[solved] High-Mid end computer with bad performance and stuttering, settings barely affect FPS

BringTheSmiles

So I just started playing NS2 with a friend, and quickly realized something was odd. With everything maxed out i would get 25-35 FPS and with everything turned to low I would get 30-40 FPS. With either setting I get a lot of stuttering and "jumping" regardless of FPS. My friend, however, who's computer is lower end than mine, got around 50 fps on medium/high without stuttering. The only thing I've found to have a real impact on FPS is lowering the resolution, which at 720P raised my FPS to about 60.

I've got an nvidia 570 and using r_stats I've found that pretty much regardless of any settings I get about 9-13ms wait for gpu.
I've got an i7 2600k OC'd to 4,5Ghz which sits at about 35% use in game.

I've been searching around without any luck, and was really hoping someone could help me out, because I want to be able to play this awesome game!

DC_Darkling

odd. I have a nvidia phantom 570 gtx and I do not have so much waittime. (You have a gtx?)
what does the profiler say?

profile command. use [ and ] to select the right column. Click open the purple bars. Screenshot the big ones.

BringTheSmiles

Is this what you're looking for?




EDIT Yes I have an Evga 570 GTX

IronHorse

Yea i have a 570 gtx and also do not have this problem.
What drivers are you using? (providing your techsupport.exe zip would answer this and more)
And are you forcing Vsync or something in your nvidia control panel?

Also, be sure that you are not running anything at all in the background to rule that out.. no MSI afterburner, no AV, no mumble overlays, no browsers, NADA.

BringTheSmiles

I'm using the latest non beta Nvidia driver 331.65
And no, vsync is not forced, nor was anything in particular running in the background, but I'll do another test stopping all non vital services and programs just to double check that.

IronHorse

Yea because i am also running that driver with that exact video card (evga as well) with that exact renderer (dx9) and am not experiencing what you are..
We need to isolate what could be causing this.

Have you run GPU-z? its a free app.. would be useful if you installed it and made sure that all your specs were operating typically to rule out a faulty video card.
Also, please include that techsupport.exe zip file.
And lastly, have you attempted to monitor temps? I know i clean out my 570 twice a year due to lint build up that causes heat issues.

BringTheSmiles

So I did a couple of tests just now with all services and programs shut down, and noticed the stuttering is gone, which would be a major improvement if it stayed gone, but I'll check if it still is after a reboot. (The FPS hasn't changed)

I did a profile screenshot with the settings maxed out and it all on low/off.

Also here are some graphs from GPU-Z during a walk through a map. I changed my texture setting to low halfway through, hence the drop in memory usage.




Anything in particular you want from the tech-support zip file? Seeing as it's 500mb.

DC_Darkling

33 ms, much waiting on buffered frames. omg.
Are you allowing it to calculate and buffer ahead? I allow it to render and buffer a max of 4 frames.

IronHorse

Don't do that.. That will incur mouse input delay in exchange for more fps.

If you run tech support when you are not running the game, the file will be small.

Take A picture of your nvidia settings for ns2.exe just in case.
Those temps are a bit high but nothing to worry about yet.
Hmm...
I want to see that tech support zip before I suggest any further

DC_Darkling

true.. just saying it may help.
I havent real problems with input lag atm. Think thats due to raw input but not sure.
But not buffering any frames is a bit harsh also.

BringTheSmiles

Ok so it seems that my problem is solved, however I don't know exactly how, I've downgraded to the previous drivers and got rid of a couple of programs and everything seems to be working normally now. I noticed that my card was running at 98% use even when idle and figured it was connected to my NS2 problem in a driver related way. Even though I haven't really figured out what was causing this I'll just keep things as they are for now.

Thanks a lot for your help!

ezekel

For future reference, I use 310.70 WHQL and it's the most stable nvidia driver you can get from what I've seen

Everything else has issues and I even tested a driver where max pre-render frames didn't even work

I use max pre render 1, I use to use 0 but nvidia removed it at some point because apparently 0 didn't work?

rkfg

IronHorse wrote: »

Those temps are a bit high but nothing to worry about yet.

I'm sorry, by "temps" do you mean temperature or temporary files? Because if it's the former then it's way too high already! It's Celsius, not Fahrenheit! NVIDIA's cards have about 105°C max operating temperature. Yesterday I had a big framerate drop while midgame. I've maxed up almost everything except ambient occlusion because build 259 brought a massive performance boost. So it was quite smooth, about 40-60 FPS, no spikes and lags and then suddenly boom! 15 FPS at max. Lags as hell, maybe a second between mouse movement and the actual move. r_stats shows 100 ms of GPU waiting. My temperature was ok, about 58°C but nevertheless settings change didn't improve things (same GPU waiting). So I turned everything off and then several seconds later it has stabilized so I've maxed up everything again like it was before and played well further. I suspect overheating anyway. The drop happened when the battle was heavy, several EXOs, many bile bombs, everyone in the same room from the both sides and such. Usual things in the late game.

Maybe it overloaded my card, I don't know. But the first thing I'd do is lowering the temperature in the idle mode.

coolitic

Check to see if your card is throttling.
Also check if your cpu is throttling.

BringTheSmiles

Enabling a bit of buffering is getting rid of my stuttering, but seems to leave the FPS unaffected.
And here's the tech-support zip.

BringTheSmiles

ezekel wrote: »

For future reference, I use 310.70 WHQL and it's the most stable nvidia driver you can get from what I've seen

Alright I'll take note of that version!

rkfg wrote: »

it's way too high already!

Yes it was the result of my card never going to idle, and I've now installed EVGA Precision to ramp up the fan speed curve, since the stock speeds are obviouly a bit too low. Right now I get a max temp of around 50-60.

DC_Darkling

@ezekel
0 is application controlled and usually around 3.

IronHorse

@rkfg That's why I said "a bit high but nothing to worry about yet" given the ceiling that would be reached around 100 would begin throttling his gpu. Assuming it wasn't going any higher than that, he can run at those temps for hours. So this wasn't the cause of his issues. Of course its not optimal for the life span of the card.

If your gpu was being fully used at idle it could be that your system is hijacked and being used for mining for bit coins.. Wouldn't be the first tech support thread that had this happen ;-)

Glad its fixed though