Getting sub-par fps with my new GTX 670 oc

mojo_ca

mojo_ca

Posts: 11   +0
I just bought an MSI GTX 670 power edition and have been having a hard time getting anything past 40 fps on ultra settings. The benchmarks I read up on less me to believe that I'm getting half fps on most games such as Farcry 3, Need for Speed most wanted, Saints row the third, Skyrim ect. Even Unigine heaven and Valley benchmarks are off. On heaven 4.0 I'm getting 32fps at 1080p with extreme setting! Not sure if my mobo/cpu and ram could be bottlenecking my gpu or not but everything looks good in gpu-z.

System specs:

AMD Phennom 2 x4 @ 3.3 (oc'ed)
750watt power supply
4gb ddr2 ram
Msi gtx 670 p/e oc

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am depressed with the results
 
What is the model number of your cpu please?

Are you updated to the latest graphics card drivers and directx?
 
I dont know yet and I cant be sure but the Cpu is bottleneck the 670 probably play the game and check the cpu usage if it hits 100 its problems
 
My CPU model is AM2 940 phenom 2 x4 running at 3.0ghz stock (3.3ghz oc'ed)
I just installed 320.00 drivers last night, and as far as directx 11 goes I'm pretty sure I'm up to date (but will check tonight).

My CPU usage never gets to 100%, but I'm thinking that maybe it doesn't have enough processing power (bandwidth) to keep up with the gpu. Could that be possible?

Also, I have never tried flashing the bios, and I think my drivers on my mobo are old...could that possibly be the cause of such low performance?

I just want to make sure it isn't something silly that could be easily remedied before dropping money on a new mobo/cpu.
 
I forgot to mention that my mobo is pci e 2.0 x16, and that I'm using a 46'' led tv @ 60hz refresh rate. Could those two factors affect performance as well?
 
TechGamer said:
I dont know yet and I cant be sure but the Cpu is bottleneck the 670 probably play the game and check the cpu usage if it hits 100 its problems
Click to expand...

I check my gpu usage and it never goes up to 100%, I did however notice tatty on some games my gpu load doesn't want to go beyond 50%
 
The CPU and RAM will bottleneck the graphics card. I recommend upgrading those to support such a hefty GPU. Try clean installing the latest stable drivers: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-314.22-whql-driver.html. Download and run that installer. Chose the option to do a custom install. Then tick the check box that says "Clean Install". If this doesnt help, it confirms the CPU bottleneck. I did some research online and people said you can achieve a Overclock of 3.6 GHz before being unstable. If you do not have a aftermarket CPU cooler, I do not recommend this. If you do, then go ahead and try a 3.5 GHz overclock and run Prime95 to see if that is a stable overclock. Here are instructions on how to use Prime95: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/100352-hardware-stress-test-prime95.html.
 
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JC713 said:
The CPU and RAM will bottleneck the graphics card. I recommend upgrading those to support such a hefty GPU. Try clean installing the latest stable drivers: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-314.22-whql-driver.html. Download and run that installer. Chose the option to do a custom install. Then tick the check box that says "Clean Install". If this doesnt help, it confirms the CPU bottleneck. I did some research online and people said you can achieve a Overclock of 3.6 GHz before being unstable. If you do not have a aftermarket CPU cooler, I do not recommend this. If you do, then go ahead and try a 3.5 GHz overclock and run Prime95 to see if that is a stable overclock. Here are instructions on how to use Prime95: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/100352-hardware-stress-test-prime95.html.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Very helpful recommendations and I'll try them out. I did notice instability past the 3.3ghz mark but never tried upping the voltage. I'm going to give it a try tonight and see if I can hit 3.6. Also, if gpu-z reports good bandwidth and everything else checks out us this an accurate way of knowing if my card is a dud or not? Or are the results generic and misleading? And is 4gb of ram @400hz sufficient?
 
Before overclocking, do you have an aftermarket cooler? Or are you using the one included with the CPU? The GPU is fine, dont worry about it, the CPU is the issue.

What is your motherboard make and model? Also, how many DIMMs (sticks) of RAM do you have? 2x2GB? 1x4GB? Can you look on the RAM and see what it says, I need to know if the motherboard and RAM are capable of being clocked at 1066MHz. Can you recheck the RAM speeds? It should be 400MHz. Use CPU-Z for CPU info: https://www.techspot.com/downloads/27-cpu-z.html. Also make sure you are always checking temperatures at stable and while gaming with this program: http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2089/Real_Temp_3.70.html.
 
Before buying the gtx 670 u should of did some research :S the amd phenom is still a good pickup for its price and I doubt there will ever be anyone regreting ever buying it but that processor is made for lower end graphic cards or mid range not a gtx 670 which is on the far end side Oc or upgrade is the only solution to it :S but u will still never see the best performance unless u upgrade to a more powerfull cpu
 
TechGamer said:
Before buying the gtx 670 u should of did some research :S the amd phenom is still a good pickup for its price and I doubt there will ever be anyone regreting ever buying it but that processor is made for lower end graphic cards or mid range not a gtx 670 which is on the far end side Oc or upgrade is the only solution to it :S but u will still never see the best performance unless u upgrade to a more powerfull cpu
Click to expand...
Most people don't know to do that... I dont blame the OP :).
 
I would download furmark here: http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

Run task manager to chart cpu usage and check temps to be sure its not a thermal issue.

Gpu usage will be displayed in furmark along with temps. It should be at 99% at all times during the benchmark.

Run the 1080p benchmark, Enter a username and submit your score, then close the web page that opens, click online scores to compare results with similar setups to yourself.

I would say a cpu bottleneck may be a slight issue, but unlikely to cause a 50% reduction in frame rates unless you were using a dual core or something.
 
fimbles said:
I would download furmark here: http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

Run task manager to chart cpu usage and check temps to be sure its not a thermal issue.

Gpu usage will be displayed in furmark along with temps. It should be at 99% at all times during the benchmark.

Run the 1080p benchmark, Enter a username and submit your score, then close the web page that opens, click online scores to compare results with similar setups to yourself.

I would say a cpu bottleneck may be a slight issue, but unlikely to cause a 50% reduction in frame rates unless you were using a dual core or something.
Click to expand...
It is a given that the GPU isnt the issue here. If the CPU wasnt the bottleneck (if he had a more modern CPU), then we will resort to testing the GPU. But at this moment, we wanna treat it as a CPU bottleneck.
 
JC713 said:
It is a given that the GPU isnt the issue here. If the CPU wasnt the bottleneck (if he had a more modern CPU), then we will resort to testing the GPU. But at this moment, we wanna treat it as a CPU bottleneck.
Click to expand...

I dont believe that processor would cause a 50% reduction in framerates, it is after all a quad core running at 3.3ghz.

I suggest he uses an alternative benchmarking utility to compare with similar setups to rule that out.
 
True! The x4 940 is pretty dated though. It isnt like a X4 965. The DDR2 RAM could also be another issue.
 
fimbles said:
I would download furmark here: http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

Run task manager to chart cpu usage and check temps to be sure its not a thermal issue.

Gpu usage will be displayed in furmark along with temps. It should be at 99% at all times during the benchmark.

Run the 1080p benchmark, Enter a username and submit your score, then close the web page that opens, click online scores to compare results with similar setups to yourself.

I would say a cpu bottleneck may be a slight issue, but unlikely to cause a 50% reduction in frame rates unless you were using a dual core or something.
Click to expand...
Hes not using a dual core hes using a

"My CPU model is AM2 940 phenom 2 x4 running at 3.0ghz stock (3.3ghz oc'ed)"

which is quite old still good but doesnt perform as anywere as an intel or amd processors of these current generation as the cpu is now like 3 years old thats probably about 80% single threaded performance difference difference which is alot just in terms of generation improvments it is definatly a bottleneck and not by one part of the system.
 
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JC713 said:
Before overclocking, do you have an aftermarket cooler? Or are you using the one included with the CPU? The GPU is fine, dont worry about it, the CPU is the issue.

What is your motherboard make and model? Also, how many DIMMs (sticks) of RAM do you have? 2x2GB? 1x4GB? Can you look on the RAM and see what it says, I need to know if the motherboard and RAM are capable of being clocked at 1066MHz. Can you recheck the RAM speeds? It should be 400MHz. Use CPU-Z for CPU info: https://www.techspot.com/downloads/27-cpu-z.html. Also make sure you are always checking temperatures at stable and while gaming with this program: http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2089/Real_Temp_3.70.html.
Click to expand...

I have an Asus M3A78-EM

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M3A78EM/

I have 2x2Gb ddr2 running @ 400hz

I noticed last night playing Need for Speed most wanted that my CPU usage was at about 60% sometimes spiking to 80% but the weird thing is that my GPU load on Afterburner fluctuates greatly between 20%-50% rarely spiking up to 80ish. Seems like when I need raw processing power my card slows down. In benchmarks though it keeps a consistent 99%

For some reason my Cpu load is roughly @ 60%, ram @ 30-40% (using about 480mb) and my Gpu load is all over the place even under strain.
 
It runs on an old AM2 chipset also, that doesnt support DDR3. He would need a AM2+ motherboard for DDR3 support.
 
TechGamer said:
Hes not using a dual core hes using a

"My CPU model is AM2 940 phenom 2 x4 running at 3.0ghz stock (3.3ghz oc'ed)"

which is quite old still good but doesnt perform as anywere as an intel or amd processors of these current generation as the cpu is now like 3 years old thats probably about 80% single threaded performance difference difference which is alot just in terms of generation improvments it is definatly a bottleneck and not by one part of the system.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm starting to think, my cpu can't keep up to my gpu causing instability in the frame rates and causing my gpu to spike up and down its load from that instability...sound about right?
 
mojo_ca said:
That's what I'm starting to think, my cpu can't keep up to my gpu causing instability in the frame rates and causing my gpu to spike up and down its load from that instability...sound about right?
Click to expand...
Kind of. Do you have any spare cash you can put toward a new CPU, motherboard, and RAM? Or maybe an aftermarket cooler (like 35 bucks) for overclocking. I think OCing wont help much though.
 
JC713 said:
It runs on an old AM2 chipset also, that doesnt support DDR3. He would need a AM2+ motherboard for DDR3 support.
Click to expand...

I just don't get how the usage of both my cpu and ram never get near 100% but I'm still getting a bottleneck-type issue. Does that make any sense?
 
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