Ask GN 17: Why Do GPUs Only Utilize 99%? (& Coil Whine Questions)

In this seventeenth episode of Ask GN, we discuss component selection and coil whine avoidance, GPU utilization and its seeming lock to 99% load, fan speeds, wireless mice, and more. Timestamps for all posted questions are below. As always, leave comments on the video page for potential inclusion in the next episode of Ask GN.

A quick thanks to Joe Vivoli of NVIDIA for helping us determine the answer to the first question. One viewer asked, paraphrased, “why does it seem like my GPU only hits 99% load, meanwhile the CPU will hit 100% load?” This was an excellent question for which we did not have an answer, but it seems that, after consultation with engineers, it effectively boils-down to a rounding issue in the software.

Timestamps:

0:29 - xXsch3ricXx: "Hey Steve, When under full load, why is the gpu maxed out at only 99%, when the cpu can be at 100%??"

1:15 - Exiled Storm: "Quick question that you could probably address in a couple seconds, I have an MSI Z97 Gaming 5 Motherboard and I notice when in the OC Settings in the BIOS that there is a "Memory Try It" mode and I'm not quite sure what it means/does. If you could answer this then that would be great, absolutely love your content keep it up! :D?"

2:00 - Ameer Mahmood: "I have a question for the next ask GN, it's one that I haven't found an answer to ANYWHERE and it's slowly becoming the bane of my existence. My PCs fans that are connected to the motherboard via a 3pin fan header and controlled via the bios, with a user made custom fan curve, the fans will randomly ramp up to 100% and spin at that speed for a few seconds before slowing down and then ramping right back up. The only fix I've found so far is to increase the minimum fan speed in the bios slowly, almost like finding a minimum voltage stable over clock lol. Is this to be expected or are my fan headers screwed ??"

3:41 - Demagogue: "Gamers Nexus, Can you touch on how to buy quality products that do not produce coil whine ? This is a big problem for me, when I'm browsing GPU's, Power Supply Units, etc. Also, do you think some companies are lying to us about stable overclock speeds at like 1400, where its not actually stable for the components used, and where we should have just gone with a 980Ti at 1100 clock versus overclocked to 1450 ? :) Thanks for all these Q&A's. Personally I have a 660 that cannot really be overclocked at all, its unstable if I touch it.?"

7:40 - il2xbox: "Hey Steve I have a question on mice since I was thinking of upgrading from my cheap standard mouse to something better suited for gaming. How much does polling rate actually matter? Is 500Hz good enough for gaming, or will I actually benefit from 1000Hz in games? Is 1000Hz just a meaningless marketing strategy? I was thinking of buying the Logitech G602, but the polling rate is only 500Hz to conserve battery power, whereas the similarly priced wired G502 has a 1000Hz polling rate. I would much rather get the G602 because it is wireless and it looks more comfortable, but I want to know if the lower polling rate would affect performance in games."

Editorial: Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke
Video Production: Andrew "ColossalCake" Coleman