980ti and 1080p

whogivesascooby · 20 Oct 2015 at 23:16

Hi all

I just wanted to post this to help inform people when they are trying to decide which GPU to buy.

I just tried out my MSI gaming 980ti on Witcher 3. I used Geforce Experience to set my graphics options which basically turns all settings up full.

I was surprised that the game was dipping below 60 at 1080p. During my couple of hours playtime the game didn't drop below 50 in the first area. It sat in between 50 and 60 depending on what I was doing at the time.

The rest of my specs are i7 4770k at 4.2, 16 gig of DDR3, and Windows 7. I installed the latest drivers and performed a clean install so everything in the Nvidia control panel is default.

As someone who likes to have all the bells and whistles turned on in the graphics options I wouldn't say the 980ti is overkill for 1080p. I may actually need to overclock mine a bit to get a stable 60 fps.

Hope this helps people decide on a GPU.

I would be interested to know which settings others are dropping to get 100+ fps on the 1440 monitors as it was something I was planning for my next upgrade.

Meladath · 21 Oct 2015 at 07:22

Something is wrong if you only achieved 50 fps at max witcher 3 at only 1080p with a 980Ti.

I get 40-50 at (near) max at 4k with 2 290's, which in theory are like 25% faster than a 980Ti. But 4k to 1080p is an absolutely massive fps drop.

EDIT: I just tested it at 1080p all max (even the pointless settings like hairworks aa 8x) at only once dropped below 60 in a 3 minute play, otherwise staying locked at 60 (I have a limiter on), you would expect a single 980ti to have higher minimums than 2 290's for sure.... you might have a problem.

whogivesascooby · 21 Oct 2015 at 08:43

Not convinced I have a problem just yet.

You yourself dropped below 60 fps within a 3 minute play on a GPU setup that you consider to be 25% faster than mine.

I am curious to know what settings you sacrifice to get stable frames at 4k though.

Buying the card was my first step. As I said before I am looking for a monitor to go with it and haven't decided which way I want to go.

I have never used technologies like GSync, IPS, 165Hz, WQHD or UHD so its difficult to make the choice.

I remember playing tomb raider at 30fps and then trying it at 60fps. The game was much more enjoyable.

I am curious to know if its a similar experience if you go even higher. Surely there is a limit to how high it can go before you no longer notice any benefit.

chroniclard · 21 Oct 2015 at 08:55

Witcher 3 is known to be pretty tough to max out. Need to disable hairworks for a start iirc.

Aretak · 21 Oct 2015 at 08:59

HairWorks kills performance in The Witcher 3.

Obviously no 980 Ti there, but 20fps chopped off on a 980 and minimums down to under 30fps. I'm not surprised at all that a stock 980 Ti dips below 60. Overclocking might get you a locked 60fps.

Amraam · 21 Oct 2015 at 09:20

Wonder if Hairworks can be made part of PhysX, if that's even remotely possible. PhysX seems to be one of those things that sounded amazing but never took off...

Thanks for this thread though, OP. Tempted by one of these cards myself but really can't decide if it's worth it. If I wait until Pascal comes out, others will then just say wait until 2017 when XYZ arrives...

Superpatsy · 21 Oct 2015 at 10:13

Everything maxxed at 1440p for me apart from Hairworks and it's a solid 60fps.

As others have said, Hairworks kills performance.

Kaapstad · 21 Oct 2015 at 16:12

Single TitanX @1471/2002
1080p
Everything Maxed including Hairworks.

2015-10-21 16:03:40 - witcher3
Frames: 17656 - Time: 235391ms - Avg: 75.007 - Min: 61 - Max: 93

Michaeljcox24 · 21 Oct 2015 at 17:22

So to get all of Nvidia's gameworks options at 60fps on Witcher 3, the only card that will do it is the TitanX?

Bit harsh. Reminds me of Arkham Knight at the Nvidia smoke thing.

whogivesascooby · 21 Oct 2015 at 17:41

Its a pity the hair works hits FPS so hard.

I like the idea of technologies such as havok cloth, hair works, and weather effects all in action at the same time to add realism to the animations and world.

Would love to play a game and watch my character get hit by a gust of wind and watch his hair and cape blowing realistically.

Things like this really add to the immersion and I am not sure I want to turn them off for the sake of higher FPS. Of course I don't want to play a game that stutters either.

Phixsator · 21 Oct 2015 at 17:57

Meladath said:
Something is wrong if you only achieved 50 fps at max witcher 3 at only 1080p with a 980Ti.

I get 40-50 at (near) max at 4k with 2 290's, which in theory are like 25% faster than a 980Ti. But 4k to 1080p is an absolutely massive fps drop.

EDIT: I just tested it at 1080p all max (even the pointless settings like hairworks aa 8x) at only once dropped below 60 in a 3 minute play, otherwise staying locked at 60 (I have a limiter on), you would expect a single 980ti to have higher minimums than 2 290's for sure.... you might have a problem.

Nothing is wrong.. its due to shameworks.. my 980ti cannot maintain 60fps 100% of the time in that game(a lot of the time but not 100%) at 2560x1080. Back when i was running a 3440x1440 i could keep it at around 55-60 if i OCed my 980ti to 1400 on the core and turned hairworks off and put foliage to high.

Also there are parts of the game that is Physx GPU accelerated. So having a dedicated gpu for that or even forcing Physx to CPU might help some of the older cards like the 700 series.

maonayze · 21 Oct 2015 at 18:20

I wouldnt know much about the 980Ti as I have a Fury Tri-X. However, your next upgrade should therefore be a nice 2560x1440P G-Sync Monitor....I hear Asus have a few new ROG monitors out soon. That will make your gaming fine and dandy.

dasBOT · 21 Oct 2015 at 18:23

something is very wrong with ur setup, was it with hairwork on?

gerardfraser · 21 Oct 2015 at 18:43

Titan X or 980Ti or Fury X can not max out The Witcher 3 everywhere with min 60 FPS.
All cards overclocked can hit 40 FPS in the woods or when camera is close to character at 1080.

Meladath · 21 Oct 2015 at 18:50

Amraam said:
Wonder if Hairworks can be made part of PhysX, if that's even remotely possible. PhysX seems to be one of those things that sounded amazing but never took off...

Thanks for this thread though, OP. Tempted by one of these cards myself but really can't decide if it's worth it. If I wait until Pascal comes out, others will then just say wait until 2017 when XYZ arrives...

Hairworks is already GPU accelerated, just like TressFX. Making it a part of physx is possible, but also pretty pointless.

Ash0787 · 21 Oct 2015 at 18:56

Maybe with crossfire Fury X I will be able to get 60 fps on Skyrim at 1680x1050

some games are just different and need lots of power thrown at them, then you have other games like MGSV that work really well on weak cards

I like to use mods and push the limits of what the computer can do
when the software allows it, for example in skyrim you can get a mod that makes chickens into explosive devices, then what you can do is use a command to spawn 10 chickens around you at one time, then make a mouse macro to execute that command, then walk along pressing the button, you can make a 'fuse' of chickens that goes on for hundreds of metres, when one explodeds it becomes a chain reaction. I found that the system could only handle a few thousand chickens before the game crashed though, possibly with more ram it could handle it.

Five.Stars · 21 Oct 2015 at 19:58

Was there not a setting in a config file or something where you could turn down the antialiasing on hairworks as it is set really high by default.

whogivesascooby · 21 Oct 2015 at 20:02

maonayze said:
I wouldnt know much about the 980Ti as I have a Fury Tri-X. However, your next upgrade should therefore be a nice 2560x1440P G-Sync Monitor....I hear Asus have a few new ROG monitors out soon. That will make your gaming fine and dandy.

I have been keeping my eye on them but I have been turned off by all the defects.

I dont want to pay £700 for something with urine stains all over the corners of my screen.

IPS glow would be an issue for me as well.

I am thinking of getting a TN swift. I have read the colors aren't as good but they don't suffer from BLB and glow.

I don't understand why they didn't use a VA panel so the could offer a better picture than TN and with none of the issues of IPS.

Phixsator · 21 Oct 2015 at 20:15

whogivesascooby said:
I have been keeping my eye on them but I have been turned off by all the defects.

I dont want to pay £700 for something with urine stains all over the corners of my screen.

IPS glow would be an issue for me as well.

I am thinking of getting a TN swift. I have read the colors aren't as good but they don't suffer from BLB and glow.

I don't understand why they didn't use a VA panel so the could offer a better picture than TN and with none of the issues of IPS.

Getting one with yellow IPS glow isnt 100% certainty(my own IPS has none what so ever, even at night).. The SWIFT however will have annoying gamma/color shifting 100% of the time due to the panel type. If you dont mind that it is the cheaper purchase but i cannot stand it.. Ive tried.

Dirk Diggler · 21 Oct 2015 at 20:53

Gaming at 1080p 60Hz is 980 territory at best, although a 970 will cope well enough. A 980Ti at that res and refresh rate is a waste of money. Picking a game like TW3 to "justify" it is pointless, because for most people, turning hairworks off makes more sense than shelling out an extra £300.

As for 100+ at 1440p, you would be dropping into medium settings and no hairworks for that I would imagine. With everything ultra and no HW, I hover between 60 and 80fps on a ROG Swift.

I've owned all 3 cards, BTW.