Hello,
I’ve recently started playing God of War(2018) and have been struggling with low fps(35-40 fps) in quite some sections. There are also sections where the fps is fine and I’m running around 90-99 fps. Whats strange is that the GPU load goes down when the fps goes down, or the other way around. You’ll probably ask again in which areas specifically but it’s really the entire game, with bad and good sections.
I looked through the forum for anyone with the same issue, the closest I could find is this topic, but I’m not sure if it’s the same: https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-ARC-Graphics/Poor-performance-in-God-of-War-2018/m-p/1708959
The game is from Steam.
I’m using the graphics quality preset ‘original’.
I’m playing at 3440x1440, 100% render scale.
I’m not using AMD FSR2.0(I’ve tried and it only lowers the GPU load even more while not improving fps).
I’m currently in Alfheim, the performance is not any different here then earlier parts of the game.
Changing graphics settings barely affect performance. I can set the render scale to 50% and preset to low, this makes my GPU load run at 40% but my fps is the same.
I’ve added the SSU report. Summary: GPU Arc B580, Intel driver 32.0.101.6559, CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5600X. RAM 16 GB. Game is running from my G drive which is a Samsung 980 1TB SSD.
I’ve added a capframe. As I was recording the capframe I was recording with OBS, this recording you can find here: https://youtu.be/tRtaYrtT6Ro
I’ve not done a clean install with DDU as it’s a pain because without drivers on this card only the hdmi port works, but if you really need me to, just tell me.
CapFrameX-GoW.exe-2025-08-30T194140.json.7z (166 KB)
SSU.txt (30.3 KB)
,That explains why tweaking graphics settings barely changes performance, the GPU isn’t being fully utilized in certain spots. I know you said DDU is a pain, but in cases like this, it’s the best way to rule out driver funkiness. If you can, try a full clean reinstall using DDU, then load up the latest WHQL driver (32.0.101.8132). Try Windows plus BIOS check. Make sure you’re fully patched on Windows updates and that your motherboard BIOS is up to date. Sometimes GPU scheduling quirks come from system-level stuff. For in game settings, try disabling overlays (Steam, OBS, Xbox Game Bar) when testing performance. Stick to DX11 (if available in the game) and see if that stabilizes FPS vs GPU load swings. Test with V-Sync off and Frame Cap off. OBS recording while testing can impact GPU scheduling. Do one clean run with nothing else running in the background.
-Hope it helps..
Funny story, because of my SSU log and capframe this topic was marked as spam and I couldn’t log into the forum for a month.
Hi AlphaTop, thank for the reply!
Let’s try that again, I’ve added my SSU log. I’ll try the capframe again if an Intel employee asks for it.
You will notice I have updated the GPU drivers to 32.0.101.8132(even though the Intel program said my drivers were up to date). I did this after deleting everything with DDU in safe mode.
My Windows is up to date.
My BIOS is up to date as far as I’m concerned, the next version is a security update and everything after that is a BETA(and security).
I did test with everything off, the recording was to show you what it looks like, there is not much difference between recording and not recording. V-sync, framecap, windowed mode, all makes no difference.
Also with the new GPU drivers there is no visible improvement, low fps, low GPU utilization.
SSU.txt (30.2 KB)