Question Not getting the proper performance with RTX 2070

Algalorrd

Reputable
May 30, 2019
75
3
4,545
So... here is my drama:

Recently I've built myself a new pc with:

Asus Strix ROG B450-F Gaming
AMD Ryzen 7 2700x (operating at 4.0 Ghz)
MSi RTX 2070 Armor G
(2X8gb) G.Skill Trident Z 3000 Mhz
Corsair TX 850 w
Ultrawide Monitor LGG 29UM69G-B (max res 2560x1080)

I set the CPU clock to 4.0 Ghz and the RAM clock to 3000 Mhz (after a little struggle) but I'm definitely not getting the proper performance while playing games like Battlefield V and The Witcher 3.
In Battlefield V while playing with Vsync on ultra settings I get 75 fps almost all the time, once in a while there are stutters in which the fps drops to 40 for a few seconds. With Vsync off I get between 90 and 80.
The same happens with The Witcher 3.
I've been using MSi Afterburner. Temps are normal, both on GPU and CPU. While playing BFV with Vsync on I get 60%/70% of GPU usage and 50%/60% of GPU Usage.
The BIOS, Windows and all drivers are up to date. I don't know what to do. Please, help!
 
Last edited:
Let's start with basics. Which slots are your memory modules installed in? This is important and is really not negotiable on a dual channel consumer motherboard. They NEED to be installed in the A2 and B2 slots, which are the second and fourth slots over from the CPU socket. Some boards designate these slots as the DDR4_1 and DDR4_2 slots, but regardless they are always the second and fourth slots from the CPU. Use of any any other slots will likely result in crippling the normally doubled bandwidth of the dual channel memory configuration, and potentially other performance issues as well.

I'd recommend this as a baseline before going any further.

Here are the first steps to take when trying to solve these kinds of hardware problems. If you have already tried these steps, all of them, exactly as outlined, we can move along to more advanced solutions.


If there are any you have NOT done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.



First,

make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release.


Second,

go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, storage controllers, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates.


IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.


Third,

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory tab. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.


Fourth,

Make sure the problem is not just a bad cable or the wrong cable IF this is a no display issue. If it is NOT related to a lack of display signal, then skip to the next step.

This happens a lot. Try a different cable or a different TYPE of cable. Sometimes there can be issues with the monitor or card not supporting a specific specification such as HDMI 1.4 vs HDMI 2.0, or even an HDMI output stops working but the Displayport or DVI output still works fine on the graphics card. Always worth checking the cable and trying other cables because cables get run over, bent, bent pins or simply were cheap quality to begin with and something as simple as trying a different cable or different monitor might be all that is required to solve your issue.


The last thing we want to look at,

for now anyhow, is the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.


Here are the full instructions on running the Display driver uninstaller and CLEAN installing new drivers.

How to perform a CLEAN install using the Wagnard tools Display driver uninstaller (DDU)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shektron
So... here is my drama:

Recently I've built myself a new pc with:

Asus Strix ROG B450-F Gaming
MSi RTX 2070 Armor G
(2X8gb) G.Skill Trident Z 3000 Mhz
Corsair TX 850 w
Ultrawide Monitor LGG 29UM69G-B (max res 2560x1080)

I set the CPU clock to 4.0 Ghz and the RAM clock to 3000 Mhz (after a little struggle) but I'm definitely not getting the proper performance while playing games like Battlefield V and The Witcher 3.
In Battlefield V while playing with Vsync on ultra settings I get 75 fps almost all the time, once in a while there are stutters in which the fps drops to 40 for a few seconds. With Vsync off I get between 90 and 80.
The same happens with The Witcher 3.
I've been using MSi Afterburner. Temps are normal, both on GPU and CPU. While playing BFV with Vsync on I get 60%/70% of GPU usage and 50%/60% of GPU Usage.
The BIOS, Windows and all drivers are up to date. I don't know what to do. Please, help!
What CPU do you have?
 
You're not comparing your performance to other people with 1080p resolutions are you? Because you realize that your performance is going to be a lot worse than theirs since you have an ultrawide display and your hardware has to deal with a lot more pixels than on a system with only a 1920x1080 display. Just want to make sure you've factored that in as well.
 

Algalorrd

Reputable
May 30, 2019
75
3
4,545
@Darkbreeze I understand this perfectly well. What bothers me are the small fps drops I get while playing games like Battlefield V. Using vsync the fps is locked at 75 to avoid screen tearing but once in a while it drops to below 60. Sometimes even below 40 and that's definitely not supposed to happen with an RTX 2070.
 
You updated the BIOS to the latest version, installed ALL of the latest motherboard drivers including chipset, storage controller, audio and network (LAN/Ethernet) adapter and did a clean install, CLEAN, as outlined in the guide using the DDU?

Are you using a wired or wireless internet connection?

Have you changed any of the default CPU behaviors in the BIOS?

Memory is set to the XMP profile and is installed in the correct slots (A2 and B2)?
 
Run CPU-Z and make sure the memory is actually running at 3000 MHz, sometimes the overclock on RAM fails and it gets reset to stock speeds without showing any errors. In CPU-Z, under memory, your DRAM Frequency should read around 1500 MHz if your RAM is at 3000 MHz.

If that is the case, then use MSI Afterburner's on-screen display to check temperatures while gaming, and notice whether the CPU usage drops or the GPU usage drops when the game stutters.
 

Algalorrd

Reputable
May 30, 2019
75
3
4,545
@sherkhank17 my memories are working at 3000 MHz and I'm getting normal temperatures while playing demanding games like BFV and The Witcher 3. Also, there's nothing awkward with CPU and GPU usage when the game stutters.
I'm beggining to suspect that the RAM is what is causing all this headache. Somebody on YouTube that was having the same problem answered me this:

"We made the mistake getting normal 3200 or 3k ram or a bit lower. We had to of bough the b-die ram, of verious brands. That will work on AMD platforms ( ryzen) at max speed. Be sure you get the cl-14 version for max performance. The normal 3200 mhz cl 18 or 16 vs the b-die ram at cl 14 is rly a HUGE difference.. Even at that speed of 3200 mhz. Besides, that b-die ram AMD platforms will reconize and platform is stable."

Can any of you please confirm that? If that's the case, I'll have to buy another two sticks of RAM which sucks because RAM is really expensive where I live and I made an investiment when I bought the ones I currently using. God help me...
 
@sherkhank17 my memories are working at 3000 MHz and I'm getting normal temperatures while playing demanding games like BFV and The Witcher 3. Also, there's nothing awkward with CPU and GPU usage when the game stutters.
I'm beggining to suspect that the RAM is what is causing all this headache. Somebody on YouTube that was having the same problem answered me this:

"We made the mistake getting normal 3200 or 3k ram or a bit lower. We had to of bough the b-die ram, of verious brands. That will work on AMD platforms ( ryzen) at max speed. Be sure you get the cl-14 version for max performance. The normal 3200 mhz cl 18 or 16 vs the b-die ram at cl 14 is rly a HUGE difference.. Even at that speed of 3200 mhz. Besides, that b-die ram AMD platforms will reconize and platform is stable."

Can any of you please confirm that? If that's the case, I'll have to buy another two sticks of RAM which sucks because RAM is really expensive where I live and I made an investiment when I bought the ones I currently using. God help me...
While B-die is supposed to work better, the major way it is better is that B-die could achieve the advertised RAM speeds with Ryzen, while others ran one or two steps slower, and even that was only with first gen Ryzen. If you are running at 3000 MHz, then the die doesn't matter, because it's only the clock speed of RAM that affects Ryzen's performance, B-die was just better compatible with Ryzen first gen but second gen has much better memory support and B-die really doesn't matter too much anymore. If you still suspect RAM, you cna try running memtest86 to check for RAM errors - if it finds any, you could return the RAM and get it replaced under warranty instead of having to buy new sticks.
 

Algalorrd

Reputable
May 30, 2019
75
3
4,545
@Shektron I'll do that test with "memtest86 " and I'll see what happens.
Also, I've been seeing some posts on Nvidia forums with people having this same problem with RTX 2070/2080/2080 ti but apperently no one found any solution. Some os those posts are from 2018. I'm feeling hopeless with this.
 
Samung B-die equipped memory is about compatibility and speed capability, as Shektron indicated. Plus, those modules that use B-die ICs are very high quality sticks with much tighter timings, so they tend to have reduced latency as well. 3000 and 3200mhz B-die modules will have CL14 (CAS14) latency. No other IC equipped memory at those speeds will have latency that low. They are the creme de le creme of memory modules.

But as also mentioned, if your memory IS already running at the advertised profile speed AND at the correct primary timings, then there is no reason other than because "you want the best sticks" to change. If the memory is at 3000mhz, the timings are correct and they are showing up as dual channel, then for all intents and purposes they are doing what they are supposed to do.

If you want to test the memory configuration to be certain, the instructions from my memory guide are posted here below, as well as a link to that guide at the bottom of the page.


Memtest86 Testing

Go to the Passmark software website and download the USB Memtest86 free version. You can do the optical disk version too if for some reason you cannot use a bootable USB flash drive.

Create bootable media using the downloaded Memtest86 (NOT Memtest86+, that is a different, older version and is outdated). Once you have done that, go into your BIOS and configure the system to boot to the USB drive that contains the Memtest86 USB media or the optical drive if using that option.


Click here to download Memtest86 USB package

Create a bootable USB Flash drive:


1. Download the Windows MemTest86 USB image.

2. Right click on the downloaded file and select the "Extract to Here" option. This places the USB image and imaging tool into the current folder.

3. Run the included imageUSB tool, it should already have the image file selected and you just need to choose which connected USB drive to turn into a bootable drive. Note that this will erase all data on the drive.



No memory should ever fail to pass Memtest86 when it is at the default configuration that the system sets it at when you start out or do a clear CMOS by removing the CMOS battery for five minutes.

Best method for testing memory is to first run four passes of Memtest86, all 11 tests, WITH the memory at the default configuration. This should be done BEFORE setting the memory to the XMP profile settings. The paid version has 13 tests but the free version only has tests 1-10 and test 13. So run full passes of all 11 tests. Be sure to download the latest version of Memtest86. Memtest86+ has not been updated in MANY years. It is NO-WISE as good as regular Memtest86 from Passmark software.

If there are ANY errors, at all, then the memory configuration is not stable. Bumping the DRAM voltage up slightly may resolve that OR you may need to make adjustments to the primary timings. There are very few secondary or tertiary timings that should be altered. I can tell you about those if you are trying to tighten your memory timings.

If you cannot pass Memtest86 with the memory at the XMP configuration settings then I would recommend restoring the memory to the default JEDEC SPD of 1333/2133mhz (Depending on your platform and memory type) with everything left on the auto/default configuration and running Memtest86 over again. If it completes the four full passes without error you can try again with the XMP settings but first try bumping the DRAM voltage up once again by whatever small increment the motherboard will allow you to increase it by. If it passes, great, move on to the Prime95 testing.

If it still fails, try once again bumping the voltage if you are still within the maximum allowable voltage for your memory type and test again. If it still fails, you are likely going to need more advanced help with configuring your primary timings and should return the memory to the default configuration until you can sort it out.

If the memory will not pass Memtest86 for four passes when it IS at the stock default non-XMP configuration, even after a minor bump in voltage, then there is likely something physically wrong with one or more of the memory modules and I'd recommend running Memtest on each individual module, separately, to determine which module is causing the issue. If you find a single module that is faulty you should contact the seller or the memory manufacturer and have them replace the memory as a SET. Memory comes matched for a reason as I made clear earlier and if you let them replace only one module rather than the entire set you are back to using unmatched memory which is an open door for problems with incompatible memory.

Be aware that you SHOULD run Memtest86 to test the memory at the default, non-XMP or custom profile settings BEFORE ever making any changes to the memory configuration so that you will know if the problem is a setting or is a physical problem with the memory.

After your memory will pass Memtest for 4 full passes, it is still not necessarily stable, but it is a good start and you should move on the the last phase of testing using Prime95. See, there IS a light at the end of the tunnel.




Final testing with Prime95

It is highly advisable that you do a final test using Prime95 version 26.6 (And ONLY version 26.6 except as noted below) choosing the Custom test. You can also use the Blend mode option but after a fair amount of personal testing, asking questions from some long time members with engineering level degrees that have forgotten more about memory architectures than you or I will ever know, and gathering opinions from a wide array of memory enthusiasts around the web, I'm pretty confident that the custom option is a lot more likely to find errors with the memory configuration, and faster, if there are any to be found.

Please note as this is rather important, if you prefer, or have problems running version 26.6 because you have a newer platform that doesn't want to play nice with version 26.6, you can use the latest version of Prime95 with the Custom test selected but you will need to make the following change.

If you wish to use a newer version than 26.6 make the following edit to the "local.txt" file located in the Prime95 folder.

Find the line value that specifies CpuSupportsAVX=1, and change it to CpuSupportsAVX=0

Then click File-->Save, and then close the document.

Now open Prime95.

Click on "Custom". Input a value of 512k in the minimum FFT size field. Leave the maximum FFT size field at 4096k. In the "Memory to use" field you should take a look at your current memory allocation in either HWinfo or system resource monitor. Whatever "free" memory is available, input approximately 75% of that amount. So if you currently have 16GB of installed memory, and approximately 3GB are in use or reserved leaving somewhere in the neighborhood of 13GB free, then enter something close to 75% of that amount.

So if you have 13GB free, or something reasonably close to that, then 75% of THAT would be 9.75GB, which, when multiplies times 1024 will roughly equal about 9984MB. You can average things out by simply selecting the closest multiple of 1024 to that amount just to keep it simple, so we'll say 10 x 1024= 10240mb and enter that amount in the field for "Memory to use (MB)". We are still well within the 13GB of unused memory BUT we have left enough memory unused so that if Windows decides to load some other process or background program, or an already loaded one suddenly needs more, we won't run into a situation where the system errors out due to lack of memory because we've dedicated it all to testing.

I've experienced false errors and system freezes during this test from over allocating memory, so stick to the method above and you should be ok.


Moving right along, do not change the time to run each FFT size.Leave that set to 15 minutes.

Click run and run the Custom test for 8 hours. If it passed Memtest86 and it passes 8 hours of the Custom test, the memory is 100% stable, or as close to it as you are ever likely to get but a lot of experts in the area of memory configuration suggest that running the extended Windows memory diagnostic test is also a pretty good idea too.

If you get errors, (and you will want to run HWinfo alongside Prime95 so you can periodically monitor each thread as Prime will not stop running just because one worker drops out, so you need to watch HWinfo to see if there are any threads not showing 100% usage which means one of the workers errored and was dropped) then you need to either change the timings, change the DRAM voltage or change the DRAM termination voltage, which should be approximately half of the full DRAM voltage.

There are also other bios settings that can affect the memory configuration AND stability, such as the VCCIO and system agent voltages, so if you have problems with stability at higher clock speeds you might want to look at increasing those slightly. Usually, for Intel at least, something in the neighborhood of 1.1v on both those is pretty safe. There are a substantial number of guides out there covering those two settings, but most of them are found within CPU overclocking guides so look there in guides relevant to your platform.

As a further measure of assurance that your WHOLE configuration is stable, you can download and run Realbench for 8 hours. If the system freezes or fails when running Realbench with your full memory amount set, try running it again but select only half your amount of installed memory.

Hopefully by now you have memory that is working correctly, in the full amount you purchased, and at the advertised speed and timings. I am certainly no expert in the area of memory architectures or very advanced configurations, but hopefully this has helped you to some degree and if there are questions I might be able to answer that were not addressed here, feel free to start a thread and PM me with a link to your question. Good luck and happy gaming, or whatever it is you do on your machine.

 
Last edited:

Algalorrd

Reputable
May 30, 2019
75
3
4,545
Thank you all again for your replies. I did the "memtest86" and unfortunately it has found 2 erros on my RAM. I did the test running it on 3000 MHz. I'll do it again with everything on "auto" which sets the ram to 2133 MHz and see if those two errors will show up again.
BTW I've posted the same story in the Nvidia forum and someone answered me saying that the stutters I have while playing are being caused by the so called "the standby list issue."
They've also recommended me this: https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1256 as a solution. I've tested it and apparently the stutters have stopped,
I'll still do the "memtest86" with the default settings and see what happens. I will report to you guys later.
 
"The standby list issue". Is that like a "snipe hunt"? JK.

So, regardless of that, if you have errors in Memtest, there is either a physical problem with the memory, or a problem with the speed, timings and voltage configuration, or a CPU or motherboard issue. Usually, as mentioned, you want to run at default settings and see if the errors are gone. If they are, that eliminates any possibility of it being a physical memory issue or a motherboard/CPU issue. Leaving only configuration. Try updating BIOS first. Try setting XMP and upping the voltage by .005-.020v and testing again.
 

Algalorrd

Reputable
May 30, 2019
75
3
4,545
I did the "memtest86" again with all settings on default and guess what? Everything went pretty well. Not a single error. The only conclusion is that I made some mistake with the configuration.
Just to remember, I'm using two G.Skill Trident Z 3000 Mhz (operating at 2133 Mhz). Someone recommended me a software called "thaiphoon burner" to help me set the memory clock to 3000 Mhz but their website is not working. Do you guys have any tips on how can I proper configure my RAM to work without any issues? I'm a total noob on which regards to that.
 
Simple, go into the BIOS, and set the memory to run at the XMP profile by enabling DOCP.

Simple version.

https://pcpartpicker.com/forums/topic/300458-how-to-set-xmp-profile-on-asus-b450-f-motherboard-bios

If, after setting the memory to run at the XMP profile, there are again errors when testing, then increase the DRAM (Memory) voltage by .005 to .020v, save settings and test again.

Some further information on the process. Keep in mind, any timings mentioned are for the specific memory modules in question, and you'll need to plug in your own numbers OR simply leave the profile settings as intended by the manufacturer for YOUR own system and memory.

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthre...n-DOCP-settings-for-B450-F-Gaming-Motherboard

Very important for memory configurations on Ryzen platforms that you have the MOST recent BIOS version installed.
 

Algalorrd

Reputable
May 30, 2019
75
3
4,545
@Darkbreeze I did what you said. After enabling DOCP the memory clock went from 2133 MHz to 3000 MHz and the pc has booted normally. I guess that happaned because I updated the BIOS. I did that before the update and the pc would not start up. I'll do another "memtest86" and see what happens.
I've been testing the games after these adjustments I've made and I've noticed something weird. While testing The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt with MSi Afterburner, I've noticed that the word "voltage" would appear and dessapear a few times and right after that the GPU Clock would decrease and the frames droped while GPU and CPU usage remained normal.
Is that normal? Is this a sign that perhaps my GPU is not receving enough power from de PSU? This may sound like a dumb question but than again, this is all new for me.

Here follows the links to images from the moment that happened:

https://ibb.co/Vwnhg8p (when the word "voltage" appears)

https://ibb.co/FJG5PhR (the decrease in GPU clock and the frame drops right after it)
 
Since you've updated the motherboard BIOS, it MIGHT be advisable to AGAIN do a clean install of the graphics drivers. Changes to motherboard firmware can affect graphics cards and their driver implementations in big ways sometimes. I'd try that first.

You may also need to fiddle with the graphics card voltage limit. Or there could be a problem with the card and it's unexpectedly exceeding the limit, or getting hot. Have you checked to the GPU thermals to see if that is happening when this happens?
 

Algalorrd

Reputable
May 30, 2019
75
3
4,545
About the need to install the graphics drivers after updating the BIOS, I already did that. Which now leaves only the question of the GPU voltage limit.
You said I may need to fiddle with the graphics card voltage limit. The question is: How do I do that? I haven't noticed any anomaly in terms of GPU temperature. This is a brand new card.
 

Algalorrd

Reputable
May 30, 2019
75
3
4,545
About the need to install the graphics drivers after updating the BIOS, I already did that. Which now leaves only the question of the GPU voltage limit.
You said I may need to fiddle with the graphics card voltage limit. The question is: How do I do that? I haven't noticed any anomaly in terms of GPU temperature. This is a brand new card.

Apperently this GPU clock decrease only happens with The Witcher 3. I don't really know the reason. While playing Battlefield V and Hitman the "voltage" thing remains there but there aren't noticeble frame drops. With Battlefield V the frame drops are gone when I use the "Intelligent standby list cleaner ISLC".
To be honest i'm having such headache with the RTX 2070 that I'm starting to regret buying it. Such an expensive card for so much headache.
 

Algalorrd

Reputable
May 30, 2019
75
3
4,545
Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but why are you capping the 2700x @ 4.0ghz? That makes zero sense! Remove that and let the CPU boost on it's own. Enable PBO and XFR in BIOS.

I did as you said althought I've only found the PBO option on my BIOS settings. There's no XFR.
There are other settings like "Performance Enhancer", "Performance Bias" and "Core Performance Boost". I've left everything on "auto".
While playing Battlefield V Multiplayer I've noticed an increase in GPU usage and descrease in CPU usage. BTW CPU clock is now at 3.7 Ghz and while playing I haven't noticed any increase on that number. The first match ran really smooth but I had some stuttering on the second match. Those small fps drops have only stopped when I used this: https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1256

So far that's the only thing that had have reduced the stutters. Despite that I don't really know what to do. The worst part is that apperently this isn't a new issue. At least judging by this video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lJcv0V4qlY



I must admit I never had this problem with my old GTX 1060.
 
Last edited: