Question about Nvidia driver/GPU usage and BF3

HonoredShadow · *Last edited by HonoredShadow; 06-22-2012 at 15:58.*

I was just in a 64 player room on Firestorm. I have CPUID hardware monitor running, task manager and MSI Afterburner. I have BF3 on ultra preset.

Im running 301.42 driver and SLI is on and Physx is on Auto.

Now, if I look at something in the center of the map my frame rate could go down to say 60fps and my CPU Usage may go up to 70-75%. Afterburner tells me that in that scene 59% of one GPU is being used and 58% of the other!

Now, if I look away to say the something less graphical, like the flag out in the desert part of the map (you know, the one with the big guns and a flag), my CPU goes down to say 55% and Afterburner tells me 120 fps and 87% of one card and 86% of the other.

How come? Is this normal? Is the driver the issue or SLI not being efficient?

Is my CPU bottlenecking @ 3.8? I'm really confused!

I also notice a little flickering on some of the buildings. Not sure if it's slowing the game down, driver issue or just shadows acting up.

My GPU temps are about 70deg. My CPU is about 60deg all while playing in a 64 player room.

HELP!

Darren Hodgson · 06-22-2012, 16:58 | posts: 9,676 | Location: England

That sounds normal to me as the scene is less complex when looking at the flag so the CPU isn't having to push out as much data to the graphics card and because the scene is simpler the graphics card can pump out more frames per second which means higher usage across both GPUs.

You're never going to see 99% GPU usage on both cards all the time, it will vary depending on the complexity of the scene and what effects, etc., are happening at the time. Some stuff requires more CPU processing and some stuff requires more GPU processing. Unless you're getting low GPU usage on both cards all the time then your CPU overclock is not bottlenecking your graphics card.

This is with v-sync off, obviously, as enabling it would then limit the framerate and reduce GPU usage.

HonoredShadow · 06-22-2012, 17:33 | posts: 2,363 | Location: Shropshire, UK

Yes my VSync is off on my 120hz monitor. Thanks for that. So I have nothing to worry about then?!

Another reason why I ask is because my 5850's CFX gave me 98-99% on each at all times. You think with new drivers it can be improved?

DesGaizu · 06-22-2012, 17:43 | posts: 1,885 | Location: UK

Try the 304.48 drivers, I've seen a few dips myself with the 300 drivers that seem to have been fixed in the 304 branch.

also why not bump your 2500 up a bit more, my 680 pushes my 4.4 quite a lot in 64 player maps I see mostly a content 99% usage on my gpu and nearly 80% on all cores.

Agent-A01 · 06-22-2012, 18:39 | posts: 5,621 | Location: USA

With cpu at stock my gpu usage is very low, probably at 50-60 usage for both cards. At 4.8 its 99% usage for both cards

HonoredShadow · 06-22-2012, 18:46 | posts: 2,363 | Location: Shropshire, UK

Oh dear. So my CPU might be a bottleneck even though normal usage in a 64 player room is between 65-75%?

Agent-A01 · 06-22-2012, 19:09 | posts: 5,621 | Location: USA

Maybe so, but it was the case for me in 64 player servers

wonton1017 · 06-22-2012, 19:14 | posts: 21 | Location: BC

Either CPU bottleneck or too less RAM (needs atleast 6GB of RAM for BF3 MP)

My cards are always running at 97-99% constantly.

HonoredShadow · 06-22-2012, 19:55 | posts: 2,363 | Location: Shropshire, UK

I have 8 gig. 15% taken by windows before I start it.

mitzi76 · 06-22-2012, 20:31 | posts: 7,041 | Location: UK

6 gb ram for bf3 isnt that bs?

sapo_joe · 06-22-2012, 21:38 | posts: 172 | Location: Brazil

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitzi76

6 gb ram for bf3 isnt that bs?

Yes, it is. 32bit games use up to 2.1gb of ram approximately, so, having about 3gb is sufficient for most games today. More ram will help only if you've got a lot of programs running in the background. Also, if the game has a x64 executable, it can address more ram, so only then it would benefit from that. Unfortunately only a few games come with proper x64 executables these days.

snowdweller · 06-23-2012, 07:05 | posts: 492 | Location: Sydney

As I've stated before BF3 is very tempremental to flickering especially heaps on the ground and some on buildings and walls.

I was on 301.40 and playing around with AA and AF in the NVCP which fixed it. I've recently updated to 304.XX and flickering is back with some luck setting it to Enhance program and setting all to 4x.

Also usage is done by whats on screen. I could understand if you were looking at the same frame constantly that your usage would stay the same but games are very dynamic and will be up and down all over the place depending whats on. Those 670s will need ALOT of work to be pegged at 90%+ constantly. My 580s I've gone from 1080p to the Dell 30" and my usage on average went up 20% and temps up aswell lol. Personally my BF3 sits between 60-99% but i've never seen the cards at exact same usage.

Prophet · 06-23-2012, 07:22 | posts: 372 | Location: Heaven

Welcome to Dice games.

Burnt_Ram · 06-28-2012, 13:36 | posts: 5,867 | Location: British Columbia

i accidently unplugged my controller (logitech attack 3) i was playing BF3 and my frame rate drops wheren't nearly as bad. i plugged my controller back in and i had major fps loss again. unplugged it and my fps where good again. on oman i saw only a couple minor slow downs with controller unplugged.

worth a shot, might help someone else. it's still not as good as pre june patch, but unplugging my controller fixed it a LOT! weird. never had any frame rate loss with controller plugged in pre patch.