StarCraft II FPS problem

[Tibor Hazafi]

Hi all,
During the campaign in some missions during large battles the fps drops from 60 to 40-50 while the CPU usage is about 20-25%, and my GPU usage is about 60-70%. I have set the energy profile in windows (which in theory prevents core parking) and the power managament mode via Nvidia Control Panel to “Maximum performance”. Nothing has changed. I use the “High” profile (Antialias ON) in the game’s graphics settings). I think my rig would be able to run the game at constant 60 FPS (specs later in the message). Or am I wrong?
The game runs on a 7200rpm WD Caviar Black HDD (if it counts).
How can I force my CPU/GPU to work at higher load in order to prevent FPS drops?
Thanks,
My specs are:
CPU: i7-6700K @ 4GHz
RAM: 16 GB DDR4 @ 2133MHz
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 980 @ 1316/1753MHz (core/memory)
hazazs

 

[Vayra86]

20-25% CPU usage on an i7 6700K is one thread. In other words, game is single threaded for the most part and you feel this.

You can lower physics settings and a few other tidbits in the graphics menu. Hover over each option and it says whether it impacts CPU load. Try and tweak for best results.

 

[Tibor Hazafi]

20-25% CPU usage on an i7 6700K is one thread. In other words, game is single threaded for the most part and you feel this.

You can lower physics settings and a few other tidbits in the graphics menu. Hover over each option and it says whether it impacts CPU load. Try and tweak for best results.

So is this behaviour absolutely normal? And in order to gain FPS my only option is to lower the graphic settings? It is sad.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

So is this behaviour absolutely normal? And in order to gain FPS my only option is to lower the graphic settings? It is sad.

From what I have read. Yes. The engine is very old and not optimised for multi-core/threads at all if not extremely badly. I have read that people with previous get ryzen cpus have the exact same problem.

Thats just how the game is

 

[dirtyferret]

@Vayra86 is correct, SC2 only uses two cores with one basically dedicated to the UI. The majority of the game relies on one core which in turn prevents the GPU from stretching its legs.

Your best bet is to OC your 6700k and try playing the game with HT off (OC will help some while HT off may or may not). In all honesty I would say your FPS is not bad and there is a whole thread of people on blizzard's SC2 forum having worse issues with the games lack of multicore CPU support.

 

[Vayra86]

So is this behaviour absolutely normal? And in order to gain FPS my only option is to lower the graphic settings? It is sad.

It is indeed, now try playing this with a good old AMD Bulldozer, so you can feel good about your Intel

Basically those users had 15 FPS or worse, most of the time. Was a real thing back then.

We are pretty damn spoiled these days with high refresh gameplay being actually feasible and 60 fps 'expected as a given'

Here have a laugh. Check out GPU utilization

 

[Tibor Hazafi]

We are pretty damn spoiled these days with high refresh gameplay being actually feasible and 60 fps 'expected as a given'

After buying newer, and newer, and newer and expensive rigs, people would believe that constant smooth 60 FPS is not a dream or myth, but an expectable "reward" for their money. But the real life is cruel and doesn't sort its actions.

 

[Vayra86]

After buying newer, and newer, and newer and expensive rigs, people would believe that constant smooth 60 FPS is not a dream or myth, but an expectable "reward" for their money. But the real life is cruel and doesn't sort its actions.

Never underestimate how important the fastestest possible CPU is for gaming. This is one of those 'edge' cases (I don't consider this edge case FYI, but many ppl do - lots of games hinge on one thread for performance even if they say they use more) that underlines that very clearly.

For future reference, you might want to setup your RTSS monitoring a bit more detailed, and give yourself the benefit of seeing every CPU thread in the OSD instead of the total CPU load. Total load tells you nothing, for CPU, especially with HT on.

 

[Sithaer]

Yep thats a thing with SC2 like others said.

More like a Blizzard games thing,except for Overwatch maybe but Diablo 3 does the same 'Playing it myself since relase' and WoW also had issues with this and they just started trying to 'update' it not long ago tho thats only from what I read/heard cause I don't play that game.

Last time I've played SC 2 I had a i 3 4160 and with that I had drops down to mid 30s @ late story maps with lots of Zergs,etc.

 

[Tibor Hazafi]

For future reference, you might want to setup your RTSS monitoring a bit more detailed, and give yourself the benefit of seeing every CPU thread in the OSD instead of the total CPU load. Total load tells you nothing, for CPU, especially with HT on.

Thank you for this advice, I will definiately try it.

More like a Blizzard games thing,except for Overwatch maybe but Diablo 3 does the same

Yes, I can confirm that case with Diablo 3. It was full of frametime spikes with my old i5-4570 since my 8 years MSI laptop ran it without problem (as I remember) with a Core 2 Duo / 9600GT combo. Maybe because of the lower resolution (1680*1050).

I don't get it. CPU1,3,5,7 shows loads between 34-69%. What does it mean? Does the game use 4 cores/threads?

 

[Vario]

My 3770K could run SC2 with no issues never had dips. Phenom II would dip but no issues with the 3770K. You should be able to run it smooth with 6700K. I would turn off anti aliasing.

 

[johnny-r]

Interesting, my 3770k also, SC2 was a great game back then, I played it back in late 2011 /2012 just before the expansion packs came out, all were very smooth in 1080p, still had a 2.5" 500gb hybrid SSD drive back then with DDR3, 1600mhz and a Radeon HD 7870 !

 

[Vayra86]

Thank you for this advice, I will definiately try it.



Yes, I can confirm that case with Diablo 3. It was full of frametime spikes with my old i5-4570 since my 8 years MSI laptop ran it without problem (as I remember) with a Core 2 Duo / 9600GT combo. Maybe because of the lower resolution (1680*1050).

View attachment 128514

I don't get it. CPU1,3,5,7 shows loads between 34-69%. What does it mean? Does the game use 4 cores/threads?

The game uses more threads but there is only one that really impacts the game performance; the heaviest one. On top of that, you also see the scheduler at work and Intel has its ways of switching workloads between cores all the time, a lot of that can happen faster than your OSD refreshes with data. Another limitation is RAM, which can cause lower CPU utilization as well if saturated. And usually, if you have core grunt left but still stutter, the cause is RAM throughput. Last, background processes are also visible in CPU load.

Another one for Starcraft specifically is engine limitations. Lots of units is a LOT of calculations and a number of those are sequential (if this, then that). If you've ever used the Starcraft Editor you will have an idea of that. Each unit has its own pathing and a ton of other stuff going on. The engine itself may just not be able to do this much faster. After all, 40-50 FPS is pretty playable and I don't recall having it much higher myself ever in this game - only in multiplayer skirmishes in the first five minutes or so would you have solid 60+ FPS.

 

[Tibor Hazafi]

By the way according to your advice I have set all the three CPU related settings (Reflections, Effects, Physics) to their lowest value. Now there is no noticeable visual reduction by the changes at all, but constant 60 FPS. But I think It is still shame to use the lowest settings to reach a stable 60 FPS in a 10+ years old game with an i7-6700K @ 4GHz..

Anyway, I have searched among the utilities my MOBO has on its official MSI site, and I have found this:
MSI DPC Latency Tuner:

Should I tweak these settings to reach maximum performance of my CPU in other games? For example disable all the energy save modes? But I don't know which one they exactly are. Maybe Intel C-State EIST and C1E support. And if I disable these, will it affect the performance on the desktop as well? I don't want to waste my money by using the CPU at full load on the desktop, only in games. Is there a golden road to reach that? Or should I set these in BIOS instead of this program?

 

[johnny-r]

The gaming did not feel slow to me at all, maybe you should hide the fps osd, 35-40 fps in strategy games is fine...

 

[Tibor Hazafi]

The gaming did not feel slow to me at all, maybe you should hide the fps osd, 35-40 fps in strategy games is fine...

No offense, I really appreciate your approval with playing happily at 35-40 FPS, but
first: I did't spend tons of money for my rig to not running games smoothly
secondly: I can see the 35-40 fps with my eyes without fps counter as well, because in that case any game is full of stutters. I really would like to be a person whom stutter and/or tearing doesn't bother, but 35-40 fps (in any type of game) is everything but not smooth and enjoyable for me. Yeah I know, poor for me..
It's one thing you can ignore them, but stutters and tearing are exists, it is a fact, not myth or malarkey of a pc masterrace fanboy. Someone can ignore, someone can't. I think you wont be happy if you buy an expensive Ferrari, and its max speed is 50mph.

 

[johnny-r]

Ok cool I get you

 

[mlee49]

Hey, hope your fps problems get better. Feel free to add me online, I enjoy playing vs bots and Co-Ops. Mlee49

 

[FordGT90Concept]

When I Kerrigan Omega Worm Zerg rush, the framerate always tanks because so much is happening so fast. As Vayra86 said, I don't think it can really be helped other than lowering graphics settings so there's overall less to render. I think I actually play the game on low settings now because FPS is more important to me than pretties.

 

[Space Lynx]

had 0 issues running starcraft 2 campaign (and using cheat codes to get massive sized armies) on i7-7820hk cpu and gtx 1070 laptop. never had frame drops always ran smooth as butter.