Major framerate drops

unplanned bacon · May 12, 2014

This started in Blacklight Retribution, and has affected Borderlands 2 as well. Running both games maxed out and getting performance drops in game. Borderlands 2 dropping to almost slideshow levels in co op and Retribution just never plays smooth. Games like Sims 3 stutter a little as well which doesn't make much sense (it largely plays fine, but there's occasional stutter, but then again, game wasn't coded very well). When I first built this rig it was smooth as you like, so why am I getting dropped fps???

Spec:
i5 4570 @3.2GHz
16GB 1600 MHz RAM
120GB 840 Evo SSD
1TB WD Black HDD (the gaming HDD)
Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 2GB

It makes no sense, other than I am running it a little above (Borderlands 2) what GeForce Experience says I should do. When the action kicks off the FPS goes down

EDIT:Just checked. Borderlands is on optimal settings. I was playing co op at the time, so it's debatable whether what I saw was latency or not (WiFi)

chargeit · May 12, 2014

Check your temps using "CPUID HWMonitor" or "HWiNFO64.

I'd also run windows indexer to see if your performance went down, and in what areas.

TheMagicalWallaby · May 12, 2014

Usually this means overheating. Check to make sure you installed your CPU cooler right and that you have good airflow.

HiTechObsessed · May 12, 2014

What power supply do you have? And are you running PhysX in BL2? Try turning PhysX to low, or off and see what that does.

Uzair Siddiqi · May 12, 2014

it means something is wrong maybe

Adroid · May 12, 2014

Try the two more obvious possibilities first - 1) Make sure you aren't overheating like abovementioned (if your GPU is hitting 80°C it will throttle and reduce speed), and 2) Turn the settings down and see if the problem continues.

If you are overheating, make sure you have adequate airflow in your case. Typically, you want intake fans in the front, and exhaust fans at the back of the case. You may need to lower your clock speed on your GPU to further reduce heat until you can determine a more permanent solution.

If you lowering the clock speed helps I wouldn't be too surprised. Your system is fast and fine for games, but if you wanted everything maxxed out a single GTX 760 won't do it.

Uzair Siddiqi · May 12, 2014

yeah its possible.
It may be surrounding temp
It may be dust
It may be fan
It may be thermal paste
It may be 3rd world psu
It may be random
It may be eyes
It may be windows
It may be internet
It may be no reason

HiTechObsessed · May 12, 2014

The framerate drops would not happen because of no reason, eyes, or the internet lol

unplanned bacon · May 12, 2014

TheMagicalWallaby :

It's the stock cooler. When I built I put it on, removed (which is a hue no, I was a newb), but my temps have been fine, no sudden shutdowns due to overheating, throttling etc.

Standard temps during gaming 60 - 70 CPU and GPU 10 degrees hotter.
Airflow, OK, could have a bit better routing, no dust internally

Trial Fusion is guilty. Never had issues until Blacklight. I leave my stuff open when I launch into a game, has never slowed my rig down before

To the PSU guy, Corsair CXM600 (at the time I had no reason to believe it was below quality, reviews were all good)

Dead Space is fine, all are V Synced

unplanned bacon · May 12, 2014

Adroid :

Try the two more obvious possibilities first - 1) Make sure you aren't overheating like abovementioned (if your GPU is hitting 80°C it will throttle and reduce speed), and 2) Turn the settings down and see if the problem continues.

If you are overheating, make sure you have adequate airflow in your case. Typically, you want intake fans in the front, and exhaust fans at the back of the case. You may need to lower your clock speed on your GPU to further reduce heat until you can determine a more permanent solution.

If you lowering the clock speed helps I wouldn't be too surprised. Your system is fast and fine for games, but if you wanted everything maxxed out a single GTX 760 won't do it.

True about that 760 thing,but I'm going to try!!!

Adroid · May 12, 2014

unplanned bacon :

Not worried about the CPU if it's running stock. If your GPU is running 70-80° it may be overheating and throttling. If you have overclocked the GPU, you need to back it off. If you haven't overclocked the GPU, you need to make sure your case has adequate air flow, and you may need to RMA the card - because under normal circumstances you should not be overheating.

unplanned bacon · May 12, 2014

Adroid :

unplanned bacon :

Not worried about the CPU if it's running stock. If your GPU is running 70-80° it may be overheating and throttling. If you have overclocked the GPU, you need to back it off. If you haven't overclocked the GPU, you need to make sure your case has adequate air flow, and you may need to RMA the card - because under normal circumstances you should not be overheating.

Furmark got it that high. Those are the numbers I quote, because that's where it seems to go to under high load. Let me check

unplanned bacon · May 12, 2014

Played a bit more Borderlands, about 20 to 30 mins worth. Temps were roughly 60 even on both CPU and video card. Frame rate drops experienced: 1, minimal

chargeit · May 12, 2014

unplanned bacon :

60c is higher then I like on my 4770k, but not crazy since the max suggested is 72c.

60c for a GPU also isn't bad... Hell if I leave my 780 open it can get into the 70's. (without some type of frame limiting/vsync)

Try disabling Physx. Also, add a aftermarket cooler. A 212 evo will have you hitting 45c or so playing games.

**Yea, Disable PhysX. If it's only happening when action is going on, it must be PhysX. On my 780 I get bad fps drop using it, let alone on your 760, or if for some reason it's using your CPU instead of GPU.

unplanned bacon · May 12, 2014

chargeit :

unplanned bacon :

60c is higher then I like on my 4770k, but not crazy since the max suggested is 72c.

60c for a GPU also isn't bad... Hell if I leave my 780 open it can get into the 70's. (without some type of frame limiting/vsync)

Try disabling Physx. Also, add a aftermarket cooler. A 212 evo will have you hitting 45c or so playing games.

**Yea, Disable PhysX. If it's only happening when action is going on, it must be PhysX. On my 780 I get bad fps drop using it, let alone on your 760, or if for some reason it's using your CPU instead of GPU.

I'll probably try disabling it tomorrow (kinda late atm). The Nvidia program suggests the hardware in here can take PhysX on high

unplanned bacon · May 12, 2014

I turned ambient occlusion on recently in Blacklight, Trials and Borderlands I think (definitely in at least one of them)

EDIT: Gaah!!! Pop goes the bandit is stuck in my head!!! Been there all day

chargeit · May 12, 2014

unplanned bacon :

chargeit :

I'll probably try disabling it tomorrow (kinda late atm). The Nvidia program suggests the hardware in here can take PhysX on high

All I know is that PhysX can cause some major fps drop... "IMO" it's worthless, unless you have a PhysX card, which is kind of pointless if you ask me.

Adroid · May 13, 2014

Yea sounds like you are just running settings too high then. 1 frame rate drop in 20-30 minutes doesn't appear problematic to me...

chargeit · May 13, 2014

"FYI", I run PhysX low when playing Borderlands 2. That doesn't seem to affect my fps at all. Max, and I'm dropping into maybe the 30's (I don't remember off hand). It just isn't worth it for something that kind of looks out of place to me anyway. I'll take constant 60 fps over max PhysX any day of the week.

HiTechObsessed · May 13, 2014

chargeit :

Yeah, this is why I was asking (and never got answered) above what PhysX setting he had it on.

I have the same with my 760. With PhysX set to low, I can average in the 90s with very minor drops (though I leave VSync on) but when set to high, I'll average in the 80s, but have crazy drops into the 20s and 30s *seemingly* randomly lol I didn't spend $250 GPU to get console quality frame drops lol

peterctv · May 13, 2014

I don't know these games i only play World of tanks / warplanes , but do u get update patches with these games ? With a lot of games when u get a patch they mostly stil have some bugs and it can take a few days to get them out and then u get a micro patch for those bugs.

One other problem can be in the game servers where u play on or the I-net provider they use , the only way to identify that is by reading al the news on the official game website / forum or contacting support.

From what i read in the above post's there are al lot of idea's what it can be and these solutions are al hardware related , if those answer's don't solve your problem maybe this one can.

Greetz Peterctv

chargeit · May 13, 2014

Yea, Physx will turn your fps to a slideshow on higher settings. I personally find it funny when people use it as a selling point for Nvidia cards.

ALso, I've seen benchmarks that show using a 2nd card is only really worth it if it's comparable to your current card. In other words don't try and use a 780, with a 560 or something as Physx because you'll get even worse performance. Least that's what I read.

I've been considering picking up a 2nd 780... Since I don't need the extra GPU power for games like borderlands 2, using it for Physx would make a lot of sense in that case. It still wouldn't surprise me if it killed fps.

HiTechObsessed · May 13, 2014

There isn't any point in getting a second 780 unless you SLI... Putting 2 780s in and using one as a dedicated PhysX card is dumb.

A dedicated PhysX card doesn't need to be equivalent to the primary card to work right, it just needs to still be strong on its own. Something like a 560 or stronger is a great addition for PhysX. The problem, though, is spending around $200 for maybe 10-20% performance increase that only applies in games where PhysX is used extensively. What PhysX cards are great for, is the resistance to frame drops due to PhysX. The overall performance doesn't necessarily increase much, but the frame drops are much less frequent and less noticeable; assuming you get a card capable enough.

unplanned bacon · May 13, 2014

Okay, so just played for about 40 minutes to an hour with Fraps running, and it dropped as low as 24 at times when action kicked off!!! It's V Synced, but still that's stupidly low. Would turning off Physx help? Otherwise it held around 60 fps. Temps on both the GPU and CPU got no higher than 64 degrees

unplanned bacon · May 13, 2014

Adroid :

My settings are on what Nvidia say are optimum for this hardware, I forgot to turn off Physx before starting today though. If I have time may try that later

Major framerate drops

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