Kepler/NVidia: Power Control/Dynamic OC etc. is extremely annoying

[BallaTheFeared]

I am telling you guys, this is getting "better and better" /SARCASM

I just installed Bioshock Infinite and my GPU usage while playing is 41% with the card clocking at 1032 WHEN PLAYING.

When I tab out (like right now), my card is at 100% and the clock at 1202.

Does this make ANY sense?

What are your fps IG?

Have you considered your 2006 processor coupled with a 2012 GPU as a possible "imbalance"?

 

[cmdrdredd]

I am telling you guys, this is getting "better and better" /SARCASM

I just installed Bioshock Infinite and my GPU usage while playing is 41% with the card clocking at 1032 WHEN PLAYING.

When I tab out (like right now), my card is at 100% and the clock at 1202.

Does this make ANY sense?

Set prefer max performance in the control panel, and use something like MSI Afterburner or EVGA PrecisionX to set the power target up.

 

[blackened23]

^What he said. Kepler won't use more power than it needs and will sometimes will downclock if fps is maxed (eg 60 fps), maybe you're not maxing the game out? I'm not sure if this is applicable to you, but generally speaking changing the power management setting in nvidia CP will fix it. I suspect that if you change that setting you should get 1202mhz throughout the game, flexy.

Another thing you can do, which is what I do, is setting the global power management to max performance and then creating program profiles for all of the menial task programs that you use - including mouse software, browsers, etc and make program profiles for those specifying adaptive. Otherwise you may idle on desktop at 3d clocks which also isn't ideal.

 

[flexy]

I am using Afterburner already. My FPS are fine, it's very playable. I also set "prefer max. performance" globally.

I cannot exclude this is a game bug with the card allocating 100% when tabbed out in this game, until now I havent seen this behavior with other games/apps, need more testing.

As for my old CPU, it's running at almost 3.6Ghz and have no problems really, although I am aware it might be "slight" overkill with a 660 TI and my old CPU

(Bioshock Inf. is not THAT graphically demanding, eg. neither is D3, this is also where I only see 40%-50% GPU usage. Benches/Heaven/Tomb Raider etc. otherwise are using the GPU 100%)

 

[cmdrdredd]

I am using Afterburner already. My FPS are fine, it's very playable. I also set "prefer max. performance" globally.

I cannot exclude this is a game bug with the card allocating 100% when tabbed out in this game, until now I havent seen this behavior with other games/apps, need more testing.

As for my old CPU, it's running at almost 3.6Ghz and have no problems really, although I am aware it might be "slight" overkill with a 660 TI and my old CPU

(Bioshock Inf. is not THAT graphically demanding, eg. neither is D3, this is also where I only see 40%-50% GPU usage. Benches/Heaven/Tomb Raider etc. otherwise are using the GPU 100%)

Bioshock infinite IS that graphically demanding. It eats up your memory like nothing else I've seen. It might not look it, but it is thrashing your memory.

I cannot explain why you see low GPU usage in that game, unless your Q6600 is really starving it in that title which might happen in some areas.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I suppose you should just be happy with the additional "free performance" you get while cruising the net. /sarc

Seriously, I'd RMA the card. It's obviously not performing right.

:hmm:




Edit: If you're cpu limited all forcing max clocks will do is lower your usage.

Have you tried running the game at a lower resolution with the same graphics settings to see if your fps improve inline with the lowered gpu demand?

 

[flexy]

Bioshock infinite IS that graphically demanding. It eats up your memory like nothing else I've seen. It might not look it, but it is thrashing your memory.

I cannot explain why you see low GPU usage in that game, unless your Q6600 is really starving it in that title which might happen in some areas.

You are correct, it uses TONS of texture memory, but otherwise it's not even in the same ballpark like benches or TR with tesselation and tressfx + 2xSS.

As for GPU usage while gaming, ok, the 41% was at one specific spot, otherwise it's all over the place from 40% - 70%, but definitely not "maxed out".

Let me do some screenshots. (by the way, D3 definitely does NOT have the problem with 100% GPU while tabbed out)

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Honestly it sounds like you're cpu limited in the title, the alt tabbed usage is a bug with the game itself.

Edit: While you're in D3, load up a 4 player game and get into some heavy group fights and see what your gpu usage looks like then.


Edit2: Also are you using the Ultra preset, or are you using ultra with the alternate DOF which should put a lot more strain on your GPU?

What resolution are you at? Sorry if I missed it!

 

[flexy]

I am at Ultra, my resolution is only 1680/1050. I dont use the alternate DOF.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Try using it once, see if your usage goes up.

 

[cmdrdredd]

You are correct, it uses TONS of texture memory, but otherwise it's not even in the same ballpark like benches or TR with tesselation and tressfx + 2xSS.

As for GPU usage while gaming, ok, the 41% was at one specific spot, otherwise it's all over the place from 40% - 70%, but definitely not "maxed out".

Let me do some screenshots. (by the way, D3 definitely does NOT have the problem with 100% GPU while tabbed out)

Yeah in the case of Bioshock infinite it is loading huge areas of the game so there is no load and it is seamless. Problem is the textures are so numerous and of generally high quality that it just hogs memory. In doing so it has to do lots of memory swapping with 2GB cards and you see it as a hitch where the fps drops. EVen with my SLI setup and running 1080p it would do it quite often.

 

[flexy]

Yeah in the case of Bioshock infinite it is loading huge areas of the game so there is no load and it is seamless. Problem is the textures are so numerous and of generally high quality that it just hogs memory. In doing so it has to do lots of memory swapping with 2GB cards and you see it as a hitch where the fps drops. EVen with my SLI setup and running 1080p it would do it quite often.

The only time when I see what I could consider "hitching" is when I go from one zone to the other, then I get a slight stutter at the border of such a zone which I assume is from a ton of new textures being (pre-)loaded.

Edit: I see you basically say the same thing, and yes I was assuming it could also happen with other systems.

 

[cmdrdredd]

The only time when I see what I could consider "hitching" is when I go from one zone to the other, then I get a slight stutter at the border of such a zone which I assume is from a ton of new textures being (pre-)loaded.

Edit: I see you basically say the same thing, and yes I was assuming it could also happen with other systems.

Yeah but that hitching and texture loading doesn't really account for low GPU usage. Generally I see 98-99% across both GPUs until the hitching occurs then it may drop a little at that point since the fps drops significantly. Usually it drops from around 90-100 to 30 which is pretty jarring.

I am thinking its the older CPU that isn't able to feed the card in some titles.

 

[blackened23]

Yeah but that hitching and texture loading doesn't really account for low GPU usage. Generally I see 98-99% across both GPUs until the hitching occurs then it may drop a little at that point since the fps drops significantly. Usually it drops from around 90-100 to 30 which is pretty jarring.

I am thinking its the older CPU that isn't able to feed the card in some titles.

I don't agree with you regarding VRAM usage. What happens when VRAM is exceeded is not hitching, but outright failure. The game will crash or will not function. I've seen this happen in surround when upping anti aliasing (MSAA) to unattainable levels (AA eats more VRAM than anything else, generally speaking.) For instance, you can play most games at 5760x surround resolution fine with FXAA with 2GB GTX 680s. However, when you up that to 8X MSAA some games will fail. In fact, as soon as you select the setting 8X MSAA most games will just crash to desktop.

The hitching is just a side effect of an old engine. It's UE3, hitching is common in a lot of Unreal engine games - I've seen it in Batman: AC as well. And not because of VRAM. What we're looking at here is not a VRAM issue. He is playing at a low resolution anyway - VRAM use increases exponentially with MSAA levels and overall resolution. 1650x resolution? There's absolutely no way he's exceeding VRAM allotment.

Again, clunky engine. Happens in a lot of UE3 games. It could also be his CPU usage. That's also a valid concern. But I just can't agree with the VRAM reasoning suggested earlier.

 

[Elfear]

snip

Balla, you mind editing your screenshot?

 

[f1sherman]

When you tab the game is still being rendered, but with no vsync to hold back GPU usage so it shoots to 99%

I suppose you should just be happy with the additional "free performance" you get while cruising the net. /sarc

Seriously, I'd RMA the card. It's obviously not performing right.

Yes RMA your perfectly working card :thumbsup:

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Balla, you mind editing your screenshot?

Should be gone now, I assume it was too cheeky? :sneaky:

 

[Elfear]

Should be gone now, I assume it was too cheeky? :sneaky:

Lol. Ya. Appreciate it.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I don't agree with you regarding VRAM usage. What happens when VRAM is exceeded is not hitching, but outright failure. The game will crash or will not function. I've seen this happen in surround when upping anti aliasing (MSAA) to unattainable levels (AA eats more VRAM than anything else, generally speaking.) For instance, you can play most games at 5760x surround resolution fine with FXAA with 2GB GTX 680s. However, when you up that to 8X MSAA some games will fail. In fact, as soon as you select the setting 8X MSAA most games will just crash to desktop.

The hitching is just a side effect of an old engine. It's UE3, hitching is common in a lot of Unreal engine games - I've seen it in Batman: AC as well. And not because of VRAM. What we're looking at here is not a VRAM issue. He is playing at a low resolution anyway - VRAM use increases exponentially with MSAA levels and overall resolution. 1650x resolution? There's absolutely no way he's exceeding VRAM allotment.

Again, clunky engine. Happens in a lot of UE3 games. It could also be his CPU usage. That's also a valid concern. But I just can't agree with the VRAM reasoning suggested earlier.

process explorer and precisionx both indicate 2.1GB usage. So it is thrashing my memory. When it hitches and drops fps is when the memory usage drops. I don't notice this in UT3 or Batman which both use the same engine. Doesn't borderlands use UE3 too?