Couple of questions on my GTX 980's Performance and Heat when running Witcher 3??

[alimir]

I recently received a custom pre-built PC that had a budget-reference MSI GTX 980 GPU. I promptly downloaded Witcher 3 and ran it at the recommended settings (which is Ultra with everything ON) at 1080p resolution. At these settings I am getting around 40-50 fps with GPU usage at 99% and temps averaging at 80°C. Before buying the PC I was under the impression that the GTX 980 can max out Witcher 3 1080p at 60fps.

1. Is it possible that my GPU is throttling because of the high temperatures, and are these temps safe?

To test things further, I lowered all settings to the High preset and started getting 60fps, but I was still getting 99% GPU usage and 80°C temperatures.

2. Shouldn't the High preset be using less GPU power?

3. According to MSI Afterburner, my GPU fans were running at around 25% during high load/high temps; should I manually change this percentage and increase it?

3. How can I better cool my GPU, i.e. would a fan at the bottom help (I will provided my complete specs right under this)?

Temps: (recorded using MSI Afterburner and verified with HW monitor)
Ambient room temp: 25-30°C
CPU idle: 24-28°C
GPU idle: 30-35°C
CPU w/ Witcher 3: 45-50°C
GPU w/ Witcher 3: 79-81°C
GPU w/ other games (KSP, Dota 2, EVE): 50-60°C

Specs and everything:
Case: Corsair 750D:
Cooling: 2 front intake 140mm, 3 top exhaust 120mm, 1 rear exhaust 120mm, none at bottom.
CPU: i7-4790K:
Cooling: Liquid cooled with closed-loop, Asetek 550LC
GPU: MSI GTX 980
Here's how it looks: http://cdn.videocardz.com/1/2014/09/MSI-GeForce-GTX-980-2.jpg
Cooling: No liquid cooling, I'm guessing it cools with the other case fans and its own little fan.
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI
RAM: G-SKill RipJaws 8GB
Storage: Samsung EVO 250GB SSD; WD 1TB Black Drive
PSU: Corsair 650M 80-Plus 650W
Monitors: 2x Samsung 24" 1080p (I only game on one)

 

[iggy684]

You have the blower style design. It will run hot but if you SLI your 980's it will be the better option than the air style coolers. I would set up your fan style to run at max (will be loud as hell but probably keep your card cooled) 25% is not good especially running a high end game like that. Even at high preset, your gpu will reach 99% as to why you are getting 60 fps instead of 50. If you can i would add a bottom fan as an intake to help with your airflow but otherwise your airflow is pretty optimal.

 

[faalin]

since you already have MSI afturburn, go in and set a custom fan profile so the fan speed will ramp up as the card gets hotter. 80*c for the card is the point where Nvidia will start to throttle the card to keep the temps within specs. I would say your card is throttling its self to stay under 80*c, once you speed those fans up you will see a big difference as you will get the full effect of the card then.