GPU temp monitoring

[Matthew-san]

Does anyone know of a program I can use to monitor my GPU temperature? I'm trying to figure out if my CPU is bottlenecking my GPU.

 

[Novuake]

Temps won't help you figure that out, what are your full specs?

Use this for temp monitoring : http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/

 

[ZeusGamer]

I don't think GPU temperature will determine if your CPU is bottlenecking your system. What are yours system specs?

 

[Matthew-san]

Well I've been monitoring my CPU temps using Core Temps and was I curious to see how often my GPU was at 100% load.

OS: Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium
MOBO: GA-970A-D3P
CPU: FX-8320
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 4 GB Superclocked
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Blue 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
HDD: Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 1 TB
PSU: 600w TR2 Thermaltake
Cooling: Air - Three 120mm case fans and one smaller fan for the Hard drive (forgot the size). CPU cooler is a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

 

[Novuake]

That CPU would not bottleneck you.

What are your CPU temps?

 

[ZeusGamer]

Novuake is right. Your CPU is not bottlenecking your GPU

 

[Matthew-san]

The performance in my games vary. I was monitoring Skyrim because it kept dipping into the 30's and 40's while in specific parts of the cities. Every time it dips from 100 something fps to 30-40 fps core 1 is at 97% load while all the other cores hang around 15-45%. That's the only time I get 'bad' fps playing Skyrim is when core 1 is at 97-100%. It's the same story with other games. Whenever I'm getting large frame rate drops it's because core 1 is at 100% load but the other cores aren't.

I was playing Shogun 2 today on ultra and 1080p with about 8,000 units on screen at once and it ran well until the the armies started fighting and then my fps dropped to 19-27 fps. In the same instance core 1 was at 100%. That's why I was curious to see if my 770 was at max load because this should be easy stuff for it to handle.

My CPU temps usually stay 40-60 degrees Celsius during games. It hardly ever goes over 60.

 

[Novuake]

Yeah it has to stay under 60C.

If one core is maxing out, that just means that the game you are playing needs more CPU power PER CORE as it is not optimized well to use more cores.
I can safely say that both Skyrim and Shogun works EXACTLY as you have described and theres nothing strange about it.

Both those games prefer Intel CPUs.

If you really want better performance, I would suggest you get an aftermarket cooler and overclock your CPU some.
You will see definite improvements in those 2 games.

 

[Matthew-san]

Thanks, I knew I should have bought an Intel CPU from the start but I just didn't have the budget for it at the time. I'd overclock if I could but I've been having some stability issues when doing that. I have the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler but I don't think my MOBO is really meant for overclocking. At least that's what I was told. I used to have it overclocked to 4.25 GHz, even got it to 4.4 GHz and it ran stably. Boy do I miss those days lol. Games just don't run the same with it set on its standard clock. Now there's too many fps dips, kind of distracting to be honest.

 

[Novuake]

While you are correct that the board is not GREAT for overclocking, it should be capable of a decent OC.

Your instability is probably due to overheating.

The EVO is a decent cooler BUT its not really good enough to overclock your chip.

 

[ZeusGamer]

I used to have a motherboard that is not good on overclocking haswell CPUs. Everytime I overclocked my CPu over 4 Ghz. It would give me REALLY BAD stuttering. So making sure that your components are overclockable before overclocking!

 

[Matthew-san]

Yes, very good point ZeusGamer! I'll get a good quality MOBO that will allow me to overclock well, if necessary.