Poor performance from new GTX 970?

[gazzab]

I got an Ocuk 970 a couple of days ago and have been trying to put it through its paces. I upgraded from a 570 so expected a big jump in performance.

GTA 5 has been reasonably smooth, staying above 40fps at all times, everything up high as it can go, advanced settings off, grass on the 'high' setting (the framerate tanks to low 30s in the countryside otherwise)

My Heaven benchmark result is 1354, with an average framerate of 53.7. This seems pretty low to me, looks like others are getting at least 60 from their 970.

I bought Crysis 3 today and just started the second level. My framerate keeps dipping down to 30. I've got all settings on very high with no AA. Every review I've seen has it never dipping below 45... could this be a driver issue, or did I get a dud card? I've not been blown away by the performance.

Here's my other specs:-

Gigabyte H81M HD3
i5 4460
8GB DDR3

 

[mururoa]

How did you go about the process of uninstalling the old card & drivers and installing the new ones?

 

[stooeh]

If it is the Welcome to the Jungle level then the grass there gives the CPU a good workout. I think I read somewhere that you can get a ~10fps bump from having an i7 vs i5.

Try running some benches like 3DMark or Unigine Heaven and you should be getting a massive boost over the 570 there.

Edit: Oh you did try Heaven - score doesn't seem too low tbh

 

[chaparral]

What screen resolution are you playing your games at ?

 

[chaparral]

I bought Crysis 3 today and just started the second level. My framerate keeps dipping down to 30. I've got all settings on very high with no AA. Every review I've seen has it never dipping below 45... could this be a driver issue, or did I get a dud card? I've not been blown away by the performance.

This review tested a GTX 970 which only gave an Average of 41fps and a Minimum of 33fps at 1440p
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2015/01/15/asus-geforce-gtx-970-directcu-mini-review/5

And this other review was only getting a 36fps Minimum at 1080p
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/78069-gigabyte-geforce-gtx-970-g1-gaming/?page=5

 

[africanos23]

You are running a weak 3.4Ghz CPU with 4 threads, that bench was running a 4.2Ghz OC.

If you are running 1080p you are severely bottlenecked with your CPU, especially with games that love multithreading like Crysis 3 and GTA 5.

 

[fs123]

Crysis 3 struggles to stay at 60fps on an i7 @ 4.5GhZ with a 970 so your results are about right for an [email protected]. try overclocking it.

 

[gazzab]

Thanks for the replies guys. I only just got my processor in December as an upgrade from a Q6600 :'( I've gone from bottleneck to bottleneck if it isn't powerful enough.

How did you go about the process of uninstalling the old card & drivers and installing the new ones?

I ticked the 'clean install' box on the nvidia installer and cracked on from there

What screen resolution are you playing your games at ?

2048 x 1152

Crysis 3 struggles to stay at 60fps on an i7 @ 4.5GhZ with a 970 so your results are about right for an [email protected]. try overclocking it.

If only I could... I went with the non-K version, mistakenly believing that the latest i5 processors are all far more powerful than they really need to be

 

[mururoa]

Thanks for the replies guys. I only just got my processor in December as an upgrade from a Q6600 :'( I've gone from bottleneck to bottleneck if it isn't powerful enough.



I ticked the 'clean install' box on the nvidia installer and cracked on from there

While these issues are often shrouded in mysticism and heavy contextuality, you could try

1. Uninstall everything GPU related via control panel

2. Restart in safe mode

3. Run DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller)

4. Restart again and install new driver

Nvidia drivers are generally good but any number of things can go s-shaped when switching to a new GPU; trying the procedure above might not help but it won't hurt either.

 

[stooeh]

Well there are not many games out there that will be bottlenecked by that CPU, but Crysis 3 is one of them.

I was going to post a vid from YT of someone playing the Crysis 3 Welcome to the Jungle level with a 970 and a i4 4460 but Psycho's swearies...

Has plenty of dips to the 40s and even 30fps in the open after you leave Psycho behind.

If you go that point in the game with something to monitor CPU usage such as Afterburner you will likely see 90%+ usage on all 4 cores due to the grass physics.

 

[gazzab]

trying the procedure above might not help but it won't hurt either.

Thanks bud, I'll give that a go

If you go that point in the game with something to monitor CPU usage such as Afterburner you will likely see 90%+ usage on all 4 cores due to the grass physics.

Ahh, i forgot to mention, GPU usage only ever reaches 80% during gameplay for Crysis 3... I forgot I could check CPU usage on there so I'll have a nose.

EDIT: Looks like you're right, CPU regulary hits 100 with spikes seemingly coinciding with the FPS drops. As I bought the 970 almost specifically for The Witcher 3, I guess it's probably a good idea to grab a new CPU if it's gonna be an issue. Without starting a new thread, would a 4690K be a good bet to last a few years, or will I need to fork out for an i7?

 

[Shiari]

You have a H81 board, not a Z87, which means you don't get much in the way of overclocking (if anything at all). So without replacing your board as well, switching to a 4690K wouldn't be of much use.

 

[mururoa]

Without starting a new thread, would a 4690K be a good bet to last a few years, or will I need to fork out for an i7?

i5 to i5 would be too lateral to make it worth your while, plus you would need a new mobo if you were to overclock the 4690k.

It seems the DX12 will kickstart the whole multithreading revolution we have been waiting for the past couple of years, so something like Xeon E3-1230v3 or v2 if you can find one could a shrewd update on a budget, since your mobo would serve either one just fine.

Do notice though, that for time being, being cpu-bound or thread-bound is still very much an exception rather than the norm.

Edit: However if you DO feel like a more comprehensive overhaul would be in order, I'd strongly encourage you to hold your horses and wait until the new Intel tech, Skylake cpus in particular, is out. Generally speaking, there's never a good time to buy as there's always something better, newer, shinier just around the corner but your current spec is already in the higher end of the spectrum so I'd be vary of incremental upgrades.

 

[fs123]

If only I could... I went with the non-K version, mistakenly believing that the latest i5 processors are all far more powerful than they really need to be

Even non-K's can be overclocked roughly 3 x bins over the default multiplier and coupled with a couple of MHz's on the FSB you should be able to get close to 4GHz depending on the motherboard.

The Gigabyte H81M HD3 does have some decent overclocking capability according to this review:

http://extremespec.net/gigabyte-ga-h81m-hd3-review-design-testing-performance/2/