Bought a new graphic card (GeForce GTX 1080) and performance haven't improved at all.

Assaren · Apr 17, 2017

Hello, this is my first thread ever here but I have frequented this site for a few months now trying to fix my computer.

My old GPU died a few weeks ago (a GTX 970) and since it felt like it had been underperforming in the games I usually play (Rocket League, Dark Souls 3, Terraria, Starbound, Warhammer: Vermintide) I decided to buy a seriously good card this time, namely one of the GeForce GTX 1080.

I finished plugging it in a few days ago and I removed all my old drivers and reinstalled them once the new card was plugged in. Then I started playing and noticed I had the exact same fps as before, as in literally the exact same fps. I'm ranging between 45-60 fps in Dark Souls 3 with the best settings (which I had before, I thought i'd be running 60 fps with no stuttering). Rocket League plays at highest settings between 120-220 fps. I also barely notice any difference when changing settings (including stuff like v-sync). Nothing seems to change my fps for the better (or worse). It just feels like some setting is holding my entire computer back. The last thing I'll add is that I have gone to the Nvidia control panel and changed the settings to maximum performance (which didn't improve the fps at all) and my cpu usage is never over 30-40% when playing any of these games (and my memory is usually at like 50% tops).

I would be incredibly happy if someone could help me with this because I'm literally 100% lost. I'm very bad at computerstuff so I would really appreciate if you (whoever helps) could explain it as if you were talking to someone who's a bit stupid!

Thanks a lot to anyone who might feel like helping!

My computers current specs are:
GPU: GeForce GTX 1080 (armor)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4690K CPU @ 3.50GHz, 3,5 GHz
Ram: 8,00 GB
Motherboard: MSI Z97 GAMING 5

My monitor is a 144 hertz screen (AOC)
And I have Windows 10.

MeanMachine41 · Apr 17, 2017

Hi Assaren

Have you tried Overclocking your GPU using Precision X OC "K" Boost or MSI Afterburner.

Did you modify 3D Global settings in Nvidia Control Panel>Power Management to "Prefer Maximum Performance"

Assaren · Apr 17, 2017

MeanMachine41 :

Hey Meanmachine41 and thanks for replying!

I have already changed the 3D Global Settings in the control panel to Prefer Maximum Performance and I just spent the last four hours of my life overclocking the computer. I managed to increase the clock from roughly 1900 > 2075 but it literally made zero difference in fps (if anything it feels like my fps took at 2-3 fps hit downwards, but might just be me feeling sad). My Dark Souls still runs at 45 fps in certain areas and it just feels so frustrating.

I checked my temperatures and they never go higher than 65 C in the GPU and about 40-45 in the CPU. My power usage when I was clocking was at 90-93%~. I double checked memory usage while playing Dark Souls and it was at roughly 55%. I used Precision X (although the K boost wasn't available I did most things manually following a guide).

I'd be so incredibly thankful if someone could find a solution to this.

muirj101 · Apr 17, 2017

Download DDU and remove all drivers. Reinstall and see if that works

MeanMachine41 · Apr 17, 2017

Assaren :

With the latest driver installed it should work and did you follow Jayztwocents vid on youtube.?

Did you receive a warning when trying to activate "K" Boost as you should exit those apps. Certain apps or .exe files being used prevented my boost clock.
I have Razer Synapse and had to exit the application for it to work.

When I first used my GTX 1080, I was getting 54fps using Cinebench Benchmark. With boost and a moderate Overclock it went to 124fps. That's well over 110% performance increase.

Assaren · Apr 17, 2017

MeanMachine41 :

Assaren :

I followed Jays video on youtube and did it exactly as he said. I overlocked from around 1900>2100 which you can see here in this picture:

but the fps remains the same, despite the clear improvement. About the K-boost, there simply isn't a button for me (here's another picture:

).

Also, before doing all this I removed all drivers with DDU (again) and did a fresh install, which didnt help at all.

EDIT: pictures seem to be broken,

MeanMachine41 · Apr 17, 2017

Sorry, I don't know why it does not show "K" Boost. mine does however, I have the Hydro version.

I do know that "K" Boost will not work with some apps open and will warn you to close them.

Assaren · Apr 18, 2017

But can that be the only thing? I mean, regardless of clocking shouldn't my card be able to handle a game like DS3 at medium graphics with a solid fps which doesn't go between 60-45 (even 40 at some very taxing points in the game). I'm kind of at my wits end. Could it have something to do with which of my three slots the graphic card is plugged into?

MeanMachine41 · Apr 18, 2017

Assaren :

Well the way I look at it, I test my new cards by benchmarks and stress testing and compare the results with other likewise systems. Once I feel I have the performance I should be getting, I then analyse the game I may be playing. If the game settings are MAXED out, I have to consider if the game has been optimized correctly and how it's coded if my expectations are not met.

Games like CSGO for example are poorly optimized and some find it difficult to run with reasonable expectation even on a high end system. Not that the game is bad but you can do a google search and find many many issues that people have. There are others as well with spaghetti code where sudden frame drops occur.

Some gamers have unrealistic expectation and want higher fps than their mates for bragging rights.

Why when your eyes can't detect any better than the refresh rate of your monitor. You have the hardware and platform to play AAA games at high settings however FPS is not the be all and end all.

To answer your question re: the PCIe slots you put your card into and it's the slot with the most bandwidth and that's the top slot X16. The rest are generally shared at 8x IIRC.

Assaren · Apr 19, 2017

Alright. I've tried a few new things and the fps still remains weirdly low. About the Rocket League fps dips, I don't mind it, since the fps is enough, it just signals to me that something is off.

In Dark Souls 3 though there's a very noticable difference between 60 and 45 fps which is the sole reason I'm trying so hard to fix this. And it's very odd that regardless of in-game settings, overclocking or not the fps doesn't change (I think the difference between max and lowest settings is literally 1-2 fps for me).

I would love to hear more ideas about what could be wrong since I'm still completely dumbfounded. And once again, thanks to you MeanMachine for helping me out this far. I at least feel like I'm ruling stuff out as we go!

MeanMachine41 · Apr 19, 2017

Have you at least benchmarked your system Assaren.?

Download Cinebench R15 and run the tests for CPU and OpenGL and check your scores.
What are the results.?
Not all cards perform the same as with your CPU however, with a GTX-1080 you should achieve between 100-120fps in Cinebench. Turbo boost would gain another 10fps approx.

If results are good in the Cinebench test then you know at least it's not the card.
Poor results can be settings in Windows or Nvidia control, driver issues, your game settings, temperatures or even a failing PSU.

To determine if the issue is voltage or temperature related, you can stress test your system using AIDA64 trial version and this tester will also test your sub systems. AIDA64 has a test for CPU, FPU, Cache ,disks, GPU and memory. If your not sure how to interpret the results then you can have them analysed here.

Supahos · Apr 19, 2017

Have you considered the hangup is with your CPU not your GPU? If the GPU was having issues it'd likely lose to a 1070. When I hear "exact same fps" it makes me think CPU bottlneck. I would check the speed and temps (both under load) and see if it might be the issue. The GPU can only render the number of frames the CPU feeds it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3192807/ultimate-bottlenecking-guide.html

For a general idea of why a better GPU would do nothing if the CPU was the problem. My next suggestion would be to reinstall windows entirely.

Assaren · Apr 19, 2017

Here are the results from the OpenGL + CPU scans in Cinebench.

SammChisnall · Apr 19, 2017

There is no way a 1080 should be getting only 45fps on DS3. I'm presuming you're playing on Ultra so i can compare with my own results, my PC (4790k & 2x 290x) can achieve around 90-100 fps on DS3 ultra. So unless it is your cpu bottlenecking as Supahos mentioned above then your having issues with the GPU/Drivers.

Assaren · Apr 19, 2017

SammChisnall :

Yeah, that's what I figured. I don't think the GPU is faulty since it's completely new and doesn't overheat at all. I could try some older drivers for DS3 and see if that sorts it out. I'll get back once I've tried it.

Btw, isn't the cap at 60 fps?

SammChisnall · Apr 19, 2017

Yeah its capped, its unlockable through the .ini files and 3rd party apps though which i like to do for recording cinematic's and stuff

in terms of gameplay you should always have the framerate locked though as it can result in a softban if you're caught with it unlocked.

MeanMachine41 · Apr 19, 2017

I see your i5-4690K is at 3.5GHz. Have your tried to overclock at all. You would see substantial performance gains if you OCed to 4.5-4.6GHz which should be achievable. It however depends on your silicon lottery draw and temperatures on just how far you can go but, I've seen OCs on that chip to 4.8GHz.

To check if the CPU is a bottleneck have a look at your Core% usage during games when you have a frame rate slowdown. If you see high usage up around 95%-100% then the CPU is slowing your card down. This also depends ofc on the game too if its CPU intensive.

Set your Vcore to 1.28V and multiplier to 46 in Bios and see how you go. Keep an eye on your core temperatures when under load.

junkeymonkey · Apr 19, 2017

that don't show boost speeds just base this 3.40

pretty low cinbench my non k 4670 scores 572 with out checking any background tasks running or anything to help cpu work [also with a hd7850 card]

now I used my 980ti

never thought under this bench openGL aint no better with a old hd7850 then it is with a nice strong 980ti

what about any new bios updates your board shows that cpu supported with bios 1.2 , but like you look at later bios and see things as this

''- Adjust OC Genie setting to have better performance with Hasell-Refresh K and processors.''

[bios 1-c ]
''- Improved VGA compatibility'

if nothing else may need to try one of the latest bios depending on what your using now to really improve things ?

Assaren · Apr 19, 2017

Okay, I have a few questions:

1. How would I find new bios updates? Isn't that automatic?
2. Any easy way to overclock the processor without risking too much? I'm very bad at this so I'd have to use some kind of tutorial and I still would barely be able to understand the results

junkeymonkey · Apr 19, 2017

'' 1. How would I find new bios updates? Isn't that automatic? '' it can be through a update app from msi , but I prefer and recommend the manual way woth a usb stick / pen drive . that all should be in your boards manual and at MSI support on your board

''2. Any easy way to overclock the processor without risking too much?' that all comes with user experience and the board bios options to do so and what not ? any tutorial would be just a base starting and then how your system reacts or stability is luck and skill on tuning it all up .

if this is your board ?? be 100% sure on that and any revisions getting and flashing a wrong bios can be bad news and can brick a board

https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z97-GAMING-5.html#down-bios

[bottom of that page]
How to flash the BIOS ( SOP Download)
Youtube: MSI® HOW-TO use M-FLASH for BIOS We suggest using Chrome, Firefox 3.0 or IE 8.0 above browsers to download BIOS, Drivers, etc.

thing is it may help a lot then it may not at all ?? I never flash unless its down to a last ditch thing or just a needed compatibility thing like a unsupported CPU r hardware requires it for full support the bios I all ready had just don't .

flashing is a risk and all your own risk not covered by warrantee if it fails and bricks the motherboard .., so.

can you do something like this and post it ?

and

http://imgur.com/AvRnRgU

that's hwinfo64 one maybe at idle and then after a load when running it in the background to get max readings ?? [like above ]

need something like firestrike bench to do your gpu that can pout a good load on it and post that part of or this will do good puts a nice load on the card

http://imgur.com/ucfIl5K

may see something between idle and loaded readings to point to something ?

MeanMachine41 · Apr 19, 2017

Assaren :

1. Bios updates are not Automatic. Latest Bios for your MB is 1D for Improved memory compatibility and updated Micro code for better system stability. Go here: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z97-GAMING-5.html#down-bios
To flash your Bios:
Download the Bios file to an empty Fat32 formatted USB stick. Insert the USB into an appropriate port.
Upon restarting your system continually press the delete key off and on during Post.
When in Bios, select the M-Flash menu and your USB will be listed.
Follow the instructions and don't turn the system off during flashback.

2. There are Tutorials around (Google search for "Overclocking guides for MSI Z97 GAMING 5") and its a good idea to review them to understand how to OC.
A simple OC just involves changing your multiplier value in the OC menu of Bios to increase your frequency and to change your Core voltage to suit. Best method is to start of with a mild OC say to 42 on the multiplier. 42 x 100BCLK = 4.2GHz
Change your Core voltage manually to 1.28V, Save and exit Bios.
Stress test the system for stability and if OK then back to Bios and increase your Multiplier to 44 for a 4.4GHz OC. You may need more core voltage if the system is unstable but do not exceed 1.5V on the Core. Again stress test Rinse and Repeat.

You can post the results of AIDA64 tests here for analysis. Take screen shots at the 10min mark and link a BBurl for me to access the files. You can use IMIGUR for that purpose.

Assaren · Apr 21, 2017

Alright guys, thanks so much for the help this far. I've contacted the ones who sold my the computer and since my warranty still is active I'll simply return it and have them test stuff, including the new graphics card!

But really, thanks everyone for the advice!

junkeymonkey · Apr 21, 2017

sorry to hear that. hope the best

good luck

oatmeal769 · Apr 27, 2017

............

oatmeal769 · Apr 27, 2017

It seems pretty obvious to me that the first thing to try would be increasing your RAM to 16GB. Windows may run on as little as 2-4GB, but newer games need a lot more on top of it.

"Heavy PC gaming at acceptable performance levels requires a substantial amount of RAM. Using a few popular modern titles as references, it is evident that gamers should have at least 8GB of RAM — the recommended minimum amount for Fallout 4, No Man's Sky, and Star Wars Battlefront (which actually would prefer even more RAM at 16GB).

If you're a gamer and want to ensure you have enough RAM for some current titles and future titles, go with at least 16GB."

http://www.windowscentral.com/how-much-ram-does-your-windows-10-pc-really-need

Bought a new graphic card (GeForce GTX 1080) and performance haven't improved at all.

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