GTX 680 x3 - Extremely Poor BF4 Performance

UaVaj

Golden Member
Nov 16, 2012
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BF4 ultra setting 100% scale (no ssaa)
680 x1 is out performing 680 x2 n 680 x3 w/ better average frame rate and better minimum frame rate. :mad::mad::mad:

uploaded a hd video from nvidia shadow play. (video says a million words)

this is 680 x3 at 1920x1080 = 46.5 fps (21.5 ms)
http://youtu.be/fUlqo0VpYag

this is 680 x2 at 1920x1080 = 49.7 fps (20.1 ms)
http://youtu.be/zewz-xnhjMQ

this is 680 x1 at 1920x1080 = 52.6 fps (19.0 ms)
http://youtu.be/fdi-iNxdGOo

hardware rule out.
i7-3770k to i3-2130 - no joy
asus p8z77ws to asrock z77 ext4 - no joy
8gb x2 crucial to 4gb x2 gskillz - no joy
evga 680 4gb to dell/pny 680 2gb - no joy

software rule out.
fresh reinstall win8.1 and bf4 - no joy

either: BF4 simply is broken? or NVidia SLI profile is broken? (thinking it is the latter)


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPECS

CPU = i7-3770k oc to 4.7GHz
MB = asus p8z77 ws
RAM = crucial 8gb x2 pc1600
SSD = vertex4 256gb raid 0
GPU = evga 680 4gb x3
PSU = seasonic x-1250
Display = asus vs239 ips 1080p x3
OS = windows 8.1
Game = battlefield 4 w/ naval strike

max cpu temp = 70/69/70/66
max gpu temp = 76/84/76
driver = geforce 335.23
resolution = 5760x1080 n 1920x1080


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DATA

bit-tech method.
"to benchmark battlefield 4, using a 60 second recording of the opening sequence of the campaign's sixth level, tashgar."

using built in BF4 console command tool "perfoverlay.drawgraph 1" to get frametimes for both cpu and gpu. "perfoverlay.framefilelogenable 1" to save the log file into mydocuments bf4 folder.

after numerous runs.



680 x3 w/ BF4 ultra setting at 5760x1080 (3k)
frame time translated to frame per second
cpu. 46 avg / 200 max / 12 min
gpu. 20 avg / 27 max / 12 min

680 x2 w/ BF4 ultra setting at 5760x1080 (3k)
frame time translated to frame per second
cpu. 42 avg / 200 max / 12 min
gpu. 22 avg / 27 max / 13 min

680 x1 w/ BF4 ultra setting at 5760x1080 (3k)
frame time translated to frame per second
cpu. 22 avg / 44 max / 13 min
gpu. 23 avg / 27 max / 17 min

reducing settings to "high setting" adds ~10fps to ALL 5760x1080 (3k) scenarios.


680 x3 w/ BF4 ultra setting at 1920x1080 (1k)
frame time translated to frame per second
cpu. 113 avg / 200 max / 31 min
gpu. 47 avg / 67 max / 26 min

680 x2 w/ BF4 ultra setting at 1920x1080 (1k)
frame time translated to frame per second
cpu. 96 avg / 200 max / 35 min
gpu. 52 avg / 67 max / 31 min

680 x1 w/ BF4 ultra setting at 1920x1080 (1k)
frame time translated to frame per second
cpu. 53 avg / 186 max / 28 min
gpu. 54 avg / 68 max / 39 min

reducing settings to "high setting" adds ~25fps to x2 n x3 1920x1080 (1k) scenarios.
reducing settings to "high setting" adds ~30fps to x1 1920x1080 (1k) scenarios.




control group to just to make sure ALL was working correctly.
heaven4 ultra texture extreme tessellation 8x aa

680 x3 w/ heaven4 at 3k resolution - scores 909
680 x2 w/ heaven4 at 3k resolution - scores 613
680 x1 w/ heaven4 at 3k resolution - scores 354

680 x3 w/ heaven4 at 1k resolution - scores 2437
680 x2 w/ heaven4 at 1k resolution - scores 1748
680 x1 w/ heaven4 at 1k resolution - scores 903

heaven4 is scaling beautifully.



.
 
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n0x1ous

Platinum Member
Sep 9, 2010
2,574
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126
Well first thing to do would be try the new 337 beta driver today.....
 

TreVader

Platinum Member
Oct 28, 2013
2,057
2
0
the 680 doesn't have a high enough filtrate for 3k. Even full GK110 gets bogged by 4k.



Really nobody should expect to run 4k well without 128 ROPs or more.
 

BrightCandle

Diamond Member
Mar 15, 2007
4,762
0
76
Try getting rid of MSAA and see if that kicks the cards into scaling.

I have an issue with my 680's in SLI where MSAA 4x seems to dramatically drop fps compared to 2x and I wonder if its not working properly with SLI. Just turn off all the AA and see if that helps.
 

UaVaj

Golden Member
Nov 16, 2012
1,546
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76
n0x1ous
BF4 is not part of the fix in the new beta driver. tried for the sake of it and same results. no joy.

trevader
this happens at 1k resolution too. so it is something else.

brightcandle
these 680 are 4gb edition. clearly not a vram issue. high setting which is zero msaa. gain 10fps.
 
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Leadbox

Senior member
Oct 25, 2010
744
63
91
n0x1ous BF4 is not part of the fix in the new beta driver. tried for the sake of it and same results. no joy.

brightcandle
these 680 are 4gb edition. clearly not a vram issue. high setting which is zero msaa. gain 10fps.
Still over the same 256bit bus though, is there a significant advantage over the 2GB cards?Doubtful
 

UaVaj

Golden Member
Nov 16, 2012
1,546
0
76
memory bandwidth = memory bus * memory speed.
both 680 2gb edition and 680 4gb edition share the same 192GB/s memory bandwidth.
memory bandwidth (including memory bus) is moot.
 

UaVaj

Golden Member
Nov 16, 2012
1,546
0
76
uploaded hd video from nvidia shadowplay to youtube.

http://youtu.be/fUlqo0VpYag
680 x3 at 1920x1080. (watch in HD)
notice how the graph on the lower left is showing average GPU frame time of ~21.5 ms (46.5 fps).
notice how the upper right is showing CPU fps which correlates to the graph on the lower left showing average CPU frame time of ~11ms (83fps).

http://youtu.be/fdi-iNxdGOo
680 x1 at 1920x1080. (watch in HD)
notice how the graph on the lower left is showing average GPU frame time of ~19.0 ms (52.6 fps).
notice how the upper right is showing CPU fps which correlates to the graph on the lower left showing average CPU frame time of ~20ms (50fps).
 
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TreVader

Platinum Member
Oct 28, 2013
2,057
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Are you sure SLI is loading all three GPUs? Sounds like it could be ur running on 1 680.
 

UaVaj

Golden Member
Nov 16, 2012
1,546
0
76
is there a better way to re-verifying all three gpu is loading? as you can see from the video. all 3 gpu is loaded (via HWiNFO).

at a loss on who's door to bang on first. dice for broken bf4 or nvidia for broken sli profile or evga for broken hardware.
 

TreVader

Platinum Member
Oct 28, 2013
2,057
2
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It looks like it's something wrong with BF4 and/or the SLI profile for BF4. Have you tried re-installing BF4?


If it was hardware it would be unlikely that Heaven would scale and run fine.
 

PhIlLy ChEeSe

Senior member
Apr 1, 2013
962
0
0
It looks like it's something wrong with BF4 and/or the SLI profile for BF4. Have you tried re-installing BF4?


If it was hardware it would be unlikely that Heaven would scale and run fine.


Use Nvidia inspector, google and adjust settings see if that helps you
 

UaVaj

Golden Member
Nov 16, 2012
1,546
0
76
BF4 with SLI is simple BROKEN.

knocking on NVidia's and Dice's door.
next is review sites to give NVidia and Dice some motivation.

highly doubt this is an isolate issue.
 
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2is

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2012
4,281
131
106
I don't have an issue running SLI on my 2 680's. Works great in fact. There's probably something in the BF4 config file causing the issue. I would try reinstalling BF4 and make sure you check to see the config file has been deleted
 

UaVaj

Golden Member
Nov 16, 2012
1,546
0
76
I don't have an issue running SLI on my 2 680's. Works great in fact. There's probably something in the BF4 config file causing the issue. I would try reinstalling BF4 and make sure you check to see the config file has been deleted

hopefully the fix is that easy. (btw not running a user config file.)

if not too much trouble can you post a screen shot of your "perfoverlay.drawgraph 1" for comparison.
 
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blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
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hopefully the fix is that easy. (btw not running a user config file.)

if not too much trouble can you post a screen shot of your

perfoverlay.drawgraph 1

Have you tried 2 way instead of 3 way sli? 3 way sli, since your 3rd GPU is running at x4 speeds on your motherboard, perhaps that's the issue? Or do you have a board with a PLX Chip?

I dunno. BF4 has been 100% fine for me in SLI, but I don't do 3 GPUs.
 

UaVaj

Golden Member
Nov 16, 2012
1,546
0
76
Have you tried 2 way instead of 3 way sli? 3 way sli, since your 3rd GPU is running at x4 speeds on your motherboard, perhaps that's the issue? Or do you have a board with a PLX Chip?

I dunno. BF4 has been 100% fine for me in SLI, but I don't do 3 GPUs.

see post #1 - it is as through as one can possibly get with video included.

asus p8z77 ws is a "plx" motherboard. it 16x/8x/8x. it is NOT a pcie issue.
tried single 680, dual 680, tri 680. no joy.


if not too much trouble can you post a screen shot of your "perfoverlay.drawgraph 1" for comparison.
 

2is

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2012
4,281
131
106
23ifbqr.jpg
 

UaVaj

Golden Member
Nov 16, 2012
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76
thanks a million for that screen shot.

2is. you clearly have the same issue as me. you are simply not noticing it cause your frame rate is above what your eyes can detect.

see your GPU average on the lower left. it is 15.32 ms. that translate to 65 fps. not the 117 you think you are getting on the upper right.
 

2is

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2012
4,281
131
106
thanks a million for that screen shot.

2is. you clearly have the same issue as me. you are simply not noticing it cause your frame rate is above what your eyes can detect.

see your GPU average on the lower left. it is 15.32 ms. that translate to 65 fps. not the 117 you think you are getting on the upper right.

Interesting... How does that work? The 15.32 translating to FPS?
 

UaVaj

Golden Member
Nov 16, 2012
1,546
0
76
you are probably wondering where that 117 on the upper right is coming from?

that is your CPU frame rate. the number of frames the CPU is generating and sending to the GPU.

8.54 ms is your CPU average on the lower left. that translate perfectly to 117 fps.

-----

here is the math.

1 second = 1000 millisecond (ms).

so if your gpu is taking 15.32 millisecond rendering each frame. in 1000 millisecond (which is a second). 1000/15.32 = 65.3 fps.

-----

laymen terms. your cpu is sending 117 frames to be render. however your gpu is only rendering 65 of those frames.

same rendering performance as a single gpu. that second gpu is doing squat.
 

2is

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2012
4,281
131
106
Could it be that chart is simply showing what a single GPU is doing instead of both? I have decent load across both my GPU's (80+%) and the fans on both GPU's get reasonably load after a few minutes of playing.