Performance Drops in Borderlands 2

[DeliveryGodNoah]

I've had problems with this game ever since i've upgraded to a 780ti.

Currently, I use a 980ti, 16GB RAM, Windows 10 64, and a Xeon 1231v3 CPU

At first I tried the game at max settings at 1440p. I was getting 100 FPS in the beginning, but at the first town it drops to about 50FPS.

So I tried lowering EVERYTHING to low, and it still drops to about 60, which would be okay, but in combat, it drops to sub 40FPS.

And yes, I have Physx on low and i've never played the game with it above that.

I've even tried turning off dynamic shadows and even the cel shading outlines, which did help in general, but I do still have most combat scenarios drop to ~40FPS.

This is pretty much regardless of settings. Lowering the resolution, graphic settings, and turning Physx to Low made little to no difference.

I don't see how my setup could possibly have issues running this game.

Now I am playing the game with two other friends, who both have lesser PC (the one is using a 780ti and the other a brand new RX 480) and they claim they don't have many issues, but I can't confirm the validity of that since they aren't as sensitive to lower FPS.

 

[techgeek]

Make sure you have PhysX set to your 980Ti in the nVidia Control Panel > Configure Surround, PhysX.

For some reason it defaults to Auto which runs PhysX on the CPU which will cause huge drops in performance with anything but PhysX off.

Edit: Just tested BL2 and at 4K (DSR) and PhysX at high, my lowest FPS reading is 48 and that is during fights and lots of stuff (fluids, explosions etc.

 

[DeliveryGodNoah]

I've done that as well.

It's not just in combat though. It areas like Sanctuary I can get sub 60FPS, but generally it seems to be in multiplayer. I am the "host" (I invite the people), would that make such a massive difference? It just doesn't seem correct for an older title to run so relatively low on my hardware.

 

[Carnaxus]

Is your monitor plugged into the graphics card? I know, not likely, but someone else on here recently had a 1050 with the monitor plugged into the mobo, so I thought I might as well ask.

If that isn't the issue, check your CPU and GPU temps. Also, I'm not an expert on Intel CPU's, so I don't know the exact performance data of the Xeon 1231v3, but it's possible that your CPU isn't able to process and send frames to your GPU fast enough for the game to remain smooth.

 

[techgeek]

I would just make sure it's set. I've had it set back after finally discovering what was going on. It seems to default to that, so if you update your driver, it will likely be set back to Auto. I've only got a 980, not 980Ti, you should be seeing substantially higher framerates than me. I just retested on 1920 and I get 120FPS at my lowest and I'm running everything at it's absolute highest settings.

 

[DeliveryGodNoah]

Is your monitor plugged into the graphics card? I know, not likely, but someone else on here recently had a 1050 with the monitor plugged into the mobo, so I thought I might as well ask.

If that isn't the issue, check your CPU and GPU temps. Also, I'm not an expert on Intel CPU's, so I don't know the exact performance data of the Xeon 1231v3, but it's possible that your CPU isn't able to process and send frames to your GPU fast enough for the game to remain smooth.

Yeah, it's plugged into the card alright. It'd have to be, or I wouldn't be running all my other games (playing Overwatch at we speak at well above 100FPS) at high settings.

As for the Xeon 1231, everything I've seen says it's basically an Intel 4770, which I think is still considered pretty high end. I don't know CPU performance very well.

 

[DeliveryGodNoah]

I would just make sure it's set. I've had it set back after finally discovering what was going on. It seems to default to that, so if you update your driver, it will likely be set back to Auto. I've only got a 980, not 980Ti, you should be seeing substantially higher framerates than me. I just retested on 1920 and I get 120FPS at my lowest and I'm running everything at it's absolute highest settings.

It was for sure when I was playing it about an hour or so ago. Just checked and it's still the selected setting.

 

[techgeek]

What is your GPU and CPU usage while running BL2? GPU usage should be like high 90's, while I've never seen above 40% for CPU usage. BL2 doesn't really tax the CPU unless PhysX is set to Auto. I remember going through exactly what you did. Actually I discovered it on my kids computers long before I bought the game for myself.

I don't think Overwatch supports PhysX, at least I don't see it in the supported titles.

 

[DeliveryGodNoah]

What is your GPU and CPU usage while running BL2? GPU usage should be like high 90's, while I've never seen above 40% for CPU usage. BL2 doesn't really tax the CPU unless PhysX is set to Auto. I remember going through exactly what you did. Actually I discovered it on my kids computers long before I bought the game for myself.

I don't think Overwatch supports PhysX, at least I don't see it in the supported titles.

Alright, so, with the following settings:

Resolution: 2560X1440
Ambient Occlusion: On
DoF: Off
AF: 8x
Bullet Decals: Normal
Foliage Distance: Far
Texture Quality: High
Game Detail: High
View Distance: High
Physx: Low
FXAA: Off
With unlimited framerate

When the framerate drops, my GPU is working at about 30% with a temp of 60*C and my CPU about 28-35% with a temp of 58*C and using about 4GB of RAM.

When the framerate is higher, the GPU is working at about 50-70%, and the CPU hovering at about 40-50%. Temps barely change beyond a few degrees.

Unfortunately this is by myself and not during multiplayer, since the people I play with are in bed at the moment.

 

[Carnaxus]

That's weird. It looks like your CPU and GPU are quitting on you for a moment and then coming back. Maybe do a chkdisk /f and see if there are any faults on your HDD/SSD?

 

[techgeek]

Something is stalling your system. You should most definitely being seeing high 90's for GPU usage most of the time you are gaming. I just ran a quick run and the lowest my GPU usage was 76%, but most of the times it was in the 90's. My CPU usage was sitting in the 30's and 40's.

Your system isn't resource starved. The GPU isn't overheating either as this tends to cause GPU usage to jump to 100% as it throttles the core clock.