EVGA GTX 1080 FTW is CPU limited by i7 4770k

[Mick Naughty]

17 minutes ago, i_build_nanosuits said:

I KNOW how mankind divided is ridiculously harsh on the GPU i played through it no need to show it to me...i'm talking about games in general, the bulk of the games that are out right now...recent AAA titles.

As for ''weak'' CPU's...like i've said before intel has been making those marginal IPC gains for a long long time now, and as this thread show even a 4.2ghz core i7-4770K these days can be considered somewhat ''weak'' and there will be gains to see for low level API's in future games...but i do get your point yes of course if you use an old ass AMD CPU or a core i3 it should have more impact there, and it still does not mean the GTX 1080 will be a good match for a 1920x1080 monitor

that discussion has been long enough as far as i'm concerned you can argue that a GTX 1080 is a good match for a 1080p monitor, i personally don't think it is.

 

The game is very CPU heavy i've seen my 4770K hit 95%+ loads in multiplayer...previously i've never seen my CPU hit anywhere near that in gaming.

Here a multiplayer video i made, this is on 1440p Ultra preset 980ti/4770K:

 

 

Not sure what they has to do with the gpu not hitting 100%

[i_build_nanosuits]

4 minutes ago, Mick Naughty said:

Not sure what they has to do with the gpu not hitting 100%

1080p Resolution is too low for GTX 1080:

 

1920x1080 = 2 073 600 pixels

2560x1440 = 3 686 400 pixels (+77.8 % vs. 1080p)

3840x2160 = 8 294 400 pixels (+400% vs. 1080p)

[Mick Naughty]

7 minutes ago, i_build_nanosuits said:

1080p Resolution is too low for GTX 1080:

 

1920x1080 = 2 073 600 pixels

2560x1440 = 3 686 400 pixels (+77.8 % vs. 1080p)

3840x2160 = 8 294 400 pixels (+400% vs. 1080p)

So  you've tried it yourself with a 1080 on both resolutions?

[i_build_nanosuits]

Just now, Mick Naughty said:

So  you've tried it yourself with a 1080 on both resolutions?

no but i did tried it with my overclocked 980ti at 1080p and i'm getting 88-90% GPU load on ultra...i can imagine what a +20% faster GPU would do.

[Mick Naughty]

8 minutes ago, i_build_nanosuits said:

no but i did tried it with my overclocked 980ti at 1080p and i'm getting 88-90% GPU load on ultra...i can imagine what a +20% faster GPU would do.

well after running a pair of 980's on 1080, I'm surprised a ti didn't work. Like I said. I'll try it myself. As my 980's and titan blacks are faster then one of my 1080 in almost everything and they sit at 100% all the time even at 1080. I don't think this card is that powerful. 

[Mick Naughty]

So I just got off work, disconnected my 1440 monitor from my rig which forced the 1080 screen to be primary. Checked it had the proper res and started bf1.

Checked everything there too, ultra preset, 100% render. Max gpu usage was 85 with an average of 70. Cpu was at a constand 80%.

Frames were lower then at 1440. Between 80-110, normally on the low side. Frame times were also increased which made it feel almost as bad as 1440 when I was getting spikes and frame drops.

I may mess around with it some more this weekend, I may have forgot to change something. But at this point I was better with my old 7xx series cards. Even using my older rig would play at 1080res better then this 1080 can.

 

[FrostiiZ]

Okay so thank you all for your answers.

 

I'm back at home and I tried to use DSR with 1440p resolution in Battlefield 1. Now the GPU is at 99% of usage and the framerate is absolutely the same back in 1080p. I was getting between 90 and 110fps in 1440p, in 1080p sometimes the framerate was above 130 but just during a second sometimes.

 

Buying a 1440p monitor is still expensive those days and even with 4K displays, the price isn't going lower.

 

My conclusion on Battlefield 1 is :

1080p : 70 -90% usage / 90 - 130 fps

1440p : 97 - 99% usage / 90 - 110 fps

 

I think I will take the best compromise between 1080p and 1440p depending of the game. Battlefield 1 is very demanding on the CPU so 1440p is a better option.

[FrostiiZ]

1 hour ago, FrostiiZ said:

Okay so thank you all for your answers.

 

I'm back at home and I tried to use DSR with 1440p resolution in Battlefield 1. Now the GPU is at 99% of usage and the framerate is absolutely the same back in 1080p. I was getting between 90 and 110fps in 1440p, in 1080p sometimes the framerate was above 130 but just during a second sometimes.

 

Buying a 1440p monitor is still expensive those days and even with 4K displays, the price isn't going lower.

 

My conclusion on Battlefield 1 is :

1080p : 70 -90% usage / 90 - 130 fps

1440p : 97 - 99% usage / 90 - 110 fps

 

I think I will take the best compromise between 1080p and 1440p depending of the game. Battlefield 1 is very demanding on the CPU so 1440p is a better option.

Using resolution scale at 135% in 1080p gives me similar performance without ruining my right screen because 1440p DSR was making my monitoring windows a real mess. I do have 99% of GPU usage with this setting.

[Mick Naughty]

My concern is the cpu as I have a 1440 display. Bought this 1080 for nothing. Just like the last one.

[FrostiiZ]

7 hours ago, Mick Naughty said:

My concern is the cpu as I have a 1440 display. Bought this 1080 for nothing. Just like the last one.

Obviously an Intel Core i7 4770k isn't enough to fully use this kind of GPU, but even a 6700k isn't capable of using the 1080 at 99% of usage in 1080p.

Friend of mine have a Core i7 3960x with 6 cores and 12 threads OC @4.7GHz, it's working like a charm on this one.

 

Conclusion : Overkill GPU requires an overkill CPU.

1440p gaming is good on the 4770k but it pushes it to the limit sometimes, in 4K there's no problems with the full usage of the GPU.

 

I've thought it would be a good idea to take this GPU and feel future-proof but now I feel guilty about my own desire of having such a good gaming pc.

I just need to upgrade my CPU, so my motherboard and my RAM sticks, and of course my monitor.

It's getting out of my financial capabilities so... I'm gonna stay with it and think it's powerful enough even when it's bottlenecked at 90%. I'm trying to find the right settings in each game to get the full usage of the GPU with the best experience possible. If I can't get more FPS when I increase the resolution, then I keep it on 1080p and play with it bottlenecked. If I can get the same framerate, or something close, I use an upper resolution like 1440p or resolution scale on Battlefield 1 for example.

[Noirgheos]

On 11/10/2016 at 3:55 AM, FrostiiZ said:

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

My 6700K isn't breaking a sweat with my 1080. It isn't that much more powerful than a 4770K. Any game I play has 99% GPU usage when uncapped (save for Witcher 3 in Novigrad, jumps all around, but is pegged at 99% in the wilderness and smaller towns, while my CPU sits and does nothing in all areas, probably a game issue). 

 

Highest I've seen my 6700K at uncapped in a game was Witcher 3 at 1080p. Capped at 60FPS I was around 40% usage, uncapped, it would go anywhere from 60% to 89% usage in Novigrad. Overwatch comes close, but that's because I'm running it at over 180FPS (capped at 60FPS, it barely breaks 20% CPU usage).

 

 

[FrostiiZ]

This video is showing that 98% of GPU usage is possible in 1080p with a 4770k.

I don't understand how it's possible, I'm at 4.3GHz now and my CPU usage is barely always at 100% usage, just with EVGA Precision, Aida64 sensors monitor and TeamSpeak opened. +0.2GHz can't make such a difference, his CPU is at something around 75% of usage but I've noticed the CPU usage increased not a long time ago in Battlefield 1 without any explaination.

 

He have the framerate I've thought I would have when buying this GPU so this is possible but some mysteries are hiding before that I guess...

[FrostiiZ]

6 minutes ago, FrostiiZ said:

This video is showing that 98% of GPU usage is possible in 1080p with a 4770k.

I don't understand how it's possible, I'm at 4.3GHz now and my CPU usage is barely always at 100% usage, just with EVGA Precision, Aida64 sensors monitor and TeamSpeak opened. +0.2GHz can't make such a difference, his CPU is at something around 75% of usage but I've noticed the CPU usage increased not a long time ago in Battlefield 1 without any explaination.

 

He have the framerate I've thought I would have when buying this GPU so this is possible but some mysteries are hiding before that I guess...

The OP of the video says in the comments section that bottlenecking also happens because of the RAM speed. He have 32Gb @2400MHz but I'm not so sure RAM speed can do much a difference.