Arc B580 Low power usage Monster hunter Wilds

[Puffalo]

I think that Monster hunter wilds is not utilizing the full power of the ARC B580
I also think that other games are not using the full power of this card either but it is subjective.

i9-9900KF
B580
DDR4-3200
Pci-e 3.0

Before i Upgraded to the B580 i was using a GTX980TI, That card had a TDP of 250 watts and during normal gameplay when it was at max usage it would hover between 240-255 watts in any game EXCEPT MONSTER HUNTER WILDS.


In monster hunter wilds the GTX980TI only ever used up to 155W out of its total 250W TDP.
Other cards from Nvidia did not have this issue, in fact that card was equal to the GTX 1660 which was listed as the minimum specs for that game, yet the benchmark only went up to 30fps at the lowest settings, which is less then what the 1660 got by a huge margin.

Why am i bringing this up?

The Arc B580 Seems to be using between 80-105 watts of power during this benchmark, even when overclocked the card would only use 110 watts of power.
With the superposition benchmark at stock clock speeds the power usage is 140-148w

When overclocking, the superposition benchmark would use 168-174w 
The B580 has much more headroom it seems but is not making use of the total power that it is capable of.

I will attach a picture of the monster hunter wilds benchmark along with a screenshot of the superposition benchmark with an overlay that shows the "reported" power at stock speeds.

I think this is something the team should look into if they are not already.
For reference monster hunter world uses around 125w at stock clock speeds.

Monster hunter games downloaded from steam.
Benchmark downloaded from the benchmark website.

*I added some benchmark power usage screenshots as examples of normal power usage vs low power usage*

I know that not all applications use the same amount of power to render scenes, but this card is only using 70% of its total capacity to render Monster Hunter wilds and 89% on Monster Hunter world for comparison.

[AlHill]

Not that this is the problem, but you do not fully meet the requirements:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000091128/graphics/intel-arc-dedicated-graphics-family.html

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[W10 is today's XP ]

[Puffalo]

Even watching benchmarks the performance is the same. the i9-9900KF is equal to a i7-11700 in terms of gaming performance which does meet the requirements. though i agree that is definitely not the issue here.
Benchmark videos on youtube show the same thing, The power utilization just isnt what it is in other games.

[JohnM_Intel]

Hello Puffalo,

Thank you for posting in the communities.

I noticed that you want to use the B580 at its full potential while playing Monster Hunter. But upon checking the FurMark screenshot, the driver version installed in your system is already outdated. So I advised you to manually install the driver version Intel® Graphics Driver 32.0.101.6559 (WHQL Certified), which is the latest one available for Intel Arc B580.

And also, I noticed that your system does not meet the requirements for the Intel® Arc™ Graphics - Desktop Quick Start Guide. And for me to be more familiar with the configuration and drivers version of your system. Please also share the Intel System Support Utility for Windows.

Best regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Puffalo]

Oh yes i had the latest drivers installed while running through the benchmarks but i reverted to older drivers to try to fix some of the other issues i was facing in other games, but it didnt change the issue. I will update to the newest version when there is a reason to.

I know my PC does not meet minimum specifications for this graphics card but again, this is not the issue here specifically as even on youtube videos on B580 Benchmarks on monster hunter wilds, it is easy to see that the B580 just refuses to use more then 105 watts of power when it is capable of more.
This is a screenshot from a youtube video showing exactly the same issue as i have shown, the card just is not using the power it has available.

Also i would like to know that My CPU (i9-9900KF) is identical in gaming performance as the i7-11700 according to performance benchmarks found on forums. (within 2% framerate difference)

I chose these frames because they have the highest power usage out of the B580 i was able to find in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COFEZYKN0wY
Link to the video to see for yourself.
There are also plenty of other videos with better components then mine that not only match performance but back up my claims.

Here is the power usage from a completely different channel using a better CPU

I could not find higher power usage in this video either. Mind you the power limit is 140w at stock clock speeds.
Here is the link to this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BIpLXrNokQ

If you need more source materials or anything else, please dont hesitate to ask.

[JohnM_Intel]

Hello Puffalo,

Thank you for providing all the reference materials. To verify compatibility with your unit, could you please provide the Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU) for Windows*? This will help me check your system information. Additionally, if possible, could you share a video of your unit running a benchmark for Monster Hunter, along with a screenshot of the settings used?

Best regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Puffalo]

https://youtu.be/o-A9yI4uFEw

Video recording of it running on my pc (updated to latest drivers)
I added a bunch of metrics in case it helped.
I'm sure this can be replicated in the lab with any combo of CPU

*Side note, Screen recording on this GPU has been a nightmare for framerates.
When using STEAM screen recording my benchmark for monster hunter wilds goes from 30fps average down to 23fps average. 76% of the framerate.
Discord screenshare with my friends is the same. (720p 30fps)
I had to download another video recording software and tweak the settings a bunch to finally get the framerate to stable.

In any case here is the information you asked for.


I did not take a CapFrameX capture, Since this is a benchmark and the issue is GPU power usage I'm sure this would be easy to replicate.
Definitely not because i forgot to record it.

But if you need any other information i can get it for you, feel free to ask.

[JohnM_Intel]

Hello Puffalo,

I appreciate you providing the necessary information for my internal investigation. I will need some time to delve deeper into this matter.

Best regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Puffalo]

If possible, i would like to know what the issue was whenever you finish your search. 
Monster hunter wilds releases tomorrow on the 28th.
The team behind monster hunter said that the optimizations on the benchmark is the same as on the game but i guess we will see after tomorrow.

Hopefully this is something your team can deal with
Good luck, and thank you.

[JohnM_Intel]

Hello Puffalo,

Intel has released a new driver update that addresses the FPS issue with Monster Hunter: Wilds. Our team has resolved the problem using the latest driver version 32.0.101.6632, which includes performance enhancements for this game. Please download and install this driver version and let me know if the issue persists so I can investigate further.

Additionally, you can check the release notes for more detailed information about the driver. Please ensure you use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) before installation.

Best regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[AdmiralSquatbar]

Thanks for fixing the issue with Monster Hunter wilds!

[Puffalo]

I installed the latest driver, compiled shaders and went to the benchmark, The game does run better in some spots where before it would struggle more.

I have even played the full game now (in the beginning section for a couple hours) with the new drivers, performance is identical between the benchmark and full game as far as i could tell.

While running the benchmark on the previous drivers the highest power usage was about 105w, On the new drivers i managed to see a spike of 119w for 1 second at the beginning of the benchmark, and during the one second, performance was much better!

Unfortunately the card still played the rest of the benchmark (and the game) at less then 105w.

Seeing the performance spike with the higher power usage gives me hope still.
I used native 1440p ultra settings with medium textures and high raytracing, i saw an improvement from 30.5fps to 31.75fps on these new drivers.

I also noticed more stable framerates overall so that was very nice.
I don't know how you guys managed to squeeze out more performance without increasing power consumption, but good job overall.

[JohnM_Intel]

Hi Puffalo,

Thank you for informing me that the FPS has stabilized with the latest driver update. Regarding the wattage concern, I will need some time to investigate this internally in our lab.

Best regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Puffalo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io_IZtdA5Mk

This is a Youtube video comparing the B580 to the 4060. The only thing i would like to point out is the power usage in each title.
There are 18 games here and only a few of them have "good" power utilization. I will attach screenshots of the highest power usage across titles

It also turns out that the games with good power usage (above 125w) blow the 4060 away. (Like cyberpunk)

I will attach the HIGHEST POWER USAGE frame of each game and the timestamp will be in the photo.

B580 is on the left side, you can ignore the 4060, the power usage was uniform across all games with that card.

As you can see, He is on the latest drivers.

Assasins creed: Mirage                                            99w - 101.9w

Black myth Wukong:                    105 - 110w   usual.       112w max

***********Cyberpunk (VERY GOOD)***********122-132w ****** 135.1w max********

Far Cry 6                                                105-115w                      123.1w

Fortnite                                  106-114w                                117.2w max       

Ghost of Tsushima              112-115w                       115.6w max       

God of war Ragnarok                  112-117w                       118.8w max

GTA V                        88w-102w                                                  106.5w max    

Hellblade 2              109-111w                                     111.8w max

Hogwarts Legacy                         114-118w                      120.5w max

Horizon zero dawn                  115-119w                               119.7w max

Indiana Jones                        98-102w                                       104.5w max

********Kingdom come deliverance********125-129w*******130.7w max*******VERY GOOD*****

Spider man 2           81- 88w                                            90.6w max      (Terrible power usage)

Monster hunter WILDS         83-88w                    93w max       (I have been everywhere in the game, I have never seen 110w) 

 While playing my power usage for the entire game was around 78w-100w


Red dead Redemption 2*******125-130w**************131.5w max (VERY GOOD)***********

Silent Hill 2                112-116w                                          117.1w max

Stalker 2                 107-111w                                                112.3w max

The Witcher 3*********134-137w****************137.3w MAX*******NEAR PERFECT PERFORMANCE USAGE**********************

Out of all these, The Witcher 3 is using the card to nearly its full potential. Im not sure how intel optimized the power usage for games, but if the settings can copy over from this game onto others, you would see a 30% performance increase from what the 4060 gets, but on all games.
The highest power usage i seen on the B580 was 145w in benchmarks, The Witcher 3 comes very close to that.

I hope these screenshots can help the team see what they can achieve. 

I have no idea how the Intel devs are supposed to make the card draw more power, i doubt that its as simple as changing power limit settings on a per game basis.

Could someone explain what the process would be for the developers if they wanted to find more power usage?
I would really like to know what kind of changes need to be made to get power numbers higher.

[JohnM_Intel]

Hello Puffalo,

Thank you for sharing the details about the power usage. As I continue to look into this issue, could you please let me know if you are an independent developer or if you represent a larger software company?

Best regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Puffalo]

I am just a person who enjoys finding relevant information to help solve problems or issues i think exist. I am a problem solver by nature.

I am not connected with any software company or developers of any sort.
That isn't to say i wouldn't be opposed to doing that sort of thing, It has never been within my reach so i never pursued those paths.

[JohnM_Intel]

Hello Puffalo,

Thank you for clarifying that you're not a developer. I will now revisit this issue in our lab to determine why the B580 is not performing optimally. Please allow me some time to investigate further.

Best regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Puffalo]

As far as ive seen on benchmark videos the B570 also has low power usage in games, any fix you do to the B580 should be crosschecked with the B570.

Is the power usage related to how CPU's handle workloads? For example an 8 core CPU would have 1 core at 100% and the other 7 cores at 60% because the task at hand is not optimized to work along all 8 cores evenly? (showing as low power draw)

Meaning that even though the graphics card is fully utilized, it is just fully utilizing a part of it, and other parts of the chip are waiting on tasks to be completed before moving to the next frame?

In this case, do you need to optimize each individual application to be able to utilize each GPU core more precisely? or is this something that could be tweaked on a general sense to tell applications to split the workload more evenly regardless of their preferences?

When you figure out the cause of the issue can you explain what it was and what was required to fix it?
I would love to learn more

Thanks.

[NormanS_Intel]

Hello Puffalo,

I appreciate the extensive testing and comparisons you've conducted regarding the game you mentioned. However, I want to let you know that we are still investigating this issue and will provide you with an update as soon as we have more information to share.

Best regards,

Norman S.

Intel Customer Support Engineer

[JohnM_Intel]

Hello Puffalo,

Our team is consistently striving to maximize the GPU's power and performance, and we welcome your feedback. Although the GPU is consuming less power, its utilization can reach up to 100% due to driver efficiencies. Please ensure your drivers are up-to-date as we continue to work on optimizations and improvements. Additionally, consider upgrading your CPU to meet the minimum requirements to reduce the likelihood of GPU bottlenecks.

Regarding your question, "Do you need to optimize each individual application to utilize each GPU core more precisely, or can this be adjusted generally to distribute workloads more evenly across applications?" The answer is mostly yes; each game typically uses specific profiles within the drivers for optimization. Broader optimizations might be possible when games share a game engine, but this is not guaranteed.

Best regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Puffalo]

Since Monster hunter Wilds Runs on the RE:ENGINE (Reach for the moon engine) 
Any optimizations for this specific engine could fix performance issues for all the other games on this engine too?

RE:4 has good power usage.
Dragons dogma 2 seems to also have good power usage.
Both these games use 120w of total TDP out of 145 and run on the same engine.
Monster hunter Wilds in comparison uses between 80 and 105w depending on the area, at playable settings (high defaults with xess quality+RT low).
It could possibly be helpful to take a look at these two games or try the performance profile from dragons dogma or RE4 on monster hunter wilds to see if it has any performance increases. 

These are the other games on this same game engine, maybe there are some settings used on these games that could carry on to monster hunter wilds.

2017
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
2019
Resident Evil 2
Devil May Cry 5

2020
Resident Evil 3
Resident Evil: Resistance

2021
Capcom Arcade Stadium
Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection
Monster Hunter Rise
Resident Evil Village

2022
Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium
Resident Evil Re:Verse

2023
Resident Evil 4
Street Fighter 6
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Exoprimal

2024
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy
Dragon's Dogma 2
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster

2025
Monster Hunter Wilds

2026
Onimusha: Way of the Sword

I am looking forward to seeing what this card can really do. i know its a powerhouse just waiting to be unleashed.