Is my 980ti a bottleneck? Draw times included.

RipGroove · 22 Mar 2017 at 19:04

The game 'Squad' had a decent map update over the weekend which has left me with quite a drop in FPS, I'm not that clued up on draw times but this is what I'm seeing during those very low FPS moments:

35.37fps
28.27ms

Frame: 28.42ms
Game: 3.87ms
Draw: 1.82ms
GPU: 28.43ms

Screen shot with 'Stat Unit' & 'Stat FPS' enabled:
http://i.imgur.com/Y01a4gF.jpg

My 7700k is running at 4.9GHz so maybe my 980ti FTW (stock clocks) can't keep up. I play at 3440x1440 with all settings on EPIC (no AA).

So if it is a GPU bottleneck, would OC'ing it help? (Never done that before but can't be that hard). Or would down clocking my CPU help?

FYI the only reason there is a 980ti in this build is because I'm waiting for EVGA to release the 1080ti hybrid.

Toss3 · 22 Mar 2017 at 20:48

Overclocking your gtx 980 ti is definitely going to help (1450/7800 should be possible without breaking a sweat), while downclocking the 7700K is only going to make it worse (you won't notice a huge difference due to the gpu being the limiting factor, but downclocking will always result in worse performance unless the clock isn't stable and you aren't providing a high enough voltage).

Grumps82 · 22 Mar 2017 at 21:07

How does your machine run other games ? I only ask as Squad isnt exactly well optimised at the moment.

HAz · 22 Mar 2017 at 21:10

the 1080 ti will help a lot, just wait for it and you should be pleasantly surprised.

RipGroove · 22 Mar 2017 at 22:26

Thanks lads, I'll look in to overclocking the 980ti until the 1080ti is available then.

You're right, Squad isn't in a great state of optimisation but my system ran it perfectly before the latest update, buttery smooth 70-80fps average no matter what map or how full the server was.

I'm pretty sure the latest update has had an adverse affect on my particular hardware setup but for whatever reason those draw times show a GPU bottleneck if I understand them correctly? Maybe the extra map detail (and there's a lot of new detail on some maps) is just too much for the 980ti to handle now, it handles other games much much better on my system but admittedly they are AAA titles.

The 1080ti hybrid was always on the shopping list for this build so I'm not at all concerned about it, I just wanted some clarification on whether those draw times are showing a GPU bottleneck for me on this particular version of Squad.

Gripen90 · 22 Mar 2017 at 23:20

980Ti is a beast of an overclocker - all models. My 3x 980Ti reference cards all overclocked 25% on the GPU and 11% on the vram. So if you haven't overclocked yet, do it - there is so much more potential in Maxwell.

RipGroove · 23 Mar 2017 at 07:34

Gripen90 said:
980Ti is a beast of an overclocker - all models. My 3x 980Ti reference cards all overclocked 25% on the GPU and 11% on the vram. So if you haven't overclocked yet, do it - there is so much more potential in Maxwell.

I'll give it a go and see what happens.

RipGroove · 24 Mar 2017 at 16:19

Had a quick go at my 980ti FTW with Afterburner.

Started with the memory clock, Heaven seems stable at +400MHz (crashed at +450MHz)

But the core clock crashes Heaven after about a minute at only +45MHz (stable at +40MHz)

That seem right?

Power limit is set to 110% and Temp limit to 91°C

It reaches 76°C with Heaven running.

RipGroove · 24 Mar 2017 at 16:31

Heaven score with stock clocks

FPS 44.2
Score 1113
Min FPS 29.4
Max FPS 88.5

Heaven score with Mem +400MHz & Core +50MHz

FPS 47.2
Score 1201
Min FPS 29.5
Max FPS 95.8

Dirk Diggler · 24 Mar 2017 at 21:29

Install Afterburner and make GPU is hitting 99% usage

Dirk Diggler · 24 Mar 2017 at 21:30

Install Afterburner and make sure GPU is hitting 99% usage

RipGroove · 24 Mar 2017 at 21:43

String said:
Install Afterburner and make sure GPU is hitting 99% usage

I used afterburner to do the overclocking and yeah I'm pretty sure it was hitting high usage.

r7slayer · 25 Mar 2017 at 09:33

Check your graphical settings. Ive known game updates to bring something new graphically and enble it by default or just change settings. Annoying i know when you have found your perfect settings.
Could be a possibility

RipGroove · 25 Mar 2017 at 09:36

Thanks I've done that already, there's not really that many settings in this game tbh.

r7slayer · 25 Mar 2017 at 09:59

ahh okays

worth a shot. Not seen that game tbh but im guessing its like a game in beta or something?

RipGroove · 25 Mar 2017 at 10:01

It's been in Alpha for just over a year i believe! But it runs and plays very well and has a huge player base!

z10m · 25 Mar 2017 at 10:41

RipGroove said:
Had a quick go at my 980ti FTW with Afterburner.

Started with the memory clock, Heaven seems stable at +400MHz (crashed at +450MHz)

But the core clock crashes Heaven after about a minute at only +45MHz (stable at +40MHz)

That seem right?

Wrong you should always start with core overclock and when you find max stable then you overclock memory because one can affect the other and performance from memory overcloking is minimal compared to core overclock.

RipGroove · 25 Mar 2017 at 10:57

Haha OK, I was following this guide: https://youtu.be/68WJYeRM-SE

Total noob to GPU OC so what would be considered decent stable figures for memory and core on a 980ti? I'll have another go and do it the other way around!

z10m · 25 Mar 2017 at 11:09

RipGroove said:
Haha OK, I was following this guide: https://youtu.be/68WJYeRM-SE

Total noob to GPU OC so what would be considered decent stable figures for memory and core on a 980ti? I'll have another go and do it the other way around!

I'd say that you should aim for ~1500 core and 8000 mem.
What is your card boosting to at stock.? Because mine is sitting at 1400 at stock and max I can push it to is 1500 (100% stable in everything).

RipGroove · 25 Mar 2017 at 11:40

z10m said:
I'd say that you should aim for ~1500 core and 8000 mem.
What is your card boosting to at stock.? Because mine is sitting at 1400 at stock and max I can push it to is 1500 (100% stable in everything).

Not sure, I'll check and let you know.