Hi fellas,
As you know, I am no stranger to the forum.
I have come across a severe problem with 3D Vison performance in games such as Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag and CoD: Advanced Warfare. I can't seem to pin down the cause. The following graph shows FPS:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/Dbq5tQK.png[/img]
The first section is 3D Vision Disabled in control panel. As you can see, the frame rate is spot on. Both GPUs at ~40%
The second section is 3D Vision Enabled but NOT toggled on. There are FPS drops galore, pretty unplayable. GPU usage is still around 40%
The second half of this section shows 3D Vision toggled ON. Very bad frame rate and pretty unplayable. GPU usage is still around 40%.
2 CPU cores hover around 100% and 60%. The rest don't do much.
Can anyone help me figure out what is causing these random low fps spikes?
GPU usage is very low too, as if the CPU was being bottlenecked by 3D Vision? Perhaps 3DMigoto is very CPU intensive?
If it is, is it possible to make it multi-threaded?
I have come across a severe problem with 3D Vison performance in games such as Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag and CoD: Advanced Warfare. I can't seem to pin down the cause. The following graph shows FPS:
The first section is 3D Vision Disabled in control panel. As you can see, the frame rate is spot on. Both GPUs at ~40%
The second section is 3D Vision Enabled but NOT toggled on. There are FPS drops galore, pretty unplayable. GPU usage is still around 40%
The second half of this section shows 3D Vision toggled ON. Very bad frame rate and pretty unplayable. GPU usage is still around 40%.
2 CPU cores hover around 100% and 60%. The rest don't do much.
Can anyone help me figure out what is causing these random low fps spikes?
GPU usage is very low too, as if the CPU was being bottlenecked by 3D Vision? Perhaps 3DMigoto is very CPU intensive?
If it is, is it possible to make it multi-threaded?
Windows 10 64-bit, Intel 7700K @ 5.1GHz, 16GB 3600MHz CL15 DDR4 RAM, 2x GTX 1080 SLI, Asus Maximus IX Hero, Sound Blaster ZxR, PCIe Quad SSD, Oculus Rift CV1, DLP Link PGD-150 glasses, ViewSonic PJD6531w 3D DLP Projector @ 1280x800 120Hz native / 2560x1600 120Hz DSR 3D Gaming.
Well, I can say that it's not 3Dmigoto in AC4.
Assuming you are running the latest version off HelixModBlog. I fixed a bug there that PirateGuyBrush had narrowed down, and also extensively measured system performance using the Visual Studio Profiler. That tool tells me that 3Dmigoto uses 0.7% of the CPU when running AC4. Down from 3.9% before that fix. If shader hunting is enabled, it's up to 18% of CPU. That is all with SLI.
My best guess here is that you are running the 347.09 driver? That particular driver is uniquely terrible for 3D. In particular, they've also broken SLI in recent drivers, such that the card is active when monitored, but it doesn't actually improve the frame rate.
Assuming you are running the latest version off HelixModBlog. I fixed a bug there that PirateGuyBrush had narrowed down, and also extensively measured system performance using the Visual Studio Profiler. That tool tells me that 3Dmigoto uses 0.7% of the CPU when running AC4. Down from 3.9% before that fix. If shader hunting is enabled, it's up to 18% of CPU. That is all with SLI.
My best guess here is that you are running the 347.09 driver? That particular driver is uniquely terrible for 3D. In particular, they've also broken SLI in recent drivers, such that the card is active when monitored, but it doesn't actually improve the frame rate.
Acer H5360 (1280x720@120Hz) - ASUS VG248QE with GSync mod - 3D Vision 1&2 - Driver 372.54
GTX 970 - i5-4670K@4.2GHz - 12GB RAM - Win7x64+evilKB2670838 - 4 Disk X25 RAID
SAGER NP9870-S - GTX 980 - i7-6700K - Win10 Pro 1607 Latest 3Dmigoto Release Bo3b's School for ShaderHackers
That graph is really hard to read.
As far as Black Flag goes, this is a combination of factors but seems to largely rest on the CPU.
Both Black Flag and AC3 are poorly optimised, and require a lot in terms of both GPU and CPU. I've tested Black Flag pretty extensively, and found that transitioning between certain points consistently produces a brief downwards spike in framerate. This happens in 2D, 3D, and with 3DMigoto. Previously, 3DMigoto used to make the drop significantly worse, but bo3b was able to determine the cause of this and further optimise to largely eliminate the additional overhead. However the underlying problem is still there, and will vary in intensity depending on your system.
I personally found moving the game to an SSD (or even a ramdrive) made no difference in performance. Upgrading my CPU had a noticeable impact though, but it's still present to a degree - even at 720p on SLI 970s. I'd estimate the drops are to around 45fps most of the time, rather than the 25ish before bo3b made the optimisations. It's quite strange, even during the drops I wasn't seeing any significant spikes in CPU or GPU activity, before or after the upgrade/migoto changes. I wasn't even maxing out any of the cores.
So in short, with Black Flag at least, I'm pretty sure it's just a poorly optimised game.
As far as Black Flag goes, this is a combination of factors but seems to largely rest on the CPU.
Both Black Flag and AC3 are poorly optimised, and require a lot in terms of both GPU and CPU. I've tested Black Flag pretty extensively, and found that transitioning between certain points consistently produces a brief downwards spike in framerate. This happens in 2D, 3D, and with 3DMigoto. Previously, 3DMigoto used to make the drop significantly worse, but bo3b was able to determine the cause of this and further optimise to largely eliminate the additional overhead. However the underlying problem is still there, and will vary in intensity depending on your system.
I personally found moving the game to an SSD (or even a ramdrive) made no difference in performance. Upgrading my CPU had a noticeable impact though, but it's still present to a degree - even at 720p on SLI 970s. I'd estimate the drops are to around 45fps most of the time, rather than the 25ish before bo3b made the optimisations. It's quite strange, even during the drops I wasn't seeing any significant spikes in CPU or GPU activity, before or after the upgrade/migoto changes. I wasn't even maxing out any of the cores.
So in short, with Black Flag at least, I'm pretty sure it's just a poorly optimised game.
I can only guess, but it's a strong guess: Try using less screwed driver.
I'm not saying better, but try some older ones. I had a major isssue with 3D performance on one of the newest. I don't know if anything changed or all of the recent drivers still remain worthless.
Look here:
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/777954/3d-vision/suggested-driver-to-use-/
I can only guess, but it's a strong guess: Try using less screwed driver.
I'm not saying better, but try some older ones. I had a major isssue with 3D performance on one of the newest. I don't know if anything changed or all of the recent drivers still remain worthless.
Look here:
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/777954/3d-vision/suggested-driver-to-use-/
Thank you for the replies.
@bo3b, you are spot on with the driver version prediction. Is SLi affected in all games? I remember a thread about it. I did test it at the time but found that my system seemed to be ok at the time.
I'll post some SLi benchmarks in AC4:BF tonight.
@Pirateguybrush, I know what you mean. Try disabling PhysX in game, and disable 3D Vision within the control panel. The game is shockingly butter smooth with almost zero slowdown even when entering new areas once these items are disabled.
With the 970, bo3b's driver thread seems to show that the older drivers are even worse... which driver would you guys recommend?
It seems that the 970 series is having severe issues:
Low GPU usage:
[url]https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/781982/geforce-drivers/nvidia-geforce-gtx-900-series-feedback-gathering-low-gpu-load-and-other-issues-/1/[/url]
VRam limitations:
[url]http://www.overclock.net/t/1535502/gtx-970s-can-only-use-3-5gb-of-4gb-vram-issue[/url]
Voltage throttles:
[url]https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/802242/geforce-900-series/300mhz-underclock-to-stop-voltage-throttle-/[/url]
Geforce 347.12 Cuda 7.0 Dev drivers have been uploaded by someone. They are dated 3 days later than the 347.09s. You can find them here, but people report no significant change:
[url]http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=396199[/url]
It seems that the 970s are a disaster area even out of 3D Vision, but especially within.
@bo3b, you are spot on with the driver version prediction. Is SLi affected in all games? I remember a thread about it. I did test it at the time but found that my system seemed to be ok at the time.
I'll post some SLi benchmarks in AC4:BF tonight.
@Pirateguybrush, I know what you mean. Try disabling PhysX in game, and disable 3D Vision within the control panel. The game is shockingly butter smooth with almost zero slowdown even when entering new areas once these items are disabled.
With the 970, bo3b's driver thread seems to show that the older drivers are even worse... which driver would you guys recommend?
It seems that the 970 series is having severe issues:
Geforce 347.12 Cuda 7.0 Dev drivers have been uploaded by someone. They are dated 3 days later than the 347.09s. You can find them here, but people report no significant change: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=396199
It seems that the 970s are a disaster area even out of 3D Vision, but especially within.
Windows 10 64-bit, Intel 7700K @ 5.1GHz, 16GB 3600MHz CL15 DDR4 RAM, 2x GTX 1080 SLI, Asus Maximus IX Hero, Sound Blaster ZxR, PCIe Quad SSD, Oculus Rift CV1, DLP Link PGD-150 glasses, ViewSonic PJD6531w 3D DLP Projector @ 1280x800 120Hz native / 2560x1600 120Hz DSR 3D Gaming.
I have been having the same issue -low gpu usage and fps- since I upgraded to gtx970 (early november) which I highly regret doing. This is happening in every game I tried, here is a gpuz screenshot of Batman Origins:
[url]http://i.imgur.com/oaxZ64Z.gif[/url]
As you can see Gpu usage keeps fluctuating between 99% and 0%, obviuosly fps is astonishingly bad it looks like a slideshow.
My guess is that it is driver related: surprisingly current drivers (344.XX or newer) are giving me same poor performance even with my old gtx670, while 340.52 or older are absolutely fine, no fps drops and high gpu usage.
I even contacted Nvidia and provided many log files and screenshots, this is the last answer I got a month ago:
[quote]Hi xxx,
Thanks for waiting. My colleague escalated your case to me for a 2nd look. From you problem report, it appears that our engineering is aware of the issue and is in process of investigation. We'll keep you posted if we need additional information.
Best regards,
-David[/quote]
I have been having the same issue -low gpu usage and fps- since I upgraded to gtx970 (early november) which I highly regret doing. This is happening in every game I tried, here is a gpuz screenshot of Batman Origins:
As you can see Gpu usage keeps fluctuating between 99% and 0%, obviuosly fps is astonishingly bad it looks like a slideshow.
My guess is that it is driver related: surprisingly current drivers (344.XX or newer) are giving me same poor performance even with my old gtx670, while 340.52 or older are absolutely fine, no fps drops and high gpu usage.
I even contacted Nvidia and provided many log files and screenshots, this is the last answer I got a month ago:
Hi xxx,
Thanks for waiting. My colleague escalated your case to me for a 2nd look. From you problem report, it appears that our engineering is aware of the issue and is in process of investigation. We'll keep you posted if we need additional information.
Don't know what you guys are saying about the 970s being bad, I upgraded to a single 970 on the day they were released and it's astonishingly fast... single 970 is at least twice as fast as 2x 570s in SLI I had before that. No problems with 3D vision games.
Don't know what you guys are saying about the 970s being bad, I upgraded to a single 970 on the day they were released and it's astonishingly fast... single 970 is at least twice as fast as 2x 570s in SLI I had before that. No problems with 3D vision games.
Let's see if you have similar results to me. I suggest testing on a single card. The dips are still apparent in SLI, but they're less pronounced. Perform the below test with the following settings:
1080p
Environment: Very High
Texture: High
AA: SMAA
Shadow: Very High
Reflection: High
M.Blur, AO, VSYNC, PhysX: Off
God rays: low
Fog: on
In the very first island after the shipwreck in the intro, cross the bridge and find the small cave on the left with some bottles scattered around. Run around these bottles with the camera pointed out of the cave. In 2D, I see regular drops of about 1-2fps. In 3D, these drops are closer to 3fps. Add Migoto in, and things are affected slightly more.
The drops seem to be repeatable, and present all over the world (to varying degrees). Maybe it's loading another world tile when those borders are crossed, I don't know.
Let's see if you have similar results to me. I suggest testing on a single card. The dips are still apparent in SLI, but they're less pronounced. Perform the below test with the following settings:
1080p
Environment: Very High
Texture: High
AA: SMAA
Shadow: Very High
Reflection: High
M.Blur, AO, VSYNC, PhysX: Off
God rays: low
Fog: on
In the very first island after the shipwreck in the intro, cross the bridge and find the small cave on the left with some bottles scattered around. Run around these bottles with the camera pointed out of the cave. In 2D, I see regular drops of about 1-2fps. In 3D, these drops are closer to 3fps. Add Migoto in, and things are affected slightly more.
The drops seem to be repeatable, and present all over the world (to varying degrees). Maybe it's loading another world tile when those borders are crossed, I don't know.
Hi Pirateguybrush,
I currently get spikes down to 40fps, then back up to 60 so that's much worse than your fps.
I'm updating the vbios as well as trying out these new drivers... i'll post results when done...
@RAGEdemon: For the newness of the 970s, you have relatively limited choices. From my reading the forums, I think in general your best bet for SLI is Driver 344.48. Next best maybe 344.75. Be certain to use DDU when switching.
@Cheezeman: It looks to me like a single card is not too bad, it's SLI that is seriously broken in latest drivers.
@RAGEdemon: For the newness of the 970s, you have relatively limited choices. From my reading the forums, I think in general your best bet for SLI is Driver 344.48. Next best maybe 344.75. Be certain to use DDU when switching.
@Cheezeman: It looks to me like a single card is not too bad, it's SLI that is seriously broken in latest drivers.
Acer H5360 (1280x720@120Hz) - ASUS VG248QE with GSync mod - 3D Vision 1&2 - Driver 372.54
GTX 970 - i5-4670K@4.2GHz - 12GB RAM - Win7x64+evilKB2670838 - 4 Disk X25 RAID
SAGER NP9870-S - GTX 980 - i7-6700K - Win10 Pro 1607 Latest 3Dmigoto Release Bo3b's School for ShaderHackers
I'm using driver 344.65. I'm also using the AC2 profile, where I'm forcing the Black Flag SLI bits, 8x antisotropic filtering, triple buffering and vsync.
Also, are those results with or without Migoto? That looks a bit like my results using the old version of migoto.
I'm using driver 344.65. I'm also using the AC2 profile, where I'm forcing the Black Flag SLI bits, 8x antisotropic filtering, triple buffering and vsync.
Also, are those results with or without Migoto? That looks a bit like my results using the old version of migoto.
Hi guys,
As per suggestions, I have now tried 344.48, 347.09, 347.12. They all perform the same.
First, SLi seems to be working on these drivers without problems. Single card usage = 62%, SLi both cards being used = 42%. With GPUs near maxed, 3D toggled on = 20fps Single Card vs 30fps SLi. It's not great scaling, but at least it seems to be working.
Second, I tried your test Pirateguybrush. I don't have 1080p so used 2562x1600 DSR.
1. With 3D Disabled in control panel, I get 60fps constant with a 1-3fps dip at /those/ locations.
2. With 3D Enabled but toggled off, with and without 3DMigoto installed:
-a. AC2 profile, I get 40fps constant in the cave area, dipping down to 37fps at a certain location (I think you know which I mean).
-b. AC4:BF profile, I get 60 fps constant in the cave area, dipping down to 37fps at /that/ section as I run around, which is accompanied with the dual GPU usage dipping from 72% usage to 42% usage.
It seems that the AC4:BF profile is best for performance vs. AC2 with the SLi bits, even though reflections may not work as stated in the helixmod website instructions.
The FPS drop to 37 randomly but at specific locations, is still the problem. This happens ONLY when 3D is enabled and not even activated. This also occurs in single card mode.
As soon as 3D vision is disabled in the CP, everything is silky smooth 60fps again, aside from a dip of ~2-3 fps in /those/ areas (as you describe Pirateguybrush), accompanied by a slight decrease in GPU usage.
Pirateguybrush, would you kindly try the nvidia BF profile instead of the AC2, to see if you get better performance?
When 3D is enabled and toggled on, the GPU usage stays the same (40-60%), but the FPS drops to about 50-65%. This is strange because the GPU cores should increase at least a little. I have in fact seen them decrease.
This leads me to conjecture that enabling 3D somehow puts extra load onto the main game thread thereby CPU bottlenecking the entire game. It might explain low gpu usage as well as GPU fps downward spikes...
I'll continue scratching my head and wait for more input :)
As per suggestions, I have now tried 344.48, 347.09, 347.12. They all perform the same.
First, SLi seems to be working on these drivers without problems. Single card usage = 62%, SLi both cards being used = 42%. With GPUs near maxed, 3D toggled on = 20fps Single Card vs 30fps SLi. It's not great scaling, but at least it seems to be working.
Second, I tried your test Pirateguybrush. I don't have 1080p so used 2562x1600 DSR.
1. With 3D Disabled in control panel, I get 60fps constant with a 1-3fps dip at /those/ locations.
2. With 3D Enabled but toggled off, with and without 3DMigoto installed:
-a. AC2 profile, I get 40fps constant in the cave area, dipping down to 37fps at a certain location (I think you know which I mean).
-b. AC4:BF profile, I get 60 fps constant in the cave area, dipping down to 37fps at /that/ section as I run around, which is accompanied with the dual GPU usage dipping from 72% usage to 42% usage.
It seems that the AC4:BF profile is best for performance vs. AC2 with the SLi bits, even though reflections may not work as stated in the helixmod website instructions.
The FPS drop to 37 randomly but at specific locations, is still the problem. This happens ONLY when 3D is enabled and not even activated. This also occurs in single card mode.
As soon as 3D vision is disabled in the CP, everything is silky smooth 60fps again, aside from a dip of ~2-3 fps in /those/ areas (as you describe Pirateguybrush), accompanied by a slight decrease in GPU usage.
Pirateguybrush, would you kindly try the nvidia BF profile instead of the AC2, to see if you get better performance?
When 3D is enabled and toggled on, the GPU usage stays the same (40-60%), but the FPS drops to about 50-65%. This is strange because the GPU cores should increase at least a little. I have in fact seen them decrease.
This leads me to conjecture that enabling 3D somehow puts extra load onto the main game thread thereby CPU bottlenecking the entire game. It might explain low gpu usage as well as GPU fps downward spikes...
I'll continue scratching my head and wait for more input :)
Windows 10 64-bit, Intel 7700K @ 5.1GHz, 16GB 3600MHz CL15 DDR4 RAM, 2x GTX 1080 SLI, Asus Maximus IX Hero, Sound Blaster ZxR, PCIe Quad SSD, Oculus Rift CV1, DLP Link PGD-150 glasses, ViewSonic PJD6531w 3D DLP Projector @ 1280x800 120Hz native / 2560x1600 120Hz DSR 3D Gaming.
There's this thread
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/784294/geforce-900-series/boost-feature-causes-gtx-970-980-instability-in-low-utilisation-situations/
but looking at your graph, I don't think it applies
I won't be able to test it until the weekend, but can you confirm whether or not you're using migoto, and if you are, that it's the latest version? I suggest removing it using the uninstall file, and installing the latest version. What you're seeing is almost identical to what I was seeing with the old version of migoto. See my comments at the bottom of the helix page for that fix for a pretty detailed analysis.
I won't be able to test it until the weekend, but can you confirm whether or not you're using migoto, and if you are, that it's the latest version? I suggest removing it using the uninstall file, and installing the latest version. What you're seeing is almost identical to what I was seeing with the old version of migoto. See my comments at the bottom of the helix page for that fix for a pretty detailed analysis.
[quote="Pirateguybrush"]I won't be able to test it until the weekend, but can you confirm whether or not you're using migoto, and if you are, that it's the latest version? I suggest removing it using the uninstall file, and installing the latest version. What you're seeing is almost identical to what I was seeing with the old version of migoto. See my comments at the bottom of the helix page for that fix for a pretty detailed analysis.[/quote]
I get identical results with the latest 3dmigoto and without unfortunately.
@D-Man11, my voltage seems to be stable at ~1.23v-1.25v
Thanks for your replies...
Pirateguybrush said:I won't be able to test it until the weekend, but can you confirm whether or not you're using migoto, and if you are, that it's the latest version? I suggest removing it using the uninstall file, and installing the latest version. What you're seeing is almost identical to what I was seeing with the old version of migoto. See my comments at the bottom of the helix page for that fix for a pretty detailed analysis.
I get identical results with the latest 3dmigoto and without unfortunately.
@D-Man11, my voltage seems to be stable at ~1.23v-1.25v
Thanks for your replies...
Windows 10 64-bit, Intel 7700K @ 5.1GHz, 16GB 3600MHz CL15 DDR4 RAM, 2x GTX 1080 SLI, Asus Maximus IX Hero, Sound Blaster ZxR, PCIe Quad SSD, Oculus Rift CV1, DLP Link PGD-150 glasses, ViewSonic PJD6531w 3D DLP Projector @ 1280x800 120Hz native / 2560x1600 120Hz DSR 3D Gaming.
As you know, I am no stranger to the forum.
I have come across a severe problem with 3D Vison performance in games such as Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag and CoD: Advanced Warfare. I can't seem to pin down the cause. The following graph shows FPS:
The first section is 3D Vision Disabled in control panel. As you can see, the frame rate is spot on. Both GPUs at ~40%
The second section is 3D Vision Enabled but NOT toggled on. There are FPS drops galore, pretty unplayable. GPU usage is still around 40%
The second half of this section shows 3D Vision toggled ON. Very bad frame rate and pretty unplayable. GPU usage is still around 40%.
2 CPU cores hover around 100% and 60%. The rest don't do much.
Can anyone help me figure out what is causing these random low fps spikes?
GPU usage is very low too, as if the CPU was being bottlenecked by 3D Vision? Perhaps 3DMigoto is very CPU intensive?
If it is, is it possible to make it multi-threaded?
Windows 10 64-bit, Intel 7700K @ 5.1GHz, 16GB 3600MHz CL15 DDR4 RAM, 2x GTX 1080 SLI, Asus Maximus IX Hero, Sound Blaster ZxR, PCIe Quad SSD, Oculus Rift CV1, DLP Link PGD-150 glasses, ViewSonic PJD6531w 3D DLP Projector @ 1280x800 120Hz native / 2560x1600 120Hz DSR 3D Gaming.
Assuming you are running the latest version off HelixModBlog. I fixed a bug there that PirateGuyBrush had narrowed down, and also extensively measured system performance using the Visual Studio Profiler. That tool tells me that 3Dmigoto uses 0.7% of the CPU when running AC4. Down from 3.9% before that fix. If shader hunting is enabled, it's up to 18% of CPU. That is all with SLI.
My best guess here is that you are running the 347.09 driver? That particular driver is uniquely terrible for 3D. In particular, they've also broken SLI in recent drivers, such that the card is active when monitored, but it doesn't actually improve the frame rate.
Acer H5360 (1280x720@120Hz) - ASUS VG248QE with GSync mod - 3D Vision 1&2 - Driver 372.54
GTX 970 - i5-4670K@4.2GHz - 12GB RAM - Win7x64+evilKB2670838 - 4 Disk X25 RAID
SAGER NP9870-S - GTX 980 - i7-6700K - Win10 Pro 1607
Latest 3Dmigoto Release
Bo3b's School for ShaderHackers
As far as Black Flag goes, this is a combination of factors but seems to largely rest on the CPU.
Both Black Flag and AC3 are poorly optimised, and require a lot in terms of both GPU and CPU. I've tested Black Flag pretty extensively, and found that transitioning between certain points consistently produces a brief downwards spike in framerate. This happens in 2D, 3D, and with 3DMigoto. Previously, 3DMigoto used to make the drop significantly worse, but bo3b was able to determine the cause of this and further optimise to largely eliminate the additional overhead. However the underlying problem is still there, and will vary in intensity depending on your system.
I personally found moving the game to an SSD (or even a ramdrive) made no difference in performance. Upgrading my CPU had a noticeable impact though, but it's still present to a degree - even at 720p on SLI 970s. I'd estimate the drops are to around 45fps most of the time, rather than the 25ish before bo3b made the optimisations. It's quite strange, even during the drops I wasn't seeing any significant spikes in CPU or GPU activity, before or after the upgrade/migoto changes. I wasn't even maxing out any of the cores.
So in short, with Black Flag at least, I'm pretty sure it's just a poorly optimised game.
I'm not saying better, but try some older ones. I had a major isssue with 3D performance on one of the newest. I don't know if anything changed or all of the recent drivers still remain worthless.
Look here:
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/777954/3d-vision/suggested-driver-to-use-/
@bo3b, you are spot on with the driver version prediction. Is SLi affected in all games? I remember a thread about it. I did test it at the time but found that my system seemed to be ok at the time.
I'll post some SLi benchmarks in AC4:BF tonight.
@Pirateguybrush, I know what you mean. Try disabling PhysX in game, and disable 3D Vision within the control panel. The game is shockingly butter smooth with almost zero slowdown even when entering new areas once these items are disabled.
With the 970, bo3b's driver thread seems to show that the older drivers are even worse... which driver would you guys recommend?
It seems that the 970 series is having severe issues:
Low GPU usage:
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/781982/geforce-drivers/nvidia-geforce-gtx-900-series-feedback-gathering-low-gpu-load-and-other-issues-/1/
VRam limitations:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1535502/gtx-970s-can-only-use-3-5gb-of-4gb-vram-issue
Voltage throttles:
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/802242/geforce-900-series/300mhz-underclock-to-stop-voltage-throttle-/
Geforce 347.12 Cuda 7.0 Dev drivers have been uploaded by someone. They are dated 3 days later than the 347.09s. You can find them here, but people report no significant change:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=396199
It seems that the 970s are a disaster area even out of 3D Vision, but especially within.
Windows 10 64-bit, Intel 7700K @ 5.1GHz, 16GB 3600MHz CL15 DDR4 RAM, 2x GTX 1080 SLI, Asus Maximus IX Hero, Sound Blaster ZxR, PCIe Quad SSD, Oculus Rift CV1, DLP Link PGD-150 glasses, ViewSonic PJD6531w 3D DLP Projector @ 1280x800 120Hz native / 2560x1600 120Hz DSR 3D Gaming.
http://i.imgur.com/oaxZ64Z.gif
As you can see Gpu usage keeps fluctuating between 99% and 0%, obviuosly fps is astonishingly bad it looks like a slideshow.
My guess is that it is driver related: surprisingly current drivers (344.XX or newer) are giving me same poor performance even with my old gtx670, while 340.52 or older are absolutely fine, no fps drops and high gpu usage.
I even contacted Nvidia and provided many log files and screenshots, this is the last answer I got a month ago:
i7-6700k @ 4.5GHz, 2x 970 GTX SLI, 16GB DDR4 @ 3000mhz, MSI Gaming M7, Samsung 950 Pro m.2 SSD 512GB, 2x 1TB RAID 1, 850w EVGA, Corsair RGB 90 keyboard
1080p
Environment: Very High
Texture: High
AA: SMAA
Shadow: Very High
Reflection: High
M.Blur, AO, VSYNC, PhysX: Off
God rays: low
Fog: on
In the very first island after the shipwreck in the intro, cross the bridge and find the small cave on the left with some bottles scattered around. Run around these bottles with the camera pointed out of the cave. In 2D, I see regular drops of about 1-2fps. In 3D, these drops are closer to 3fps. Add Migoto in, and things are affected slightly more.
The drops seem to be repeatable, and present all over the world (to varying degrees). Maybe it's loading another world tile when those borders are crossed, I don't know.
I currently get spikes down to 40fps, then back up to 60 so that's much worse than your fps.
I'm updating the vbios as well as trying out these new drivers... i'll post results when done...
Windows 10 64-bit, Intel 7700K @ 5.1GHz, 16GB 3600MHz CL15 DDR4 RAM, 2x GTX 1080 SLI, Asus Maximus IX Hero, Sound Blaster ZxR, PCIe Quad SSD, Oculus Rift CV1, DLP Link PGD-150 glasses, ViewSonic PJD6531w 3D DLP Projector @ 1280x800 120Hz native / 2560x1600 120Hz DSR 3D Gaming.
@Cheezeman: It looks to me like a single card is not too bad, it's SLI that is seriously broken in latest drivers.
Acer H5360 (1280x720@120Hz) - ASUS VG248QE with GSync mod - 3D Vision 1&2 - Driver 372.54
GTX 970 - i5-4670K@4.2GHz - 12GB RAM - Win7x64+evilKB2670838 - 4 Disk X25 RAID
SAGER NP9870-S - GTX 980 - i7-6700K - Win10 Pro 1607
Latest 3Dmigoto Release
Bo3b's School for ShaderHackers
Also, are those results with or without Migoto? That looks a bit like my results using the old version of migoto.
As per suggestions, I have now tried 344.48, 347.09, 347.12. They all perform the same.
First, SLi seems to be working on these drivers without problems. Single card usage = 62%, SLi both cards being used = 42%. With GPUs near maxed, 3D toggled on = 20fps Single Card vs 30fps SLi. It's not great scaling, but at least it seems to be working.
Second, I tried your test Pirateguybrush. I don't have 1080p so used 2562x1600 DSR.
1. With 3D Disabled in control panel, I get 60fps constant with a 1-3fps dip at /those/ locations.
2. With 3D Enabled but toggled off, with and without 3DMigoto installed:
-a. AC2 profile, I get 40fps constant in the cave area, dipping down to 37fps at a certain location (I think you know which I mean).
-b. AC4:BF profile, I get 60 fps constant in the cave area, dipping down to 37fps at /that/ section as I run around, which is accompanied with the dual GPU usage dipping from 72% usage to 42% usage.
It seems that the AC4:BF profile is best for performance vs. AC2 with the SLi bits, even though reflections may not work as stated in the helixmod website instructions.
The FPS drop to 37 randomly but at specific locations, is still the problem. This happens ONLY when 3D is enabled and not even activated. This also occurs in single card mode.
As soon as 3D vision is disabled in the CP, everything is silky smooth 60fps again, aside from a dip of ~2-3 fps in /those/ areas (as you describe Pirateguybrush), accompanied by a slight decrease in GPU usage.
Pirateguybrush, would you kindly try the nvidia BF profile instead of the AC2, to see if you get better performance?
When 3D is enabled and toggled on, the GPU usage stays the same (40-60%), but the FPS drops to about 50-65%. This is strange because the GPU cores should increase at least a little. I have in fact seen them decrease.
This leads me to conjecture that enabling 3D somehow puts extra load onto the main game thread thereby CPU bottlenecking the entire game. It might explain low gpu usage as well as GPU fps downward spikes...
I'll continue scratching my head and wait for more input :)
Windows 10 64-bit, Intel 7700K @ 5.1GHz, 16GB 3600MHz CL15 DDR4 RAM, 2x GTX 1080 SLI, Asus Maximus IX Hero, Sound Blaster ZxR, PCIe Quad SSD, Oculus Rift CV1, DLP Link PGD-150 glasses, ViewSonic PJD6531w 3D DLP Projector @ 1280x800 120Hz native / 2560x1600 120Hz DSR 3D Gaming.
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/784294/geforce-900-series/boost-feature-causes-gtx-970-980-instability-in-low-utilisation-situations/
but looking at your graph, I don't think it applies
I get identical results with the latest 3dmigoto and without unfortunately.
@D-Man11, my voltage seems to be stable at ~1.23v-1.25v
Thanks for your replies...
Windows 10 64-bit, Intel 7700K @ 5.1GHz, 16GB 3600MHz CL15 DDR4 RAM, 2x GTX 1080 SLI, Asus Maximus IX Hero, Sound Blaster ZxR, PCIe Quad SSD, Oculus Rift CV1, DLP Link PGD-150 glasses, ViewSonic PJD6531w 3D DLP Projector @ 1280x800 120Hz native / 2560x1600 120Hz DSR 3D Gaming.