Question Upgrade GTX 980 Ti to RTX 3060 Ti (bad performance.. low/unstable fps)

[Vesp0]

Hey all,

I just bought a new graphic card in order to have some performance boost as my PC is getting older. I did this as price was quite good, and would buy remaining new pieces with time.

Before switching I did a complete deletion of the graphic drivers with DDU v18.0.5.9. After that I changed card and reinstalled the latest NVIDIA drivers. I tried it out in game and saw that performance was quite similar to what I had.. so I checked further and also updated motherboard chipset drivers (driverscloud.com).
I also deactivated, internal GPU from motherboard from BIOS and tried out al sorts of NVIDIA graphic settings... without any success.

Depending on the games I play I have either low FPS, unstable FPS, sound stuttering, .. and so on. I play all games in full LOW and still I barely reach 60 fps.
In game CPU activity is around 60%, Memory 50-60% & GPU only at 10-30%.

I also did a UserBenchmark for reference:
UserBenchmarks: Game 110%, Desk 89%, Work 92%
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K - 85.1%
GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060-Ti - 130.9%
SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 128GB - 100.1%
HDD: Toshiba DT01ACA100 1TB - 83.7%
RAM: HyperX Fury DDR3 1600 C10 2x8GB - 59.7%
MBD: Asus Z97-PRO(Wi-Fi ac)/USB 3.1

CPU: Intel Core i7 4790K
Motherboard: Z97-PRO(Wi-Fi ac)/USB 3.1
Memory: 16GB DDR3 800 Mhz
Video Card: MSI Ventus 2 GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB GDDR6 OC edition
(Old card was GeGorce GTX 980 Ti)
Hard disk: TOSHIBADT01ACA100 1Tb
SSD (for windows): Samsung SSD850PRO 128GB
Power Supply: POWER LC8650II V2.3 OZEANOS 650W

Please help me.. I am kinda out of ideas and feel very bummed by this situation.

 

[TechyInAZ]

I hate to say it, but I'm quite sure your CPU is at fault here. The 4790K is already nearly 10 years old and will bottleneck most modern graphics cards on the market today.

What games are you playing exactly?

 

[Vesp0]

Just to name some.. but not the most demanding games I think. (I play almost everyhing is full LOW).
FIFA23, Valorant, Escape from Tarkov, Rainbow Six Siege, COD MW2, League of Legends..

I don't think you are wrong but what I don't understand is, my PC is behaving worse with the 3060Ti than with the 980Ti.
Sometime the 3060Ti is getting fps drops and stays at around 30 FPS.

Even if the CPU is the bottleneck, should'nt the new card at least do as good as the old?

 

[Bach0]

I write this as someone who asks questions on this forums, not the one who gives answers usually.

I also think that there should be a CPU bottleneck, but the real question is how much. Is it to the point that any GPU past GTX 980 TI will show no increase in FPS? i really doubt that. The chipset driver update scared me to be fair, i never downlaod any drivers from anywhere other than manufacturers website..I would have looked up for chipset driver on your motherboard's page instead.

In you place,in the first place, i would have downloaded GPU benchmark software like Furmark, unigine superposition or any other, which will give you score and then you can compare it to average score of your GPU. This is to make sure your GPU functions well and gives proper performance.

I think there are 2 possibilities:

1: You did everything right.( Used DDU correctly, e.t.c) and it might really be the CPU bottleneck issue and everything works as intended.

2: You messed up somewhere.

I would have checked if GPU is installed correctly.Open up GPU-Z if you have it installed and monitor your GPU if PCIe Gen speed and lane number is correct and other stuff. If something is wrong there you can shut down PC, unplug PSU and reinstall card.

People also use DDU in their own ways, firstly i would change some windows settings before gling to safe mode to use DDU. I would disable fast boot from windows settings and also i would disable automatic driver installation from advanced windows settings. Then go to safe mode, start DDU and uninstall you GPU driver with internet connected disabled.( all this time i would have my GPU unpluged from PC).After reastart or shut down , insert GPU and boot up, activate all disabled settings back( i leave fast boot off anyway) and install the drivers and then you can do some GPU benchmark tests.

EDIT: I think i used this video for a DDU tutorial on YouTube by JayzTwoCents if you need help with it...

EDIT 2: I have a feeling that it's not a CPU bottleneck to that extreme degree, because as you stated CPU usage is around 60%, if that was CPU bottleneck CPU usage would be maxed out or near 100% depending on a game. I think you did something wrong with DDU or during GPU installation. I might be very wrong as well, i don't know how familiar you are with DDU and the stuff i mentioned. You might be much advanced than me or opposite, if it was your first ever try, It would be best to explore more on topic and then retry the whole process. I don;t think there is something unfixble. Don't lose hope, i don't think you need the CPU upgrade, there is some stupid error probably with leftover driver or something.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8OLhUAPDq0

 

[ohio_buckeye]

It could be that you are experiencing a cpu bottleneck. However, why are you running low settings? Turn things up towards high. You may be artificially bottlenecking your cpu. Try turning up your graphics quality settings and you might see things smooth out. If not you may need to upgrade the cpu etc. Even an i3 12100 would run circles around your i7.

 

[LordVile]

Could be a lot of things. Would maybe look at the PSU and check everything is plugged in correctly. Also are you running your power through 2 cables or one?

 

[Vesp0]

I did the furmarker "preset: 1080 (FHD)" benchmark and got this BENCHMARK. (SCORE:10187 points (170 FPS, 60000 ms) Very similar to other same cards from other peers.

From furmarker site (reference):
– GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (default clock speeds), R516.59 (Win10 64-bit)
– 10707 points (178 FPS)

Mine is MSI.. but does not matter.
So I think the card is "set up" well but for some reason in games.. it seems like the card is in ECO mode or something and is not being used. % of GPU usage stays very low in "MSI afterburner monitoring".
Also what I noticed is that at start-up of the game fps are higher compared to let's say 10 min in.. seems like it is fading.

Examples:
Rainbow Six runs well and stays and is capped at 144 FPS.
League of legends running at around 120 FPS
Escape from Tarkov, between 30-60 FPS max , freezing stuttering al over the place (980Ti was getting 60-70 stable)
COD WZ2 same as Tarkov.. not really playable

@ohio_buckeye, I will try to up some of the graphic setting in game, will see what it gives.

@LordVile, there is only one 8 pin connection to the GPU.

 

[Bach0]

I did the furmarker "preset: 1080 (FHD)" benchmark and got this BENCHMARK. (SCORE:10187 points (170 FPS, 60000 ms) Very similar to other same cards from other peers.

From furmarker site (reference):
– GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (default clock speeds), R516.59 (Win10 64-bit)
– 10707 points (178 FPS)

Mine is MSI.. but does not matter.
So I think the card is "set up" well but for some reason in games.. it seems like the card is in ECO mode or something and is not being used. % of GPU usage stays very low in "MSI afterburner monitoring".
Also what I noticed is that at start-up of the game fps are higher compared to let's say 10 min in.. seems like it is fading.

Examples:
Rainbow Six runs well and stays and is capped at 144 FPS.
League of legends running at around 120 FPS
Escape from Tarkov, between 30-60 FPS max , freezing stuttering al over the place (980Ti was getting 60-70 stable)
COD WZ2 same as Tarkov.. not really playable

@ohio_buckeye, I will try to up some of the graphic setting in game, will see what it gives.

@LordVile, there is only one 8 pin connection to the GPU.

I usually set power plan to high performance in windows settings, also go to NVIDIA control panel and set primary OPENGLrenderer to RTX 3060 Ti and change power plan to prefer maximum performance there as well, hit apply and test again if you haven't done this already.

EDIT: Is GPU running In PCIe Gen 4 x16 slot? Gen 3 is fine too, if your motherboard doesn't have it. I once had it plugged in proper slot but was running at lower speeds for some reason, reinstalled GPU and it fixed the problem. I don't have any more ideas, i hope you can fix the issue. Good luck.

 

[boju]

Background usage is high in UB, 28%. What's running in the background?

Using GE to optimise?

If in doubt use method 1.
https://www.ubackup.com/windows-10/reinstall-windows-10-without-losing-data-4348.html?__c=1

My old retired 2600k at 4.6 handled 1080ti quite well. 3060ti is bit faster but so is ops processor. Sounds like performance issue is elsewhere.

Try reinstall if you get nowhere and check why there's high background usage. Try earliest Nvidia driver in custom search list. If use GE, careful it doesn't over set settings like dsr. There is quality slider to adjust in settings.

 

[Vesp0]

@Bach0 , I had those parameters set already both in windows and NVIDIA.
Slot is a Gen 3x16 and checked in BIOS already that it is indeed set as such. :/ thank you though.

@boju, I probably had chrome, discord & steam or so open.. was not paying attention.
I launched games already with optimized parameters through GE but remain same issue.
I will try the windows reinstallation method 1 you proposed here.
With "Try earliest Nvidia driver in custom search list. " you mean oldest driver available on their website?
I deactivated the DSR option through NVIDIA control panel, would be enough?
What do you mean with "There is quality slider to adjust in settings."?


Also, something really weird I just tried out when I play COD WZ2.. putting the game on FULL LOW or FULL HIGH gives me same FPS. Between 40-70 depending on where I am in the map.
These are the thing driven me crazy ...

 

[boju]

"There is quality slider to adjust in settings."?

Settings in GE, to favour performance or quality.

Does Discord launch on Windows start? Turn it off, could be causing issues with a different gpu if hardware acceleration is on. Reinstall to reset it if you need it running.

Yes try different driver. If dlss is in use (graphics setting in game if supported or in GE) try turn that off as well.

 

[gaviria19]

Hello,
Maybe its your supply, if you are from belgium i got the same problem. Its because there is no nuclear electricity.
there is only solar panel, so there will be not enough power. You can try to call your provider to fix this problem.
If there will be not a war in the ukrain you will not have this isue. 1 year ago i dont had this problem and 3 month ago it appairs in my personal computer.
thanks to vladimir poutin.
Ur country has to deploy more money and power for the oil industry and not some "green energy'

If you want discute more about this dont hesite to DM me, i have a serious project about this to have stable fps with the new generation.

Kind regards

 

[neojack]

if you have another ssd or hard drive lying around, try to remove all your storage devices, then install windows on the spare disk install the drivers etc without ever connecting it to internet.
then connect to internet and do the windows updates (reboots several times)
don't activate windows if it asks to, you have 30 days to test it before.

then install your game and try again.

You can also check if updates exists for your BIOS'motherboard

also, try to disable HPET (High Precision Event Timer ) in the BIOS settings

 

[DRagor]

Also, something really weird I just tried out when I play COD WZ2.. putting the game on FULL LOW or FULL HIGH gives me same FPS. Between 40-70 depending on where I am in the map.

It's not weird. It just means that something else then GPU is limiting your FPS. Of course that does not explain why you get worse performance then with 980ti.

 

[kerberos_20]

Also, something really weird I just tried out when I play COD WZ2.. putting the game on FULL LOW or FULL HIGH gives me same FPS. Between 40-70 depending on where I am in the map.
These are the thing driven me crazy ...

its not weird, it just means you need better CPU

 

[Juan_Bijero]

What version of Windows are you running? Disregard, I see Win 10 64bit

 

[Juan_Bijero]

Also, what monitor are you using? What is the monitor's max refresh rate? 60hz, 75hz, 100hz, 120hz?

 

[Juan_Bijero]

If you have an ancient monitor you won't achieve frame rates above 60 fps regardless of GPU.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

If power is an issue definitely check the psu. Wonder if a ups in between the wall and pc to sort of condition the power would be beneficial.

 

[falcon291]

I faced similar problems after upgrading from GTX 1070 to RTX 3070. My CPU is 9700K with 32 GB of RAM. My monitor is QHD.

1. Apex Legends: No problems
2. ETS: No problems
3. Battlefield 1: Stuttering, and 60 fps, never higher. Found out that an old cfg file was limiting fps. Corrected. Nvidia recommended settings are fine.
4. Battlefield V: Nvidia recommended settings suck. RTX should be disabled otherwise low fps. After playing with settings, and limiting framerate to 144, I started to get almost constant 144 fps. But it is a very much CPU dependent game, that means even an open browser can cause stuttering. It was so with GTX 1070.

What I mean for each game you will need to configure yourself. I think the problem is with your CPU and you will also need to upgrade it sooner or later. But your GPU is fine.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

If that’s the case you may check out the GeForce experience software and try to have it optimize your settings to see if that helps.

 

[Vesp0]

I tries a lot of different setting and managed to solve Tarkov as well (+-), to playable state at least.

Depending on demand of game I guess CPU is indeed the troublemaker.. even though it is not used at 100%.
I think it will remain a mistery At least Thank you for the help all.

 

[falcon291]

If that’s the case you may check out the GeForce experience software and try to have it optimize your settings to see if that helps.

GeForce experience always set RTX on. But for a multiplayer FPS, RTX is still a problem, unless you have a RTX 4090 and play games on HD resolution. I want fps not better quality.
For demanding games more or less you must choose your own settings.

 

[falcon291]

I tries a lot of different setting and managed to solve Tarkov as well (+-), to playable state at least.

Depending on demand of game I guess CPU is indeed the troublemaker.. even though it is not used at 100%.
I think it will remain a mistery At least Thank you for the help all.

If a single core is at 100 per cent usage, you will not get overall 100 per cent usage, but still the performance would drop significantly.