Low CPU/High GPU usage - 3070 Performing Worse than 3060Ti

I never thought my game had performance issues until a friend built a similar system with the only real difference being GPU; he has a 3060Ti 12GB and I have an 8GB 3070. At the same 1440p Ultra preset with all boxes ticked, resolution of 1024, update rate 3, and 500m distance, he runs 150-250fps while I struggle to go above 75. Despite BeamNG being considered CPU intensive my CPU never goes above 50% usage with 1 car. It only gets worse with traffic, I get 45fps at most with around 10 cars, while he gets near or above 100fps. Only flaw in my system is mismatched 3200 3600mhz RAM totalling to 32GB.

Edit: Attached some photos of 4K (49FPS) and 1440p (both 1 car no mods ultra no AI) as Technological suggested. Expecting to see the GPU flashing which it did in Vulcan at 14FPS, it actually flashed the CPU and GameEngine, and my GPU was at 90% all 3D 7GB VRAM usage while my CPU was at 45% usage. There's always the chance I just got unlucky with my card, who knows.

 

the 3060ti is based on the 3070 and has 95% of the performance. I think the issue is just pure luck
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wait 3060ti 12gb? u sure its not a 3060

 

Like you are noticing, usually, the game is only CPU intensive when multiple vehicles are spawned in, like when using traffic. This limit depends on how good your CPU is (how many cores/threads it has, its clock speed, etc.). GPUs, on the other hand, become more of an issue with higher graphics settings, as opposed to more vehicles. Your GPU has 4GB less VRAM than the 3060 12GB, and since BeamNG likes to use quite a bit of VRAM, that might be something to watch out for. I'd suggest looking at the performance graph (Ctrl + Shift + F), and looking to see if it is in fact your GPU causing the low fps (check if "GPU" is flashing white or red in the performance graph). Also, check the GPU and CPU temps as well, just to be sure. I'm not sure if mismatched RAM would cause an issue, but if everything else looks fine, that could be something to consider. Another thing to check is if anything is using your GPU while playing the game. You can use task manager while the game is running to check. Also, disable Xbox Game Bar's background recording feature if you haven't already, it will free up a little bit more of your GPU.

 

Oh wait you are right, I just assumed it would be based off the 3060 with the 12GB.. Guess it's luck or something else, gonna have to do some more digging and troubleshooting.
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I havent looked at in game overlays but just off of task manager GPU is maxing out during light load in game. I'll definitely try turning off background recording, I didn't think of that at all since I use it to clip games quickly so I'll give that a shot
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Also something that's different from others is my game tanks in Vulkan unlike others who mostly seem to have a better experience than DX
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I added some screenshots (CPU and GameEngine flashing despite low CPU usage), and unfortunately background recording didn't help at all. I mistook the 3060Ti for having 12GB VRAM when it has the same 8GB as my 3070. Thanks for the help so far.

 

That's something I figured out for my system, too. Vulkan is better for people with a CPU bottleneck, since it helps reduce the load on the CPU, and puts more load on the GPU. But, if you have a GPU bottleneck, running Vulkan only puts more load on your already maxed out GPU. On my system, if I run Vulkan with ultra graphics, I get less than 10 fps. Something I noticed though is that Vulkan is better when running the game with traffic compared to DirectX, despite it putting more load on the GPU. I've done some tests, and there's a certain number of vehicles (in my case 4), where if you have more than that number, it's better to use Vulkan, and if you have less, it's better to use DirectX. This number depends on the graphics setting though (I run medium-low graphics).

The background recording for me uses up ~15% of my GPU, so that's why I turn it off, but I have a worse GPU than you, so that's probably why it didn't do anything to improve your frame rate.

 

Sorry for the late reply but this is interesting information, and I learned something new! Still haven't figured out the issue but it's good to know what Vulkan is good for so I'm gonna try it for my laptop.

 

I decreased my resolution from 4K to something weird around 3K, gets me closer to 50fps with traffic, but it's still a major GPU bottleneck so I will have to switch from 3070 to something else, probably just build a new system on 40 series when I can afford to.