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70% GPU usage in The Witcher 3 (sli)

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I have 2x msi gtx 980ti gaming cards in sli.

When running the game (vsync off) SINGLE card I get close to 98-99% GPU usage.
Then when I enable SLI and use both GPUs I get around 70-75% GPU usage (V-sync still off)

Is that normal? Does it mean the drivers or the game is not optimized properly or is there something I can do to get some extra performance out of my 2 babies?
 
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It's balancing the load between the cards one would assume.
 
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I have 2x msi gtx 980ti gaming cards in sli.

When running the game (vsync off) SINGLE card I get close to 98-99% GPU usage.
Then when I enable SLI and use both GPUs I get around 70-75% GPU usage (V-sync still off)

Is that normal? Does it mean the drivers or the game is not optimized properly or is there something I can do to get some extra performance out of my 2 babies?
time to get 6700k :twitch:
 
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Is that normal?

It means your GPU horsepower is no longer the bottleneck. When you remove one bottleneck, the second weakest part in the computer becomes the main bottleneck. If you're getting 60FPS +, then there is absolutely no point in upgrading anything to relieve it. If you're seeing 75% usage on both cards, and still only getting 45 FPS, then there is something else wrong (sli profiles might be crap).
 
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I'm gettin what you guys mean but I'm not sure I explained my situation right:

I have 2x GTX 980 ti in SLI paired with an i5 4690k overclocked to 4.6ghz (so let's just say I'd have a hard time considering my CPU as a bottleneck cause)
My 2 graphics card are slightly overclocked, nothing fancy, very good temps.

What I noticed is in "the witcher 3" (also in dragon age inquisition). When I run SLI both cards get a max usage of 70% just about... Single card goes up to 100% (especially if I turn off v-sync). Now one must know there are many things that can influence GPU usage like any type of FPS cap, v-sync refresh rate changes can affect GPU usage.

For instance: When one removes v-sync, the cards will get more usage because they'Re free to pump the maximum amount of frames they can produce (even if it's 500 frames per second per say...) My monitor has a refresh rate of 99hz (don't ask why... long story). So I leave V-sync on to make sure I don't get more than 99 frames per second. My drivers are up to date, but then again, SLI scales differently from a title to another depending on the optimization and whatnot.

So first off, I'd like to ask if you guys know ANYBODY who has 2x gtx 980 ti on this forum, because I'd like to compare my situation to someone with a similar setup
 

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Benchmark Scores I dont have time for that.
I can do to get some extra performance out of my 2 babies?

Does it sting you a bit spending all that money or something? Iv had numerous SLI setups (pretty much every nvidia card iv ever owned that could do SLI had a sister) even quad SLI crossfire only about twice. this kind if behavior is not uncommon. Infact the only time to date I ever managed to max 2 GPUs in SLI was running games far above what the cards themselves would normally be capable of (dual 8600GTs and crysis 1 on ultra im looking at you) or synthetic benchmarks.
 
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Does it sting you a bit spending all that money or something? Iv had numerous SLI setups (pretty much every nvidia card iv ever owned that could do SLI had a sister) even quad SLI crossfire only about twice. this kind if behavior is not uncommon. Infact the only time to date I ever managed to max 2 GPUs in SLI was running games far above what the cards themselves would normally be capable of (dual 8600GTs and crysis 1 on ultra im looking at you) or synthetic benchmarks.

No not at all, I was more curious as to what others are getting in terms of GPU usage.
I've looked at the benchmarks and the scaling ratios before purchasing the 2x cards. But when you own cards like these, you do want to squeeze out the max amount of performance u can out of them.

Which is why I came here to check if other people have the same type of performance (in terms of gpu usage)
and also to see whether you guys thought my gpu usage is normal. which you just confirmed is.

so ya, all is good
 
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Does Witcher 3 have any kind of FPS cap?

*Nah, there's not. I'm getting 99% on both 970's.
 
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Try making fun with RAM and CPU speeds. Make it slower, if it affects the load.
 
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4 cores no HT, the game could potentially want more cores

more likely certain parts of the game just have to be done in serial, the way to casually test this is to lower ONLY the cpu speed, the framerate & gpu usage should go down

the only real way to truly not be cpu limited is like 5ghz+ physical 8 core intel (socket2011 yadayada), which is not realistic of course

are you past 99fps at all times even in demanding city areas? if so... um just vsync & keep playing

EDIT: you know it's fully possible to be gpu limited without using 100% of the gpu, right? we dont even know how accurate the usage measurement is, since different games at 100% result in completely different temps/amps/watts (not that a 980ti is a small gpu that would run into such loads)
 
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Try making fun with RAM and CPU speeds. Make it slower, if it affects the load.

when u say "make it slower it affects the load"
u mean that slowing my ram or CPU can actually increase the GPU usage instead of lowering it?
Meaning it would help my cards get used more? because I just played some crysis 3 for instance. Look up at the sky 145fps 97% GPU usage... Look at a dense scene with nature and all it drops to 57 fps and 55% GPU usage

so I'M thinking something's bottlenecking for sure but what? My CPU should be more than ok, plenty of ram etc.
maybe just the game is badly optimized dunno
 
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when u say "make it slower it affects the load"
u mean that slowing my ram or CPU can actually increase the GPU usage instead of lowering it?

No no... It should go lower, but how much. If it stays the same... Then it is not the CPU. If goes drastically lower, the the bottleneck is there.
 
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Is it only The Witcher 3 that you are seeing this issue on; What about other games? What about Heaven or Firestrike benchmarks?

If it's just TheWitcher 3, it is obviously a driver/SLI profile issue and not worry about it.

:toast:
 

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Does Witcher 3 have any kind of FPS cap?
In graphics settings, there is a framerate cap you can set.
upload_2015-10-10_5-22-51.png
 
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Is it only The Witcher 3 that you are seeing this issue on; What about other games? What about Heaven or Firestrike benchmarks?

If it's just TheWitcher 3, it is obviously a driver/SLI profile issue and not worry about it.

:toast:

I'm having the exact same type of behavior with crysis 3 as well. GPU usage jumps from 70% to 98% depending if I look at the sky or elsewhere...
But I'll try Ferrum Master's suggestions and lower my OC on my cpu to see if it affects GPU usage even more, to determine if my CPU is the bottleneck.

I find it hard to believe that it could tho... The i5 4690k clocked at 4.6ghz should be plenty of CPU power for 2x gtx 980 ti's No ???
What do you think?
 
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Yeah there's a bottleneck, it's either a game optimization/SLI optimization or simply the CPU bottlenecking you. You have to realize that 2 980ti's in SLI is pretty hardcore and even a 4 core at 4.6Ghz may be a bottleneck in some games that are properly optimized to use many cores.

You have a hardcore GPU setup but a mediumcore CPU setup :p ;)

Drop your CPU to default clocks and see how the game runs and check the GPU usage. If the performance suffers then there's a good chance that you have a CPU bottleneck.
 
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Yeah there's a bottleneck, it's either a game optimization/SLI optimization or simply the CPU bottlenecking you. You have to realize that 2 980ti's in SLI is pretty hardcore and even a 4 core at 4.6Ghz may be a bottleneck in some games that are properly optimized to use many cores.

You have a hardcore GPU setup but a mediumcore CPU setup :p ;)

Drop your CPU to default clocks and see how the game runs and check the GPU usage. If the performance suffers then there's a good chance that you have a CPU bottleneck.

alright I'll give it a shot
Another thing I haven't done yet is upgrade to windows 10. I'm running windows 7 (because I got everything setup, tweaked, I'm running fences on my desktop which is just awesome. And the thought of having to go through the process of setting everything up again for a windows 10 upgrade which atm doesnt mean MUCHO Graphics performance increase... well it might be a mandatory upgrade in the future with dx 12 titles I guess but as of now...)

so yea. I'll try stock settings with my CPU then I'll try windows 10 and if I still see poor gpu usage, I'll try different drivers and then finally settle on upgrading my CPU and mobo

Oh and while we're at it, what would be a good mobo/CPU upgrade suggestion?
i7 or i5? which gen?
 
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alright I'll give it a shot
Another thing I haven't done yet is upgrade to windows 10. I'm running windows 7 (because I got everything setup, tweaked, I'm running fences on my desktop which is just awesome. And the thought of having to go through the process of setting everything up again for a windows 10 upgrade which atm doesnt mean MUCHO Graphics performance increase... well it might be a mandatory upgrade in the future with dx 12 titles I guess but as of now...)

so yea. I'll try stock settings with my CPU then I'll try windows 10 and if I still see poor gpu usage, I'll try different drivers and then finally settle on upgrading my CPU and mobo

Oh and while we're at it, what would be a good mobo/CPU upgrade suggestion?
i7 or i5? which gen?

I would go 6 core 2011-v3, the 5820k. For mobo, something along the lines of a Gigabyte GA-X99-SLI or equivalent. You'll also need to go DDR4. So this is not a small upgrade so before you go upgrade make sure you know that it's a CPU bottleneck that you have. :p
 
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I just finished testing. I reset my bios to stock settings. So my CPU went from 4.6ghz to its 3.5ghz default (it boosts to 3.9ghz) when it needs to.
After doing this in Crysis 3 my GPU usage drops to 40%-50% instead of the previous 70%. Frames dropped too. Maybe 13% less frame rate.

So yeah, it does look like the CPU might be the bottleneck somehow. And yet, I'm so surprised it is. I mean, I do understand my CPU is nothing compared to the budget I put on the GPUs... but I was certain an i5 4690k would do the job.

When you say I'm gonna need ddr4 why is that? You mean to say those new mobos require ddr4?
Lastly: What kind of budget am I looking at if I upgrade? (doesn't have to be ultra precise, just trying to get an approximative idea)

EDIT: Forgot to mention my GPU usage when only using a single graphics card (that's with my CPU OC'ed at 4.6ghz) I get a solid 90% plus GPU usage... I only drop to 70% once I use SLI.
 
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Let me ask you Jon, are you happy with your gaming performance, or are you simply trying to squeeze every last drop of power out of your system because you can? Maybe you have money to burn and can afford the upgrade, but I guarantee if someone with your setup does a Firestrike run and sees that their system lies in the top percentile they would be happy.

Anyway, my advice is:
a) be content with what you have and upgrade when your system starts to struggle
b) if it won't break the budget upgrade to an X99 mobo and CPU that can handle more PCI bandwidth (but DDR4 is NOT necessary)
c) go balls out and get the latest and greatest hardware (in terms of specs) and you will be set for the future (until Intel pulls a fast one and yet again makes a CPU socket/chipset that is totally incompatible with anything older than 2 years)

:toast:

Edit: Seriously, 99% of us would give their left nut for one GTX980 ti!!!
 

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I would go 6 core 2011-v3, the 5820k.
More cores doesn't translate into a better experience. What the op needs is faster cores, not more of them which might be a hard thing to get and 2011 isn't really offering. A 6700k might fit the bill but, you're still going to probably hit that CPU bottleneck with some games.

@jonathan1107 : Honestly, if you're running at 60FPS or higher in everything you're playing, why does it matter if you're pegging everything out? There will always be a bottleneck and there is no guarantee that the GPUs will always be it. Two 980 Tis is a lot of render power and is probably ready to take on 4k smoothly.

Edit: I just noticed you have only 8GB of RAM. Swapping can harm performance so, if you're getting some stuttering, upgrading to 16GB and disabling the page file will probably get you a smoother experience. It does for me.

I would like to re-iterate the point that @RCoon made earlier:
It means your GPU horsepower is no longer the bottleneck. When you remove one bottleneck, the second weakest part in the computer becomes the main bottleneck. If you're getting 60FPS +, then there is absolutely no point in upgrading anything to relieve it. If you're seeing 75% usage on both cards, and still only getting 45 FPS, then there is something else wrong (sli profiles might be crap).
 

cadaveca

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v-sync. He said he plays with v-sync enabled, and doesn't get full GPU usage...

But starts saying he's got V-sync off...


So...

Kind of a non-issue IMHO.

GPU utilization isn't something I ever look at. If framerates are low, driver or stability problem. Anyone suggesting CPU is the bottleneck... are you serious?

Witcher3 is a system killer. Wrong app to judge performance by. Run 3DMark. Get roughly 17500 or higher in Firestrike? Everything is fine.
 
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Let me ask you Jon, are you happy with your gaming performance, or are you simply trying to squeeze every last drop of power out of your system because you can? Maybe you have money to burn and can afford the upgrade, but I guarantee if someone with your setup does a Firestrike run and sees that their system lies in the top percentile they would be happy.

Anyway, my advice is:
a) be content with what you have and upgrade when your system starts to struggle
b) if it won't break the budget upgrade to an X99 mobo and CPU that can handle more PCI bandwidth (but DDR4 is NOT necessary)
c) go balls out and get the latest and greatest hardware (in terms of specs) and you will be set for the future (until Intel pulls a fast one and yet again makes a CPU socket/chipset that is totally incompatible with anything older than 2 years)

:toast:

I do understand your point. Indeed I do have a crazy setup but I yes, I expect nothing less than perfection. After spending almost 2k$ on these 2 graphics cards in the hopes that I would be able to maintain a solid 100+ FPS at 1440p in most games and a solid 60 FPS at the same res for UBER demanding games like witcher 3... it is dissapointing to see the bottleneck... Let me explain it to you guys like this:

Whenever I game with my 2x gtx 980 ti (in graphically intense games like witcher 3, crysis 3 etc...) It really frustrates me when I see that 60% of the time my frames go well beyond the 100 FPS mark (which is awesome) but I have those SUPER annoying and regular dips into the 50-65 FPS ranges... As you can imagine, that makes for a very unstable and clunky experience... Whenever I disable SLI I often see my MINIMUM frames remain the same (still see 45-65 fps min FPS) but this time my MAX FPS doesn't go further than 75-80 FPS. Again, when I see this happen, I tell myself: My 2x GTX 980 ti are capable of outputting 100+ Frames per second, but something is preventing them and I don't like that.

I feel like I put in the extra $$$ (and let me tell you that $$$ came from hard work) so ya, it kind of hurts my feelings when I see my GPU usage hover around 60-70% when I know I could cleary get 90% plus. But yes, my expectations and ambitions regarding gaming performance are way above the avg.

The avg Joe would be more than happy to play at 1080p with 50-60 frames per second... but that Joe doesn't spend 2000$ on graphics cards I would think lol
 
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v-sync. He said he plays with v-sync enabled, and doesn't get full GPU usage...

But starts saying he's got V-sync off...


So...

Kind of a non-issue IMHO.

GPU utilization isn't something I ever look at. If framerates are low, driver or stability problem. Anyone suggesting CPU is the bottleneck... are you serious?

Witcher3 is a system killer. Wrong app to judge performance by.

The latest numbers I gave you are with v-sync OFF. I'm not the super expert but I do know what V-sync does to GPU usage. So yeah: In other words, if I were to explain my way of thinking about "acceptable frame rates". I'm the type of guy who feels that the difference between 30 and 60 fps is night and day, and I feel the same about 60 vs 90+. I knew 2x 980 ti could handle 4k (with frames around 30-60 depending on the game) but I went for 1440p perfection instead. And for me that is either a solid 60 fps at 1440p in demanding games or more. I guess, what'S getting at me is the fact that I see my GPUs reaching the 100-120 fps point (and almost staying there at times depending where in the game I am) and then then my bottleneck issue hits and I instantly drop to 75-80 fps with lesser gpu usage.

For instance: these guys have the same graphics card I own and their gpu usage for the same game is constantly above 90%:

But yea, they do have better CPUs than mine
 

cadaveca

My name is Dave
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The avg Joe would be more than happy to play at 1080p with 50-60 frames per second... but that Joe doesn't spend 2000$ on graphics cards I would think lol
The average joe plays the same game on a console, not a PC. Also, most users with dual 980 Ti aren't running 1600 MHz memory, and don't use a PSU that was discontinued like three years ago.

Personally, I'd be looking at replacing the PSU, if each card tests fine on its own. There are quite a few things about your system config that makes me cringe, to be honest.
 
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