Hi friends of the internet!
I had some issues concerning my build (specifically the graphics) that I could not get answered based on basic searches.
I was hoping some of you could clarify or even fix some of the issues I am having.
First my build is:
CPU: AMD FX-6100 (OC-ed @ 4000GHz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H70
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaw X Series 4x4 (16 Total)
Mobo: MSI 990FXA-GD80
GPU: ASUS GTX 660TI (OC-ed @ +100W, 120%PL, +125Clock, +500 Mem using Afterburner)
GPU: ASUS GTX 660TI (OC-ed @ +100W, 120%PL, +125Clock, +500 Mem using Afterburner)
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 460 (Stock @ 715Clock, 1800 Mem)
PSU: OCZ ZX 1250W
Case: NZXT Switch 810
HDD: WD Blue 500GB
HDD: WD Blue 500GB
SSD: OCZ Agility 2 120GB
Monitor: ASUS 24 Inch (VIA HDMI to GTX 660TI)
Monitor: ASUS 24 Inch (VIA HDMI to GTX 460)
(Will leave as it was when I first posted and put edits here)
EDIT: Both monitors are now connected to the GTX660TI.
So the issues I have are follows (and what I have been able to gather about them)
1: Lock Clock. The default seems to not be at the clock that is printed. Right now, with MS Word and 2 Chromes open, it sits at 967 MHz and goes up to 1267MHz during stress testing (Furmark). However, during games, it stays at 967 while giving less than 60 FPS. I don't understand why this happens. I did gather that the GTX 660TI stays at low clocks but increases as load increases. However, why is the load not increasing when playing games where I am getting less than optimal FPS? (I test this in FFXIV where I am getting ~30 FPS in crowded areas) And no, MY CPU is not even close to full load. If is closer to 50% load on all cores. The only thing I was monitoring that was indeed at 100% was the GPU's Memory. Is this what is actually limiting FPS performance?
I would also like to add that during stress test, the Clock fluctuates in the ~1250MHz area, going up and down constantly. (I also gathered this was normal?)
[strike]2: Multiple Programs cause FPS loss. I understand if I was running Something like... Starcraft 2 and FFXIV at the same time that I may see less than optimal FPS, but I am talking about things like... Having a game on one screen (FFXIV, SC2, or LoL) and a stream or a youtube video on the other screen. It causes the game to suffer immensely in performance. For example, FFXIV seems to drop under 30FPS even in uncrowded areas and LoL seems to drop to sub 20 FPS. When I close the other program completely (Chrome) the game performs perfectly, reaching a stable 60 FPS (VSync Enabled). I assume that the of a stream (Twitch.tv or Youtube) should not be causing so much load on a SLI GTX 660TI Build that it makes my games on my other screen suffer.[/strike]
EDIT: This has been fixed by connecting all monitors to the main GTX660TI rather than having one of them connected to the GTX460.
[strike]3: Multi-Card. I had a build of two GTX 460s in SLI, but upgraded to the 660TIs. Seeing as how I had the room, I decided to throw one of the old 460s in the build as well. Is this a good idea? I did this because I cannot connect 2 monitors VIA HDMI because I cannot connect two HDMI to 1 card and for SLI I cannot connect monitors to different cards. Is this configuration of 2 GTX 660TIs and 1 GTX 460 a problem? This also leads into the next question.[/strike]
EDIT: Connecting a monitor to the GTX460 was in fact causing FPS problems. It is now only being used as PhysX dedicated card.
[strike]4: Physx Dedicated. Since the 460 is added, I had it selected as Physx dedicated. I read that it does not increase performance by that much, since the 2 GTX 660TIs would be able to handle such load of Physx, but since I had it doing nothing but possibly collecting dust, I threw it in for any thread of performance increase. Is this a mistake?[/strike]
EDIT: Having the 460 is not causing problems if it is not connected to a monitor. The performance increase is minimal if at all, but at the very least it will take a load off my GTX660TIs. It was choosing between giving my GTX660TIs more airflow in the case or reducing its work load by minimal amount. I am currently using the 460 as PhysX dedicated, but will probably remove it in the near future for airflow.
[strike]5: I am running the GTX 460 under default, but I had noticed that sometimes the card is being overclocked. (I am using rainmeter to pull the information from Afterburner.) Setting the 460 as the default card and changing it back to default sometimes fixes it, sometimes does not. Anyone know why this happens and how to prevent it?[/strike]
EDIT: This has become a non-issue, as no monitor is now connected to the GTX460. Since it now only exists as a PhysX dedicated card, it rarely gets any use. (As I write this, it is sitting at 51MHz Core and 135MHz Mem.) I should note, this may still be an existing problem for others. It wasn't "fixed" for me, I just had the problem avoided.
EDIT Additional Questions:
[strike]6. Now that I am running both monitors off the GTX660TI, there is no monitor connected to the 460. It is being used as Physx dedicated card. This connects back to question 4, but is this actually increasing performance or is it doing nothing at this point? If it's not doing much, I'd think about taking it out of the computer since it is probably making airflow harder on the GTX660TIs as well as using unnecessary power from the PSU. (Not that I have problems with temperature or lack of power, but no reason to if the 460 isn't doing anything.)[/strike]
EDIT: I answered this in Question 4. As stated, I am currently debating whether to remove for airflow for my GTX660TIs.
7. Because the GTX660TI has only one HDMI slot, I am using a DVI connector for my secondary monitor. I was using the HDMI because as far as I know it is better (I believe for color). I'd like to be able to connect both monitors with HDMI, but since I can't due to the available slots on my Graphics Card, what is my next best choice? Do I simply use the DVI connector or do I use a HDMI connector with HDMI->DVI adaptor? Or is there a better choice? Looking at these atm:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HDJY7K/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AV526XMAQY6F
http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-P130-000-Female-Adapter/dp/B000BTGVUS/ref=pd_sim_e_1
Thank you all for reading and helping if you did. I will supply any additional information requested.
Please ask, I do not know what else to supply.
I had some issues concerning my build (specifically the graphics) that I could not get answered based on basic searches.
I was hoping some of you could clarify or even fix some of the issues I am having.
First my build is:
CPU: AMD FX-6100 (OC-ed @ 4000GHz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H70
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaw X Series 4x4 (16 Total)
Mobo: MSI 990FXA-GD80
GPU: ASUS GTX 660TI (OC-ed @ +100W, 120%PL, +125Clock, +500 Mem using Afterburner)
GPU: ASUS GTX 660TI (OC-ed @ +100W, 120%PL, +125Clock, +500 Mem using Afterburner)
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 460 (Stock @ 715Clock, 1800 Mem)
PSU: OCZ ZX 1250W
Case: NZXT Switch 810
HDD: WD Blue 500GB
HDD: WD Blue 500GB
SSD: OCZ Agility 2 120GB
Monitor: ASUS 24 Inch (VIA HDMI to GTX 660TI)
Monitor: ASUS 24 Inch (VIA HDMI to GTX 460)
(Will leave as it was when I first posted and put edits here)
EDIT: Both monitors are now connected to the GTX660TI.
So the issues I have are follows (and what I have been able to gather about them)
1: Lock Clock. The default seems to not be at the clock that is printed. Right now, with MS Word and 2 Chromes open, it sits at 967 MHz and goes up to 1267MHz during stress testing (Furmark). However, during games, it stays at 967 while giving less than 60 FPS. I don't understand why this happens. I did gather that the GTX 660TI stays at low clocks but increases as load increases. However, why is the load not increasing when playing games where I am getting less than optimal FPS? (I test this in FFXIV where I am getting ~30 FPS in crowded areas) And no, MY CPU is not even close to full load. If is closer to 50% load on all cores. The only thing I was monitoring that was indeed at 100% was the GPU's Memory. Is this what is actually limiting FPS performance?
I would also like to add that during stress test, the Clock fluctuates in the ~1250MHz area, going up and down constantly. (I also gathered this was normal?)
[strike]2: Multiple Programs cause FPS loss. I understand if I was running Something like... Starcraft 2 and FFXIV at the same time that I may see less than optimal FPS, but I am talking about things like... Having a game on one screen (FFXIV, SC2, or LoL) and a stream or a youtube video on the other screen. It causes the game to suffer immensely in performance. For example, FFXIV seems to drop under 30FPS even in uncrowded areas and LoL seems to drop to sub 20 FPS. When I close the other program completely (Chrome) the game performs perfectly, reaching a stable 60 FPS (VSync Enabled). I assume that the of a stream (Twitch.tv or Youtube) should not be causing so much load on a SLI GTX 660TI Build that it makes my games on my other screen suffer.[/strike]
EDIT: This has been fixed by connecting all monitors to the main GTX660TI rather than having one of them connected to the GTX460.
[strike]3: Multi-Card. I had a build of two GTX 460s in SLI, but upgraded to the 660TIs. Seeing as how I had the room, I decided to throw one of the old 460s in the build as well. Is this a good idea? I did this because I cannot connect 2 monitors VIA HDMI because I cannot connect two HDMI to 1 card and for SLI I cannot connect monitors to different cards. Is this configuration of 2 GTX 660TIs and 1 GTX 460 a problem? This also leads into the next question.[/strike]
EDIT: Connecting a monitor to the GTX460 was in fact causing FPS problems. It is now only being used as PhysX dedicated card.
[strike]4: Physx Dedicated. Since the 460 is added, I had it selected as Physx dedicated. I read that it does not increase performance by that much, since the 2 GTX 660TIs would be able to handle such load of Physx, but since I had it doing nothing but possibly collecting dust, I threw it in for any thread of performance increase. Is this a mistake?[/strike]
EDIT: Having the 460 is not causing problems if it is not connected to a monitor. The performance increase is minimal if at all, but at the very least it will take a load off my GTX660TIs. It was choosing between giving my GTX660TIs more airflow in the case or reducing its work load by minimal amount. I am currently using the 460 as PhysX dedicated, but will probably remove it in the near future for airflow.
[strike]5: I am running the GTX 460 under default, but I had noticed that sometimes the card is being overclocked. (I am using rainmeter to pull the information from Afterburner.) Setting the 460 as the default card and changing it back to default sometimes fixes it, sometimes does not. Anyone know why this happens and how to prevent it?[/strike]
EDIT: This has become a non-issue, as no monitor is now connected to the GTX460. Since it now only exists as a PhysX dedicated card, it rarely gets any use. (As I write this, it is sitting at 51MHz Core and 135MHz Mem.) I should note, this may still be an existing problem for others. It wasn't "fixed" for me, I just had the problem avoided.
EDIT Additional Questions:
[strike]6. Now that I am running both monitors off the GTX660TI, there is no monitor connected to the 460. It is being used as Physx dedicated card. This connects back to question 4, but is this actually increasing performance or is it doing nothing at this point? If it's not doing much, I'd think about taking it out of the computer since it is probably making airflow harder on the GTX660TIs as well as using unnecessary power from the PSU. (Not that I have problems with temperature or lack of power, but no reason to if the 460 isn't doing anything.)[/strike]
EDIT: I answered this in Question 4. As stated, I am currently debating whether to remove for airflow for my GTX660TIs.
7. Because the GTX660TI has only one HDMI slot, I am using a DVI connector for my secondary monitor. I was using the HDMI because as far as I know it is better (I believe for color). I'd like to be able to connect both monitors with HDMI, but since I can't due to the available slots on my Graphics Card, what is my next best choice? Do I simply use the DVI connector or do I use a HDMI connector with HDMI->DVI adaptor? Or is there a better choice? Looking at these atm:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HDJY7K/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AV526XMAQY6F
http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-P130-000-Female-Adapter/dp/B000BTGVUS/ref=pd_sim_e_1
Thank you all for reading and helping if you did. I will supply any additional information requested.
Please ask, I do not know what else to supply.
but as I don't have a third card I can't comment on whether it is actually helping or not but my 660's seem to handle PhysX OK on their own.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram