fix the frame drops every now and then by turning off & on my VR headset but after a while (sometimes just after 1 minute) my frames were dropping again.

Keep in mind that sometimes i can just fly for a whole day hours without these frame drops happening. I really think that this is caused by a random VR bug of some sorts.

[Midair]

I just switch from a faulty Reverb G2 to a Quest 2 + link cable and I have the exact same problem. Maybe it's an Oculus bug, I don't know if the problem was there before (I also have a Rift S and never experience somthing like that so for me it's a Quest 2 problem).