Guild Wars 2

Necroposting since this was my first google result for “Guild Wars 2 not using 100% of GPU”.

I have a similar problem. Running 2x GTX 680s in SLI, in certain scenes both GPUs sit around 54%-57% utilization each, none of my CPU cores (physical or logical) go anywhere near 100%, and the framerate still dives into the low 40s. Unless it is memory space/speed limits, the problem is not hardware.

I found that in those slow scenes, I can bring the framerate back up to 60fps (I am using adaptive vsync) by DISABLING REFLECTIONS.

I notice that when I do this, GW2.exe’s memory usage goes from 1.9xGB down to 1.4xGB.

I have 8GB DDR3-1866, not even 50% used. However I am aware that 32-bit Windows applications (even if you’re running Windows x64) are limited to a 2GB RAM cap, unless the application is written to be Large-Address-Aware in which case the cap is raise to 4GB.

I inspected the GW2.exe and found that it has the LAA flag already set, so either it’s not working, or the fact that it’s sitting at 1.9xGB during slowdowns is pure coincidence.

I have 2GB of video RAM on each card and GW2 is topping out around 800MB so VRAM can’t be the issue.

tl;dr
Turn off reflections if your framerate is low and your card still has cycles to spare.

I experience this problem as well. Only happens in GW2. Sometimes it happens in combat, sometimes when I’m just idling around. The game freezes for a few seconds, screen turns black, then I have bad framerate even though I usually get 60fps with room to spare.

I monitored my GPU usage and noticed that when this happens, my GPU memory speed drops down to 324MHz. I have an overclocked GTX 670, and that 324MHz is not a typo. It is usually around 3,100MHz. I believe that this 324MHz is the same speed as the card’s “low power 2D” mode. It would appear that when this failure happens, Windows stops realizing that a 3D application is running.

If I alt+tab and load the EVGA PrecisionX tool (my video card’s overclocking utility) and then force it to reload the speed profile, I can alt+tab right back into GW2 and speeds are normal. 60fps with everything maxed, GPU usage at only around 80%.

This is not a thermal problem. I run a custom fan profile that keeps my GPU from ever hitting 70C even under 100% stress (the card is designed to go up to 90C with only a mild underclocking between 70C and 90C).

CPU usage is irrelevant. Before and after the bug, it rarely hits 30% total usage.

I put 180 hours on Skyrim in the last 3 months, and I play League of Legends almost every day. This does not happen in those games and appears to be GW specific.

Win 7 x64, for what it’s worth.

My best guess is that GW2 runs some sort of watchdog service to prevent hacking (I know WoW did this), and when this video glitch happens, it steals focus from the main app, Window sees that the process with exclusive access is a 2D app, and stays in low power mode. Again, just a guess. This fix works, but it shouldn’t be necessary. I’ve got no problem tabbing out when I’m roaming the fields but I’d be mighty upset if this happened during an epic battle/dungeon/InsertEndgameContentHere.