Battlefield 1 low framerate on a GTX980, i7 5820K and 16ram, even at low settings.

[Esteban_MM]

First of all, I know this is a wide known problem, but I just don't know what else to do but to ask here.

So, BF1 is running horribly on my PC, it stays at a constant 40-50 fps (it is at 120+ on menus, but drops to -50 as soon as I join a match), occasionally dropping to the 20s, it stutters like crazy and it is almost unplayable, whether I set it to low or ultra it behaves almost the same (there is some performance improvement form high to low, but very little, even at lowest settings the framerate is still very low). But as far as I can tell my computer should be able to run it decently, maybe not on ultra with all the fancy stuff on and at 120+fps, but at least at medium with decent frame-rate, also, this is exclusive to BF1, all my other games work just fine at max (or almost) settings, anyway, here is my rig:

Processor: Intel core i7-5820k
Graphics card: GTX980
Ram: 16 on four 4gig sticks
Mother board: Asus Rampage Extreme V
OS: Windows 10
Cooling system: Corsair Hydro Series H105
Power supply: Corsair rm 1000

I've tried basically everything there is online, messing with Nvidia control panel ("pre-render frames" and what not), the user.cfg file on the BF1 folder, I tried unparking my cores, I tried overclocking both my CPU and GPU, messing with the BF1 video settings (obviously), I have all my graphic drivers up to date (I tried rolling back to the previous driver since some people reported having their BF1 screwed up after the latest driver, didn't help either), setting BF1 to high priority on the task manager, I tried disabling Speedstep on BIOS, I have cheked for GPU and CPU usage, both stay at around 60% (no idea why my gpu is not going higher, I suspect this is part of the problem but can't find a way around it...), anyway, I've tried everything I could find and nothing has worked, I'm getting desperate here, any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks and sorry for the long post.

 

[Carnaxus]

It's always possible that they haven't finished optimizing BF1; that being said, the 980 is unfortunately a last-gen card. I have a 980Ti, one step above yours, and I can't play BF1 at max settings above 40-50 FPS either. Fortunately, I'm one of those people who doesn't need to see every last spec of dust float across the screen; just as long as it's not in "everything's a featureless blob" mode, I'm happy.

 

[olin9]

I would think that your CPU would be at 100%. Can you use something like HWMonitor to view CPU and GPU usage and temp.

I have a i5 @ 4.2 and a r9 390x and 16GB ram and my CPU stays from 90-100% during game play. I get 58-60 FPS on ultra. Sometimes for a few seconds it will drop to 52. I have not modified anything except bumped the CPU to 4.2. All eye candy is on.

Also, is your ram all the same speed and brand? You need to make sure it is running in dual channel mode.

Bottom line, if the GPU or CPU is not at 100% then something is bottle necking your system.

 

[Esteban_MM]

Thanks for the reply guys, I appreciate it.

I know GTX980 is already last gen, but still, I find it hard to believe that I can run BF4 on ultra without any trouble at all (I know BF1 is visually heavier than BF4, but still) yet even at everything at the absolute lowest ("everything's a featureless blob" mode) I still can't get a stable frame rate.

Regarding my CPU usage, I know it is weird, both my CPU and GPU are not going above 60% when in-game, when I'm loading both have a spike of 90-100 (right after loading screen when entering a match) then immediately go down to 60 and stay there, no matter how much is going on the screen nor how much fps drops I'm having, can't figure out why this is.

My RAM is all the same brand and I have it on quad, since I have four 4gig sticks.

Is there any software or any sort of test that would indicate what is bottle-necking my system? cause I just can't figure it out...

 

[olin9]

Like listed before, you can use HWMonitor to see usage, temp and MHz of the GPU and CPU. CPU-Z should show your CPU info and Ram Info. I would think on High in BF1 you should get a stable 60 FPS. BF1 uses a lot of CPU power. Make sure that both the GPU and CPU are running at the max MHz.

How much Vram does your GPU have? BF1 on ultra will use about 3.5-3.8 GB at 1920x1080.

 

[Esteban_MM]

I'm using the CPUID monitor, thats how I know its not going above 60% usage on either the CPU or GPU, this as far as I can tell only indicates my usage and temperature, voltage, etc...what I meant was if there is no software that would "point out" as to what is bottle necking my system specifically, more than just showing that it is bottle-necked.

Also, I was playing the Witcher 3 (max settings) and my GPU usage was around the 90s, while my CPU stayed around the 60s, exact same happens with BF4, GPU at around 90s CPU around 60s, so I don't think my system is bottle-necked, this problem is exclusive to BF1...

My GPU has 11710MB of total available graphics memory, but 4096 is dedicated video memory and 7614 is shared system memory.

 

[Carnaxus]

What temperatures is HWMonitor showing your CPU and GPU at when you're running BF1?

 

[Esteban_MM]

My CPU stays at around 40°C, while my GPU at around 60°C

 

[olin9]

The HWMonitor may give you more information on your system.

Something is holding your system back. Like I said before your GPU or CPU should be at 100% or something else is. Are your GPU and CPU running at the full MHz?

Ram, HD, Chipset or Drivers. In BF1 your FPS should be a little higher. Your are not using your hardware to its full performance.

It's like having a race car that can do 200 MPH, but you only push the throttle down 60% and you cant reach the 200 MPH.