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GTX680 Low FPS?

Associate
Joined
26 Mar 2012
Posts
4
Hi all,

You'll have to excuse my limited knowledge on computer hardware but I'm hoping you will be able to help me out.

My computer is about 3 years old and due to passing my exams my parents have treated me to 2 new evga gtx680 graphics cards to upgrade my system. I've managed to install them all fine etc except im getting really poor results for some reason and I can't figure out why?

On Battlefield 3 I'm getting around 10-20fps on high settings and ultra is totally unplayable. A friend told me to run 3DMark Vantage to see what score I got and it was 11,021 which I'm not sure is good or bad?

I'm starting to wonder if my new graphics cards are faulty and wondering if I should return them or not? All my drivers and windows are fully up to date so any help would be much appreciated.

My system is:

CPU: Intel Q6600 2.40 GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P5N-D LGA775
RAM: 2GB 1333MHz (Unsure of brand)
Graphics: 2x EVGA GTX680
PSU: Corsair Professional Series AX1200 High Performance 1200W
Case: Antec 1200
OS: Windows 7 Home Edition 64-bit

Many thanks in advance!
 
Associate
Joined
10 May 2008
Posts
285
Location
Sandhurst, United Kingdom
Hi,

Unfortunately you are almost certainly experiencing CPU 'bottlenecking'. Your CPU is now fairly dated technology, so your new GTX680 is being held back by it. You also only have 2GB memory, which isn't really sufficient for new games.

Unless you overclock your CPU, or replace it with a newer processor, you won't ever see the best results from your new graphics card I am afraid.
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Apr 2004
Posts
3,859
Location
Shropshire
For the sake of a few quid the first thing I'd do is get some more RAM. 2GB just isn't enough, your OS will use almost all of that before you even attempt to play BF3.
 
Associate
Joined
10 May 2008
Posts
285
Location
Sandhurst, United Kingdom
Only just noticed you said 2 graphics cards. So exactly what the other guys here have already mentioned - you really should sell or return for refund one of the cards, and get new CPU, motherboard and ram. For the price of the one graphics card, you could then have a really good system, capable of running BF3 on high settings.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Jan 2004
Posts
20,929
While you wait overclock the Q6000 to 3GHz at LEAST. Aim for 3.5 if you have good cooling.

Otherwise yeah, Q6000 is way to old to support SLI 680s and probably a bottleneck for just one now also. It certainly is at the stock 2.4Ghz.
 
Associate
Joined
22 Jan 2005
Posts
1,267
Location
Australia
A q6600 @ 3.6 will bottleneck a 5870 to an average of 80% gpu use across a selection of games.

Given that ONE 680 is twice as fast as a 5870, its clear to see where the problem lies.
 
Associate
Joined
16 Dec 2008
Posts
1,091
There's 2 options as I see it:

1) as has been stated return 1 680 and buy 8gb ddr3 ram, an i5 2500k and a Asus P8Z68-V.

2) buy 8GB ddr2 RAM (will be a bit expensive as it's somewhat outdated) and a decent CPU cooler and Overclock the Q6600 to 3.2ghz+. a 3.2Ghz overclock on the Q6600 is easy and mines running at 3.4Ghz atm with rather poor cooling.

The first option is what I would do personally as it will give you a more balanced all round PC and you'll break even. The 2nd option will cost around £120,quite a bit less if you buy the memory 2nd hand but you'll get to keep both 680's.
 
Associate
Joined
4 Nov 2010
Posts
377
With the amount of money soent on getting 2 of those cards I'm surprised you never went for one of the best CPU's also.

But yeah +1 on sending a card back and getting a motherboard, 8gb DDR3 and a i5 2500k and your BF3 will be sweeeeeet:D n this Yorkshire lad will be well gealous :D
 
Soldato
Joined
3 Feb 2012
Posts
14,431
Location
Peterborough
Sound advice already given. You want a bare minimum of 4GB ram (8GB is the minimum if buying now though in my opinion). But buying new RAM only for that hardware would be a waste. Buy a new board and CPU and new RAM.

What on earth possessed you to shell out £850 on graphics cards and pair them with that dated hardware. Surely you must have done some research before spending that much?
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2009
Posts
2,885
Location
-
Well the serious responses have highlighted the problem.

So..

What exams did you pass to get your parents to spend £800+ on you?

And would they consider adoption?

I'm 22, but I'm clean, well-mannered etc. Usually I help around the house but right now I'm neck-deep in assignments.
 
Associate
Joined
28 May 2008
Posts
346
My system is:

CPU: Intel Q6600 2.40 GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P5N-D LGA775
RAM: 2GB 1333MHz (Unsure of brand)
Graphics: 2x EVGA GTX680
PSU: Corsair Professional Series AX1200 High Performance 1200W
Case: Antec 1200
OS: Windows 7 Home Edition 64-bit

Many thanks in advance!

wish i even had enough for a single 680! Gratz man hope u get the system sorted! I guess its just by pure luck that you had a power supply juicey enough to run those badboys in SLI else it wuda been 0fps! :D
 
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