Frame drops tied to CPU usage dips

[Nihilus5571]

I’ve tried a bunch of optimization methods, and I could be getting over 200 fps, but I’ll still get occasional frame dips to 20 fps that stick for at least a few seconds at a time, making gameplay, especially in fights, very difficult.

I’ve had task manager up on the side and I’ll notice that during these frame drops my CPU dips in usage to around 60% from the 90% range for no apparent reason, with next to nothing running in the background; every potentially performance hindering program disabled.

The only problem I can think of that I haven’t already tried to address is my CPU throttling itself to manage temperatures, but I’ve never had cooling issues, and while monitoring temps the warmest it gets, even when my office is hot or humid, is around 85 degrees.

Just wondering if anyone may have some insight or potential solutions for me. It’s especially irritating because up until a few days ago everything was fine. Windows and drivers are all up to date too.

Running on ASUS ROG laptop i7 8750h 16gb RAM GTX 1060 6gb

On another possibly relevant note, my GPU is running at nearly 100% the entire time, regardless of video settings, but is unaffected during frame drops. Normal solutions involving texture streaking budgets and vsync have been ineffective.

I've noticed an "Out of Snapshots" notification over my compass bar when the frame drops occur. No idea what this is :/

[Nihilus5571 · Accepted solution]

@Nihilus5571 Okay, well, I seem to have a fix, in my case at least. It seems basically maxing out settings causes things to be more stable. I get around 90 fps, but with no frame drops it's much more manageable than it was. @Konform103 was right, lowering settings was putting more stress on my cpu.

[EA_Barry]

@Nihilus5571 

Maybe your hard drive is near the end of its life?

Is your antivirus performing "on access" scanning?

[Konform103]

@Nihilus5571 Lowering video setting put more strain on cpu.. Problrm with laptop is they are mostly designed for energy efficiency.. Ur base freq is 2.2ghz while a desktop i7 might be double..

You cant get a fixed cpu usage in apex.. it will vary and sometimes there are glitches causing spike.

U can try head into bios and lock the cores to lets say 3.3ghz and disable turbo boost and other energy saving states like speedstep..

Be aware that u need to monitor cpu temp at all times and if the cooling of ur laptop is not enough it can get hot

[Nihilus5571]

@EA_BarryI actually tried moving the game from my HDD to my SSD and it made no difference, although loading is now nice and snappy. Edit: Sorry, I forgot to mention yes, I also disabled my antivirus.

[Nihilus5571]

@Konform103 Clock speed seems pretty consistent in game. Boost gets 3.8-3.9ghz while plugged in, according to Task Manager. Temps are also consistent. I planned for thermals when I transitioned from desktop to laptop, so I have some external cooling accessories.

[Nihilus5571 · Accepted solution]

@Nihilus5571 Okay, well, I seem to have a fix, in my case at least. It seems basically maxing out settings causes things to be more stable. I get around 90 fps, but with no frame drops it's much more manageable than it was. @Konform103 was right, lowering settings was putting more stress on my cpu.