FPS Capped on new build

[cridg19]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ZNkm8Y

I have the monitor set to max resolution with max refresh rate (144). V-Sync is disables and g-sync enabled. Processor has been overclocked to 4.3ghz. Ram set at 3200mhz. Build is staying cool and not showing any signs of overworking fans.
Built a new PC and I’m struggling to get games to run efficiently.
After much fiddling I found that overwatch has an FPS cap of 90 if everything is on ultra. Putting everything on its lowest only brings it up to 120fps. It acts as if it’s capped at 120.
CS:GO was capped at 60 FPS but I managed to solve that by running it in compatibility mode with Windows XP (3 or something). That put it above 250. Then it suddenly changed to be capped at 143. It’s smooth but I feel like I should be getting more.

Why would my build be struggling so much? Why is my FPS capping in games? (Even Minecraft capped at 144).

 

[sizzling]

G-Sync synchronises your monitor and frames. Your monitor is 144Hz and therefore the max FPS with g-sync on is 144.

 

[photonboy]

1) While GSYNC works up to 144Hz, I don't think that limits the FPS of a game by default so if a game can do 160FPS you simply end up in a non-GSYNC, just VSYNC OFF situation (as if it was a non-asynchronous monitor).

So monitor would be simply updating 144x per second (it's maximum) and the FPS outputting its maximum. Thus VSYNC OFF like normal. If the FPS is above 144FPS then GSYNC IS NOT RUNNING.

2) Some graphics tools (like EVGA Precision) have an FPS limit option too though if you hit 250FPS it's obviously not on. Just thought you should be aware.

*if there is no GLOBAL CAP option in NVidia CP you could enable the FPS cap in other software like the above so that every game (that is fullscreen) could cap to say 140FPS and thus always stay in GSYNC (see other stuff below on that). I see no reason to go above 140FPS since there's minimal latency with GSYNC ON especially at 140FPS.

140FPS vs 280FPS means that the next frame happens just over 3ms (3.5/1000th second) sooner. It takes us 250ms on average to respond to something we see on the screen. From what I understand though I may be mistaken is that going above roughly 140FPS GSYNC ON makes little to no difference.

3) Some games have an FPS-cap built in but most do not.

4) 120FPS in Overwatch?
Not sure why, however 120FPS with GSYNC ON would be fricking smooth. I'd be very, very (very) surprised if you could tell the difference between that and 140FPS...

90FPS at Ultra... seems far too LOW with that PC but since it hit 120FPS on lower settings then 90FPS means it's just a hardware bottleneck. Probably the GTX1080Ti since usually higher graphic settings shift the bottleneck to the GPU. Lower resolution/settings shifts more to the CPU.

I wouldn't want to go above 140FPS either since you start going out of GSYNC. If it was capped at 144FPS then you'd have VSYNC ON (not GSYNC) and if you go above 144FPS you have VSYNC OFF (screen tearing)

5) CSGO:
143FPS?
That sounds like VSYNC got turned ON for some reason so it's normal VSYNC ON 144Hz thus capping at 144FPS. Again:
a) under 144FPS (GSYNC ON)
b) 144FPS capped (VSYNC ON likely)
c) over 144FPS (VSYNC OFF, thus some screen tearing which may or may not be obvious)

***READ***
VSYNC ON will also occur in WINDOWED MODE I believe. So Minecraft is surely in Windowed mode and switching any game to Windowed will kick you back to VSYNC ON (GSYNC OFF) thus 144Hz as the DESKTOP runs 144Hz.

For GSYNC to kick in the game must be FULLSCREEN.

SUMMARY:
Aside from confirming if PERFORMANCE is proper (maybe run some benchmarks) everything seems correct.

OTHER:
I've heard (but can't confirm) that an FPS very close to the Hz (i.e. 142,143FPS) can cause a little stuttering. Some people like to set a manual per-game FPS cap near the upper range and they recommend 140FPS so that you stay in GSYNC MODE.

For example, if a game was AVERAGING 144FPS you would be going below 144FPS (GSYNC ON) then above 144FPS (VSYNC OFF, GSYNC OFF) thus getting some screen tear some times but not others.

 

[photonboy]

Unigine Valley https://benchmark.unigine.com/valley
-DX11, Ultra, x8AA, full screen, 2560x1440

GTX1080
- 68.4FPS avg
- 2863
- 32.7fps low
- 140.3fps high

*I would estimate at those EXACT SAME SETTINGS that you should get 33% higher so roughly 90FPS AVERAGE... that's a good confirmation of whether you are getting the proper performance out of your GTX1080Ti.

 

[Eximo]

My understanding:

G-sync supports Windowed mode, as long as you turn that feature on when enabling it. (CryEngine titles seem to insist on it, or they get stuck at sub 60FPS)

V-sync on (in game setting) + G-sync on should operate in G-Sync mode from 30-144hz (or 165hz if the monitor is overclocked)

V-sync off (in game setting) + G-sync on should operate in G-sync mode from 30-144hz(or 165hz), but allow FPS above the refresh rate if the card can handle it.

G-sync off + V-sync on will attempt to lock the FPS to 144hz, but if you can't maintain a consistent 144FPS you will see tearing.

And off just behaves as normal.

(I think the minimum is 30, might be 40 FPS before it switches to adaptive v-sync and starts doubling up on frames.) Hopefully you never find out.

I agree anytime you see a perfect number like 120FPS it is likely an ingame setting or config file situation.

 

[photonboy]

UPDATE: not saying you need a new cooler but you should investigate the temperatures. Recommended max is 80degC and throttle doesn't happen to 100degC (so likely no temperature throttling for games happening to you). If you don't go above 80degC with all six cores then ignore this. Even if "only" 4.3GHz for some reason it's still a great cooler and more than 4.3GHz at 2560x1440 will make little to no difference in most games anyway.

Other:
You "overclocked" the CPU to 4.3GHz?

At its default settings it hits 4.3GHz under load with ALL SIX CORES already and can go as high as 4.7GHz with single-core usage so I don't know what you mean by overclocking.
https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3077-explaining-coffee-lake-turbo-8700k-8600k

I'm not sure how well the EVO would even handle a heavy load, but it's not recommended to sustain above 80degC... I use HANDBRAKE at 100% CPU load (converting video) for at least 10 minutes to establish a REALISTIC WORST CASE.

Any other application that uses all TWELVE THREADS (see Task Manager) is fine. Maybe BLENDER, but not Prime95 as that is not a realistic test; it's too stressful so temps might be over 10degC higher than a realistic worst-case.

COOLERS:
1. This NOCTUA doesn't match your build but I'll list it anyway as I've seen reviews showing it hit 5GHz on the i7-8700K at under 80degC (ambient temp/case etc matters too):
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/xCL7YJ/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd15s

2. Other air coolers:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/xFw323/cryorig-cpu-cooler-crr1a
and
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/9bFPxr/be-quiet-cpu-cooler-bk019

I won't go into liquid cooler options as I'm already way off topic. I personally would rather go with a good air cooler and maybe be limited to 4.7/4.8GHz all cores than go liquid cooler to hit 5GHz.

(not saying those last two can't hit 5GHz but if not it's a sacrifice I'd make as I don't like liquid coolers due to potential pump noise, reliability but they are improving)

 

[photonboy]

My understanding:

G-sync supports Windowed mode, as long as you turn that feature on when enabling it. (CryEngine titles seem to insist on it, or they get stuck at sub 60FPS)

V-sync on (in game setting) + G-sync on should operate in G-Sync mode from 30-144hz (or 165hz if the monitor is overclocked)

V-sync off (in game setting) + G-sync on should operate in G-sync mode from 30-144hz(or 165hz), but allow FPS above the refresh rate if the card can handle it.

G-sync off + V-sync on will attempt to lock the FPS to 144hz, but if you can't maintain a consistent 144FPS you will see tearing.

And off just behaves as normal.

(I think the minimum is 30, might be 40 FPS before it switches to adaptive v-sync and starts doubling up on frames.) Hopefully you never find out.

I agree anytime you see a perfect number like 120FPS it is likely an ingame setting or config file situation.

My mistake. SORRY!!
Yes, it does support Windowed mode. In fact, there seems to be an OPTION for:
1) FULLSCREEN, or
2) WINDOWED AND FULLSCREEN
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-enable-nvidia-g-sync

As for MINECRAFT it would still be capped to 144FPS either way. The only way a game is going to go above 144FPS is if it's running VSYNC OFF (no GSYNC, no VSYNC).

*remember, a GSYNC MONITOR in G-Sync mode only updates the screen when the GPU sends it a new frame. That only works up to the maximum refresh of the monitor which is 144x per second.

(UPDATE: I think the following double/triple of the FPS is done in the monitor's GSYNC module. if the range is 30Hz to 144Hz then for example 29FPS is actually "58FPS" with each frame drawn twice due to a physical limit of current monitor technology... it's called Low Framerate Compensation and something many Freesync monitors can't do...you may never run below 30FPS but just FYI there did used to be some visual issues like flashing screen but that may have been fixed.. so Freesync if working resends the SAME FRAME to the monitor but I think in GSYNC the module in the monitor creates the extra frame)

So if a game was say 288FPS then there's no GSYNC working, and the monitor is still just updating 144x per second but the GPU is sending it frames faster than it can draw. In this case averaging TWO FRAMES sent per ONE FRAME DRAWN so you get only (on average) half of each frame created drawn which is what causes the screen tearing as you get data from a new frame mixed with that of an old frame on the screen.

I don't know how the decision is made to CAP THE FPS for a specific game either. I don't have GSYNC. As per above comment I guess it's mostly uncapped FPS and if under 144FPS it's GSYNC ON but above is GSYNC OFF ( and VSYNC OFF) as I said in my above comment though... some games will apply their own caps like DOOM which is 200FPS I believe... will some be 60FPS? I think so, probably not many.

Other:
*BETHESDA GAMES may have physics issues too which apparently get worse the higher you go above 60FPS. For SKYRIM, Fallout 4 etc I'd probably cap to 60FPS to avoid those... not sure what software you would use though if NCP gives no options you could probably use NVINSPECTOR.

So if you run SKYRIM and it's showing over 100FPS I'd cap it.

OTHER:
ADAPTIVE VSYNC and LFC are not the same thing. Below 30FPS you are doubling (possibly higher below 15FPS?) the same frames. So 29FPS becomes "58FPS."

Adaptive VSYNC is closer to the opposite (I think you mean "Adaptive VSYNC HALF REFRESH). If you had that enabled you'd be getting 72FPS VSYNC ON (or dropping below 72FPS puts you in VSYNC OFF... GSYNC would not be on here). So capped 72FPS from GPU but still 144Hz on monitor with VSYNC ON, not GSYNC.

There's absolutely NO REASON you'd ever use Adaptive VSYNC Half Refresh on a monitor that can do GSYNC. It has no benefits over GSYNC but does have negatives like screen tear below 72FPS.

Adaptive VSYNC (not the "half refresh") option just auto disables VSYNC if you can't output 144FPS (on 144Hz monitor).

 

[photonboy]

sorry to ramble on so much...

 

[Eximo]

From experience, the early driver's did indeed not support Windowed mode and it was either G-sync on or G-sync off. All games had to be set to V-sync off for this to work at all.

Later driver releases, the ones that took care of the flashing issues you mentioned (though not entirely, still some on the desktop when a 3d program is running in the background) also added the logic for V-sync on/off. On runs G-sync in the normal mode capping the frame rate to the max refresh rate of the monitor, off lets G-sync operate up to the refresh rate and disable all sync above the refresh rate.

Fairly straight forward. If you've properly chosen hardware, you shouldn't see the drop back down to adaptive V-sync which does the frame doubling and tripling up to maintain smoothness over accuracy.