Driver bug? ticking the "enable stereoscopic 3D" box decreases performance, even after di
I've got two MSI Lightning Extreme 3GB 580GTX graphics cards in SLI pushing three VG278HE monitors in 3D Vision Surround). From everything I've read, this is more than enough power to run iRacing mostly maxed at steady high framerates. But in practice, I'm not getting very good framerates...even lowering every setting to minimum detail levels in the sim, and overclocking the GPUs to 900/1100, both GPUs still see max utilization, and my framerates still don't stay over 120Hz in 2D. Which means my 3D performance is not optimal. After a bit of testing, I think I discovered the problem...when I check the 'enable stereoscopic 3D' box in the nVidia control panel, my frame rate drops by around 25%, even when I disable 3D in-game using 'CTRL+T'. Check the attached screenshot...the MSI Afterburner monitor shows two benchmark runs. The first one was run with the 'enable stereoscopic 3D' box unchecked, for the second run I checked the box, then manually disabled 3D in game with CTRL+T. You can see in the screenshot that the first run was averaging around 80fps, but the second run dropped to around 60fps average. So neither run was actually running in stereoscopic 3D. Here are my full system specs: Asus Rampage IV Formula X79 Intel i7 3820 @ 4.8GHz 16GB DDR3-1866 2x MSI 580 GTX Lightning Extreme Edition 3GB in SLI (running at 900/1100) Corsair AX1200 PSU Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1 The testing and results are repeatable with both the 32bit and 64bit iRacing excecutables. I've already tested the 306.97 and 310.90 drivers, I'll be trying the 314.07 driver tonight. As far as I can tell, the two benchmark runs should be more-or-less identical, but maybe I don't have a full grasp on what checking the 'enable stereoscopic 3D' box is really doing. Does anyone have any insight?
I've got two MSI Lightning Extreme 3GB 580GTX graphics cards in SLI pushing three VG278HE monitors in 3D Vision Surround). From everything I've read, this is more than enough power to run iRacing mostly maxed at steady high framerates. But in practice, I'm not getting very good framerates...even lowering every setting to minimum detail levels in the sim, and overclocking the GPUs to 900/1100, both GPUs still see max utilization, and my framerates still don't stay over 120Hz in 2D. Which means my 3D performance is not optimal.

After a bit of testing, I think I discovered the problem...when I check the 'enable stereoscopic 3D' box in the nVidia control panel, my frame rate drops by around 25%, even when I disable 3D in-game using 'CTRL+T'.

Check the attached screenshot...the MSI Afterburner monitor shows two benchmark runs. The first one was run with the 'enable stereoscopic 3D' box unchecked, for the second run I checked the box, then manually disabled 3D in game with CTRL+T.

You can see in the screenshot that the first run was averaging around 80fps, but the second run dropped to around 60fps average. So neither run was actually running in stereoscopic 3D.

Here are my full system specs:

Asus Rampage IV Formula X79
Intel i7 3820 @ 4.8GHz
16GB DDR3-1866
2x MSI 580 GTX Lightning Extreme Edition 3GB in SLI (running at 900/1100)
Corsair AX1200 PSU
Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1

The testing and results are repeatable with both the 32bit and 64bit iRacing excecutables. I've already tested the 306.97 and 310.90 drivers, I'll be trying the 314.07 driver tonight.

As far as I can tell, the two benchmark runs should be more-or-less identical, but maybe I don't have a full grasp on what checking the 'enable stereoscopic 3D' box is really doing. Does anyone have any insight?
Attachments

iRacing.PNG

#1
Posted 02/18/2013 10:45 PM   
Hey:) Just to shed some light: - Even if you are using 2D but Stereoscopy is enabled in nVidia Panel it will still load up some driver components for 3D => Your performance will drop. Frame per second are not measured in Hertz. That is the refresh rate of your monitor. You can easily go over 120 FPS which are locked by your monitor refresh rate if you disable vertical synchronization (in 2D). In 3D is enabled by default. In stereo 3D you cannot achieve more than 60fps => 120/2, and the thing that you want framerates over 120 is insane....even for 2D. Everything above 30fps is fluent. Anything about 60ps your eye cannot see..and is just a number... As for your problem it appears to be a driver scaling issue more than anything else... I don't know the game/app but the thing with your framerate droping 25% is a a bit exaggerated (its around 15-20%) but again a driver thing. You are lucky to have 2 cards otherwise your FPS would be 50% lower..hehe:)) If you fancy you could try to play with nVidia inspector in your game/app profile and try to improve the performance..you can do alot of awesome stuff in there if you know where to look and what to do... Hope it helps you into making a clearer image about it. SHORT version: Is normal to loose some FPS if the stereoscopy is enabled even in 2D. Everything else is app/ driver related. Best Regards, Heliax
Hey:) Just to shed some light:

- Even if you are using 2D but Stereoscopy is enabled in nVidia Panel it will still load up some driver components for 3D => Your performance will drop. Frame per second are not measured in Hertz. That is the refresh rate of your monitor. You can easily go over 120 FPS which are locked by your monitor refresh rate if you disable vertical synchronization (in 2D). In 3D is enabled by default. In stereo 3D you cannot achieve more than 60fps => 120/2, and the thing that you want framerates over 120 is insane....even for 2D. Everything above 30fps is fluent. Anything about 60ps your eye cannot see..and is just a number...
As for your problem it appears to be a driver scaling issue more than anything else... I don't know the game/app but the thing with your framerate droping 25% is a a bit exaggerated (its around 15-20%) but again a driver thing. You are lucky to have 2 cards otherwise your FPS would be 50% lower..hehe:))
If you fancy you could try to play with nVidia inspector in your game/app profile and try to improve the performance..you can do alot of awesome stuff in there if you know where to look and what to do...

Hope it helps you into making a clearer image about it.

SHORT version: Is normal to loose some FPS if the stereoscopy is enabled even in 2D. Everything else is app/ driver related.

Best Regards,
Heliax

1x Palit RTX 2080Ti Pro Gaming OC(watercooled and overclocked to hell)
3x 3D Vision Ready Asus VG278HE monitors (5760x1080).
Intel i9 9900K (overclocked to 5.3 and watercooled ofc).
Asus Maximus XI Hero Mobo.
16 GB Team Group T-Force Dark Pro DDR4 @ 3600.
Lots of Disks:
- Raid 0 - 256GB Sandisk Extreme SSD.
- Raid 0 - WD Black - 2TB.
- SanDisk SSD PLUS 480 GB.
- Intel 760p 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD.
Creative Sound Blaster Z.
Windows 10 x64 Pro.
etc


My website with my fixes and OpenGL to 3D Vision wrapper:
http://3dsurroundgaming.com

(If you like some of the stuff that I've done and want to donate something, you can do it with PayPal at tavyhome@gmail.com)

#2
Posted 02/19/2013 04:49 AM   
Enabling 3d vision enables vsync.
Enabling 3d vision enables vsync.

GTX 1070 SLI, I7-6700k ~ 4.4Ghz, 3x BenQ XL2420T, BenQ TK800, LG 55EG960V (3D OLED), Samsung 850 EVO SSD, Crucial M4 SSD, 3D vision kit, Xpand x104 glasses, Corsair HX1000i, Win 10 pro 64/Win 7 64https://www.3dmark.com/fs/9529310

#3
Posted 02/19/2013 02:34 PM   
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