Does PSU affects my GPU performance?

[Miks24]

Hi,

My system specs is
i5 6600k running 4.4ghz
z170 A motherboard
8GB ram
gtx 980ti
PSU: Seasonic evo m12 520W +80 bronze

There are some "Rumors" that if a GPU wasn't able to get enough wattage from the PSU, It will not perform to its maximum capacity. How true is this?

I almost believe on this rumor since I just recently upgraded my GTX1060 to GTX980 ti... suddenly there's no difference with the FPS results everytime that I play games like Battlefield 1. But when I run some benchmark test like the HeavenUnigine benchmark there's a huge difference between Gtx1060 and Gtx980ti when it comes to their scores (980ti wins) But like what I have said in games I got the same FPS as what gtx1060 provides me. 

during gaming sessions:
CPU usage 100% / GPU usage 90% - 99% this is my status with my gtx 1060
CPU usage 100% / GPU usage 50% - 80% this is my status with my gtx 980 ti

So... Is there's something to do with my PSU since its only 520W (recommended system PSU wattage for 980ti is 600W) Does my PSU affects my GPU performance that's why its not performing like gtx1060 does?

Thanks.

[Droidbot]

What games? 

I run the same PSU + 1070 and 4670k and I don't have any issues with it. 

[Godlygamer23]

The thing is if that were true in your scenario, it should affect things across the board, not just video games. Because Heaven shows a tangible difference, I'm not convinced the video card is being starved of power.

[EminentSun]

The difference in heaven vs games is likely due to a cpu bottleneck. Heaven puts most of its stress on the gpu, where most games use a mix of cpu and gpu power.

 

Your specs don't look like they should bottleneck (to any major extent), but that's what it sounds like to me.

[Miks24]

10 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

What games? 

I run the same PSU + 1070 and 4670k and I don't have any issues with it. 

gtx 1070 is power efficient the game that i'm playin is Battlefield 1

[Miks24]

8 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

The thing is if that were true in your scenario, it should affect things across the board, not just video games. Because Heaven shows a tangible difference, I'm not convinced the video card is being starved of power.

Does it means my PSU is just enough, though GTx 980ti requires or nvidia recommends more wattage than my PSU has?

[Droidbot]

2 minutes ago, Miks24 said:

gtx 1070 is power efficient the game that i'm playin is Battlefield 1

60w difference. BF1 doesn't utilise GPU well, but loves to kill processors. 

[Droidbot]

2 minutes ago, Miks24 said:

Does it means my PSU is just enough, though GTx 980ti requires or nvidia recommends more wattage than my PSU has?

Nvidia's 600W number is a recommendation - they have to account for people running insane setups like 175w processors. 

[Miks24]

1 minute ago, Droidbot said:

60w difference. BF1 doesn't utilise GPU well, but loves to kill processors. 

how about your ram? how much do you have? and how was your fps results?

[Droidbot]

Just now, Miks24 said:

how about your ram? how much do you have? and how was your fps results?

8GB. I'm running at 1050p ultra at the moment, and getting around 100FPS stable

[Miks24]

1 minute ago, Droidbot said:

8GB. I'm running at 1050p ultra at the moment, and getting around 100FPS stable

Hmm... given the fact that we have almost the same specs.. running i5, gtx 1070(which is equivalent to gtx 980ti performance) 8GB ram... Is your ram is single channel or dual channel like 2x4gb? I'm getting lower fps than yours

[Droidbot]

1 minute ago, Miks24 said:

Hmm... given the fact that we have almost the same specs.. running i5, gtx 1070(which is equivalent to gtx 980ti performance) 8GB ram... Is your ram is single channel or dual channel like 2x4gb? I'm getting lower fps than yours

dual-channel. have you tried doing a clean driver install? 

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

-Here's what you have to bare in mind, if you PSU isn't sufficient, it won't cause you FPS drops, it will cause you system instability and wcs, trigger your PSU's OCP (Over Current Protection shutdown), that's how you judge your PSU, not according to FPS.

-If you've got any sort of adaptive performance mode on (GPU Boost, Turbo Boost...) than that will be effected by your PSU not delivering enough power.

-The 980Ti does consume more power than the 1060 and i personally wouldn't feel comfy with a system that has a flagship 980Ti and bronze 520W PSU.

[Miks24]

1 minute ago, Droidbot said:

dual-channel. have you tried doing a clean driver install? 

 

yeah... I already use DDU software to clean my drivers and downloaded the latest drivers for my 980 ti... the only difference that we have is that your'e running at dual channel ram but mine is only at single channel... If my PSU is not causing the problem my primary suspect would be my ram...

[Droidbot]

2 minutes ago, LawrenceBarnes2013 said:

-Here's what you have to bare in mind, if you PSU isn't sufficient, it won't cause you FPS drops, it will cause you system instability and wcs, trigger your PSU's OCP (Over Current Protection shutdown), that's how you judge your PSU, not according to FPS.

-If you've got any sort of adaptive performance mode on (GPU Boost, Turbo Boost...) than that will be effected by your PSU not delivering enough power.

-The 980Ti does consume more power than the 1060 and i personally wouldn't feel comfy with a system that has a flagship 980Ti and bronze 520W PSU.

I've been running an OC'd 4670k and a 770 on this PSU for 3 years straight. It's a quality Seasonic unit, tier 3 on the PSU list. 

2 minutes ago, Miks24 said:

 

yeah... I already use DDU software to clean my drivers and downloaded the latest drivers for my 980 ti... the only difference that we have is that your'e running at dual channel ram but mine is only at single channel... If my PSU is not causing the problem my primary suspect would be my ram...

Have it set to high performance in Nvidia Control Panel? 

[Miks24]

3 minutes ago, LawrenceBarnes2013 said:

-Here's what you have to bare in mind, if you PSU isn't sufficient, it won't cause you FPS drops, it will cause you system instability and wcs, trigger your PSU's OCP (Over Current Protection shutdown), that's how you judge your PSU, not according to FPS.

-If you've got any sort of adaptive performance mode on (GPU Boost, Turbo Boost...) than that will be effected by your PSU not delivering enough power.

-The 980Ti does consume more power than the 1060 and i personally wouldn't feel comfy with a system that has a flagship 980Ti and bronze 520W PSU.

So your'e telling me that there's nothing to do with my PSU? and my PSU wattage is just enough?

[Miks24]

3 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

I've been running an OC'd 4670k and a 770 on this PSU for 3 years straight. It's a quality Seasonic unit, tier 3 on the PSU list. 

Have it set to high performance in Nvidia Control Panel? 

I've done everything with my Nvidia Control Panel except that one...

[STRMfrmXMN]

4 hours ago, Miks24 said:

Hi,

My system specs is
i5 6600k running 4.4ghz
z170 A motherboard
8GB ram
gtx 980ti
PSU: Seasonic evo m12 520W +80 bronze

There are some "Rumors" that if a GPU wasn't able to get enough wattage from the PSU, It will not perform to its maximum capacity. How true is this?

I almost believe on this rumor since I just recently upgraded my GTX1060 to GTX980 ti... suddenly there's no difference with the FPS results everytime that I play games like Battlefield 1. But when I run some benchmark test like the HeavenUnigine benchmark there's a huge difference between Gtx1060 and Gtx980ti when it comes to their scores (980ti wins) But like what I have said in games I got the same FPS as what gtx1060 provides me. 

during gaming sessions:
CPU usage 100% / GPU usage 90% - 99% this is my status with my gtx 1060
CPU usage 100% / GPU usage 50% - 80% this is my status with my gtx 980 ti

So... Is there's something to do with my PSU since its only 520W (recommended system PSU wattage for 980ti is 600W) Does my PSU affects my GPU performance that's why its not performing like gtx1060 does?

Thanks.

Your PSU is fine.

[faziten]

16 hours ago, Miks24 said:

Hi,

My system specs is
i5 6600k running 4.4ghz
z170 A motherboard
8GB ram
gtx 980ti
PSU: Seasonic evo m12 520W +80 bronze

There are some "Rumors" that if a GPU wasn't able to get enough wattage from the PSU, It will not perform to its maximum capacity. How true is this?

I almost believe on this rumor since I just recently upgraded my GTX1060 to GTX980 ti... suddenly there's no difference with the FPS results everytime that I play games like Battlefield 1. But when I run some benchmark test like the HeavenUnigine benchmark there's a huge difference between Gtx1060 and Gtx980ti when it comes to their scores (980ti wins) But like what I have said in games I got the same FPS as what gtx1060 provides me. 

during gaming sessions:
CPU usage 100% / GPU usage 90% - 99% this is my status with my gtx 1060
CPU usage 100% / GPU usage 50% - 80% this is my status with my gtx 980 ti

So... Is there's something to do with my PSU since its only 520W (recommended system PSU wattage for 980ti is 600W) Does my PSU affects my GPU performance that's why its not performing like gtx1060 does?

Thanks.

PSU is fine, what you are probably going into is CPU bottlenecking. Having your cpu at 100% load or 90 to 99% load is a clear manual bottleneck. We can speak for hours about how 6600K is an amazing CPU but if it's usage goes into 90's % It's bottlenecking your system. Period. 

Is the game responsible? Is there a background task eating your CPU? no idea. But high 90's% is a bottleneck in your workload no matter what component we are talking about. HDD, SSD, RAM, CPU, GPU. 

 

If your PSU would for some reason fall short in current delivery your pc would shut down/reset/crash. That's how it works. 

[Miks24]

11 hours ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Your PSU is fine.

even nvidia suggested 600W system PSU for 980ti?

[Miks24]

6 minutes ago, faziten said:

PSU is fine, what you are probably going into is CPU bottlenecking. Having your cpu at 100% load or 90 to 99% load is a clear manual bottleneck. We can speak for hours about how 6600K is an amazing CPU but if it's usage goes into 90's % It's bottlenecking your system. Period. 

Is the game responsible? Is there a background task eating your CPU? no idea. But high 90's% is a bottleneck in your workload no matter what component we are talking about. HDD, SSD, RAM, CPU, GPU. 

 

If your PSU would for some reason fall short in current delivery your pc would shut down/reset/crash. That's how it works. 

Actually I already figured out what is the cause of my problem when I watched this video... You judge if this is my solution or not... watch carefully the CPU usage GPU usage and RAM usage also the FPS.

 

[faziten]

5 minutes ago, Miks24 said:

Actually I already figured out what is the cause of my problem when I watched this video... You judge if this is my solution or not... watch carefully the CPU usage GPU usage and RAM usage.

 

This guy tried 1 module of 8 gb against two modules of 8 gb. So it's not only comparing 8GB Vs 16GB but single channel Vs Dual Channel too. 

It could be the dual channel extra bandwidth helping out the CPU bottleneck. (Many videos of digital foundry proved that memory bandwidth makes a huge impact when the CPU is pegged at 100% like you have yours).

We cant be sure of this since in the video you shared there is no CPU usage monitoring... BF1 is known to put i5's to their knees, so i wouldn't be surprised. 

 

Buying extra ram to dual-channel will give a performance boost, but if your CPU is already at high 90's there will still be a CPU bottleneck present on BF1. 

It's largely reported to happen with this CPU when paired with a high performance GPU.

 

Take a look here:

 

 

 

The 6600K @ 4.5 is 100% usage and GPU is 80%.

The 6700K @ 4.5 is 80% usage and GPU is 99%.

 

Add all the ram you want, the CPU is still choking hard.

[STRMfrmXMN]

43 minutes ago, Miks24 said:

even nvidia suggested 600W system PSU for 980ti?

Yes. They do that to cover their own ass so you don't end up with a shitty 250W PSU in your system powering a 980ti.

[Miks24]

8 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Yes. They do that to cover their own ass so you don't end up with a shitty 250W PSU in your system powering a 980ti.

Thanks for the idea  atleast I have my peace of mind that there's no problem with my PSU.

[Aniallation]

5 hours ago, Miks24 said:

even nvidia suggested 600W system PSU for 980ti?

They always put conservative figures. You won't pull more than 400W total system power.