Low GPU usage with SLI 970s in BF4

[TheCoachChen]

PC Specs are CPU Intel i7 4790k @Stock cooled with Corsair H105 Push Pull Silverstone FM121 fans. GPU 2X Nvidia GTX 970 MSI Gaming Edition. PSU 1300 W EVGA Super Nova 80 Plus Gold. 1st HDD Kingston 240 GB SSD Now SATA III. 2nd HDD WD Blue 1 TB 64 MB Cache 7200 RPM. 3rd HDD WD Blue 500 GB 16 MB Cache 7200 RPM. RAM Corsair Vengeance Black 8 GB DDR 3 1600 Mhz. Motherboard MSI Z87-G45 Gaming. OS Windows 8.1 Professional 64-bit

My setup should be average 120+ fps based on benchmarks and YouTube videos on the same setup, but it doesn't. The FPS in BF4 drops into the 60s and 70s at times and it's annoying. I am getting the same performance with one 970. One 970 also uses 100% of the GPU. If I buy two cards, shouldn't I have better performance than with one card? My GPU usage in BF4 when SLI is turned on for both GPUs is around 60%. CPU usage is around 70%. This is bad in comparison to YouTube FPS videos with the same setup. I think it's the bad profile that NVidia has for BF4 or it could be my motherboard (I bought it refurbished on Ebay)? What can I do to improve GPU usage and ultimately FPS? Lastly on You Tube, people have achieved 100% GPU usage on both GPU's. That shows me that it's possible to get good GPU usage and high FPS. Please help and thank you!

What I tried to alivate the problem
1) Clean install of windows (I upgraded GPU and using the same installation however)
2) Used Nvidia Inspector.
3) Updated my drivers
4) Went into Nvidia Control Center and turned settings to Max Power Usage.
5) Reseated the cards
6) Tried New SLI bridge
7) Unparked Cores (made it worse)
8) OCed the GPU slightly

 

[Schwanzstuck]

PC Specs are CPU Intel i7 4790k @Stock cooled with Corsair H105 Push Pull Silverstone FM121 fans. GPU 2X Nvidia GTX 970 MSI Gaming Edition. PSU 1300 W EVGA Super Nova 80 Plus Gold. 1st HDD Kingston 240 GB SSD Now SATA III. 2nd HDD WD Blue 1 TB 64 MB Cache 7200 RPM. 3rd HDD WD Blue 500 GB 16 MB Cache 7200 RPM. RAM Corsair Vengeance Black 8 GB DDR 3 1600 Mhz. Motherboard MSI Z87-G45 Gaming. OS Windows 8.1 Professional 64-bit

My setup should be average 120+ fps based on benchmarks and YouTube videos on the same setup, but it doesn't. The FPS in BF4 drops into the 60s and 70s at times and it's annoying. I am getting the same performance with one 970. One 970 also uses 100% of the GPU. If I buy two cards, shouldn't I have better performance than with one card? My GPU usage in BF4 when SLI is turned on for both GPUs is around 60%. CPU usage is around 70%. This is bad in comparison to YouTube FPS videos with the same setup. I think it's the bad profile that NVidia has for BF4 or it could be my motherboard (I bought it refurbished on Ebay)? What can I do to improve GPU usage and ultimately FPS? Lastly on You Tube, people have achieved 100% GPU usage on both GPU's. That shows me that it's possible to get good GPU usage and high FPS. Please help and thank you!

What I tried to alivate the problem
1) Clean install of windows (I upgraded GPU and using the same installation however)
2) Used Nvidia Inspector.
3) Updated my drivers
4) Went into Nvidia Control Center and turned settings to Max Power Usage.
5) Reseated the cards
6) Tried New SLI bridge
7) Unparked Cores (made it worse)
8) OCed the GPU slightly

Have you checked your temperatures? I have very similar setup with 4970k and 970sli. If your 4790k is throttling, it would show less gpu usage , and less frames. Did you enable sli in nvidia control panel? That needs to be done manually. you have to check on "max 3d performance" setting in invidia control panel. It sounds like you did if you a r e seeing 60percent usage in both cards.

 

[TheCoachChen]

Yes I did check that SLI was enabled. That's how I turned on one or two cards. Lastly Temps are golden. Around 50 C when gaming for the 970s. For the CPU it's around 45 C load while gaming.

 

[Goldengoose]

You shouldnt be expecting to see 100% of your GPU used. The reason you're seeing them both sat at 70% is because they dont need to work any harder.

I take it you have your settings on max?

Are you using beta drivers by any chance? I know they can be a little unstable.

Do you notice that your getting lower performance in other games? BF4 is a pretty large game i would of thought SLI support would be pretty good - i dont play it personally so i cant really comment.

 

[TheCoachChen]

You shouldnt be expecting to see 100% of your GPU used. The reason you're seeing them both sat at 70% is because they dont need to work any harder.

I take it you have your settings on max?

Are you using beta drivers by any chance? I know they can be a little unstable.

Do you notice that your getting lower performance in other games? BF4 is a pretty large game i would of thought SLI support would be pretty good - i dont play it personally so i cant really comment.

This is not the solution.... I am getting lower performance in other games such as FarCry 3. I think SLI should scale, all the reviews and the research I did said it would. Even Skyrim with ENB's and 100+ mods are scaling better than BF4.......

 

[Goldengoose]

You shouldnt be expecting to see 100% of your GPU used. The reason you're seeing them both sat at 70% is because they dont need to work any harder.

I take it you have your settings on max?

Are you using beta drivers by any chance? I know they can be a little unstable.

Do you notice that your getting lower performance in other games? BF4 is a pretty large game i would of thought SLI support would be pretty good - i dont play it personally so i cant really comment.

This is not the solution.... I am getting lower performance in other games such as FarCry 3. I think SLI should scale, all the reviews and the research I did said it would. Even Skyrim with ENB's and 100+ mods are scaling better than BF4.......

Someone may have clicked 'best solution' by accident. I'll untick it in a sec.

I was hoping it would be an isolated issue (only performed poorly in BF4). If it's across the board, lower than expected performance, then something isn't right.

You haven't got the geforce vsync equivalent enabled in the driver options have you? It doesn't work the same as Vsync via in game options. Rather than limiting FPS to a specific number, it will track and only limit when needed.

I'm grasping at straws here trying to think whats stopping you getting your performance.

 

[TheCoachChen]

People on YouTube have reached 100% GPU usage. MSI recommends that I should RMA the cards. Also my temps are amazing for SLI..... all below 55 C. This is not solved yet..... please untick, I clicked the Gmail link and then it ticked itself for some reason.