Does my graphics card performance make sense?

[Stuffz121]

Hello,

I would greatly appreciate if anyone can help me answer some of my questions on my graphics card performance and my issue.

I've recently built a new PC with the following three essential components:
Motherboard: MSI B150 M3 Gaming
CPU: I7 6700k Skylake
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce Gtx 1060 Windforce 6GB.

The computer runs great and for my first build I'm quite happy. However, I noticed that when I go into the settings of one of my games, Shogun 2 Total War, the settings show that it only recognizes 2918 megabytes of video card memory. That's basically less than half of my total VRAM of 6GB. I've done quite a bit of research and the most popular solution was to try modify certain text and preference files which have only made the game recognize 4096 memory at most.
The main reason why I'm trying to solve this is because, from what I think I know, the more vram your game can use, the greater the performance. Is this true? Also, before buying my graphics card I looked up its benchmarks and theoretically, it should be able to play the game at Ultra settings above 60 FPS. Unfortunately though, in an average battle my FPS is around the 40s-50s. I've even looked at some videos of people playing using a lower end graphics card and with a similar CPU and they perform better than my own. This is one benchmark test I've looked at using a lower quality card, http://www.anandtech.com/show/6994/nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-review/5

This is a video testing almost the exact same card but on total war warhammer and the performance was great.
https://youtu.be/plf7tQQW-AQ

I've contacted Gigabyte about the card's performance and they're telling me that it's probably because of my motherboard. I'm still fairly new to computer hardware so I would like to clarify something. Essentially, a lower end card can significantly outperform a higher end if it has a powerful CPU and motherboard? I mean correct me if I'm wrong, but its hard to believe the performance will be that great of a difference. I also don't think my CPU bad either. So in my case, is my motherboard just not good enough to and is bringing down both my CPU and GPU?

In summary, is there a way to make the game recognize I have 6GB of vram? And why is my performance lacking?

 

[dontlistentome]

I'd suggest running 3dmark to see how your system scores compared to other systems like yours. The problem right now is you're assuming one game, Shogun Total War, proves you're not getting the performance you think you should be getting. If people are saying you need to mess with config files to get it to work right, that tells you right there that this is not a good test game.

By the way, any given game is only going to use so much vram. If the game was designed to use 3gb at max settings for example, just because you have 6gb doesn't necessarily mean anything in terms of improving performance.

 

[Stuffz121]

I'd suggest running 3dmark to see how your system scores compared to other systems like yours. The problem right now is you're assuming one game, Shogun Total War, proves you're not getting the performance you think you should be getting. If people are saying you need to mess with config files to get it to work right, that tells you right there that this is not a good test game.

By the way, any given game is only going to use so much vram. If the game was designed to use 3gb at max settings for example, just because you have 6gb doesn't necessarily mean anything in terms of improving performance.

Hmm ok I understand thank you. I ran a test using 3D mark like you recommended and I got these results.
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/16725616
I'm honestly not completely sure what they mean. Could you help me understand the results please?

 

[dontlistentome]

I took a quick look at some people's scores, the ones using 1060 6gb videocards and scoring in the 5000 to 6000 range. I noticed the rated clock speeds on the 1060s were both core and memory above 2ghz. Yours are 1949mhz core, 2003mhz memory. For example, SHIMIZU gets 2392mhz core, 2552mhz memory. I scrolled down to see who using 1060s was scoring in the 4500 range and I saw Sandy Bridge era CPUs. It sounds like your card is running slower than most others. What kind of power supply are you using?

 

[Stuffz121]

I took a quick look at some people's scores, the ones using 1060 6gb videocards and scoring in the 5000 to 6000 range. I noticed the rated clock speeds on the 1060s were both core and memory above 2ghz. Yours are 1949mhz core, 2003mhz memory. For example, SHIMIZU gets 2392mhz core, 2552mhz memory. I scrolled down to see who using 1060s was scoring in the 4500 range and I saw Sandy Bridge era CPUs. It sounds like your card is running slower than most others. What kind of power supply are you using?

My power supply is EVGA 750 GQ, 80+ GOLD 750W, Semi Modular, EVGA ECO Mode Power Supply 210-GQ-0750-V1. I'd be pretty surprised if the PSU is the issue here.

 

[dontlistentome]

Can you use a program like MSI Afterburner to monitor you GPU and CPU temperatures and clock speeds? Then take a lot at those figures while doing nothing on your desktop, then run a game and see if the numbers go up or down. I suspect something in your system might be throttling down when under load. I thought your videocard might be starved for power but obviously that's not it.

 

[Stuffz121]

Can you use a program like MSI Afterburner to monitor you GPU and CPU temperatures and clock speeds? Then take a lot at those figures while doing nothing on your desktop, then run a game and see if the numbers go up or down. I suspect something in your system might be throttling down when under load. I thought your videocard might be starved for power but obviously that's not it.

Well after trying a couple times essentially these were my results.

When PC was Idle:
CPU Usage: 1%
CPU Temp: 25C
GPU Usage: 0
GPU Temp: 7

After playing game
CPU Temp Max: 53C
CPU Usage Max: 100%
GPU Usage Max: 99%
GPU Temp Max: 71C
http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah312/StuffzCrimson/MSI1_zpsanp3lbbh.png
http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah312/StuffzCrimson/Shogun2_2016_12_18_16_45_44_516This_zps0rgceygr.jpg
I've included 2 screenshots in case you want to see it for yourself, one is the MSI Afterburner while nothing is running, and the other is in game with OSD turned on. It's kinda difficult to see but my GPU was running only at 31% when the FPS was down at 27. That doesn't seem right does it? Also, as far I understand the mobo really doesn't have much of an impact on performance right?

 

[SinxarKnights]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-pascal,4679.html

If you look at that you can see it is quite close to a gtx 970 in performance. With that in mind, here is my gtx 970 timespy score: http://www.3dmark.com/spy/112999

So what does this mean? It means it is likely the game and not the card. Your CPU is maxing out as well. Likely causing a bottleneck. Not because there is anything wrong with your system, likely the FPS is being paced by how fast it can run the simulation.

Have you tried any other games that isn't CPU bound like that? Your Timespy score is spot on.

 

[Stuffz121]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-pascal,4679.html

If you look at that you can see it is quite close to a gtx 970 in performance. With that in mind, here is my gtx 970 timespy score: http://www.3dmark.com/spy/112999

So what does this mean? It means it is likely the game and not the card. Your CPU is maxing out as well. Likely causing a bottleneck. Not because there is anything wrong with your system, likely the FPS is being paced by how fast it can run the simulation.

Have you tried any other games that isn't CPU bound like that? Your Timespy score is spot on.

I've tried Napoleon Total War and it runs a lot better, but it is an older game too. What I find most confusing now is why my GPU usage is relatively low, around 33%, where as my CPU is maxed out yet my FPS is in the 30s. But what I find even weirder is that the GTX 770 can run Shogun 2 on Ultra settings around 70FPS. I can't help but feel that somethings wrong. Also my gpu usage maxed out when I was in the main menu but not when I was actually playing

 

[SinxarKnights]

If you feel something is wrong with the card I suggest you RMA it. Especially since it is performing worse than a GTX 770 in a benchmark that you cannot replicate.

 

[bystander]

I'd suggest running 3dmark to see how your system scores compared to other systems like yours. The problem right now is you're assuming one game, Shogun Total War, proves you're not getting the performance you think you should be getting. If people are saying you need to mess with config files to get it to work right, that tells you right there that this is not a good test game.

By the way, any given game is only going to use so much vram. If the game was designed to use 3gb at max settings for example, just because you have 6gb doesn't necessarily mean anything in terms of improving performance.

Hmm ok I understand thank you. I ran a test using 3D mark like you recommended and I got these results.
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/16725616
I'm honestly not completely sure what they mean. Could you help me understand the results please?

The score shows you a little lower than average for your system, but still at the same score as a large chunk of people with similar systems. If your i7 isn't OC'ed at all, that could be partly why.

The good news the benchmark does recognize 6Gb of VRAM.