Is an overclock necessary for my game to run really well?

[kanaanantoine]

I'm getting outrageous framedrops on some spu intensive games. I have the i5-8600K and its water cooled (240mm xigmatek scylla) but not overclocked. The games in question are Witcher 3 and Black flag. 1080p display on MSI GTX 1060 6GB with 16 GB DDR4 Ram (2400MHZ).

Usually the charts show high gpu usage (60s or 90s when overclocked) but low cpu usage (28% maximum at 4.1GHz, no cpu ovwerclock)

How do I solve this? Should I overclock the cpu?

frames arent stable at all. usually above 60 but if it goes down to the 40s-50s the jutter is unreal and id much rather just cap it to 30fps at that point. Im playing max settings (including max aa and hairworks).


Build:
Gtx 1060 msi 6gb
b360 carbon msi
16gb hyperx ddr4
i5-8600K watercooled scylla 240 mm
500W bronze power supply
256 GB NVMe M.2 SSD
7200rpm seagate barracuda 2TB
1080p display

http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/10587650
http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/10587650

 

[volkgren]

I would say it's a GPU bottleneck. The GTX 1060 is a good card but if you max out settings on The Witcher 3 then it will slow it down. Most people simply do not play it with max settings, especially with hairworks unless you have a GTX 1080 Ti.

 

[zebarjadi.raouf]

(including max aa and hairworks).

1060 6GB can't handle Witcher 3 at 1080p/60. It could if you disable some settings like HBAO+/Hairworks but it can't do everything.

overclock

It will give about a 10% boost. If you need a guide, here:

0. Install MSI Afterburner
0. Download and run UNIGINE Valley on Extreme HD. (Any similar benchmark works)

1. Max your power limit.

2. Increase your core clock 50+ at a time while looking at UNIGINE benchmark till artifacts (weird lines and colors) appear or your driver crashes/freezes. Then fine tune it compared to your previous clock.
Example Core clock: ... > +150 > artifact > +145 > artifact > +120 (Keep it 25 or more below max)

3. Do the same for Memory. (50 or more below max)

4. Save your profile.

5. Don't check apply overclocking at startup. You can check it after a few days of testing.

Keep your temps below 80c/176F.
-------------------
If you want to run everything at max, consider getting a better card. 1070/1080 Prices might drop a few months later when RTX series supply the market. Also, 1060 has an average of 58 fps on Witcher 3.
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1070-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1060-6GB/3609vs3639

 

[kanaanantoine]

I would say it's a GPU bottleneck. The GTX 1060 is a good card but if you max out settings on The Witcher 3 then it will slow it down. Most people simply do not play it with max settings, especially with hairworks unless you have a GTX 1080 Ti.

What about black flag, a 4 year old game?

I got stable 60 fps with hairworks off, and i really cant see a difference, but im a sucker for ultra lol

 

[kanaanantoine]

(including max aa and hairworks).

1060 6GB can't handle Witcher 3 at 1080p/60. It could if you disable some settings like HBAO+/Hairworks but it can't do everything.

overclock

It will give about a 10% boost. If you need a guide, here:

0. Install MSI Afterburner
0. Download and run UNIGINE Valley on Extreme HD. (Any similar benchmark works)

1. Max your power limit.

2. Increase your core clock 50+ at a time while looking at UNIGINE benchmark till artifacts (weird lines and colors) appear or your driver crashes/freezes. Then fine tune it compared to your previous clock.
Example Core clock: ... > +150 > artifact > +145 > artifact > +120 (Keep it 25 or more below max)

3. Do the same for Memory. (50 or more below max)

4. Save your profile.

5. Don't check apply overclocking at startup. You can check it after a few days of testing.

Keep your temps below 80c/176F.
-------------------
If you want to run everything at max, consider getting a better card. 1070/1080 Prices might drop a few months later when RTX series supply the market. Also, 1060 has an average of 58 fps on Witcher 3.
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1070-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1060-6GB/3609vs3639

would overclocking the cpu help? or do i not bother with buying a z370 mobo

 

[zebarjadi.raouf]

would overclocking the cpu help? or do i not bother with buying a z370 mobo

You CPU is good enough already. If you have extra money to spend, buy a better GPU.

Also, Hairworks is similar 16x AA. It's overkill. It does improve the quality but it's too early to take full advantage of it.

 

[mdd1963]

A GTX1060 (6 GB) is a quite competent 1080P card for all games....up thru fairly high details on most games...

Not sure how you could overwhelm a 1060 at 1080P in today's games....; I'd be more concerned about storage access or connection bandwidth, etc... (Do your off-line games play fine?)

Are you attempting streaming as well?

 

[volkgren]

A list of games (that I've played) which will throw a GTX 1060 6GB below 60fps with highest settings:

Assassin's Creed Unity
Assassin's Creed Origins
Mass Effect Andromeda
PUBG
The Division
The Witcher 3

and those are just the ones I can think of right now. My point is you're a "sucker for ultra graphics" then you should be using something more than a GTX 1060 6GB.