Bottleneck....680 sli

no_1_dave · 15 Apr 2012 at 22:26

This is CPU bottleneck.
CPU wont show 100% because the CPU uses hyperthreading and BF3 doesn't like hyperthreading.

Using 470s in SLI I get approx 60 - 80fps with all setting maxed at 2560x1440

I've said it before in other threads & it seems it needs to be said again.
470s in SLI are bottlenecked even with the 920 clocked at 4Ghz, so of course 680s are going to be. What a waste of money buying 2 680s when your running a CPU that can only just handle 2 470/480s. You could turn SLI off and only use 1card you'd probably have the same FPS. This is not driver related, it is simply that the 920 is a huge bottleneck for more then 1 680. Especially in games that don't go well with Hyperthreading.

Skynet5 · 15 Apr 2012 at 22:30

James J said:
Do you have the option of "prefer maximum performance" enabled in the nvidia control panel under the power management tab? Also, using adaptive vsync or not?

Yes Prefer Maximum Performance is selected, I did change this a while back and it actually made a difference. Adaptive Vsync is off (Use 3D application setting)

chipachap · 15 Apr 2012 at 22:35

no_1_dave said:
This is CPU bottleneck.
CPU wont show 100% because the CPU uses hyperthreading and BF3 doesn't like hyperthreading.

Using 470s in SLI I get approx 60 - 80fps with all setting maxed at 2560x1440

I've said it before in other threads & it seems it needs to be said again.
470s in SLI are bottlenecked even with the 920 clocked at 4Ghz, so of course 680s are going to be. What a waste of money buying 2 680s when your running a CPU that can only just handle 2 470/480s. You could turn SLI off and only use 1card you'd probably have the same FPS. This is not driver related, it is simply that the 920 is a huge bottleneck for more then 1 680. Especially in games that don't go well with Hyperthreading.

BF3 has performed well with Hyper-threading for months. It was fixed in an update recently. Hyper-threading definitely fixes a lot of stuttering for me and balances out GPU usage a lot.

Skynet5 · 15 Apr 2012 at 22:35

no_1_dave said:
This is CPU bottleneck.
CPU wont show 100% because the CPU uses hyperthreading and BF3 doesn't like hyperthreading.

Using 470s in SLI I get approx 60 - 80fps with all setting maxed at 2560x1440

I've said it before in other threads & it seems it needs to be said again.
470s in SLI are bottlenecked even with the 920 clocked at 4Ghz, so of course 680s are going to be. What a waste of money buying 2 680s when your running a CPU that can only just handle 2 470/480s. You could turn SLI off and only use 1card you'd probably have the same FPS. This is not driver related, it is simply that the 920 is a huge bottleneck for more then 1 680. Especially in games that don't go well with Hyperthreading.

No. If I have one card, then I have lower FPS.

I'm not denying that it may be causing a bottleneck, but do not make assumptions beyond your knowledge. I have the setup right in front of me, and see at least 50% improvements on average FPS with 2x680.

What I want to understand, is will I get more out of these cards with potential driver improvements, before my CPU is a complete bottleneck.

"You could turn SLI off and only use 1card you'd probably have the same FPS" - love that statement....makes me warm in the knowledge that I no longer have to waste anymore of my time reading your posts. Because your a fool.

Skynet5 · 15 Apr 2012 at 22:38

chipachap said:
BF3 has performed well with Hyper-threading for months. It was fixed in an update recently. Hyper-threading definitely fixes a lot of stuttering for me and balances out GPU usage a lot.

Agreed. Guys a fool. Reminds me of people I sometimes have to mentor in my job, they think they know everything...but actually very little. They make stuff up to sound like they have a ****ing clue, hoping the majority of people just believe them.

Skynet5 · 15 Apr 2012 at 22:44

bru said:
x58 chipset can do SLI 16x it only drops to 8x when using 3 or more cards as far I know.

Remember that the discussion about a 2500k being a bottleneck was mainly revolving around the extra threads the 2600k has, Inoton's i7 920 also has the extra 4 hyper-threaded threads.

Obviously the clock speeds are quite a bit lower with your CPU. Don't forget your only running 6GB of ram, even though i have no idea how this would effect things in BF3.

Spot on Bru, just dug out my manual.

Skynet5 · 15 Apr 2012 at 23:04

soundood said:
any way to put this in a start up script? like we used in Crysis wars?

put line in user.cfg file (create if needed) floating at the same level as the bf3.exe

no_1_dave · 15 Apr 2012 at 23:45

lnoton said:
No. If I have one card, then I have lower FPS.

I'm not denying that it may be causing a bottleneck, but do not make assumptions beyond your knowledge. I have the setup right in front of me, and see at least 50% improvements on average FPS with 2x680.

What I want to understand, is will I get more out of these cards with potential driver improvements, before my CPU is a complete bottleneck.

"You could turn SLI off and only use 1card you'd probably have the same FPS" - love that statement....makes me warm in the knowledge that I no longer have to waste anymore of my time reading your posts. Because your a fool.

Very unlikely that drivers will get you anything extra when your CPU is already a bottleneck. I am happy for you not to read any more of my posts. It makes me warn with the knowledge that only a fool would spend the best part of £800 on brand new graphics hardware whilst using a sub £100 close to 3 year old CPU then make a post needing to ask if it is a bottleneck or a driver issue.

lnoton said:
Agreed. Guys a fool. Reminds me of people I sometimes have to mentor in my job, they think they know everything...but actually very little. They make stuff up to sound like they have a ****ing clue, hoping the majority of people just believe them.

Why would anyone make things up in a help/support thread on a computer forum? By mentoring people I assume you mean in a minimum wage job where you mentor new 16yr olds just starting because you've been there the best part of a decade without moving anywhere within the company? Sorry if this is not correct, it is just the impression I get from your Juvenile reply.

Skynet5 · 16 Apr 2012 at 00:14

Really!?

You didnt even bother to understand my question. I don't need anyone to tell me my i7 is a bottleneck. What I was illustrating is the info from bf3 stats says different. So is my i7 just some of the problem?

I won't even bother commenting on you point about my job, but it lets me "waste" £860 on graphics cards and not give a damn ;-)

.

U should be more polite and less assumtive, and more informed if you want people to value your opinion. Learn.

no_1_dave · 16 Apr 2012 at 00:24

lnoton said:
Really!?

You didnt even bother to understand my question. I don't need anyone to tell me my i7 is a bottleneck. What I was illustrating is the info from bf3 stats says different. So is my i7 just some of the problem?

I won't even bother commenting on you point about my job, but it lets me "waste" £860 on graphics cards and not give a damn .

U should be more polite and less assumtive, and more informed if you want people to value your opinion. Learn.

I was polite and have actually helped in other threads of yours, it was you who started the name calling (fool) and childish responses. Oh and please, I don't like to judge people especially for their work because at least you do work, however if you earn enough to "waste" £860 of graphics cards when one would allow you to play BF3 maxed whilst you have a pregnant wife and a lot of incoming baby expenses surely you'd upgrade your CPU too?

TallPaul_S · 16 Apr 2012 at 02:37

He doesn't have a CPU bottleneck, the performance graph is very easy to understand...

The CPU is rendering frames faster than the GPU(s), if there was a CPU bottleneck the CPU would be rendering frames slower than the GPU(s).

Skynet5 · 16 Apr 2012 at 03:26

no_1_dave said:
I was polite and have actually helped in other threads of yours, it was you who started the name calling (fool) and childish responses. Oh and please, I don't like to judge people especially for their work because at least you do work, however if you earn enough to "waste" £860 of graphics cards when one would allow you to play BF3 maxed whilst you have a pregnant wife and a lot of incoming baby expenses surely you'd upgrade your CPU too?

Ok. I'm sorry for name calling. Bad of me.

Just don't like incorrect assumptions that I could have got away with one.

I bought two 680s, installed one, benched, saw I got what others did, then opened the second and saw a marked improvement. So I'm benefiting from both on my 120hz screen, just not as much as I will later down the road.

Name calling was uncool of me.

Skynet5 · 16 Apr 2012 at 03:32

TallPaul_S said:
He doesn't have a CPU bottleneck, the performance graph is very easy to understand...

The CPU is rendering frames faster than the GPU(s), if there was a CPU bottleneck the CPU would be rendering frames slower than the GPU(s).

That statement about in SLI green line will be above CPU is interesting though. Why?

I reakon I should get c. 10 fps better before I'm CPU bound by the looks of my graphs.

andybird123 · 16 Apr 2012 at 10:16

you definitely have a bottleneck somewhere as you are showing GPU usage under 99%... however as CPU is also <99% it indicates it isn't a CPU problem per se

have you tried running with HT off, just to see if it makes any difference either way?
what resolution are you running at? EDIT: sorry, googled your monitor, 1920x1200... so shouldn't be VRAM issue either

chief barker · 16 Apr 2012 at 10:32

I have the same chip as the OP i7 920 @ 4GHZ. But I have 2 7970s.

I am also getting low CPU usage. all 8 threads are using about 80% on the 920.

I also have about 80% usage from my 7970s. using the 12.4 beta drivers.

The graph shows the green line above the yellow too.

I think/hope it's the drivers as obviously my cpu and gpus are not being used fully.

What's going on?

andybird123 · 16 Apr 2012 at 10:38

yeah, if you can eliminate everything else, then poor SLI scaling could well be down to drivers

chief barker · 16 Apr 2012 at 11:48

OK let's get to the bottom of this. As both I and the OP have the same CPUs.

But he has 2 680s and I have 2 7970. And we have the same issue.

Some are saying it's a cpu bottleneck some aren't

Anybody that has the same cards only in SLI/Crossfire but has a faster CPU please download this program and enable the overlay in game so we can compare results.

http://bf3.realmware.co.uk/settings-editor/downloads.

Can you also have the task manager running in the background to see how much % usage you are getting from your cores. I am only getting about 80% on all 8 threads.

no_1_dave · 16 Apr 2012 at 12:28

chief barker said:
OK let's get to the bottom of this. As both I and the OP have the same CPUs.

But he has 2 680s and I have 2 7970. And we have the same issue.

Some are saying it's a cpu bottleneck some aren't

Anybody that has the same cards only in SLI/Crossfire but has a faster CPU please download this program and enable the overlay in game so we can compare results.

http://bf3.realmware.co.uk/settings-editor/downloads.

Can you also have the task manager running in the background to see how much % usage you are getting from your cores. I am only getting about 80% on all 8 threads.

I have the same problem with 2 470s and my 920.
First of all I found my CPU overclock had somehow been switched off and I was only getting approx 40-60% GPU usage. Then I overclocked my CPU back to 4Ghz and my GPU usage went up to approx 85-90% (varies in that area). When my CPU was stock and now when it is overclocked I never see more then 85% CPU usage. This indicates it is a CPU bottleneck, but the CPU isn't running 100% and never is. I finally just accepted that BF3 doesnt use 100% CPU but the more powerful/overclocked the CPU the better.

Test for yourself.
Turn off your overclock and run BF3.
Then turn it back on and run BF3.

You'll notice your CPU usage will be the same for both runs but you'll have higher GPU usage on the overclocked run.
At least, that's what I found.

chief barker · 16 Apr 2012 at 13:12

Cheers for that Dave.

I am due an upgrade so I wonder what CPU will lift that bottleneck?

Easier option for me would be a 980X 6 core. But would that help?

Or go balls out with a completely new mobo. cpu and ram?

Skynet5 · 16 Apr 2012 at 13:35

chief barker said:
Cheers for that Dave.

I am due an upgrade so I wonder what CPU will lift that bottleneck?

Easier option for me would be a 980X 6 core. But would that help?

Or go balls out with a completely new mobo. cpu and ram?

At the price they are still at, I'm gonna wait 4-6 months and see that IB gives me.

My mobo is 3years old now. It needs a refresh.

I've done as much tweaking as I can within the drivers, and bios settings.

On a 32 man caspian I average 90-100fps (lows of 58 very very rarely) with everything maxxed. On a 64 server it is closer to 80-90fps. Anyother map is well over 100 fps.

Good enough for me.