Question About Resource Usage

[sapphirescales]

This is going to sound strange, but it seems that no matter what I do, I can't ever max out my main computer's CPU/Memory/GPU. Normally I wouldn't complain, but I feel like I'm not getting all the performance out of it that I could be getting.

For example, I have 128GB of RAM, but it never seems to get past 80GB or so. Despite that, eventually after a few months of it being on, it slows down considerably. Most notably, video starts to get jittery (both YouTube and local video files).

When I'm rendering video in Premiere or other programs, CPU usage generally doesn't go past 70% and GPU usage stays at less than 50%. I have an i7-7800X and a GTX 970 Founders Edition graphics card.

I have Chrome set up to restore all previous windows/tabs when I restart. I have at LEAST 30 windows open and at least 500 tabs between all open windows. When I start Chrome after I've shut down or restarted the computer, it takes about 3 minutes for all the windows/tabs to load. Despite this, CPU usage never goes past 50% or so, and the computer is frozen solid for those 3 minutes (although I can move the mouse and the Task Manager usage percentages do change while the windows/tabs are being restored).

*I have attached an image of my computer on a regular workday*

I'm not saying the computer is slow or anything, but it could be faster. I'm wondering what I should upgrade. It's hard to know when nothing seems to be maxing out. I have an NVMe SSD (Samsung 970 Pro). I've upgraded another computer I own with an Intel Optane SSD, but that was really expensive and didn't make much difference if I'm being perfectly honest. Is there anything I can do?

 

[trevm999]

For the CPU, I'd say that somewhere Chrome is limiting the number of threads it will use, so 50% probably means it is using 100% of half of your threads. Perhaps there are Chrome settings that will allow it to use more threads.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

This is going to sound strange, but it seems that no matter what I do, I can't ever max out my main computer's CPU/Memory/GPU. Normally I wouldn't complain, but I feel like I'm not getting all the performance out of it that I could be getting.

For example, I have 128GB of RAM, but it never seems to get past 80GB or so. Despite that, eventually after a few months of it being on, it slows down considerably. Most notably, video starts to get jittery (both YouTube and local video files).

When I'm rendering video in Premiere or other programs, CPU usage generally doesn't go past 70% and GPU usage stays at less than 50%. I have an i7-7800X and a GTX 970 Founders Edition graphics card.

I have Chrome set up to restore all previous windows/tabs when I restart. I have at LEAST 30 windows open and at least 500 tabs between all open windows. When I start Chrome after I've shut down or restarted the computer, it takes about 3 minutes for all the windows/tabs to load. Despite this, CPU usage never goes past 50% or so, and the computer is frozen solid for those 3 minutes (although I can move the mouse and the Task Manager usage percentages do change while the windows/tabs are being restored).

*I have attached an image of my computer on a regular workday*

I'm not saying the computer is slow or anything, but it could be faster. I'm wondering what I should upgrade. It's hard to know when nothing seems to be maxing out. I have an NVMe SSD (Samsung 970 Pro). I've upgraded another computer I own with an Intel Optane SSD, but that was really expensive and didn't make much difference if I'm being perfectly honest. Is there anything I can do?

If you disable the chrome feature that suspends unused tabs does it get past 80GB? As for a freeze of 3 minutes, do you have any kind of security software running on the computer like malware bytes or an AV with a webshield of some sort?

 

[sapphirescales]

If you disable the chrome feature that suspends unused tabs does it get past 80GB?

I don't know and I don't want to try it. I have probably 50 different YouTube videos open at any given time and it's a lifesaver not to have to hunt them all down and pause them when I restore the browser session.

As for a freeze of 3 minutes, do you have any kind of security software running on the computer like malware bytes or an AV with a webshield of some sort?

Nope. Just Defender - and I run without real-time protection enabled. It only freezes once I open up Chrome after I start up. Chrome itself is using all my resources - or at least that's how it seems. But CPU/GPU/SSD/Memory usage never tops out. I just can't access any other programs or open any local files/folders/windows while Chrome is trying to open all the crap. I can open the Task Manager after clicking on Chrome, but it takes a good 30 seconds to pop up. I can also access some system-level things like the Run command (using the keyboard shortcut as I can't access the Start menu while Chrome is opening up all the windows/tabs from the previous session). Again, it takes a good 30 seconds for the dialog box to pop up, but it opens up eventually.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

I just can't access any other programs or open any local files/folders/windows while Chrome is trying to open all the crap. I can open the Task Manager after clicking on Chrome, but it takes a good 30 seconds to pop up. I can also access some system-level things like the Run command (using the keyboard shortcut as I can't access the Start menu while Chrome is opening up all the windows/tabs from the previous session). Again, it takes a good 30 seconds for the dialog box to pop up, but it opens up eventually.

You can try lowering IO priority of chrome using process lasso and set it to remember that lower io priority and see if that gives you control while its launching.

 

[sapphirescales]

You can try lowering IO priority of chrome using process lasso and set it to remember that lower io priority and see if that gives you control while its launching.

I'm sure that would work. But I'm trying to figure out why Chrome isn't using all of the resources available to it. And remember, it's not just Chrome. Premiere and other high-end programs never seem to be able to take full advantage of my hardware either. It's almost like somebody put a limiter on all of my hardware resources. In some ways, this system feels slower than my old computer, which had an i7-3770k, 32GB, and a 1TB SATA SSD. At the very least I can't tell any real difference in performance. The only plus is I'm no longer getting out of memory messages (my old board only supported up to 32GB of RAM).

Do you know of any BIOS settings that could cause something like this? I reset the BIOS to default just to be sure but it didn't make a difference. I have the feeling this has something to do with Intel's new bullsh*t where they limit what resources your motherboard can use based on what processor you have in it. The i7-7800X isn't their highest end CPU and I'm limited as to what I can and can't use on the motherboard because there aren't enough PCIe lanes. For example, because I have an NVMe SSD plugged into the motherboard, I can't use SATA ports 5, 6, 7, or 8. Who knows what else Intel has neutered on this board? I should have went with an AMD Ryzen or just paid Intel their blood-money for the i9 so I could actually use all the features of my motherboard. F*cking c*cksuckers. I don't think I'll ever give Intel another dime.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

@sapphirescales hey let me ask you, what graphics card do you use in your system and do you ever have the graphics drivers crash (or rather sections go black temporary but now that I think about it I don't think i saw entries for the graphics drivers crashing when it occurs) from all the tabs open while watching multiple youtube videos or any other hardware accelerated video/game process?

 

[sapphirescales]

@sapphirescales hey let me ask you, what graphics card do you use in your system and do you ever have the graphics drivers crash (or rather sections go black temporary but now that I think about it I don't think i saw entries for the graphics drivers crashing when it occurs) from all the tabs open while watching multiple youtube videos or any other hardware accelerated video/game process?

I have an Nvidia branded GTX 970 graphics card. I've never had a problem with graphics card drivers but all those Chrome windows do turn white or black until it can finally load them all. After the computer has been on for a while (60+ days usually), I can't watch videos anymore because they freeze randomly for anywhere between a fraction of a second to several seconds randomly throughout the video. This happens on both YouTube videos and videos that are stored locally. Restarting fixes this problem and it doesn't happen again until the system has been on for 60+ days again. I should mention that only the video part of the videos freeze when this happens, not the sound. But graphics issues are common on systems that stay on for a long time without restarting. I have another computer with dual Nvidia branded GTX 770 graphics cards in SLI that does the same thing, but it happens after only several weeks (probably because this computer only has 32GB of RAM).

 

[johnrobert]

With 128GB of RAM what else would you expect