Problem with new 670's

snakegb · 15 Oct 2012 at 21:49

Hi all,

just taken delivery of 2 new EVGA 670 FTW 4GB

installed both putting the sli on the 1st slot on the cards,

now i did have 2 x 560's

so far am getting bad results :confused:

Guildwars 2 = 41-50fps (same as 560s)
Skyrim running smooth and great
Cod MW3 = totally un playble 3fps

am running
3 x 24" monitors at 5760 x 1080
driver 306.97
windows 64bit

Sli setting set to
Span displays with surround
if i set to maximise 3d performance it switches to 1 screen
says Sli Enabled

oh cant get 5040 x 1080 res anymore next one down is 4967 x 900

ideas anyone :eek:

Rusty0611 · 15 Oct 2012 at 21:51

GW2 is CPU limited...

Don't know about MW3 but performance doesn't look right.

OptimaLnrg · 15 Oct 2012 at 22:06

guildwars also had an issue where SLI actually gave worse performance than single card for nvidia at launch. I assume it's better than that now..

As for mw3, i'd do some googling and see if that's a Surround issue. Doubt it though.

Did you do a clean install of the drivers after getting rid of the 560s? Just to be sure..

Defy Belief · 15 Oct 2012 at 22:10

Just looks like Mw3 and GW2 aren't enjoying a multi card setup.

snakegb · 15 Oct 2012 at 22:13

OptimaLnrg said:
guildwars also had an issue where SLI actually gave worse performance than single card for nvidia at launch. I assume it's better than that now..

As for mw3, i'd do some googling and see if that's a Surround issue. Doubt it though.

Did you do a clean install of the drivers after getting rid of the 560s? Just to be sure..

I reinstalled the drivers but havent done a driver kill, ill give that a try

SkodaMart · 15 Oct 2012 at 22:16

Ok, complicated setup you have there but I guess you imagine one card may be faulty?
Strip your system down to a single monitor and single card and try each card it turn to see if they both perform the same, same benchmark results same temps etc.
Take it from there, SLI on one monitor then add the other two.

no_1_dave · 15 Oct 2012 at 22:16

You should uninstall drivers, then use driver sweeper in safe mode before even installing the new cards.

JamesM · 16 Oct 2012 at 10:38

I've noticed my 3570k limiting my 670s recently, CPU usage is at 100% but card usage ranges from 50-90% giving me wild FPS changes. That's only at 1080p too =/

Could it be your CPU limiting performance?

Rusty0611 · 16 Oct 2012 at 10:41

JamesM said:
I've noticed my 3570k limiting my 670s recently, CPU usage is at 100% but card usage ranges from 50-90% giving me wild FPS changes. That's only at 1080p too =/

Could it be your CPU limiting performance?

An i5 will CPU limit hgh end SLI set ups in certain games.

JamesM · 16 Oct 2012 at 10:52

Rusty0611 said:
An i5 will CPU limit hgh end SLI set ups in certain games.

Even at 4.6GHz? I thought it would manage.. just.

Is an i7 the way to go then?

SkodaMart · 16 Oct 2012 at 11:05

JamesM said:
Even at 4.6GHz? I thought it would manage.. just.

Is an i7 the way to go then?

i7 isn't the way to go, I can't think of any games that use more than 4 cores?

I'm getting great performance with an i3 2120!!

Try removing your overclock too, it may be unstable.

Test each part like I suggested, a fresh driver (clean install) is also good advice mentioned above.

JamesM · 16 Oct 2012 at 11:18

SkodaMart said:
i7 isn't the way to go, I can't think of any games that use more than 4 cores?

I'm getting great performance with an i3 2120!!

Try removing your overclock too, it may be unstable.

Test each part like I suggested, a fresh driver (clean install) is also good advice mentioned above.

One of my main games, BF3, can use up to 6 'cores' I believe

SkodaMart · 16 Oct 2012 at 11:20

Yes but the i7 doesn't have 6 cores, it has 4 with hyperthreading

Does Hyperthreading perform well in BF3?? It may well do.

Are you sure that there is a CPU gain in BF3 running at OPs resolution?

I am sure that even with OPs graphics cards the GPU will be the limiting factor not the CPU, providing as I mentioned above, his overclock is 100% stable.

4.6GHz is pushing an i5 2500k a bit don't you think?

tommybhoy · 16 Oct 2012 at 11:25

An i7 is required if you want the highest scaling possible-which the i5's don't give >99% scaling in some titles as it bottlenecks 67/80 SLI.

MeatLoaf · 16 Oct 2012 at 11:28

Defy Belief said:
Just looks like Mw3 and GW2 aren't enjoying a multi card setup.

MW3 worked ok on my SLI 480s but i only had one monitor.

SkodaMart · 16 Oct 2012 at 11:33

tommybhoy said:
An i7 is required if you want the highest scaling possible-which the i5's don't give >99% scaling in some titles as it bottlenecks 67/80 SLI.

OPs running massive resolution though? 5760 x 1080

Quote:

"Cod MW3 = totally un playble 3fps"

Hes got a driver or hardware problem somewhere, its not his CPU, but it could be his CPU overclock.

Rusty0611 · 16 Oct 2012 at 11:37

JamesM said:
Even at 4.6GHz? I thought it would manage.. just.

Is an i7 the way to go then?

My usage with an i5 2500K @ 4.5 Ghz was around 85% GPU usage for each card on average with occasional peaks and troughs between about 70% and 95%.

By upgrading to an i7 3770K (on the same Windows install) GPU usage now sits between 95 and 99%.

This sounds like a large performance bump but in reality the upgrade from i5 to i7 and and PCI-E 2.0 to 3.0 was 3-5% extra FPS.

Not worth it unless you can recoup most of the cost by selling your old bits or you don't like the idea of your graphics cards running at anything other than maximum.

SkodaMart said:
i7 isn't the way to go, I can't think of any games that use more than 4 cores?

I'm getting great performance with an i3 2120!!

Try removing your overclock too, it may be unstable.

You don't have SLI. Please stop giving out dodgy advice on this forum as it is becoming tiresome correcting you.

SkodaMart said:
Yes but the i7 doesn't have 6 cores, it has 4 with hyperthreading

Does Hyperthreading perform well in BF3?? It may well do.

Yes BF3 uses all 8 threads hence the releasing of the bottleneck.

SkodaMart said:
Are you sure that there is a CPU gain in BF3 running at OPs resolution?

Yes. I've tested as have others. Not guessing like you are below...

SkodaMart said:
I am sure that even with OPs graphics cards the GPU will be the limiting factor not the CPU, providing as I mentioned above, his overclock is 100% stable.

Well you can be sure but you're wrong.

SkodaMart said:
4.6GHz is pushing an i5 2500k a bit don't you think?

No. It's a 'K' chip. As long as the temperatures and voltages are in check - what's the problem?

tommybhoy · 16 Oct 2012 at 11:40

Which makes it even worse.

From rusty's data, scaling won't go past 90% iirc, it's still playable, but if you want the most the 67/80's can give, it's i7 your looking at.

Edit-You beat me rusty.

Rusty0611 · 16 Oct 2012 at 11:43

tommybhoy said:
Which makes it even worse.

From rusty's data, scaling won't go past 90% iirc, it's still playable, but if you want the most the 67/80's can give, it's i7 your looking at.

Edit-You beat me rusty.

FPS readings from say minimums of 60 to 63 and averages from 90 to 94 is just not worth the outlay. No way on earth you're going to tell the difference.

I upgraded due to a combination of selling old bits and not wanting my £800 graphics cards running at 85%.

SkodaMart · 16 Oct 2012 at 11:43

@Rusty0611
I have had 3 systems with SLi, an 8800 GTX, 260 GTX and a 470 GTX so yes I have plenty of experience with SLi thank you!

You seem to be a bit of a hardware snob?

OP didn't even mention BF3, he mentioned MW3 and said that it was unplayable.

If you read my advice above, you will find that it is sensible and methodical.
Your solution to problems seems to be throwing money at it.

Please keep your nose out of my posts in future