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gtx 680 sli gpu usage % issue

Well on 3 cards for me Ive just done a fresh install driver 306, with gen 3.0 patch and a massive 4.9GHz Well massive for me lol and still my usage goes up and down stupid, even on one screen the the game play is choppy.. I GIVE UP lol
 
Are you hitting frame limits? Quite a few games have frame ceilings. BF3 for example is 200ish and you need to type something via tilde key to unlock locked frames.
 
Looking about the net, I am amazed at how widespread this issue is - wish I had known before I pulled the trigger, but no review has ever mentioned this issue.

Also another thing to note is that using the SLI Usage Indicator option is a great way to monitor how the cards are being used. In BF3 and Crysis I can see pretty big fluctuations - ironically its when you are taking in the largest viewing scope (e.g. landscapes, the whole map) when the SLI usage drops the most.

In UE3 games like Mass Effect 2 and Unreal 3, the SLI Usage Indicator is maxing out consistently, which indicates Game Engine/Driver-level issues. If this is the case, what a massive shame since BF3 was the main game I was hoping to realise SLI benefits from :(
 
Looking about the net, I am amazed at how widespread this issue is - wish I had known before I pulled the trigger, but no review has ever mentioned this issue.

Also another thing to note is that using the SLI Usage Indicator optiI dontn is a great way to monitor how the cards are being used. In BF3 and Crysis I can see pretty big fluctuations - ironically its when you are taking in the largest viewing scope (e.g. landscapes, the whole map) when the SLI usage drops the most.

In UE3 games like Mass Effect 2 and Unreal 3, the SLI Usage Indicator is maxing out consistently, which indicates Game Engine/Driver-level issues. If this is the case, what a massive shame since BF3 was the main game I was hoping to realise SLI benefits from :(

I agree with what your saying? My usage will sit at 99% when looking away from the middle of game map, soon as I look into the game it goes nuts it was showing 40% acrois 3 cards on some maps, Farcry3 also suffers to the point I can't use it.

Gregster, no i don't think so well not on 3 screens.
 
Ahhh. I do know some games are poorly optimised for 2 GPU's let alone 3 and also not sure if it can be fixed at driver level or game level.

This is also a problem for triple cards with AMD also, so maybe it is game level.
 
@all: I decided to roll back to the 306.98 Release (the last WHQL one before 310).

Looks like I get higher GPU usage all around. Not 99%, but better than before. Maybe worth trying?
 
@all: I decided to roll back to the 306.98 Release (the last WHQL one before 310).

Looks like I get higher GPU usage all around. Not 99%, but better than before. Maybe worth trying?

306.23 I found to be the best for BF3 in SLI. 306.97 is a good choice also but 310.xx are just horrid all round. I did a few latency tests with a few games and all horrid returns. FPS wise, they look good but just not showing the same for frame latency.
 
306.23 I found to be the best for BF3 in SLI. 306.97 is a good choice also but 310.xx are just horrid all round. I did a few latency tests with a few games and all horrid returns. FPS wise, they look good but just not showing the same for frame latency.

Quite the opposite for me, i have found 310.70 to be best so far for me. Tried 310.90 and it gave me start up errors when loading desktop.
 
Quite the opposite for me, i have found 310.70 to be best so far for me. Tried 310.90 and it gave me start up errors when loading desktop.

Strange how different systems but generally the same architecture can make such a difference.

I always keep an eye on the Nvidia forums and so many cross comments about drivers. Good for some, bad for others and some even breaking someones computer :D
 
I've found 301 on the driver CD works best now, also if I drop my res to 5760x1200 I can run BF3 on ultra and 2x AA with 3 cards at 90+fps soon as I up it to 7680x1440 the GPU usage drops and it runs like crap, I can't understand why you have problems with 2 cards as we have the game board/cpu/gpu.

What Pcie lanes do you use?
 
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I have more updates to this as I investigated further - I ran the Unigine Heaven Benchmark on both a single and dual card configuration and I can clearly see that both GPUs are at 99% for the SLI run, with correspondingly higher FPS and a higher end-score.

Conclusion - the game engine is definitely a factor in the results we are seeing. Both Crysis and BF3 are using proprietary tech which could account for seemingly less efficient implementations of SLI. What this does not explain however, is why many of the 680 SLI benchmarks I have seen are so high.
 
Hi has anyone used the new driver yet to see if it helps? I have removed my 3rd card and changed boards so can't try 3way until tomo.. Also my rig need a fresh install so would somebody test the new drivers if possible :)) thanks
 
I'll be getting another Hazro and upping my res to 7680x... and I'll still get 80% usage lols

I have been seeing more GPU usage but not above 75% evenb at 150fps cap
 
What about mouse to screen lag? I only see that above 5760x1290 :s just about to send the asrock champion back, I may unbox and try again lol
 
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