GTX 970 Not Impressing..

[Parkergk]

Hi guys, so I very recently upgraded my GTX 760 for an 970. I was expecting to really see a difference in games, but I don't really feel that I have..

 

I play modded Skyrim and BF4 a lot, and was already running both of them on max settings with the 760. Before, I'd see dips into the 30s and max as high as 80s, with the averages being around 40-55 in BF4, and now with the 970, I really can't tell it's any higher..

 

In Skyrim (maybe it's just the mod itself) but there's a few particularly resource intensive areas in the game, for a test standing in a certain spot and looking a certain direction I got 18 fps with the 760, then I swapped to the 970 and that same test only yielded 21 fps.. Again, maybe it's just the mod itself, but, I was just hoping for more..

 

The upgrade did at least raise my Valley score by 33%, so I know there's an improvement..

 

My system is in my bio but I'll post it here for ease:

 - AMD Phenom II x4 960t

 - EVGA GTX 970

 - Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1600

 - ASUS M4A87TD EVO

 

Thanks

[Godlygamer23]

I believe your CPU is bottlenecking the GPU.

[KayTees]

Hi guys, so I very recently upgraded my GTX 760 for an 970. I was expecting to really see a difference in games, but I don't really feel that I have..

 

I play modded Skyrim and BF4 a lot, and was already running both of them on max settings with the 760. Before, I'd see dips into the 30s and max as high as 80s, with the averages being around 40-55 in BF4, and now with the 970, I really can't tell it's any higher..

 

In Skyrim (maybe it's just the mod itself) but there's a few particularly resource intensive areas in the game, for a test standing in a certain spot and looking a certain direction I got 18 fps with the 760, then I swapped to the 970 and that same test only yielded 21 fps.. Again, maybe it's just the mod itself, but, I was just hoping for more..

 

The upgrade did at least raise my Valley score by 25%, so I know there's an improvement..

 

My system is in my bio but I'll post it here for ease:

 - AMD Phenom II x4 960t

 - EVGA GTX 970

 - Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1600

 - ASUS M4A87TD EVO

 

Thanks

 

 

I smell bottlenecking.

[MeepLikesToBuildPc's]

Yeah that cpu is a bottleneck

[MeltingPoint]

That is a pretty old CPU. Check your GPU and CPU usage in game. Its likely the CPU is the bottleneck

[TheKDub]

Looks to me like a CPU bottleneck.

[TheFalseHuman]

Darn, others beat me to it. I was checking the specs of the CPU >.<

 

Yeah, possible bottleneck?

[Zach's Tech Tips]

Do you have your power on high performance

May be a cpu bottleneck

Merry Christmas

Wolffangs147

[Parkergk]

You guys think it's really that bad that it would keep me from seeing an increase from the 760?

[Faceman]

Your CPU is bottlenecking your GPU.

 

Step up to an i5 as a minimum.  NOT an FX.  The FX will bottleneck it too.

[nhatduy1611]

You guys think it's really that bad that it would keep me from seeing an increase from the 760?

Yes you are matching one of the best gpu right now with a weak and subpar cpu of course the performance increase is not noticeable because the gpu cannot give 100% since the cpu is holding it back so hard. Linus did alot of video talking about bottlenecking before like this 

If you want to know more just watch this  videos. You can fix this problem by getting a better cpu i reccomend a haswell i5 like a 4690k or 4460 if you want something cheaper but it will also mean that you have to update your motherboard since your current one only support amd cpu.

[kameshss]

BottleNeCkInG fOr SuRe! :\ 

[anthonyc813]

Lol thought my brother was the only person still rocking the amd phenom x4 970 BE!

[david cassar]

The phenom is bottlenecking. 
Upgrade to an i5 at least and you will see a pretty good jump in fps.
Skyrim is dependent on single threaded performance, and your phenom is very weak in this department. Thus, you are not seeing a difference between the 760 and 970. 

[Raynold]

Any future plans for the old 760? 

[Parkergk]

Any future plans for the old 760? 

 

Haha, it's for sale right now, I've got it on eBay. Perfect working condition, zero scratches or blemishes, and it never even went over 63c in my case. EVGA GTX 760 SC ACX 2GB

 

 

The phenom is bottlenecking. 

Upgrade to an i5 at least and you will see a pretty good jump in fps.

Skyrim is dependent on single threaded performance, and your phenom is very weak in this department. Thus, you are not seeing a difference between the 760 and 970. 

 

Well awesome, that's exactly what I was hoping for, that if it was holding it back, then when I upgrade my processor, I would see a dramatic jump in performance.

 

And yes I plan on getting either an i5-4670k or the 4690k, whichever one I just happen to get a deal on.

 

 

Lol thought my brother was the only person still rocking the amd phenom x4 970 BE!

 

There are dozens of us DOZENS!  :rolleyes:

[MontBlanco]

Since a GTX 760 = GTX 670 and 670 and 680 are 5% different in performance, a GTX 690 is 10% faster than a GTX 970 so you should see a double in performance and FPS for most games. Although your CPU looks like a bottlenecked mentioned by other members.

[Vi7aLi7Y]

Your temps probably never went over 63C because the GPU was probably never able to hit it's max potential.

[Benji_w]

Hi guys, so I very recently upgraded my GTX 760 for an 970. I was expecting to really see a difference in games, but I don't really feel that I have..

 

I play modded Skyrim and BF4 a lot, and was already running both of them on max settings with the 760. Before, I'd see dips into the 30s and max as high as 80s, with the averages being around 40-55 in BF4, and now with the 970, I really can't tell it's any higher..

 

In Skyrim (maybe it's just the mod itself) but there's a few particularly resource intensive areas in the game, for a test standing in a certain spot and looking a certain direction I got 18 fps with the 760, then I swapped to the 970 and that same test only yielded 21 fps.. Again, maybe it's just the mod itself, but, I was just hoping for more..

 

The upgrade did at least raise my Valley score by 25%, so I know there's an improvement..

 

My system is in my bio but I'll post it here for ease:

 - AMD Phenom II x4 960t

 - EVGA GTX 970

 - Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1600

 - ASUS M4A87TD EVO

 

Thanks

 

I had one of these boards and one day it randomly went all funky on me, couldn't run Dirt 3 at 30fps, turned out to be some form of power problem with the board got a Gigabyte UD5 and it ran the game using my HD6870 using a phenom 2 x3 at about 40-50fps only thing I changed was the faulty board. The phenom 2 is an old chip, so is the FX range, if you want balls to the wall power you're best moving to the blue team because in order to get close results you'd need to overclock several things and not many people have the patience with AMD chips.

 

Your temps probably never went over 63C because the GPU was probably never able to hit it's max potential.

 

Yea! Turn Vsync off! 

[maizenblue]

While the bottlenecking suspicion is warranted(an AMD card and mantle would have likely helped), I think the gtx 970 is somewhat overrated when you look strictly at performance. People are so taken by its low TDP, lower price, and overclocking ability(which will always be somewhat hit or miss and often does little to improve gaming performance) that they largely overlook the fact it really doesn't offer much more performance than a gtx 780.

 

Nvidia itself has done a great job of selling these strong points, but at the end of the day what matters is gaming performance, and the 970 isn't all its cracked up to be. Its easily beaten by the gtx 780 ti in almost every situation in which its 3 gb of memory isn't a limiting factory, and its also beaten by the r9 290x in games in which the extra gb does matter.

 

If you understand that with the 970 you are basically getting a slightly improved, slightly cheaper, more power efficient gtx 780, you will be satisfied. If you are expecting a lot more than that you will be disappointed.

[Darkman]

The CPU is a gigantic bottleneck.

[Parkergk]

Your temps probably never went over 63C because the GPU was probably never able to hit it's max potential.

 

Just because you have low temps doesn't mean your components aren't working, it means you have good cooling. My GPU was often hitting 100% utilization while my CPU topped out around 68%. Now that I have the GTX 970 I can see that they have swapped places, my CPU is often at 100% and my GPU is a good bit lower.

 

 

Yea! Turn Vsync off! 

 

The only game I play with Vsync is Minecraft, because I get screen tearing. However, Skyrim is actually frame capped at 60, you force the game above that and the physics and script engine falls apart..

 

 

While the bottlenecking suspicion is warranted(an AMD card and mantle would have likely helped), I think the gtx 970 is somewhat overrated when you look strictly at performance. People are so taken by its low TDP, lower price, and overclocking ability(which will always be somewhat hit or miss and often does little to improve gaming performance) that they largely overlook the fact it really doesn't offer much more performance than a gtx 780.

 

Nvidia itself has done a great job of selling these strong points, but at the end of the day what matters is gaming performance, and the 970 isn't all its cracked up to be. Its easily beaten by the gtx 780 ti in almost every situation in which its 3 gb of memory isn't a limiting factory, and its also beaten by the r9 290x in games in which the extra gb does matter.

 

If you understand that with the 970 you are basically getting a slightly improved, slightly cheaper, more power efficient gtx 780, you will be satisfied. If you are expecting a lot more than that you will be disappointed.

 

Not sure if you misread, but I'm coming from a GTX 760, not a 780. But, I understand what you're saying, and either way I should be seeing more performance, which now we all know is due to my CPU.

 

So, I'll be upgrading to an i5-4670k or i5-4690k, whichever I happen to get a deal on. 

[Faceman]

While the bottlenecking suspicion is warranted(an AMD card and mantle would have likely helped), I think the gtx 970 is somewhat overrated when you look strictly at performance. People are so taken by its low TDP, lower price, and overclocking ability(which will always be somewhat hit or miss and often does little to improve gaming performance) that they largely overlook the fact it really doesn't offer much more performance than a gtx 780.

 

Nvidia itself has done a great job of selling these strong points, but at the end of the day what matters is gaming performance, and the 970 isn't all its cracked up to be. Its easily beaten by the gtx 780 ti in almost every situation in which its 3 gb of memory isn't a limiting factory, and its also beaten by the r9 290x in games in which the extra gb does matter.

 

If you understand that with the 970 you are basically getting a slightly improved, slightly cheaper, more power efficient gtx 780, you will be satisfied. If you are expecting a lot more than that you will be disappointed.

He went from a 760 to 970... Thats a massive upgrade, and with a proper overclock of 1400Mhz or more on the 970, it handily beats a 780.

 

The CPU is the problem.

[Parkergk]

He went from a 760 to 970... Thats a massive upgrade, and with a proper overclock of 1400Mhz or more on the 970, it handily beats a 780.

 

The CPU is the problem.

 

Yeah exactly, the 970 actually is equal to or beats the 780 in a lot of tests, and it's $200 less. Plus the lower TDP (As he said).

[nhatduy1611]

Just because you have low temps doesn't mean your components aren't working, it means you have good cooling. My GPU was often hitting 100% utilization while my CPU topped out around 68%. Now that I have the GTX 970 I can see that they have swapped places, my CPU is often at 100% and my GPU is a good bit lower.

 

 

 

The only game I play with Vsync is Minecraft, because I get screen tearing. However, Skyrim is actually frame capped at 60, you force the game above that and the physics and script engine falls apart..

 

 

 

Not sure if you misread, but I'm coming from a GTX 760, not a 780. But, I understand what you're saying, and either way I should be seeing more performance, which now we all know is due to my CPU.

 

So, I'll be upgrading to an i5-4670k or i5-4690k, whichever I happen to get a deal on. 

You know that you motherboard doesn't support those cpu right ? You need to upgrade your motherboard first since your current one only allow cpu with AMD 870 / SB850 chipset.