How do I know my GPU is using its full power?

[yonyz]

Hi,

I have the following setup:

Intel Q6600
Kingston 2GB 667Mhz
GAINWARD GTS 250 1GB
Corsair VX450W

I'm unable to run the BF3 beta on lowest settings on my screen's native resolution - 1680x1050.
So I'm running it at 1280x800 instead, but it's not pretty.

I am able to run Bad Company 2 decently on lowest settings, but sometimes it stutters/freezes.

How do I know that my GPU is not bottlenecked by my PSU? How do I know my GPU is getting all the power it needs?

 

[C0rehound]

Get GPU-Z and run it while playing BF3. Keep an eye on GPU usage (in %) and see what it says. Should be almost maxing out with a single card.

I think you may find that it's about time for an upgrade to really enjoy BF3, sad to say.

 

[alyoshka]

If the PSU doesn't supply enough power to your GPU it's going to crash... not go slow.
From the looks of it, it's not the GPU it's the rig that's the cause of all your agony.
2GB of RAM........ That's way too low for the OS to function well...... forget gaming for the newer games.

 

[yonyz]

Well I can play pretty much anything recently released on medium settings, that's why I haven't upgraded so far. But will replacing my current sticks with a 4GB 1066mhz really change anything other than loading times? Cause those are really fine.

 

[C0rehound]

4GB is really what you want these days. Getting two more Gigs will help you but the rest of your system is still going to hold you back.

Minimum requirements for Battlefield 3
OS: Windows Vista or Windows 7
Processor: Core 2 Duo @ 2.0GHz
RAM: 2GB
Graphic card: DirectX 10 or 11 compatible Nvidia or AMD ATI card.
Graphics card memory: 512 MB
Hard drive: 15 GB for disc version or 10 GB for digital version

Recommended system requirements for Battlefield 3
OS: Windows 7 64-bit
Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
RAM: 4GB
Graphics card: DirectX 11 Nvidia or AMD ATI card, GeForce GTX 460, Radeon Radeon HD 6850
Graphics card memory: 1 GB
Hard drive: 15 GB for disc version or 10 GB for digital version

Honestly I'd say look into a stronger PSU, 4GB of ram, and upgrade the video card. Overlock your CPU if you haven't already. Or just go all out and get a new CPU, mobo, ddr3, video card, and PSU!

To stay on the cheap side, find you're self two more Gigs of ram and overclock that CPU and GPU.

 

[alyoshka]

You can play a game at it's minimum settings even on a PC that may not even be close to the minimum requirements of the game, most of the time, but that's not the way you really want to play , unless you just want to see that a program runs on the system, yeah, sure it will, but not at a rate or speed that it was meant to be.

Your New 4GB Stick ain't going to improve loading times for anything other than small windows programs that you frequently use. But it's going to help your processor work a lot more better and under less strain when running memory hungry apps , especially games, photoshop, etc etc.

 

[yonyz]

Here's the log file of GPU-Z. I ran the game on 1680x1050 and High preset (including x16 something and HBAO, whatever that is).

http://www.text-upload.com/read.php?id=148924&c=1702033

The GPU Load never exceeds 80 percent, and it merely peaks there. It's mostly in the 70s. New PSU?

Update: Ran FurMark, GPU load is constantly at 99%. I guess my PSU is fine for now, but I wonder why BF3 doesn't make it go all the way too...

 

[alyoshka]

No new PSU required, it was never bad so it can't be fine now.... it was and is fine.
Well what temps did you get with the GPU at 99%????????

 

[C0rehound]

Looks like it was peaking at about 77C. Your PSU is fine for your current rig. I think you've just reached the limitations of your hardware.

 

[yonyz]

The temp was 80C. It's 58C when idle.

 

[yonyz]

So now I just need you guys to recommend me some RAM sticks. My mobo (GIGABYTE P35C-DS3R) is capable of 1336 mhz, but my Q6600 is running at 1066, so I guess that's what I'll, though I think getting a faster one wouldn't hurt, it just won't be running at its top speed, right?

So I need 4GBs of 1066 or higher mhz. Fire at will.

 

[C0rehound]

Looks like your mobo supports up to 4GB of DDR3 so here ya go. You're lucky, if you had to stick with DDR2 you'd be paying more then twice that.

 

[benski]

2 more GB should help, a CPU overclock would help as well. You can usually get close to 3ghz out of a q6600 without needing an aftermarket cooler.

 

[yonyz]

I already have one, benski. I have a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus. Quite the cooler. I did try overclocking before. I was able to reach 3.4 or so but I had to also overclock my RAM, a fact I didn't like. With faster RAM I won't have to do that.

BTW, what if i buy a single 4GB stick? And do I have to pick one that is listed in the motherboard's supported memories list?

 

[yonyz]

Best answer selected by yonyz.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey