GTX 970 not getting more FPS than my R9 270?? Weird

meat_loaf · Dec 30, 2014

Hey, I just bought a Zotac GTX 970 hoping to upgrade my R9 270 that i got beginning of this year. But for some odd reason when I test both cards using latest drivers from Nvidia 347.09 - WHQL and AMD Catalyst 14.11.2 (Omega drivers), my R9 270 is getting the similar FPS on Dragon Age Inquisition around 28 (AMD) and 32 (GTX) max. (The scenary is Redcliffe Village cause that is where FPS seems to drop lowest and I don't understand why its doing that when I reinstalled both of the drivers twice to see if its driver problems).

In other games like MGS Ground Zeroes on extra effects, GTX 970 is only getting 7 fps more than R9 270. Same with my other games. I am also not getting CPU bottleneck despite its a Phenom 955 BE OC to 4.0ghz since the Rivertuner is reporting consistently that the CPU is only running at max 85% usage. Even in World of Tanks where the game is badly optimized, i am getting only few fps more with GTX even at the lowest settings.

This should not be happening considering GTX 970 extremely more powerful. Any tips why this problem is occuring?

Yous · Dec 30, 2014

It looks like s bottleneck to me to be honest. Anyhow, list your specs please.

Novuake · Dec 30, 2014

Second game does not need much graphics power.

Dragon Age needs a decent CPU AND graphics card.

meat_loaf · Dec 30, 2014

Yous :

I can assure you even though my Phenom II 955 BE is old, but its not really bottlenecking any current games I play considering that fact my monitoring status on all 4 cores is hovering at 80% instead of 100%. Only one game where my CPU is maxed at 100% instead and GPU being at 60% is assassins creed unity because that game is unoptimized.

Kingston Hyper X 8GB ram 1600mhz
Phenom 955 BE @ 4.0 GHZ
Radeon R9 270 @ 1160 mhz core 1500mhz memory
GTX 970 @ 1076 mhz (stock) 7010 mhz memory (GPU Boosts to 1278mhz on core)
Kingston SSD now 120gb
Seagate 1 TB HDD

meat_loaf · Dec 30, 2014

Novuake :

I have decent CPU AND GPU, hence why i have a GTX 970....... did not you read at all??

Novuake · Dec 30, 2014

The Phenom 955 is a bit on the old side, even at 4GHz it is not up to snuff to the latest games that require decent single core CPU performance.

madmatt30 · Dec 30, 2014

have you fully removed amd drivers before installing the gtx 970

try driver uninstaller ,it worked for me coming from amd to the gtx 970

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

your processor is not THAT good even at 4ghz but those fps are way way way too low!!
Dragon Age inquisition imo is not that cpu demanding at all
What do you get with the built in benchmark in the game

Captainzach · Dec 30, 2014

meat_loaf :

If I were you I'd sell the Phenom 955 and the R9 270 and get a i5-4690K or if you like AMD get an 8350(actually great for the price)

Vergilangleos · Dec 30, 2014

phenom 955 ?? that's your problem , your cpu is too weak for that gpu
as i know dragon age need very good cpu , it wont run on dual cores ( even i3 ) , so if you change your cpu you will see a lot defference

meat_loaf · Dec 30, 2014

madmatt30 :

I did removed the AMD drivers and then installed the Nvidia drivers since thats what you should do on new hardware. But I still get 30 fps on GTX 970 in ultra. Even when i turned MSAA off and mesh and textures back to high, i still get the same FPS.

Despite everyone telling Phenom II is old, which I know its old but the performance of Phenoms are still there. Considering the fact the game recommended FX 6 core (same as BF4), I ran BF4 with R9 270 same settings here and got 48 FPS on average even when lots of stuff exploding. Even in BF Hardline (same settings) i got around 44 fps.

So I have no clue what is causing that terrible fps.

And Ive said many times, that the CPU is only outputting max of 80% usage rate not even 100%. I know my CPU when it reaches 100% usage that it stutters when I do video rendering work, But in this case its not even reaching max usage.

Justin Millard · Dec 30, 2014

Try opening nvidia control panel and clicking 3d settings. Under power management mode try prefer maximum performance under power management mode. Then try turning off V Sync and triple buffering if that doesn't work.

Also try under nvidia control panel program settings make sure its set to always use nvidia processor.

Not sure if any of these will help but its worth a go.

Justin Millard · Dec 30, 2014

Yeah that CPU isn't out of the game yet. You are at least getting an improvement out of these cards, but I'm surprised its not a bigger difference.

meat_loaf · Dec 30, 2014

Justin Millard :

I did that, everything is on default since 3d is off by default and Phyx and everything is set to GTX 970 processing.

meat_loaf · Dec 30, 2014

Novuake :

Dragon Age inquisition isnt a single core performing game.....it uses multicore.....

Captainzach · Dec 30, 2014

Vergilangleos :

My son has an Intel Core i7-5930K which kind-of destroys anything and he gets 144fps(because he runs in vsync on a 144hz monitor) so I completely agree with you

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cMJPhM (if you want to see what he has)

Gam3r01 · Dec 30, 2014

Im running a 965 @4.22 GHz and I can just barely utilize my 760 to its full extent.
No matter what you think, the 955 is not up to the task of a 970 and new games.

AMD, or any processors for that matter, hit a point of diminishing returns. It dosent matter how fast you get it to run, past a certain point architecture is all that matters.
I love my Phenom II, all I hope for is a Phenom III that lives up to the name. That being said, times are coming to a close for the phenoms.

Captainzach · Dec 30, 2014

meat_loaf :

He means the performance per core not the utilization of cores

Captainzach · Dec 30, 2014

meat_loaf :

madmatt30 :

I did removed the AMD drivers and then installed the Nvidia drivers since thats what you should do on new hardware. But I still get 30 fps on GTX 970 in ultra. Even when i turned MSAA off and mesh and textures back to high, i still get the same FPS.

Despite everyone telling Phenom II is old, which I know its old but the performance of Phenoms are still there. Considering the fact the game recommended FX 6 core (same as BF4), I ran BF4 with R9 270 same settings here and got 48 FPS on average even when lots of stuff exploding. Even in BF Hardline (same settings) i got around 44 fps.

So I have no clue what is causing that terrible fps.

And Ive said many times, that the CPU is only outputting max of 80% usage rate not even 100%. I know my CPU when it reaches 100% usage that it stutters when I do video rendering work, But in this case its not even reaching max usage.

It doesn't matter what your usage is, what matters is the speed the CPU can handle operations and if it is to slow then you will get bottlenecking which is what s happening when you pair the 955 with the GTX 970

madmatt30 · Dec 30, 2014

Captainzach :

I have a fx6300 at 4ghz & a 970 & can hit 100fps+ in dragon age with max cpu usage of under 80%
his phenom is a restriction no doubt as is my fx but those frames are way way lower than they should be.

Captainzach · Dec 30, 2014

madmatt30 :

Captainzach :

I have a fx6300 at 4ghz & a 970 & can hit 100fps+ in dragon age with max cpu usage of under 80%
his phenom is a restriction no doubt as is my fx but those frames are way way lower than they should be.

For 4k that's low?

madmatt30 · Dec 30, 2014

meatloaf - can you run heaven 4 benchmark mate,these settings
Mode = 1920*1080 8*AA Fullscreen
Preset = Custom
Quality = Ultra
Tessellation = Extreme

its hardly cpu intensive at all so I can give you a good comparison to my scores

madmatt30 · Dec 30, 2014

Captainzach :

the amd chips restrict the max frames theres no doubt mate - im not disagreeing - i bought a 970 as my lounge rig is a small htpc build with limited space & airflow for big screen gaming
I have no interest in anything over 60fps vsynced ,it keeps my gpu usage around 70% & temps around 60c which is the reason I upgraded from a 280x
Those fps even for an old phenom 955 are way too low though - thats all Im stating - have no interest in a amd vs intel debate at the moment.

Novuake · Dec 30, 2014

meat_loaf :

madmatt30 :

I did removed the AMD drivers and then installed the Nvidia drivers since thats what you should do on new hardware. But I still get 30 fps on GTX 970 in ultra. Even when i turned MSAA off and mesh and textures back to high, i still get the same FPS.

Despite everyone telling Phenom II is old, which I know its old but the performance of Phenoms are still there. Considering the fact the game recommended FX 6 core (same as BF4), I ran BF4 with R9 270 same settings here and got 48 FPS on average even when lots of stuff exploding. Even in BF Hardline (same settings) i got around 44 fps.

So I have no clue what is causing that terrible fps.

And Ive said many times, that the CPU is only outputting max of 80% usage rate not even 100%. I know my CPU when it reaches 100% usage that it stutters when I do video rendering work, But in this case its not even reaching max usage.

Max load on CPU is not a simple thing to read because games CAN NOT use 100% of a multi core CPU, EVER.

Multicore and Single core is not as simple as you think it is.

What is your max GPU clock running at?

meat_loaf · Dec 30, 2014

madmatt30 :

I'm not going into that intel vs amd debate and plus im not interested in spending money in i7's or invest in a new cpu considering the fact every single new game i'd played so far is mostly gpu intensive rather than cpu. Plus its not always my rig getting old, when developers are being extremely lazy about coding and optimizing the games to run properly like ACU.

And im downloaidng heaven to test the testings.

meat_loaf · Dec 30, 2014

Novuake :

For R9 270 max clock is 1170 mhz but running at 1160mhz because at 1170, dragon age seems to crash regardless if its directx or mantle. It does not like running high overclocks. But at that clock my 270 us running around 80% usage. Fot GTX usually around 60-70%. And regarding the cpu usage, I am monitoring only the first core CPU 0 since that is when games that rely more on core performance it uses that core most like World of Tanks. But even at that state it really isnt pushing imy CPU considering i can still run several other programs in the background without much issue.

GTX 970 not getting more FPS than my R9 270?? Weird

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