CPU bottleneck?

[toyota]

and sadly the game probably still looks like last gen poo while being almost unplayable.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

that's SLI. the gtx570 is beating the crap out of a single gtx460.

yeah I notice it and corrected it. The pictures look a bit shitty on a crappy old nokia smart phone.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

This is my first time with a "nice" video card since I had a 9800pro (just to give an idea).

I am running way above ultra settings with a heavily tweaked INI file. I may have gone a bit overboard tho.

I'm running at 1080 with 16x AF.

I'm running it with vsync and 8x supersampling if that is what you were asking.

I just dropped it to 2x supersampling and it only went up to 30-35 FPS.

Are there any major performance killers I should check/change?

“iPresentinterval=0”

Add that to the Skyrim.ini file then check again

 

[dorfma05]

“iPresentinterval=0”

Add that to the Skyrim.ini file then check again

That increases my max fps but my average is still hovering around 30-35.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Turn AA dOWN to X4. Are you running it on 1080p?

 

[dorfma05]

Turn AA dOWN to X4. Are you running it on 1080p?

yes 1080p

I put it on "low" setting and while I do get 60 FPS, it's not rock solid and it randomly drops to 30 FPS....

 

[BFG10K]

I put it on "low" setting and while I do get 60 FPS, it's not rock solid and it randomly drops to 30 FPS....

Turn off vsync in the control panel. Seriously.

 

[dorfma05]

Turn off vsync in the control panel. Seriously.

Why? It's awful. I tried it and I get terrible tearing like crazy every time i move the camera any significant amount.

Does this game just run like crap for everyone?

I've noticed weird things with the fps... When it first loads up it's stuck at 30 fps. Then it shoots up to 60 at the main menu. Then at the loading screen to get into the game it always goes down to 30 fps no matter what. Could this be indicative of some other problem?

 

[boxleitnerb]

Today, vsync should not suffer from the issue that fps drop to 1/1, 1/2, 1/3... of 60. This is not the problem as DX apparently support render ahead and the game most likely supports triple buffering. I see all kinds of fps, not just 60, 30, 20...

Backup your ini files, delete both and let the game recreate them. Restore the profile in NV Inspector to it's default state. Then go step by step applying your tweaks and settings and see what happens. No other way.

8xSGSSAA is too much for one GTX580 in 1080p. Even for GTX580 SLI it is very very taxing. Also the game can be very CPU bound.

Download MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision and use the OSD to display GPU usage while playing. If it's below 99% when the drop occurs, it is your CPU.

 

[dorfma05]

Today, vsync should not suffer from the issue that fps drop to 1/1, 1/2, 1/3... of 60. This is not the problem as DX apparently support render ahead and the game most likely supports triple buffering. I see all kinds of fps, not just 60, 30, 20...

Backup your ini files, delete both and let the game recreate them. Restore the profile in NV Inspector to it's default state. Then go step by step applying your tweaks and settings and see what happens. No other way.

8xSGSSAA is too much for one GTX580 in 1080p. Even for GTX580 SLI it is very very taxing. Also the game can be very CPU bound.

Download MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision and use the OSD to display GPU usage while playing. If it's below 99% when the drop occurs, it is your CPU.

Thanks for the input.

I did already revert my INI file to the LOW setting. You'd think that it would be rock solid at 60 FPS with that. But it isnt. It'll dip down as low as 45 still with that.


The whole 30 FPS on the loading screen seems to be independent of VSYNC. It does it either way.

I'm going to reinstall the game and start fresh like you said though. I played with too may things, maybe something got borked along the way.

 

[boxleitnerb]

You don't have to do that (reinstall that is). Wait a sec, maybe I can help you. Can you explain exactly when/how these dips occur?

Is it when you're turning?
Is it happening when you're just standing still and not moving at all?

Please upload your savegame where this happens, so I can test it. I will disable SLI and then our configs will be similar. What driver version are you using? 285.79?

 

[dorfma05]

You don't have to do that (reinstall that is). Wait a sec, maybe I can help you. Can you explain exactly when/how these dips occur?

Is it when you're turning?
Is it happening when you're just standing still and not moving at all?

Please upload your savegame where this happens, so I can test it. I will disable SLI and then our configs will be similar. What driver version are you using? 285.79?

There are two fps dips I'm experiencing:

1) is on the loading screen, it seems to be limited to 31 fps which doesnt make sense and it is only rendering a simple object.

2) The FPS while playing is just bad throughout, on ultra it has a hard time maintaining 45 FPS. It's almost like I get worse FPS when I'm inside than when I'm in a large open expanse. It's definitely linked to the objects being rendered. It never changes much when I'm standing still.

In general though, I'm not getting the kind of performance you'd expect out of a $500 video card.

Here's my save game:

http://www.4shared.com/file/-gcnzIiy/Save_81_-_Sonance__Skyrim__431.html

 

[s44]

1) is on the loading screen, it seems to be limited to 31 fps which doesnt make sense and it is only rendering a simple object.

Probably intentional. Letting cards render hundreds of fps on these sorts of screens causes video card whine and general stress.

 

[boxleitnerb]

Okay, loading screen with everything default (inis and profile), no vsync. It was 1500fps and dropped to 420 after a couple of seconds where it stayed:



When the savegame is loaded, what fps are you having (without moving the camera/character)?

 

[dorfma05]

48 fps without moving. This is an example of what I was saying. Huge expanse, decent FPS. Start moving in the trees and it drops to 25-35 fps.

 

[dorfma05]

Now compare to this spot:

http://www.4shared.com/file/bsdfQDwm/Save_83_-_Sonance__Skyrim__431.html


I get 33 fps here which makes no sense in my mind.

 

[boxleitnerb]

What settings? Everything default as well?

My system:
2600K@4300
GTX580 3GB@783 (so basically not overclocked, its factory clocks on my card)
285.79 driver, Win7x64

1080p, 8xAA/16xAF (ingame), everything ultra + ingame FXAA. No vsync.

First save, scaling with CPU clocks:
4300, 3400, 2700:


So somewhere between 2700 and 3400 MHz the CPU begins to bottleneck this scene. You have 48fps (20% less than my 60). What CPU clocks did you have then? Because I cannot believe that a 2700 MHz Sandy beats a 3800 MHz Nehalem by 10% (53 vs. 48).

Then I looked up and walked around a bit (again 4300 MHz).




Second save, same settings.
From left to right:
4300 MHz 1 GPU, 3400 MHz, 1 GPU, 4300 MHz, 2 GPUs



CPU-limit...

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Today, vsync should not suffer from the issue that fps drop to 1/1, 1/2, 1/3... of 60. This is not the problem as DX apparently support render ahead and the game most likely supports triple buffering. I see all kinds of fps, not just 60, 30, 20...

Backup your ini files, delete both and let the game recreate them. Restore the profile in NV Inspector to it's default state. Then go step by step applying your tweaks and settings and see what happens. No other way.

8xSGSSAA is too much for one GTX580 in 1080p. Even for GTX580 SLI it is very very taxing. Also the game can be very CPU bound.

Download MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision and use the OSD to display GPU usage while playing. If it's below 99% when the drop occurs, it is your CPU.

Yes but the game has to call for it. If the game doesn't call for it then it wont be used then you have to do the work around with d3doverrider

 

[boxleitnerb]

Well I can only tell you what I see with fraps. And that is not the typical double buffering behavior.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

The game probably supports it

 

[dorfma05]

hrm....

Boxleitnerb, thanks for your excellent analysis; and everyone else for your input. I'm shocked that this game runs so poorly... It really looks like junk until you turn up the settings (after which it looks AMAZING though).

How does staring at a rock get me CPU bottlenecked? I mean, should I upgrade my CPU? That seems crazy...

 

[boxleitnerb]

You're welcome. Out of curiosity: What speed did your CPU run at? Should be 3800 MHz, otherwise I would be utterly baffled.

I guess all the NPCs, objects and such tax the CPU.

 

[dorfma05]

You're welcome. Out of curiosity: What speed did your CPU run at? Should be 3800 MHz, otherwise I would be utterly baffled.

I guess all the NPCs, objects and such tax the CPU.

Yeah I'm running at 3800 MHz. It's amazing to me, the i7 920 is such a great chip... I guess it is starting to show its age?

 

[boxleitnerb]

Yeah I'm running at 3800 MHz. It's amazing to me, the i7 920 is such a great chip... I guess it is starting to show its age?

This is an exception I guess. Skyrim really uses only 2 threads, so the main problem lies there. In general your overclocked CPU is fine and on the same level as a 2600K@default clocks.