GTX 770 not living up to reviews

redlight · Jul 5, 2013

I have the ASUS Direct CU II GTX 770 in my system and purchased it after seeing promising benchmarks. I'll preface this by saying I'm not disappointed in my GPU's performance, I am just confused as to why my results differ from the benchmarks. For example, reviews I've seen for my card in Borderlands 2 usually are 60-80 FPS with a minimum of 50. I max out at 60 FPS with a minimum of 20-30. My GPU isn't running hot by any means, always under 60 degrees. Is there anything I'm missing? (running at 1080p)

DavidRappl · Jul 5, 2013

redlight :

Which version of the Nvidia driver are you using?

bignastyid · Jul 5, 2013

You may have a bottleneck elsewhere,with a single 4Gb Gigabyte windforce GTX 770 i never seen my FPS drop below 60 fps (adaptive v-sync) during game play(1080p maxed graphics).

cookybiscuit · Jul 5, 2013

What processor do you have?

Ryan Nelson · Jul 5, 2013

Make sure you dont have V-Sync running. If you do, it will limit the FPS to match the Hz rating of your monitor. Most monitors are 60Hz. Hence your card would never do more than 60FPS if V-Sync was running.

redlight · Jul 5, 2013

DavidRappl :

I'm using the latest drivers, 320.49. I fixed the settings in Nvidia Control Panel to Maximum Performance, it was on Adaptive. Also selected Single Display Performance as well. I don't believe I'm being bottlenecked but it's possible. I'm using a i5-4670k OC'd to 4.5 GHz, 8 GB 1866 MHz RAM, 750W PSU. I actually never knew V-Sync limits the FPS based on the display. Since my display is indeed 60 Hz and V-Sync will only allow it to be 60 FPS, is that causing my minimum FPS to suffer? I don't actually care about +60 FPS, I just would like to raise my minimum so it is overall more stable.

17seconds · Jul 5, 2013

If you're talking specifically about Borderlands 2, reviewers almost always turn PhysX OFF in order to level the playing field for AMD cards in the review. I'm assuming you are playing with PhysX HIGH, so that would account for the discrepancy with that game at least.

17seconds · Jul 5, 2013

VSync is limiting your FPS to 60, thus matching your monitor's 60 Hz refresh rate. It's usually best to play around with the settings to see if gameplay is smoother with it on or off, at the potential expense of screen tearing. If you do turn it on, be sure to only use Adaptive VSync. Triple Buffering on is recommended as well with Adaptive VSync on.

redlight · Jul 5, 2013

17seconds :

That makes sense, I do have PhysX on high. What is Adaptive VSync and am I supposed to enable it in the Nvidia Control Panel? Also, I've seen triple buffering before but what does it actually do? One last thing..this is my first gaming computer so I obviously don't know much, but how good is a CPU at processing PhysX? Considering I have the i5-4670k OC'd to 4.5 GHz, is it a viable alternative to using the GPU?

17seconds · Jul 5, 2013

redlight :

DO NOT use the CPU to render PhysX. It will slow your performance considerably. That's the benefit of owning an Nvidia card, it's the only way you get to utilize GPU PhysX.

With regular VSync, there is a phenomenon that can happen where it not only limits your FPS to 60, it may also cut your FPS in half to 30. Adaptive VSync is an Nvidia-only feature that addresses this problem where VSync is essentially disabled at FPS below 60 and enabled dynamically when FPS exceeds 60. With Adaptive VSync the old regular VSync is obsolete and should never be used. You enable it through the Nvidia Control Panel.
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/52616-nvidia-geforce-gtx-680-2gb-review-4.html
http://www.tweakguides.com/Graphics_9.html

Triple buffering is intended to reduce mouse/input lag when VSync is enabled. Input lag is the big consequence of VSync, and by buffering three frames, rather than the usual two, it can reduce lag. The cost is extra VRAM usage, but with today's video cards, that really isn't an issue.
http://www.tweakguides.com/Graphics_10.html

jerreece · Jul 5, 2013

Never bothered to check my FPS on Borderlands 2 when I played it with my GTX 770. I just picked up Borderlands 2 about 3-4 days ago and have only played it one evening due to the 4th Holiday. Though I can say it ran butter smooth the entire evening (even while playing Co-op with my brother online). You've got a newer, faster cpu than I do. So that certainly shouldn't be your problem.

I'm using the 320.49 driver as well. And my game is installed on a 10k RPM hard drive. I'm using the GeForce Experience suggested settings (which I think is basically everything maxed on my system). Though I almost always use VSync simply to artificially limit GPU usage (by maxing FPS to 60). This just keeps things cooler and quieter which I prefer.

Feja · Jul 5, 2013

I'm having the same odd FPS behavior as you in BL2 and multiple other games with my 770GTX (MSI Lightning OC series). After 3 weeks of just dealing with it assuming I had false high expectations, I finally stumbled on someone saying, for an AMD 7000 something nonetheless, they noticed their bus speed wouldn't kick in to PCI-e x16 and was stuck at x1. Surely enough in GPU-Z mine was sitting at x1 in every game, benchmark, everything!

Alarmed it might be a mobo or CPU issue I popped in an old 8800GT, which I confirmed beforehand it gets to x16 in my other computer. Immediately it read it was running at x16. Curious, I tried my 770GTX in that second computer, different PSU(650W), different stable Mobo, Core2Duo. Oddly enough it actually got to PCI-E x2! Now I'm baffled. I then tried my 770 in the x8 slot of my main computer (Gigabyte Z68 mobo, Intel i7 2600k, Corsair TX650M PSU), still sat at x1.

Next I was thinking maybe GPU-Z just isn't reading it correctly, ran 3DMark Firestrike. It received a graphics score of 7788, according to 3DMark it should be getting ~11340. Yes, something is wrong, I recommend you run the same test to be sure.

Going to try one more test in a buddies computer, replacing his 660ti, but I'm fairly certain I will be starting the RMA process. Hope that helped, you're not the only one extremely disappointed with their 770GTX.

17seconds · Jul 5, 2013

Be sure to click the little "?" symbol on GPU-Z next to the PCIe bandwidth readout, then run the render test. Also be sure to update your motherboard drivers to properly enable PCIe 3.

redlight · Jul 5, 2013

17seconds :

Should I disable VSync in the specific game settings and let NVidia Control Panel override? Also, do you see any issues with using the frame rate target option? I somewhat feel weary about as at some parts in a demanding game I can achieve more than 60, so the program will throttle the GPU speeds to just support 60 FPS. What then if there is a suddenly extra-demanding part of a game where I cannot achieve 60 FPS on stock speeds, but since the program throttled the GPU, it could boost speeds in time to support the extra-demanding graphics. I don't know if that makes sense but it's just a concern I have using frame rate target instead of doing a constant overclock.

17seconds · Jul 5, 2013

redlight :

The Global Settings are where you generally like your settings before tweaking them in the Program Settings tab. So it's the opposite, you override the Global Settings. I would set Adaptive VSync or Let the Application Decide in the Global Settings, then tweak for individual games in the Program Settings.

Really, you want to play games with VSync OFF to push those framerates as high as possible. The drawback is screen tearing and maxing out your GPU usage causing heat and noise. Play around with the setting and choose what works best for you in each individual game. It's really a personal preference. (For example, right now with this summer heatwave I'm using Adaptive VSync in Fallout New Vegas, which limits the FPS to 60 and the GPU usage to ~50%. That is keeping my GPU temp cooler and my fan running at a quieter speed.)

I would not use the frame rate target if everything is otherwise working fine. In a way, VSync already works as a frame rate limiter by setting your maximum framerate to an ideal 60 FPS.

jerreece · Jul 6, 2013

So I played Borderlands 2 a couple hours last night. I disabled VSync. My EVGA GTX 770 was pushing 120-170FPS just about every time I bothered to look up at FRAPS in the corner of the screen. I didn't have anything to record my FPS over time so I can't tell you what the Min, Avg, or Max frame rates were. And I obviously wasn't watching FRAPS while in combat scenarios. So presumably I dropped below 120fps. But I was obviously getting way higher than the OP. And PhysX was on High. Frame Rate Target was set to "Unlimited".

17seconds · Jul 6, 2013

jerreece :

Just curious, is that Frame Rate Target part of the Borderlands 2 game settings, or do you find it somewhere else?

You can try using the hardware monitor graph on Afterburner to read your FPS over time after you finish the game to see the minimums and maximums along the line graph.

Jerreece, it seems like you might want to turn up some of your graphics settings a bit, unless you are on a 120 Hz monitor. Maybe try to up the AA settings, or use the High Quality texture filtering setting or Ambient Occlusion-Quality in the NV Control Panel.

jerreece · Jul 6, 2013

17seconds :

It's an in-game setting. I actually set GeForce Experience to use the Optimal Settings for Borderlands 2. I'm fairly sure everything is topped off for graphic settings. Though I'm at work so I can't check all the details right now. I have not done any tweaking in the NV Control Panel though.

Only game I've gone that far tweaking is Skyrim.

I actually recently uninstalled Afterburner. Installed EVGA's Precision X with my card. Though I have not been running it (I only used Afterburner for custom fan profiles on my GTX 470 SLI setup since it was freaking hot). I'll have to play around late tonight when I get a chance to play.

17seconds · Jul 6, 2013

I'm guessing a frame rate limiter is going to be best for those running a Crossfire setup, to reduce stuttering.

I'm pretty sure Precision X also has the graphing function.

When I tried out the beta Geforce Experience, I found that it used lower settings than I would normally set myself. Hopefully, that has improved, but it would make sense for Nvidia to favor higher framerates over slightly lower (imperceivable) visual quality. I used Geforce Experience as a starting point and then tweaked upward from there.

jerreece · Jul 6, 2013

17seconds :

From game to game I noticed a difference with the Beta too. Some games it would max out my old GTX 470 SLI setup so bad I had to back off settings (BF3 multi-player was a great example). Other games it would use settings lower than I would set myself, as you said. So some games I didn't use their profiles. Thus far however, with my GTX 770 & the newest GeForce Experience I'm finding it simply maxes games out and everything runs great. Only thing I really customize at this point is Skyrm as I've got some heavy texture replacements (Skyrim HD 2K textures "Full" for example). And I used nVidia's detailed guide on tweaking things at the driver level for Skyrim.

I'll try to check Borderlands 2 tonight. I'd rather have 60FPS with extremely sharp images than 120-170FPS of lesser quality image. LOL That said, the cartoony Borderlands is hard to really call "sharp" or "detailed" in my opinion. The original game gave me eye strain headaches after a while.

17seconds · Jul 6, 2013

Skyrim is extremely tweakable and that guide on geforce.com is essential. I followed it to a "T".

Kemock · Jul 6, 2013

I had similar problem with 760. After a driver crush or computer sudden restart while using OC app it would go into some strange low power mode. It shows normal frequency and voltage but under performs by almost 50 %. Restarting computer would not fix it. Reinstalling OC software and restarting computer does usually fix it. Once I reinstalled it and reset bios too to fix this issue. I think it is some kind of bug with drivers or the way it is overclocked. There is nothing wrong with the card though. My 760 runs like 680 with no issues. I got this bug first time while trying to do benchmarks and it crushed. I thought my card was defective when I first saw that. Because it just performs a lot slower when it happens.

17seconds · Jul 6, 2013

Consider returning the card if that continues. It's been an on-going issue here and there, and drivers don't seem to fix the issue entirely.

Tony Cipps · Oct 1, 2013

I'm so glad I can across this. I've been having almost same issue. I got gigabyte 770gtx, with identical processor. 16gb of Kingston beast ram 2400mhz, running on Samsung evo sad and I too have really low minimum fps. Tried on batman arkham city getting max 60fps but min 30. Where this huge 50% drop coming from. I've tried almost everything windows 7 n nvidia drivers wise. Tried overclocking and boosting ram voltage etc. Made it a little bit better running at min40fps. Starring to think that's just the way it is.

CTVredvirus · Dec 29, 2013

Did anyone think that it will differ from hardware to hardware?
Do you have the same setup as the testers, CPU, Power supply, motherboard
, memory.
It does not matter if you have the most powerful graphic card in the world, if you don't have a high-end motherboard, cpu, memory power supply.

I I take my HD radeon 7950 DC2 Top 3GB and insert it in a lower end system with a mid motherboard, less powerful CPU, he will not get the same results as me, or if put the card into a system with faster memory, better motherboard and one of the top 2 i7 on socket 2011 it will probably shoot up in frames and it will do much better than on my system.

You benchmark an entire system not only just the graphic card or the CPU

I just ordered a 770GTX 4GB

Its like, you go in to an electronic store and listen to nice sounding surround speakers.... why don't I get that sound at home ?
1:You might have other receiver
2: You might have other cables
3: You have probably another source and movie.
4: You will have different acoustic because your room is not as the store
ETC

So if I bench that card with
i7-3960X
16GB corsair dominator
GTX 770 4GB
Corsair formula V Xtreme

Now put the same card
on i7 3820 (mine)
P9x79 (mine)
16Gb corsair dominator (mine)

I can not expect the same results because the 1st system have a more powerful CPU a better motherboard etc

Also if you have vertical sync enabled, it will lock and not push more frames than your monitor update freq...ex: my 52" inch Sony bravia have 60HZ I have Vsync enabled and almost all games I get 60Fps on Ultra, I know the graphic card and my CPU can do more but they are locked to the refresh rate of the screen.

If I remove vertical sync I will gate all kinds of "lagg" because say the graphic card pushes 100 frames, that is 40fps over what my tv can handle.

A little common sense ?

redlight :

GTX 770 not living up to reviews

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