GTX 970 performing poorly. Need help!

[TBone1223]

Hello everyone! Thanks for checking this thread out. Unfortunatly I am having trouble with my Zotac GTX 970. Whenever I load up a game my FPS is significantly lower than other people's FPS on the same card. For example, I play Titanfall alot, but whenever I load it up and I load up Fraps as well to see my FPS, it is always much lower than what other people are experiencing. I have all my drivers updated, and I always keep Vsync off. Can you help?

My Specs:
Intel i7 4790k @ 4.0 Ghz (Stock speed+cooler)
MSI Z97 Gaming 5 MoBo
Zotac GTX 970 4gb (I know its actually 3.5) at stock speed
Corsair Vengeance 8gb DDr3 RAM @ 1600mhz
Corsair Graphite series 230T case
EVGA 600B PSU 80+ bronze
WD caviar black 2TB + 3TB
HP disk drive

Here are my peripherals (idk if they matter in this situation)
Razer Naga 2014 MMO mouse
Razer mechanical blackwidow ultimate stealth edition keyboard
Kingston HyperX cloud headset
Magnavox 32 inch TV 1366x760 @ 60hz (temporarily)

Thanks!

 

[AriyaPL]

These temps are way too high for GTX 970 imho. When I run Witcher 3, without OC-ing my card, it never gets above 65-66 degree celsius. With slight OC of the GPU I'm getting max 70-71 degree Celsius. That's with 99% load of the GPU.

What's your card model exactly? (there're quite a few of them on Zotac's homepage)

Here's my 3d Mark results and we have very similar configuration:

I'm not sure why the card gets so hot. Try opening the side panel of your case and run the temp tests again. If they drop significantly, it might be a poor airflow inside the case. If not, might be the card. Do you have any friend with GTX 970 from Zotac or other manufacturer who could lend you his/hers card for a couple of hours to test and compare?

 

[madmatt30]

^ it may just be a poor default fan curve set in bios - the most I've seen on my 970 is 78c under furmark testing for 30minutes & that is in an incredibly cramped htpc case with terrible terrible airflow.

I've not seen any particular condemning comments on the zotac cards cooling ability so therebis something not quite right.its plainly pushing high GPU usage to hit those temps OR there is a physical hardware problem with the card.

 

[AriyaPL]

I've checked on the web for Zotac temps in benchmarks and it nowhere states temps like yours.
I've ran some extra 3D Mark tests with my card O/Ced, check the temps - maximum 70 degree Celsius.

Here's the score:

Try as madmatt30 says - check your fan profiles or try running with the case open.
Then check the temps again, also check the fan profile for your card. Mine at 70 degree went
up from 30% to 39% which is still almost inaudible.

"In idle to light load, the Zotac GeForce GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition got a temperature of around 33° degrees Celsius to 40°++ degrees Celsius. At full load, the temperature goes up to around 66° degrees Celsius, and I think those are pretty much an acceptable figures. - See more at: http://thepcenthusiast.com/zotac-geforce-gtx-970-amp-extreme-core-edition-review/4/#sthash.k56stIE2.dpuf"

Your card must be throttling itself due to high temps :/

 

[TBone1223]

A little lower than I would expect but in all honesty within reason for your rig.
Definitely some inherent problem holding it back in gaming though - those scores should see you running well over 60fps maxed out in any game youve mentioned so far.

Your CPU & GPU temps while within stated specs are very very high IMO during your titanfall session - what's your case cooling like ???
Under 60fps means your card is running at 50-60% capacity on that game & I would expect temps to be low 60's max.

Well when I did the 3Dmark FireStrike benchmark, the GPU temps were high. I got a steady 82 degrees C. I think it would have gone higher but whenever it changed to 83, it would instantly jump back down to 82.

 

[TBone1223]

A little lower than I would expect but in all honesty within reason for your rig.
Definitely some inherent problem holding it back in gaming though - those scores should see you running well over 60fps maxed out in any game youve mentioned so far.

Your CPU & GPU temps while within stated specs are very very high IMO during your titanfall session - what's your case cooling like ???
Under 60fps means your card is running at 50-60% capacity on that game & I would expect temps to be low 60's max.

As for the fans, I have 2 in my graphics card, 1 fan taking hot air out in the back, and 2 in the front taking cold air in.

 

[TBone1223]

These temps are way too high for GTX 970 imho. When I run Witcher 3, without OC-ing my card, it never gets above 65-66 degree celsius. With slight OC of the GPU I'm getting max 70-71 degree Celsius. That's with 99% load of the GPU.

What's your card model exactly? (there're quite a few of them on Zotac's homepage)

Here's my 3d Mark results and we have very similar configuration:

I'm not sure why the card gets so hot. Try opening the side panel of your case and run the temp tests again. If they drop significantly, it might be a poor airflow inside the case. If not, might be the card. Do you have any friend with GTX 970 from Zotac or other manufacturer who could lend you his/hers card for a couple of hours to test and compare?

Here is the graphics card model that I have: http://www.zotac.com/products/graphics-cards/geforce-900-series/gtx-970/product/gtx-970/detail/geforce-gtx-970.html I will open up the case and try the benchmarks again. I will let you know my results as soon as i'm done. Thanks!

 

[AriyaPL]

83 degrees are still pretty high imho. Never seen my Asus going above 72 even when I was boosting it's clock to 1430 and memory to 8100.
Your GPU clock is 1076 MHz (baseline) 1216 MHz (boost) whereas Asus's baseline is 1114 and boost 1253 MhZ and it also comes with two fans. I think your card should be cooler by default than mine or maybe the same. At the moment my GPU is running at 26 degree celsius in semi-idle (just browsing web) with one fan blowing at it from side. It's just 3 degree higher than the ambient temp in my room. Anyway 82 celsius is waaay to high imho. Try:

a) opening the case
b) put all your fans on 70-80% (use Open Hardware Monitor or other software like that for it, just right click and set to manual), except GPU fan.
c) have you checked if both fans are working on the graphics card ?
d) try putting your GPU fan to 70-80% as well and check the temps. If they get below 70 defree, something like 60-65 try running some benchmarks and check fps in games.

Best bet would be borrowing a 970 from a friend and checking it in your PC.

 

[madmatt30]

^ checking his 970 in a friends PC wouldnt be a bad idea either.

 

[AriyaPL]

Indeed as long as they have similar configuration (if checking the performace). But with different setup at least he could check if the temps are as high as in his case.

 

[madmatt30]

^ agreed but how many people have friends with 970's ?? I don't have any

 

[AriyaPL]

Hmm dunno... if you're a gamer you prolly have a few 😉) especially now Witcher 3's out.

 

[madmatt30]

^ alas all my real life friends are console owners - I'm the only one that made the jump to PC gaming.

 

[TBone1223]

These temps are way too high for GTX 970 imho. When I run Witcher 3, without OC-ing my card, it never gets above 65-66 degree celsius. With slight OC of the GPU I'm getting max 70-71 degree Celsius. That's with 99% load of the GPU.

What's your card model exactly? (there're quite a few of them on Zotac's homepage)

Here's my 3d Mark results and we have very similar configuration:

I'm not sure why the card gets so hot. Try opening the side panel of your case and run the temp tests again. If they drop significantly, it might be a poor airflow inside the case. If not, might be the card. Do you have any friend with GTX 970 from Zotac or other manufacturer who could lend you his/hers card for a couple of hours to test and compare?

So I tried the benchmarks without my side panel, but I didnt get any changes worth noting. I am thinking that it might be my power supply but I'm not sure. Any thoughts?

 

[madmatt30]

A faulty or incapable psu would cause system wide instability or bsod's.not high GPU temps or subpar performance.
There's a chance your GPU itself has some defect & is faulty - its not unheard of but without trying it on someone elses system its going to be hard to pinpoint.

 

[AriyaPL]

🙁 really sorry to hear that TBone. Listen to madmatt's advice - put your 970 into someone's else rig and run the tests (temp and performance). If they're still that high you can try organising another 970 from a friend and trying it in your rig or simply RMA the card. My advice - do screenshots of all the stuff (benchmarks and temps) and provide them to Zotac or the shop where you bought your Zotac.

Also try running this test on your GPU and check the temps:

http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

Have you tried setting all your fans too 100%? And have you checked if the GPU fans are actually rotating ?