Question Witcher 3 - Mediocre performance out of what should be a decent PC Build

[LeonBirkin02]

So here is the rub. I want to play the Witcher 3. More so, I want to play the Witcher 3 as close to max settings as I can get. I have read through the requirements of the game, and I think my PC should be able to handle it:

NZXT Phantom 410 Mid-Tower Case
Intel i7-6700k processor - Corsair H80i GT Liquid Cooler
ASUS RoG Maximus Hero VIII motherboard
WD Black 500GB NVMe SSD
4x 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4-2400 RAM
2x MSI GTX 780 Twin Frozr SLI (Only using built-in coolers)
Corsair GOLD 1000W PSU
6x 3TB+ assorted 7200RPM Data Drives for Plex Server

If I turn off HairWorks and dial back various particle effects, I can run the game at about 80% of the max settings but there is still frame rate drops even walking around the first room of the game. If I run Low, Med, or High the game runs pretty well but that simply is not what I am looking for. Any advice will really help, or just give me something to learn from. Apologies if this has been posted in the past, I just created one because I assumed none of the posts would have the same configuration that I do. As far as I know, there is no current overclocking on my PC.

 

[WildCard999]

Check your vram usage, SLI vram doesn't stack so you technically only have 3gb of usable vram and if it exceeds that and uses the system memory then you'll experience poor performance.

While it's been awhile I used to play it with two EVGA 780 6gb variants in SLI and even mid to high settings with Hairworks enabled it would barely keep a steady 60 FPS. I would just make sure you have the latest drivers and make sure your top GPU isn't exceeding 85C or you'll end up thermal throttling to prevent damage. Getting a stable overclock on that 6700K should help with the FPS dips.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/intel-temperature-guide.1488337/

 

[LeonBirkin02]

Check your vram usage, SLI vram doesn't stack so you technically only have 3gb of usable vram and if it exceeds that and uses the system memory then you'll experience poor performance.

While it's been awhile I used to play it with two EVGA 780 6gb variants in SLI and even mid to high settings with Hairworks enabled it would barely keep a steady 60 FPS. I would just make sure you have the latest drivers and make sure your top GPU isn't exceeding 85C or you'll end up thermal throttling to prevent damage. Getting a stable overclock on that 6700K should help with the FPS dips.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/intel-temperature-guide.1488337/

So I played with overclocking the CPU a bit, right now I have it set to around a 15% overclock on startup and I used MSI Afterburner to overclock the GPU slightly. Also set the AIO Cooler fans to always Max because I am stupid and did not do that from the start. The game is certainly running much better, I played up and through that Tavern that you slaughter those guys in and everything was running pretty smoothly. I am seeing temperatures on the CPU get up near 80 Celsius briefly which worries me a bit.

 

[WildCard999]

So I played with overclocking the CPU a bit, right now I have it set to around a 15% overclock on startup and I used MSI Afterburner to overclock the GPU slightly. Also set the AIO Cooler fans to always Max because I am stupid and did not do that from the start. The game is certainly running much better, I played up and through that Tavern that you slaughter those guys in and everything was running pretty smoothly. I am seeing temperatures on the CPU get up near 80 Celsius briefly which worries me a bit.

Did you manually overclock or use a tuning program?

Under 80C is safe for that CPU although the lower the better.

 

[LeonBirkin02]

I used the Asus Bios Utility to just do a small overclock, and now when it boots it says 15%

 

[WildCard999]

I used the Asus Bios Utility to just do a small overclock, and now when it boots it says 15%

I'd advise against the utility, it usually gives more voltage then what's required for the CPU which will result in higher temps and if it exceeds the safe voltage can reduce the lifespan of it.

If your going to overclock then do it right, manual overclocking & testing.
https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/intel-temperature-guide.1488337/

Also since the CPU got up to 80C while gaming I doubt it's safe or stable for that CPU.

 

[delaro]

SLI no longer works properly in the Witcher 3, you better selling both your current GPUS and buying a decent single card.

I want to play the Witcher 3 as close to max settings as I can get

Intel i7-6700k processor - Corsair H80i GT Liquid Cooler
2x MSI GTX 780 Twin Frozr SLI (Only using built-in coolers)

If I turn off HairWorks and dial back various particle effects, I can run the game at about 80% of the max settings but there is still frame rate drops even walking around the first room of the game. If I run Low, Med, or High the game runs pretty well but that simply is not what I am looking for. Any advice will really help, or just give me something to learn from. Apologies if this has been posted in the past, I just created one because I assumed none of the posts would have the same configuration that I do. As far as I know, there is no current overclocking on my PC.

SLI does not work properly on Witcher 3 so you better off selling your DUO and buying an updated single card. Your CPU overclocked moderately with a decent GPU should be able to max out 1080p without much of a fuss.

 

[LeonBirkin02]

SLI no longer works properly in the Witcher 3, you better selling both your current GPUS and buying a decent single card.



SLI does not work properly on Witcher 3 so you better off selling your DUO and buying an updated single card. Your CPU overclocked moderately with a decent GPU should be able to max out 1080p without much of a fuss.

Honestly, I slept on it last night, and I am going to change a couple things. First thing I am going to do is get a full size case, likely one of the Be Quiet! cases, instead of my mid tower because it is just hot in there and with all the crap I have and extra data hard drives. There is not enough good airflow. I will also likely upgrade the CPU Cooler to a 240 or a 360 Rad so the H80i GT will get moved to my test bench. Finally, I am going to pick up one of the Asus or MSI RTX 2080s and just sell my 2 old cards on Ebay. It will certainly offset the cost of the new card at least by half I gotta think. Once I get all that done, I will work on overclocking the CPU. I just removed all the overclocking until I can get some new gear because there are other games I want to play as well and my 780's are just too long in the tooth. They aren't even the Ti editions.

 

[LeonBirkin02]

I'd advise against the utility, it usually gives more voltage then what's required for the CPU which will result in higher temps and if it exceeds the safe voltage can reduce the lifespan of it.

If your going to overclock then do it right, manual overclocking & testing.
https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/intel-temperature-guide.1488337/

Also since the CPU got up to 80C while gaming I doubt it's safe or stable for that CPU.

You are right, but what I am going to do is order a few new components first if I am going to spend all the time on testing and slowing incrementing the performance of the CPU. At least put it in a much larger tower with better airflow and get rid of the SLI. Going down to 1 GPU should help with airflow and power usage.