Is my RAM bottlenecking me?

[jordan1794]

Hello all!
I have GTA 5 and all my settings are pretty much maxed.
A very peculiar things happens. Whenever I have any other RAM hungry program(such as google Chrome) running in the background, my frame rates drop dramatically, and my frame-times shoot through the roof.

Even more peculiar is that, when Google Chrome is running my GPU isn't doing much work, despite the horrible performance, as if it is waiting on another component:

My Processor is an i7-4790K and overclocked to 4.8 Ghz.
GPU is GTX 980 with a slight overclock, +51 Mhz to Core clock and +607 Mhz on memory.

So what's going on here? The only thing I can think of is that my RAM is bottlenecking my system, but I have 2133 Mhz RAM.
Either that, or Google Chrome is somehow conflicting with GTA 5.


What do you guys think? The game is nearly unplayable with Chrome running, but is pretty silky without it.

EDIT:
RAM is G-Skill Ares, 2133 Mhz at 1.5v
Default timings are:
11-13-13-31
But I actually tightened them last night(more for fun than anything) to
10-12-12-30
(Passed 7 hours overnight of Memtest86+)

EDIT2: I have 2x8 GB sticks, and during the testing I was only using around 4 GB - 6 GB
EDIT3: Put a better Frame Time/ FPS Picture

 

[ne6togadno]

your processor cant benefit from faster then 1600mhz ram. this limitation comes from mem controller that intel have put in the cpu so your 2133mhz ram actually works as 1600mhz. this is more then enough for any game or every day application that run (or both, tree or any other number of apps you are running simultaneously except chrome obviously). i think your problem comes from some chemistry between gta5 and chrome that leads to performance drops you are experiencing or you have too many opened tabs in chrome.
try using opera instead of chrome. it is based on chromium but yet it has differences and if your pc is running fine with it then problems is in chrome.
if i were in your shoes i would report your finding (with all graphs and screenshots) in game support forum. there might be a bug in game that need devs attention.

ps in opera there is an option to not load background tabs till they are put to foreground. check for such option in chrome and try to run the things with it enabled

 

[Cartel]

sounds like chrome is forcing the card into UVD mode

if you leave an accelerated video playing or on pause, and jump into a game, the clocks dont move. It hijacks all the clocks.

 

[jordan1794]

The only two tabs I had open were Facebook and my email, and I have AdBlockerPlus so I don't get any ads on either.

An interesting find though, if I alt tab out and back into the game SOMETIMES it will exhibit the same exact behavior, but I can alt tab once more and it fixes itself. However, with Chrome running it does not fix itself.
I think I'm just gonna have to accept that, whatever the issue is, it's beyond my scope to control.

 

[jordan1794]

your processor cant benefit from faster then 1600mhz ram. this limitation comes from mem controller that intel have put in the cpu so your 2133mhz ram actually works as 1600mhz. this is more then enough for any game or every day application that run (or both, tree or any other number of apps you are running simultaneously except chrome obviously). i think your problem comes from some chemistry between gta5 and chrome that leads to performance drops you are experiencing or you have too many opened tabs in chrome.
try using opera instead of chrome. it is based on chromium but yet it has differences and if your pc is running fine with it then problems is in chrome.
if i were in your shoes i would report your finding (with all graphs and screenshots) in game support forum. there might be a bug in game that need devs attention.

ps in opera there is an option to not load background tabs till they are put to foreground. check for such option in chrome and try to run the things with it enabled

I thought that's what XMP's were for? I'm fairly certain that the 1600 is the stock speed that intel guarantees, but enabling a XMP, or manually overclocking the memory controller, allows the higher speed RAM to be used/utilized.
Unless my understanding is wrong.

 

[Schmuckley]

Disable hardware acceleration for Flash and see if that solves your problem.
Open a Youtube video and right-click it.
Also..What's your cache running at?
Overclock your cache, too.
Aim for 4.4-4.6Ghz.

Obvious Hynix RAM is obvious..It might do 2800Mhz @ same timings...
I'd try jumping it up for why not
Maybe not straight to 2800..but in increments.
Double-check..ok it's Haswell..

 

[ne6togadno]

I thought that's what XMP's were for? I'm fairly certain that the 1600 is the stock speed that intel guarantees, but enabling a XMP, or manually overclocking the memory controller, allows the higher speed RAM to be used/utilized.
Unless my understanding is wrong.

xmp profiles are made so that cpus caped for 1600mhz ram can recognice and utilize higher clocks ram. it is utilized but controller and ram still works at 1600mhz unless cpu and controller with it are oced.
@cadaveca made review (which i cant find atm sry) that shows that for intel socket 1055, 1050 cpus ram higher then 1600 doesnt impact the performace (for amd fx series it is over 1866mhz). only amd apus see performance improvement with up to 2133mhz ram.
overall your problem doesnt come from ram neither from ram clocks or timings. you have problem with either game or chrome (or both).
first look at @Cartel's advice.
if it doesnt help replace chrome with opera (or mozilla) and check if problem is still there look for same problem in game and chrome support forums.