Nvidia GTX 780 Odd Performance (Under performing)

IInuyasha74 · Jul 12, 2015

Hello Everyone,

I am having some rather bizarre performance out of my GTX 780. I just got the card used in a deal. It replaced my AMD Radeon 7850. Let me start by saying I don't think there is an issue with the physical hardware of the card, I think the issues are more software based.

I probably need to re-install Windows, as I currently have difficulties installing some programs, but I am trying to hold off until Windows 10 is released. I'm in the Windows Insider program, so I should get a copy on the 29th, so only about 2 weeks to go. I'm trying to make the system run smoother till then.

On the old card, I could run any game fine without issue. This new card, on Bioshock Infinite, the game will start, and run for a few minutes, then crash. Certain events cause it to crash too, like going to options, then trying to return to the main menu.

Shogun II: Total War sporadically crashes. Some times it won't for an hour or so, other times it does within minutes. Also, despite using a single 1080p display, I barely get 60FPS with Ultra settings and 4x MSAA. If I set MSAA at max, then I struggle to get 30FPS with V-Sync off. Every review I have seen of this card has shown this card able to run at 2560x1440p with ultra settings.

Lastly, for some reason even just playing videos runs the card at 12% usage. It just seems to be underperforming across the board, and unstable.

Any ideas how to fix it?

smorizio · Jul 12, 2015

use gpu-z make sure the used card you have is the card you paid for and not one that someone took a 770 and reflashed the bios to look like a 780 card.
http://www.evga.com/ocscanner/
http://mikelab.kiev.ua/index_en.php?page=PROGRAMS/vmt_en
make sure the vram is good.
what your power supply for your rig..may be a power issue and the card slowing down do to lack of power.

okcnaline · Jul 12, 2015

Check temperatures and BIOS settings. And also, have you uninstalled AMD Drivers?

As for Bioshock Infinite, that's kinda... I don't know what to say. Never saw tha happen.
As for the Shogun II: Total War, it's underperforming by a lot. You should be getting 60+ FPS throughout the board, easy. 2011 engines aren't good.

KKAW · Jul 12, 2015

IInuyasha74 :

Alright this can happen but before i can completely help your situation you need to do the following:

1. Please list your entire specs of your PC

2. Download GPUZ, MSI Afterburner & MSI Kombuster. With the Kombuster stress test your gpu and see how it is performing, perhaps you are having issues of high heat resulting in a throttle or other malfunctioning reasons which you should be able to spot out with the programs stated above.

3. Update all your drivers!

Good Luck!

okcnaline · Jul 12, 2015

smorizio :

Pah... You're pathetic.

GTX 770 has GK104. GTX 780 has GK110. Flash those? Impossible.

renz496 · Jul 12, 2015

First full system spec. What driver version you're using right now? Also did you properly remove AMD driver?

MarkW · Jul 12, 2015

Did you uninstall the AMD drivers before you installed the new Nvidia card?

If not, power up your system, and hold down F8 until you get to the Safe Mode menu. Select Safe Mode with Networking. Uninstall the old AMD drivers. Reboot, again going back into Safe Mode with Networking. Download, install and run CCleaner:

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

Reboot to Safe Mode with Network once again. This time, download and install the latest Nvidia drivers. Install them, and then reboot back to the desktop as normal.

IInuyasha74 · Jul 12, 2015

Hey guys, sorry for the slow reply. I was testing out Tomb Raider. Maxed settings, outside of the cave at the beginning I hang in the 30's for FPS. Never goes above about 37 FPS. Even with TressFX turned off.

Now for answering questions:
1. I uninstalled the AMD drivers before installing the Nvidia GPU.
2. I am using the latest Nvidia drivers, 353.30
3. I am using MSI Afterburner for monitoring. I have several case fans. The highest I have seen temps are 75C. The thermal limit is set to 80C so that shouldn't be the issue.

System Specs:
CPU: Intel i7-3770K @ 4.4 GHz with Phanteks PH-TC12DX cooler
GPU: EVGA Nvidia GTX 780 Superclocked ACX Edition
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V Pro
RAM: Avexir 4x4 GB DDR3 1866 MHz 10-10-10-28-1T 1.5V
Storage 1: 2x240 GB SSDs in RAID 0 (Team Group Dark L3 + AMD Radeon R7)
Storage 2: 3 TB WD SE
Storage 3: 2 TB Samsung Spinpoint
PSU: EVGA Supernova B2 750 W (Super Flower based)

I know a lot about PC systems, I work in computers actually. For some reason though this isn't going well, and I'ma bit stumped as to why.

IInuyasha74 · Jul 12, 2015

MarkW :

I hadn't tried CCleaner yet. I'll give that a run see if it helps. I've used it before, but since I plan to move from Windows 8.1 to 10 in a few weeks I thought it might be okay. Maybe I under estimated how much effect that would have.

okcnaline · Jul 12, 2015

Check BIOS settings...

IInuyasha74 · Jul 12, 2015

okcnaline :

Which BIOS setting do you think might be causing an issue? I don't recall there being a lot of BIOS settings related to the discrete GPU. I know it is set to run in PCI-E 3.0 mode, and is in a PCI-E 3.0 x16 slot, and it is set as the primary adapter. That is about it though.

MarkW · Jul 12, 2015

One other possibility... Nvidia released a hotfix 353.38 driver. Geforce Experience does not seem to see it as an upgrade. You might want to try that.

okcnaline · Jul 12, 2015

GPU Vcore, multiplier.

nikoli707 · Jul 12, 2015

use ddu to flush out all video related driver
http://www.wagnardmobile.com/DDU/
dont run it for intel.

IInuyasha74 · Jul 12, 2015

I'll try that hot-fix. Might do the trick.

For checking the BIOS. MSI Afterburner says my max V-Core is set to 1.162V. Doesn't have a multiplier (Do GPUs use a multiplier?) but the MHz is exactly what the stock for this card should be. Well the stock max turbo.

I'm running with CCleaner right now, it is finding some of the AMD Catalyst files still in the system, so maybe those will do it.

IInuyasha74 · Jul 12, 2015

Well CCleaner really helped my system. Thing booted much faster. Didn't help gaming much though. It is topping out at 39 FPS in Tomb Raider now when standing still, but walking around in circles drops it to 30 FPS.

I ran DDU after that. Nice program. More user friendly than CCleaner, found some files it missed too. No change in performance though.

Guess I'll that driver hot fix now.

IInuyasha74 · Jul 12, 2015

MarkW :

It isn't showing up on the drivers page. Maybe it is only for the 900 series or something?

It is pretty strange. Maybe I should just wait and see if Windows 10 fixes the issues. I don't see any reason my hardware would create a bottleneck. CPU usage is relatively low during these tests.

MarkW · Jul 12, 2015

Yeah, I have noticed that almost everything has left stuff in the registry. And some files and folders here and there. CCleaner seems to find all of that and cleans it up.

MarkW · Jul 12, 2015

I got mine at TechPowerUp...

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/new-nvidia-353-38-hotfix-driver.213867/

IInuyasha74 · Jul 12, 2015

MarkW :

Ah thanks. Downloading now. Will see how that works. Honestly I'd just keep rolling with it as it is, but Shogun II takes forever to start. This mostly seems to target issues with G-Sync and Chrome crashing. Haven't had an issue with Chrome and I'm not lucky enough to have a G-Sync display, but might be something in there to fix my games too.

renz496 · Jul 12, 2015

IInuyasha74 :

it does not available from geforce.com. you can download them from nvidia official side though:

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3694/~/geforce-hotfix-driver-353.38

also what res did you play at? tomb raider was not really demanding to begin with. you can try match the setting by guru3d and see if your 780 able to match guru3d result.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/palit_geforce_gtx_980_ti_super_jetstream_review,17.html

IInuyasha74 · Jul 12, 2015

I'm playing at close to 1080p. My TV is my primary display, 1080p goes off the screen so I have to underscan the display to 1824 x 1026.

Well the driver update I think revealed a piece of the puzzle. Same performance, before it was showing the clock speed at 1174 MHz, and now it is showing at 575 MHz (despite indicating 100% load). I hadn't checked to realize the top speed of the card should be 1020 MHz. with Turbo boost. So the reason I'm getting such poor performance (well relative to what it should be) is that my card is only running at half speed.

Question is, how do I fix this? I know with Nvidia Inspector I can use batch files to force the system to stay at its max turbo speed (though I prefer not to do this), but how can I make it jump from idle to turbo or full load like normal.

MarkW · Jul 12, 2015

Yeah, but only rarely do they tell us everything they changed in an update... So the hope is that whatever is causing your problem might have been addressed in the hotfix...

IInuyasha74 · Jul 12, 2015

Also, without a game running, it is now running at 33% usage for some reason. There is something really wrong here.

renz496 · Jul 12, 2015

Question is, how do I fix this? I know with Nvidia Inspector I can use batch files to force the system to stay at its max turbo speed (though I prefer not to do this), but how can I make it jump from idle to turbo or full load like normal.

go to nvidia control panel. from there go to manage 3D setting. at the global settings tab look for 'power management mode'. change the setting from 'adaptive' (default) to 'maximum performance'

Also, without a game running, it is now running at 33% usage for some reason. There is something really wrong here.

meaning something using the gpu even on idle. try installing only nvidia graphic driver and physx driver only and see if the same problem persist.

Nvidia GTX 780 Odd Performance (Under performing)

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