EVGA GTX 1080 FTW is CPU limited by i7 4770k

[FrostiiZ]

Hello everyone,

 

I've just wanted to warn some people who may wanna get a GTX 1080 and pair it with the Intel Core I7 4770k CPU with 1920x1080 screen resolution.

I got my EVGA GTX 1080 FTW by the beginning of the week and when I take a look on EVGA Precision X OC, I can clearly see that my GPU doesn't run above 90% of GPU usage. (Saw it while playing on Battlefield 1)

 

At first, my CPU was at it's stock clock (@3.6GHz with Intel SpeedStep Technology) and the GPU usage was around 75%.
I've overclocked it to reach @4.2GHz and now the GPU is running between 85 and 90% of usage.

 

Every footage I see on YouTube with a 4770k are @4.5GHz but mine cannot be at this frequency for the moment because of the cooling solution I have that can't handle the temperature and my CPU is part of a very bad batch. (L334B837)

I have a Corsair H75 watercooling pre-filled loop (120mm radiator with 1 fan on each side of it) and at @4.2GHz it's heating around 75°C.

 

I will later post some screenshots of EVGA Precision X's monitor and in December I will buy an EK Predator 280 to see if I can get a better cooling on my i7. My actual watercooling is 3 years old, so I think it cannot perform at it's best even after changing the thermal paste (Arctic MX-4).

I just hope I will be able to get descent temperatures and maybe try a better overclocking...

 

I've already tried to reach @4.5GHz but my system isn't stable at all. Even if it reaches 90°C sometimes with OCCT stress test, I got a bluescreen during the test telling me my setup isn't right. I've putted each value at the highest voltage recommended before harming the CPU and it was still not stable.

 

My conclusion would be if your i7 4770k can handle @4.5GHz, you may be okay with getting a GTX 1080. If it cannot perform at this frequency, I'm afraid you may have CPU limitations over the GPU on 1920x1080 resolution.

 

Btw, if someone knows my batch (haven't founded anything on the internet), I would be pleased to get more informations about this batch and it's overclocking capabilities. For now it seems I'm not a part of the lucky sillicon lottery.

 

My full specs if you're wondering :

 

Motherboard : Asus Z87-A C2

CPU : Intel Core i7 4770k (Batch L334B837) @4.2GHz

GPU : EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW

RAM : 4 * 4Gb of Corsair Vengeance @1600MHz

PSU : Corsair GS600 600W

Cooling : Corsair H75 120mm

Monitor : Asus VG278HE 1920x1080@144Hz

[Morgan MLGman]

Why would you even buy a 1080 for 1080p resolution... Even a 1070 is an overkill.

[Simon771]

23 minutes ago, Morgan MLGman said:

Why would you even buy a 1080 for 1080p resolution... Even a 1070 is an overkill.

I do agree that he could go with GTX 1070 instead.

Buy maybe he is plaiyng FPS games at 144fps + ... who knows.

 

CPU isn't limited, you just have more GPU headroom for future games.

I'm sure you won't be limited at playing Overwatch ... I have i7 4790k (basicly the same as i7 4770k that you have), and my CPU usage is around 20-40%, while GPU at 100% all the time.

It dpends on the game.

 

But i7 4xxx and i7 6xxx are best to be paired with GTX 1080.

[FrostiiZ]

7 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

I do agree that he could go with GTX 1070 instead.

Buy maybe he is plaiyng FPS games at 144fps + ... who knows.

 

CPU isn't limited, you just have more GPU headroom for future games.

I'm sure you won't be limited at playing Overwatch ... I have i7 4790k (basicly the same as i7 4770k that you have), and my CPU usage is around 20-40%, while GPU at 100% all the time.

It dpends on the game.

 

But i7 4xxx and i7 6xxx are best to be paired with GTX 1080.

My project was to have a lot of room for a future-proof GPU and I'm actually playing Battlefield 1 in 1080p on ultra settings with a 144Hz monitor. I saw the GTX 1070 couldn't handle BF1 at this framerate and the GTX 1080 can so that's why I've choosed this GPU.

I'm not playing Overwatch and my CPU usage of BF1 is around 75% or 100% depending of the map but even when it's not fully on load my GPU doesn't go above 90% of usage.

[FrostiiZ]

I will try later some other games like TESV: Skyrim Special Edition and GTA V to see if I can reach 99% of GPU usage.

[Simon771]

7 minutes ago, FrostiiZ said:

I will try later some other games like TESV: Skyrim Special Edition and GTA V to see if I can reach 99% of GPU usage.

Or you can just run some benchmark like firestrike.

You will see GPU at 100% most of the time.

 

And if you don't feel okay with CPU being on 75-100% all the time, you can always get i7 6900k with 8 cores and 16 threads. Now I would like to see game that can fully utilise that CPU power lol

[FrostiiZ]

25 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

Or you can just run some benchmark like firestrike.

You will see GPU at 100% most of the time.

 

And if you don't feel okay with CPU being on 75-100% all the time, you can always get i7 6900k with 8 cores and 16 threads. Now I would like to see game that can fully utilise that CPU power lol

I'm already eating water after getting this GPU so I cannot afford another CPU, meaning buying an other motherboard and DDR4 ram haha

But you maked a nice shot. I was just speaking about my CPU usage because you told me about your CPU usage on Overwatch, it was for comparison purposes.

 

I have already run Firestrike but you're right, I haven't looked at the GPU usage, I will try this as well in an hour.

[Mick Naughty]

Seems like there's an issue aside from hardware. My card sits at 100% all the time, think I have the exact same one but on water. I have a 4790k though. CPU sit at 70-90% during bf1. Always has. Even my 3770k does with a single or dual card. 

[FrostiiZ]

Okay so there's some screenshots.

 

First one is FireStrike with the CPU @4.2GHz. My GPU was at 99% of usage all the time and I've even noticed some coil whine. CPU tho was not solicited.

On the combined test, my GPU was around 70% of usage.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3msBw1EqNWMeWhEY00tbTI4alE/view?usp=sharing

 

Second one is GTA V. The graphic on EVGA Precision is quite strange, when I was in single player my GPU usage was around 60 - 70% of usage. I've turned to GTA Online and when I was on the sky view, my GPU was at 99% of usage. Later, when I was in a server, in the city I was between 60 and 80%. When I was outside the city, the usage came up to 94-99%. The CPU was around 40 to 60% of usage.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3msBw1EqNWMcUZqcDJUWDY4Rm8/view?usp=sharing

 

Last one was Skyrim Special Edition. The GPU was able to perform between 80 and 99% with huge falls to 60%. The CPU tho, was not very used, something around 50% as you can notice on Aida 64's window.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3msBw1EqNWMLTE4clFsMVlLN28/view?usp=sharing

 

My conclusion would be the more the CPU is used, the less the GPU will be used. In FireStrike, where the CPU doesn't have to handle more than 5% of usage, the GPU was always at 99% of usage. When it comes up to 40%, the GPU starts to slow down.

 

I'm quite lost on this one, maybe my CPU can't handle GPU's demand with the game's demand at the same time.

 

(I've tried to join the screenshots directly on the forum with attached files but I was getting an error -220.)

[FrostiiZ]

Battlefield 1 uses more CPU because of the 60Hz netcode. It means my CPU is solicited a lot, then my GPU can't have enough room on the CPU to be fully used.

[Mick Naughty]

If the frames aren't dipping and the frame time is decent,  between 6-9 I wouldn't worry about it. 

[FrostiiZ]

Just now, Mick Naughty said:

If the frames aren't dipping and the frame time is decent,  between 6-9 I wouldn't worry about it. 

On Battlefield 1 my game runs between 90 and 120Fps. Benchmarks show the GTX 1080 can run it at 150-160fps tho

[Mick Naughty]

18 minutes ago, FrostiiZ said:

On Battlefield 1 my game runs between 90 and 120Fps. Benchmarks show the GTX 1080 can run it at 150-160fps tho

Well benchmarks aren't all the same but that is low comparatively. 

[FrostiiZ]

Just now, Mick Naughty said:

Well benchmarks aren't all the same but that is low comparatively. 

I've watched several videos on multiple maps and the perfs was less good on my setup than the other ones on each case, even with people using the 4770k but their was clocked at 4.5GHz

[Aytex]

2 minutes ago, FrostiiZ said:

I've watched several videos on multiple maps and the perfs was less good on my setup than the other ones on each case, even with people using the 4770k but their was clocked at 4.5GHz

Then OC yours

[FrostiiZ]

2 minutes ago, Aytex said:

Then OC yours

The problem is there, I cannot overclock my CPU over 4.2GHz, it's not stable and the temperatures are getting too high because of my watercooling solution getting old. Next month I'll buy an EK Predator 280 and I'm gonna Clear CMOS to start from the beginning with clean values. My BIOS was reading my VCore at 1.712V with 1.4V in the Manual setting.

[Guest]

benchmarks are done with the biggest dick CPU's paired with the GPU's. 

 

So, expecting to get the same frames as a 6 core (or even 8 core) OC'd to 4.5 GHz with 3200 MHz ram is not going to give you an accurate representation of what you will get. 

 

There is what, a 20% increase in IPC (between your CPU and skylake) and the ram timings alone will probably be ~5% increase in frames. 

 

So you are right where you should be, IMO. 

[FrostiiZ]

3 minutes ago, Alexokan said:

benchmarks are done with the biggest dick CPU's paired with the GPU's. 

 

So, expecting to get the same frames as a 6 core (or even 8 core) OC'd to 4.5 GHz with 3200 MHz ram is not going to give you an accurate representation of what you will get. 

 

There is what, a 20% increase in IPC (between your CPU and skylake) and the ram timings alone will probably be ~5% increase in frames. 

 

So you are right where you should be, IMO. 

You are probably right but the thing is that what I saw was with the same CPU as me but just clocked @4.5GHz instead of 4.2GHz for mine, I'm not expecting to have the same framerate as an i7 6950x but I'm hopping to have at least 99% of GPU usage, that's the first reason of my post

(RAM doesn't change a lot since a long time now, there's maybe a difference of 1 or 2% of performance IMO, all the benefits comes from the CPU)

[Mick Naughty]

I can put mine at 4.8, zero difference in games companied to the auto of of 4.4. A few have had the issue of not getting 100% even people on way better cpu's. 

[FrostiiZ]

2 minutes ago, Mick Naughty said:

I can put mine at 4.8, zero difference in games companied to the auto of of 4.4. A few have had the issue of not getting 100% even people on way better cpu's. 

Okay so I think I just have to use DSR and setup a higher resolution to benefit of 100% usage. But doing that will not provide me extra fps so it's pointless.

Think I'm gonna stay on this and think of myself I've bought something overkill for my configuration haha

[Theo]

1 hour ago, FrostiiZ said:

On Battlefield 1 my game runs between 90 and 120Fps. Benchmarks show the GTX 1080 can run it at 150-160fps tho

do u have AA max or res scaling or something?

my 4770k at 4.2 with a 980ti gets the same FPS in 1440p in max settings with scaling to 100% and no AA in dx11

[FrostiiZ]

Just now, Theo said:

do u have AA max or res scaling or something?

my 4770k at 4.2 with a 980ti gets the same FPS in 1440p in max settings with scaling to 100% and no AA in dx11

Scaling is at 100% and I'm using default Ultra settings, I don't remeber how this setting uses AA and I'm also using DX11

[Mick Naughty]

6 minutes ago, FrostiiZ said:

Okay so I think I just have to use DSR and setup a higher resolution to benefit of 100% usage. But doing that will not provide me extra fps so it's pointless.

Think I'm gonna stay on this and think of myself I've bought something overkill for my configuration haha

Well I'll use my 1080 monitor when I get off and see. I'm postitice it'll see 100% 

[FrostiiZ]

6 minutes ago, Mick Naughty said:

Well I'll use my 1080 monitor when I get off and see. I'm postitice it'll see 100% 

Thank you for your help in advance

[YongKang]

I suggest using DSR 1440p downscale to 1080p. That might be able to leviate some of the bottleneck you are having.

 

GTX1080 is way too overkill for 1080p, even at 144Hz since even the mordern i5 and i7 have trouble processing all that info.