GTX 690 low gpu usage

[Caliaton]

Hey guys, ever since I bought my gtx 690, there has been one thing about it that I have wondered if its normal or not. I'm assuming that this probably pertains to SLI configurations also, because that is essentially what the 690 is. Anyway, I was running mi afterburner to check my fps, temps, and what not, and I realized while looking in game that on most of the games I play, both of my gpu's never actually run at 100% utilization. For example, I was playing left for dead 2 maxed out (I play at 1920x1080 for the time being), and I was obviously getting a high enough framerate to get the job done (over 200 fps most of the time), but I noticed that the usage of each gpu was only at 50%. I wondered i this would still happen if I disabled one of the GPUs, so I did. After doing that, I still had the same framerate, but the one gpu that was being used was near full utilization as it should be. So basically, i'm wondering why SLI is proving to not be very beneficial on this game, and why the 690 wants to utilize the same amount of graphics processing power either way. There's not really going to be a performance difference if the utilization is 1x100% or 2x50%. Of course it's not really that big of a deal on THIS game, but what concerns me is that the low utilization happens in other games also, and some more graphically intense games could definately benefit from both of the cards working at their full potential. It just seems weird that they wouldn't want to work at full force on some of my games, because sometimes in those games, less than half of each gpu being used is definately not enough to keep me above 60 fps all the time, sometimes it will drop below that, which sounds really sad and dissapointing to me for how powerful this card is supposed to be, and it's become very frustrating in some games, especially Planetside 2 and Borderlands 2 to name a couple. And it actually seems like the more graphically intense a situation on either one of those games get, the LESS of each gpu will be used, and i'm pretty sure it should be the other way around. Could there be something wrong with my 690 and the way it tries to utilize itself? I've heard so much talk about how powerful it is and how good of framerates people are getting but for me it's basically acting no better than a single 680 probably would :( Can someone please help? I'm lost...

(By the way, my processor is a stock i5 3570k, so I don't think bottleneck should be a problem)

[Soylent_Merchant]

The gpu will use recources based on how demanding the game is.Most of the games you mentioned probably wouldnt use even one gtx 690 to a hundred percent.And you shouldnt be worried unless your noticing low gpu usage and the game is running very low. And your processor probably isnt bottlenecking. Hope this helped

[Caliaton]

Postat inițial de shobhit550:

The gpu will use recources based on how demanding the game is.Most of the games you mentioned probably wouldnt use even one gtx 690 to a hundred percent.And you shouldnt be worried unless your noticing low gpu usage and the game is running very low. And your processor probably isnt bottlenecking. Hope this helped

Well that's kind of what i'm worried about. I don't know what would be considered "low" by framerate standards but all I know is that both borderlands 2 and planetside 2 can sometimes drop to below 60 fps (sometimes even 45-50 for a few seconds), and I would think that at that point, the card start to use more resources, right? Unless maybe it's because the rest of the power is being supplied by the CPU on those two games, but I really don't know...

[Soylent_Merchant]

Postat inițial de Caliaton:

Postat inițial de shobhit550:

The gpu will use recources based on how demanding the game is.Most of the games you mentioned probably wouldnt use even one gtx 690 to a hundred percent.And you shouldnt be worried unless your noticing low gpu usage and the game is running very low. And your processor probably isnt bottlenecking. Hope this helped

Well that's kind of what i'm worried about. I don't know what would be considered "low" by framerate standards but all I know is that both borderlands 2 and planetside 2 can sometimes drop to below 60 fps (sometimes even 45-50 for a few seconds), and I would think that at that point, the card start to use more resources, right? Unless maybe it's because the rest of the power is being supplied by the CPU on those two games, but I really don't know...

Honestly sometimes games drop in frame rates for no apparent reason, i know for a fact that two 690,s should easily handle those games. If they only drop in frames for a few seconds, this isnt a problem. Actually if you go to newegg and go to the video cards tab, theres a new nvidia software that optomizes games for your cards, it should set the games at optimum settings
http://promotions.newegg.com/VGA/13-2103/index.html
go on it and select the games to optimize

[Caliaton]

Postat inițial de shobhit550:

Postat inițial de Caliaton:

Well that's kind of what i'm worried about. I don't know what would be considered "low" by framerate standards but all I know is that both borderlands 2 and planetside 2 can sometimes drop to below 60 fps (sometimes even 45-50 for a few seconds), and I would think that at that point, the card start to use more resources, right? Unless maybe it's because the rest of the power is being supplied by the CPU on those two games, but I really don't know...

Honestly sometimes games drop in frame rates for no apparent reason, i know for a fact that two 690,s should easily handle those games. If they only drop in frames for a few seconds, this isnt a problem. Actually if you go to newegg and go to the video cards tab, theres a new nvidia software that optomizes games for your cards, it should set the games at optimum settings
http://promotions.newegg.com/VGA/13-2103/index.html
go on it and select the games to optimize

Thanks, i'll try it out. And by the way, sometimes my framerate actually stays in the 60's when i'm in an area that has a lot of physx effects going on. The only time its for a few seconds is usually when the fps is in the 40's. But like I said, the weird part is the more graphically intense something gets on my screen, the less resources of each gpu are being used, and it should be the other way around. I took a screenshot when it dropped to 44 fps and the gpu's usages were only at 43% and 36%. Seems a little odd...

[Soylent_Merchant]

Postat inițial de Caliaton:

Postat inițial de shobhit550:

Honestly sometimes games drop in frame rates for no apparent reason, i know for a fact that two 690,s should easily handle those games. If they only drop in frames for a few seconds, this isnt a problem. Actually if you go to newegg and go to the video cards tab, theres a new nvidia software that optomizes games for your cards, it should set the games at optimum settings
http://promotions.newegg.com/VGA/13-2103/index.html
go on it and select the games to optimize

Thanks, i'll try it out. And by the way, sometimes my framerate actually stays in the 60's when i'm in an area that has a lot of physx effects going on. The only time its for a few seconds is usually when the fps is in the 40's. But like I said, the weird part is the more graphically intense something gets on my screen, the less resources of each gpu are being used, and it should be the other way around. I took a screenshot when it dropped to 44 fps and the gpu's usages were only at 43% and 36%. Seems a little odd...

Yes, you should contact nvidia if it becomes a problem , but the only advice i could give you on my end would be to keep drivers up to date. but anyway i hope the program helps and good luck

[Caliaton]

Postat inițial de shobhit550:

Postat inițial de Caliaton:

Thanks, i'll try it out. And by the way, sometimes my framerate actually stays in the 60's when i'm in an area that has a lot of physx effects going on. The only time its for a few seconds is usually when the fps is in the 40's. But like I said, the weird part is the more graphically intense something gets on my screen, the less resources of each gpu are being used, and it should be the other way around. I took a screenshot when it dropped to 44 fps and the gpu's usages were only at 43% and 36%. Seems a little odd...

Yes, you should contact nvidia if it becomes a problem , but the only advice i could give you on my end would be to keep drivers up to date. but anyway i hope the program helps and good luck

Thanks.