GTX 660Ti 3GB Underperforming?

[djshrimper]

I have had my EVGA GTX 660Ti for a little bit over a month now but at the moment, it seems to be letting me down a bit.

When I first purchased the GPU, everything was fine, I could run games like Battlefield 3 and Far Cry 3 at a steady 60FPS (Occasionally dropping to around 55FPS) but now, whenever I attempt to play one of these games, I only ever seem to be achieving around 30-45FPS, (Jumps to 60FPS if I look at the Sky or floor) which isn't the best for this card.

On Skyrim aswell I only get around 20-30FPS with this card which isn't too great to be honest.

So, in shorter terms, at first this card was amazing but now it's not too great.

I have all the latest drivers installed for my Graphics card.

No specs have changed since the installing of this card except another Seagate 1TB HDD

The reason this concerns me so much is because there are lots of people with the exact same setup as me getting 60+FPS on the games mentioned above.

Specs:

Graphics Card - EVGA GTX 660Ti SC 3GB

CPU -AMD FX-6100@ Stock Clock (Bottleneck? If so what could I upgrade to?)

Motherboard - Gigabyte 970A-UD3

CPU Cooler - Antec Kuhler H20 620 Liquid

HDD - Seagate 1TB x2

PSU - 900W PowerCool (Bad, I know)

Case - CoolerMaster Storm Scout

Thanks!

 

[Norlag]

I would oc the cpu but I don't think that's the problem. What settings/resolution are you playing at and has it changed?

 

[djshrimper]

I am playing them maxed out at 1920x1080. It's always been like that.

 

[17seconds]

Do you have normal VSync on (not Adaptive VSync, but the regular version)? If so, turn off VSync, or turn on Adaptive VSync. (Sometimes regular VSync causes framerates to be cut in half ~30 fps.)

 

[djshrimper]

No, I never use V-sync in any games I play. Thanks for the tip though.

Also, google ( or YouTube ) a game called Arctic Combat. Surely I should be running that at 60+FPS but in-game my frames are going crazy between - 30/40/50/60FPS. They never seem to stay steady

 

[iam2thecrowe]

On Skyrim aswell I only get around 20-30FPS with this card which isn't too great to be honest.

!

skyrim fps is your cpu's fault for sure.

 

[djshrimper]

Yeah, I thought Skyrim may have been my processors fault but I'm upgrading to a i7-3770k soon.

Would that i7-3770k be a good match for my Graphics card? Also, I'm planning to SLI so I'm also wondering if the 3770k would bottleneck them?

Another thing I forgot to mention is that I haven't opened my computer to dust it out in a little over a month, and the inside of my computer is very dusty! I didn't realise how dusty it was! That could also be the reason my card is idling at around 40Celcius and when on load at 80-90Celcius.

 

[djshrimper]

Also, I changed my resolution on Far Cry 3 to 1280x720 (on a 1920x1080 monitor) and was still only getting 40-50FPS.

Kinda sucks

 

[iam2thecrowe]

Also, I changed my resolution on Far Cry 3 to 1280x720 (on a 1920x1080 monitor) and was still only getting 40-50FPS.

Kinda sucks

yep, that cpu bottleneck.

 

[djshrimper]

yep, that cpu bottleneck.

If it's a CPU bottleneck, that's fine for the time being because I'm buying a new i7-3770k CPU today anyway. First off, to upgrade my CPU (In desperate need) and to see if bottlenecking IS actually my problem.

 

[djshrimper]

Ok, I just adjusted my fan speed on MSI Afterburner to 50% (From 30%) and I was getting an average of 10-15FPS increase in each game I played.

In Far Cry 3 I was getting around 50-60FPS which was definitely an improvement from 40-50FPS.

I also tested it in Serious Sam 3 BFE - Before: 70-80FPS After: 90-100FPS

Another thing is that when I was playing Serious Sam 3 BFE WITHOUT V-sync and GPU load was at 90-99% (Usually at 98-99%) at 90-100FPS but then I turned V-sync ON and the GPU load was 40-60% but FPS never went lower than 60FPS (or 60.1FPS if that makes a difference).

Is this good or bad?

 

[17seconds]

All that sounds good and to be expected, if your GPU was throttling due to excessive heat. For me, I've never been a fan of setting custom fan profiles, although many prefer them. If you are thinking the fan somehow affected your performance, why not set it on Auto so that it performs the way it was designed? 30% fan when gaming would cause problems.

Serious Sam is normal because your GPU doesn't have to work 100% to maintain 60 FPS on that game at least.

 

[dustin_leet1983]

Well i have evga gtx ftw+ 660-ti and i just ordered a ftw 680, i was complettly let down with performance of my ftw card even with core running at 1280 and +750 on memory, but ive found that kepler cards u want to make a custom fan profile in the evga software. My ran really hot till i setup custom fan profile like the guilde on evga forums said too. I hope my 680 will work better, enjoy, maybe u could step-up if it hasnt been 90 days too

 

[iam2thecrowe]

If it's a CPU bottleneck, that's fine for the time being because I'm buying a new i7-3770k CPU today anyway. First off, to upgrade my CPU (In desperate need) and to see if bottlenecking IS actually my problem.

the i5 3570 gives the same performance in games as the i7 and doesnt cost as much.

 

[djshrimper]

Ok, thanks everyone for all the tips!

I'm planning on completely going nuts and upgrading my PC with a GTX Titan (Overkill?) in the far future. Hopefully nothing goes wrong with the next graphics card I get, whatever that may be.

 

[djshrimper]

Oh and another thing is, I saw on another website/forum once, someone saying that their i7 3770k was bottlenecking their GTX 660Ti's in SLI.

Is this possible?

 

[iam2thecrowe]

Oh and another thing is, I saw on another website/forum once, someone saying that their i7 3770k was bottlenecking their GTX 660Ti's in SLI.

Is this possible?

not really, there isnt a faster CPU than the 3770 (without spending $800 of which the cost outweighs the few fps you may gain from this), unless you overclock the i7/i5. If your playing at high enough resolution the bottleneck will shift to the graphics cards.

 

[djshrimper]

not really, there isnt a faster CPU than the 3770 (without spending $800 of which the cost outweighs the few fps you may gain from this), unless you overclock the i7/i5. If your playing at high enough resolution the bottleneck will shift to the graphics cards.

Thanks. I was just wondering because I wanted to buy the 3770k without having to buy another one for a while so i was just worried.