MSI GTX-970 Gaming Issues

[Jeramba]

Recently bought a new MSI 970. But i'm having some issues.....

Had to flash my Bios first to get the card recognised. I've been struggling with Unity and GTA V. Been getting a lot of frame stuttering at 1080 (med) and the card seems to use a very low GPU % when gaming, card temps are not too high though

I've since installed an AR01 cooler for the CPU which has helped keep the temps down and the games run a bit smoother but not as smooth as I'd like.

Played COD (Ghosts) MP for a couple of hours and the stuttering and lag became an issue near the end with GPU usage dropping to 20 %

Wondering whether...

1. The card is the problem
2. My power supply its struggling to meet the demands
3. Windows needs reinstalling (can't remember ever doing this)
4. Something else

Any ideas ?

Thanks

 

[meldarthx]

Is your cpu oc?? as some of the games you've mentioned are seriously cpu bound;

 

[ShakeNBake]

open up task manager, let it run whilst in game, when slowdown occurs, alt-tab and check cpu/ram usage.

if gpu only at 20% likely that something else is causing the problem.

 

[~>Dg<~]

oc cpu for a start. if its stock will lose quite a bit of performance.also make sure your driver installation is correct.

 

[Jeramba]

Is your cpu oc?? as some of the games you've mentioned are seriously cpu bound;

No it's the latest and final Bios for the MB. Can you overclock a flashed Bios ?

Will try task manager to check CPU/Ram usage....

Thanks

J

 

[philo-sofa]

What sort of GPU usages and clock speeds are you getting in game?

 

[Jeramba]

open up task manager, let it run whilst in game, when slowdown occurs, alt-tab and check cpu/ram usage.

if gpu only at 20% likely that something else is causing the problem.

Difficult to get true CPU and Ram usage. Ram usage is mostly in the 90's and CPU seems to reach 90's when the lag happens (GTA V). It would be nice to overlay usage on screen though ?

Setting game priority to high also helps a bit. Game still laggy though at times

Also had a couple of blue screens (kernal errors) when I played CS Source. Wonder if this indicates a memory problem ?

What sort of GPU usages and clock speeds are you getting in game?

GPU usages about 30-40 % clock speeds about 1100-1300 (core), 1300 Memory...

 

[Jeramba]

Ok,

Recently reinstalled Win 7 (after some issues). Performance is much better. Although GTA V and particularly Unity are slower than I want them to be on med difficulty.

My games are on my Barracuda which is pretty full. I might try reformating that drive as well and making sure there is plenty of space free. Although is this necessary since there is no operating system installed ? Better just to free up space and defrag ?

I'm also interested in overclocking my CPU. I'm a novice at this so what would be the best way to do this ?

Thanks

J