Optimize UI performance

meurik

Why is it the games UI requires an excessive amount of GPU usage, but very little CPU usage? I would hope the future UI revamp includes a certain amount of reprogramming, to make the UI more efficient in it's hardware usage.

I have a pretty decent hardware setup, and yet I still struggle getting above "Medium" graphics, especially on Ground maps.

Core 2 Duo @ 3 GHz
6GB DDR2 Memory
Geforce GTX 465

meurik

To demonstrate the imbalance between CPU load and GPU load, I have taken a screenshot while viewing the "Character Screen", which is a far cry from being as demanding as the overall UI in the game. I seriously believe the UI programmers -must- take a look at this;

http://postimage.org/image/vmbkmo6hx/full/

zerobang

i think you have your logic reversed here....

let me ask you one question

when you have 99% GPU load how many frames per second do you get on that empty login screen?



The UI runs on the CPU, on ONE CORE to be precise.


When there is too much UI stuff going on, your GPU load goes down, because your CPU is too busy to keep the GPU working. (the GPU is technically starving for data to process)


what i see happening for you is, you have VSync OFF and no Framelimiter active either -> meaning your Framerate can run wild in the hundreds (more than your monitor can display!), your GPU is working at full speed, your CPU is almost idle sitting at 20%.



Now test the following:

go into the game and load your Inventory, Bank and the Foundry Mission list.
now look at your Framerate (should be very low), you CPU will be at 50% ( = one of your 2 cores is maxed out), and your GPU will be at 2 or 3 % maybe.


That is because the GPU is technically starving for data to process,
and the CPU is too busy with the UI and can not supply the GPU with what it needs.






I swapped from a Q6600 @ 3,1GHz to a Core i5 2500K with 4,6GHz per core (both were over clocked of course, i don't think Intel is even officially selling a 4,6GHz CPU yet... ) and i get a lot more frames and my GPU is running with more % because it gets more data to process.

(i have my CPU and GPU load on the Logitech G15 LCD display, i can monitor that stuff at all times)

When i get framedrops in STO, it is not because my GPU is not fast enough, it is because the UI is running on one CPU core only, slowing everything else down until it is finished.


conclusion:
The more UI clutter you can hide from your screen, the better for your Framerate.
The more GHz you can have on one CPU core, the better.

(the silly thing is when they start to talk about "polygon budgets" on Starships, those Starsips could be 10 times more detailed without any impact to a modern System, but the UI is the real framerate killer in this game...)

mbp101287

You might want to make sure your "GPU-accelerated particles" option is set to off. It is under the troubleshooting section of video settings.