SOLVED Awful FPS on GTX 1080!

[wazabee900]

Awful FPS on GTX 1080!

This has been driving me crazy! I built a new rig about a month ago to max games (particularly this one) at 1440p.
-Intel i7 7700k
-ASUS Strix 1080 A8G
-ASUS Strix z270F Motherboard
-Corsair 16gb 3000Mhz
-Corsair RM650x PSU
-AOC 2560x1440 Monitor 60Hz
-Windows 10

But in this game when I go anywhere near a populated city, i get frame rates drops to around 30fps even lower sometimes! Everywhere else is a smooth 60 fps (Hairworks on), the strange thing is changing the graphics settings has absolutely no effect on performance, I still get 30fps in cities even with hairworks off and all other settings on low. I have also tried changing resolution to 1920x1080, 1600x900 etc and the FPS remains the same in the cities. I can play other GPU demanding games (Shadow of Mordor, Fallout 4) on max settings at 60 fps on 1440p resolution with no problems at all. I've already tried the following...

-Lowering Graphics
-Changing Resolution
-Tweaking everything in Nvidia Control Panel
-Using DDU and reinstalling drivers
-Reinstalling Witcher 3 via Steam
-Disabling any overlays

I love this game and spent a load of money building a rig to play games at awesome quality and smoothness, which has been great playing other games but this one in particular just won't have it.
Anyone got any other suggestions?

 

[iCake]

This points at your CPU struggling, which is very strange as your CPU is more than enough to run the game. Check your Windows power profile, make sure it's at least set to balanced, but try out max performance as well. Also ensure the hyper-threading for your CPU is turned on. Another possibility is that your CPU starts to throttle (automatically drops down its frequency, usually to cool down) Any OC done on the CPU? Is cooling adequate? Monitor your temps and clock speeds while in game.

P.S. This is the second time I see your exact same problem with exact same CPU to boot here on the forums. I replied to the first one almost identically but the OP never followed up on that thread. I like to think that was because my suggestions had managed to help him, but who knows?

 

[SigilFey]

I agree that it's very possible for it to be a CPU issue. The i7-7000 series should have exactly 0% problems running the game, though. Try grabbing GPU-Z and monitoring what happens when you enter a city.

I'm thinking that it may also be a voltage issue. 650 watts is probably not leaving much power overhead.

What version of Windows 10 are you running? And can you list the complete installation directory?

 

[wazabee900]

This points at your CPU struggling, which is very strange as your CPU is more than enough to run the game. Check your Windows power profile, make sure it's at least set to balanced, but try out max performance as well. Also ensure the hyper-threading for your CPU is turned on. Another possibility is that your CPU starts to throttle (automatically drops down its frequency, usually to cool down) Any OC done on the CPU? Is cooling adequate? Monitor your temps and clock speeds while in game.

P.S. This is the second time I see your exact same problem with exact same CPU to boot here on the forums. I replied to the first one almost identically but the OP never followed up on that thread. I like to think that was because my suggestions had managed to help him, but who knows?

Thanks for the suggestion! I've checked hyper-threading is enabled and it is, I also haven't overclocked the CPU yet but it is liquid cooled by a corsair H55 and the highest I've seen my temps under load is around the 60 degree mark although I haven't monitored it closely, currently re-downloading the game as I thought i'd give that another go so i'll monitor my CPU usage in the game when I can and get back to you!

 

[wazabee900]

I agree that it's very possible for it to be a CPU issue. The i7-7000 series should have exactly 0% problems running the game, though. Try grabbing GPU-Z and monitoring what happens when you enter a city.

I'm thinking that it may also be a voltage issue. 650 watts is probably not leaving much power overhead.

What version of Windows 10 are you running? And can you list the complete installation directory?

Appreciate the suggestion! Gonna monitor my CPU in game when i've re-downloaded. Could my PSU be a problem if it runs all the other high end games i've tried fine? Don't want to fork out more for another PSU so how can I detect if there's power issues with it?

I'm running the latest version of Windows 10 (1703) and the install directory is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Witcher 3.

 

[SigilFey]

1.) Well, Windows Creator's Update is certainly creating all sorts of new and exciting problems for games. Can't say for certain if that's it, but I would definitely stay current with any future updates and see if they have an affect.

2.) Follow these steps to move the Steam installation to a the root of your drive. In general, I recommend not installing any games under either Program Files or Program Files(x86). These are protected directories and can cause odd issues with Windows security, permissions, and game performance. After this, set the game's .EXE to "Run as administrator".

3.) Also, new thought: check your GPU Control Panel settings and ensure Vsync is set to "Application Controlled". If some form of "Adaptive" or "Smart" Vsync override is enabled, that could be the issue.

In general, yes, it's still possible that all other AAA games could run just fine with your PSU, but TW3 tanks it. TW3 puts both GPUs and CPUs through their paces. 650 should be enough, but it might not leave enough overhead if the hardware really wants to pull. I would be mildly surprised if that's the case, but it's worth ruling out. It may also be something wrong with the PSU rather than it being insufficient.

Using GPU-Z, you can track your video card, memory, and CPU over time. It will save a graph of each component's performance, and highlight any stress or bottlenecks by changing the color of the graph to represent the reason why the component was struggling. So if it's temperature, bottlenecking, voltage, etc. you'll be able to see when, for how long, and how badly. (It's free -- it may just be a bit of a learning curve to read it accurately.)

To close, I suggest following the steps 1-2-3 above before really digging in with the GPU-Z / power supply stuff. I only thought of the various Vsync methods now. Plus, moving the Steam installation will definitely get you PC into better "gaming shape". Just know that when you do it, you'll likely have to verify each of your Steam games once before you play them again. If you have a big library, that can take a loooooong while.

 

[wazabee900]

1.) Well, Windows Creator's Update is certainly creating all sorts of new and exciting problems for games. Can't say for certain if that's it, but I would definitely stay current with any future updates and see if they have an affect.

2.) Follow these steps to move the Steam installation to a the root of your drive. In general, I recommend not installing any games under either Program Files or Program Files(x86). These are protected directories and can cause odd issues with Windows security, permissions, and game performance. After this, set the game's .EXE to "Run as administrator".

3.) Also, new thought: check your GPU Control Panel settings and ensure Vsync is set to "Application Controlled". If some form of "Adaptive" or "Smart" Vsync override is enabled, that could be the issue.

In general, yes, it's still possible that all other AAA games could run just fine with your PSU, but TW3 tanks it. TW3 puts both GPUs and CPUs through their paces. 650 should be enough, but it might not leave enough overhead if the hardware really wants to pull. I would be mildly surprised if that's the case, but it's worth ruling out. It may also be something wrong with the PSU rather than it being insufficient.

Using GPU-Z, you can track your video card, memory, and CPU over time. It will save a graph of each component's performance, and highlight any stress or bottlenecks by changing the color of the graph to represent the reason why the component was struggling. So if it's temperature, bottlenecking, voltage, etc. you'll be able to see when, for how long, and how badly. (It's free -- it may just be a bit of a learning curve to read it accurately.)

To close, I suggest following the steps 1-2-3 above before really digging in with the GPU-Z / power supply stuff. I only thought of the various Vsync methods now. Plus, moving the Steam installation will definitely get you PC into better "gaming shape". Just know that when you do it, you'll likely have to verify each of your Steam games once before you play them again. If you have a big library, that can take a loooooong while.

1) I've read about problems with Windows 10 Creators Update but this is the only version of 10 that I've used as I had 7 operating my old system so I have nothing to compare this version against but i'll bear that in mind.

2) I'll move the folders out of program files and leave this running overnight and see if this helps my problem.

3) The V-Sync setting was already on the application controlled setting and I've tried all the other v-sync toggles and they all have the same result!

One thing I've noticed whilst monitoring the game briefly, using the area around Kaer Trolde to test it out, was my GPU usage being around 95%+ constantly around the outskirts round the hills with smooth 60 fps gameplay and the CPU Usage is around 30-40% but then moving into the harbour the GPU starts to drop with the framerates to like the 50-60% usage and it's all over the place but the CPU doesn't fluctuate it's around the same 40% as when I'm not in the city! Bit of a amateur when it comes to all this stuff so don't really know if that's an indication of a specific problem.

I'll have a go at monitoring for a prolonged period using GPU-Z and see what I can take from that, but I'll do that after relocating the install folder.

 

[SigilFey]

2) I'll move the folders out of program files and leave this running overnight and see if this helps my problem.

Sorry -- clarifying: You need to manually run a "verify the integrity of the game cache" for each game already installed in your library that has trouble launching after the move. It's not something you can set to "auto" (not as far as I know, at least). So it requires you to be around your PC until it's done, or to go through the process each time you launch one of the games for the first time after migrating Steam.

One thing I've noticed whilst monitoring the game briefly, using the area around Kaer Trolde to test it out, was my GPU usage being around 95%+ constantly around the outskirts round the hills with smooth 60 fps gameplay and the CPU Usage is around 30-40% but then moving into the harbour the GPU starts to drop with the framerates to like the 50-60% usage and it's all over the place but the CPU doesn't fluctuate it's around the same 40% as when I'm not in the city! Bit of a amateur when it comes to all this stuff so don't really know if that's an indication of a specific problem.

Interesting. That leads things right back to a threading issue as iCake first suggested above. Differences between wilderness and "settlement" locations are NPCs, conversations, many more indoor locations that need to be cached, lots of data to keep movement schedules and idle animations running in sync... Most of this stuff is CPU-heavy. Have you tried unparking the cores on your CPU? It's a power-saving feature that can play poorly with gaming. Not all CPUs / systems are set up with parked cores, but if they are, you can try that. I hesitate to recommend a utility here as I still use Windows 7 and don't know how Windows 10 works things. (I only link to stuff I personally use and know will work. )

Some additional questions:

1.) Rereading your initial post, I see you're running the games in 2K resolutions. I would say ensuring you're in 1080p while troubleshooting is almost necessary. Not only is 2K / 4K not supported officially, it can add severely increased VRAM loads at unexpected times, and it's not guaranteed to be friendly with other hardware / software functions going on.

2.) Are you using any form of overclocking? Not just GPU, but CPU, RAM, etc.?

3.) Do you have a G-Sync monitor?

4.) Stupid question I should have asked off-the-bat: using any mods, or have you ever used any?

 

[wazabee900]

Sorry -- clarifying: You need to manually run a "verify the integrity of the game cache" for each game already installed in your library that has trouble launching after the move. It's not something you can set to "auto" (not as far as I know, at least). So it requires you to be around your PC until it's done, or to go through the process each time you launch one of the games for the first time after migrating Steam.

Yeah I realised this but it didn't take long anyways so I verified once I had moved the folder to a new directory and got the game running again, unfortunately it hasn't helped cure my problem!

Interesting. That leads things right back to a threading issue as iCake first suggested above. Differences between wilderness and "settlement" locations are NPCs, conversations, many more indoor locations that need to be cached, lots of data to keep movement schedules and idle animations running in sync... Most of this stuff is CPU-heavy. Have you tried unparking the cores on your CPU? It's a power-saving feature that can play poorly with gaming. Not all CPUs / systems are set up with parked cores, but if they are, you can try that. I hesitate to recommend a utility here as I still use Windows 7 and don't know how Windows 10 works things. (I only link to stuff I personally use and know will work. )
Some additional questions:
1.) Rereading your initial post, I see you're running the games in 2K resolutions. I would say ensuring you're in 1080p while troubleshooting is almost necessary. Not only is 2K / 4K not supported officially, it can add severely increased VRAM loads at unexpected times, and it's not guaranteed to be friendly with other hardware / software functions going on.
2.) Are you using any form of overclocking? Not just GPU, but CPU, RAM, etc.?
3.) Do you have a G-Sync monitor?
4.) Stupid question I should have asked off-the-bat: using any mods, or have you ever used any?

I read about parked core problems during my initial search to sort this problem and used an app called Bitsum Park Control to check but according to that, none of my cores are parked. But I am now assuming it's a CPU problem but don't really know what else to do about it!

1) Yeah I already tried using all the lower resolutions even down to 800x600 just for the sake of it but i was still getting about 30 fps in cities!

2) No I haven't overclocked anything on this system yet.

3) Nope my monitor is not G-Sync.

4) Not using any mods as this is the first time I've owned TW3 on PC it's completely vanilla.

 

[iCake]

CPU load by thread wouldn't hurt here. I'm now beginning to suspect the game doesn't recognize all of them due to some weird software issues. But again the game runs fine even on dual cores... Now if it only runs on one thread, that would be very very weird... but would explain things.

Now absolutely kill all the background apps before running the game, even anti-virus apps if you have any, if not turn off that Windows Defender. You might even go as far as ensure that no 3rd party programs are running in your system.

 

[wazabee900]

CPU load by thread wouldn't hurt here. I'm now beginning to suspect the game doesn't recognize all of them due to some weird software issues. But again the game runs fine even on dual cores... Now if it only runs on one thread, that would be very very weird... but would explain things.

Now absolutely kill all the background apps before running the game, even anti-virus apps if you have any, if not turn off that Windows Defender. You might even go as far as ensure that no 3rd party programs are running in your system.

I killed everything I could including all my security features then tried it out but it was still the same result ran around the square in novigrad and both the CPU and GPU are around the 40-50% range and fps drops as low as 25 fps at times, really bizarre!

 

[iCake]

I killed everything I could including all my security features then tried it out but it was still the same result
​ ran around the square in novigrad and both the CPU and GPU are around the 40-50% range and fps drops as low as 25 fps at times, really bizarre!

As I said load by thread, not the general load of the whole CPU.

Also what's with the graphs? SigilFey advice was a very good one. It might be your PSU struggling to power your CPU or even the VRM on your mobo. Hmm, you can pull that beast of the GPU out to lighten the power draw and then run the game on integrated graphics, low resolution of course but try to keep all other settings about the same. That's to see if your CPU utilization will get better.

P.S. Just briefly watched some benchmarks of this game on 7700K gtx1080 @1440p with all the sliders cranked up. The CPU usage in cities is anywhere between 40-70% with rare spikes beyond that. Load by thread seems to be mainly even. Although I'd say it averages around 50-55% in Novigrad at least.

 

[wazabee900]

As I said load by thread, not the general load of the whole CPU.

Also what's with the graphs? SigilFey advice was a very good one.

My bad, i'm not entirely sure what that means do you mean monitor each thread individually instead of as a whole?

In regards to the graphs I've been in and out today but I'm on with it now, using gpu-z, and the graphs show my GPU load, Power Consumption and Memory Controller Load all drop quite considerably and 'PerfCap Reason' sometimes changes to idle when i'm in towns, everything else stays around the same, don't see anything in GPU-Z relating directly to my CPU?

 

[wazabee900]

As I said load by thread, not the general load of the whole CPU.

Also what's with the graphs? SigilFey advice was a very good one. It might be your PSU struggling to power your CPU or even the VRM on your mobo. Hmm, you can pull that beast of the GPU out to lighten the power draw and then run the game on integrated graphics, low resolution of course but try to keep all other settings about the same. That's to see if your CPU utilization will get better.

P.S. Just briefly watched some benchmarks of this game on 7700K gtx1080 @1440p with all the sliders cranked up. The CPU usage in cities is anywhere between 40-70% with rare spikes beyond that. Load by thread seems to be mainly even. Although I'd say it averages around 50-55% in Novigrad at least.

Just read the rest of your post and yes all my threads load evenly at about those levels! I'll give it a shot running from my integrated graphics and removing the 1080.

 

[iCake]

My bad, i'm not entirely sure what that means do you mean monitor each thread individually instead of as a whole?

Exactly.

Power Consumption and Memory Controller Load all drop quite considerably and 'PerfCap Reason' sometimes changes to idle when i'm in towns

Hmm, I wanted to say that was your culprit, but then I remembered that your GPU also drops to around 60% usage. So yeah, power consumption naturally goes down. Yeah, it is still exactly the problem, just not conclusive yet. Same graphs with the GPU removed would be very nice right now.

 

[SigilFey]

CPU load by thread wouldn't hurt here. I'm now beginning to suspect the game doesn't recognize all of them due to some weird software issues. But again the game runs fine even on dual cores... Now if it only runs on one thread, that would be very very weird... but would explain things.

This!^

It actually came up a long time ago -- the game was running fine on dual cores but refusing to recognize anything but Core 0 on quads. Or vice versa. Something like that. Why this would have happened again (and only in your case, seemingly, wazabee900 [...lucky you! ]) is beyond me, but that would definitely be something to look into.

(P.S. -- Thanks for all the help, iCake! After we sort this issue out, the three of us should take on a world issue! I read that chocolate may be extinct by 2100. We can start there.)

Power Consumption and Memory Controller Load all drop quite considerably and 'PerfCap Reason' sometimes changes to idle when i'm in towns, everything else stays around the same, don't see anything in GPU-Z relating directly to my CPU?

Here's what I meant about the learning curve with reading it. "Performance Cap" can be caused by lots of different things. TW3 is a massive game (resource-wise) and needs to keep CPU, RAM, GPU, and VRAM in sync to work properly. That's, of course, true of any software, but it is easier to knock things waaay out of sync with games, and TW3 is more demanding than most. If you didn't see any voltage issues specifically mentioned, then that's a great sign. Instead, it means that something is starving your components of data. That smells like a bottleneck, and it's most likely in the CPU. Can you cross-reference the CPU, GPU, and RAM to see what the readings for each were at the same time Power Consumption and Memory Controller were reporting PerfCap?

Ideally, one of them should look really, really busy, while the rest of your components are sitting around bored, like: "Whassup?"

_______________


Also, also! I'm playing through TW3 again now, and this time around, I noticed slower overall performance than I have ever seen before. At the same time, I have noticed almost 0% pop-in anywhere. As I was regularly getting FPS fluctuations between 30-60 all over, I simply capped the FPS manually at 48 in my user.settings. The framerate hasn't moved since: Velen countryside...48 FPS. Downtown Novigraad...48 FPS. Huge thunderstorm in the thickest woods of Skellige during a battle with multiple enemies and signs being thrown around...48 FPS. No hitching -- no stuttering -- no lagging -- nuthin! Just 48 FPS everywhere, constantly, solid. I have never been more in love with this game...(Clears throat. Composes himself. Straightens tie.)

As I was saying, the philosophy here is making the engine happy. Try taking the load off of the graphics processing. Your eye will adjust to 48 FPS in a matter of minutes (TV is only 24 FPS, HDTV sometimes reaches 32 FPS). It may help smooth things out, or at least it may make the shift into city environments less jarring while we troubleshoot.

Also![SUP]3[/SUP] In Nvidia Control Panel, be sure your "Frames to render ahead" setting is set to 1 under the game-specific settings for witcher3.exe. (Regular frames to render ahead, not VR frames to render ahead.)

 

[wazabee900]

Hmm, I wanted to say that was your culprit, but then I remembered that your GPU also drops to around 60% usage. So yeah, power consumption naturally goes down. Yeah, it is still exactly the problem, just not conclusive yet. Same graphs with the GPU removed would be very nice right now.

Apologies for the delay I realised I didn't even have my Integrated Graphics enabled so I had to mess around with the bios then noticed the i/o shield was a bit of a mess and couldn't get the hdmi cable in! But I have run it now at low resolution but similar graphics and checked the graphs on GPU-Z and they are all maxed out evenly. Also the CPU usage was about 15-30% at anytime. Although it was unplayable obviously! I'll be honest I'm not sure what this test signifies but i'm sure you do haha

 

[Guest 4173710]

Well, that's weird because I experienced a pretty similar issue a few months ago...

FPS would drop to 25-30 fps for no reason, GPU usage was stuck at 60-70%. Though, it was only happening in Novigrad or around it.

I tried to fix the issue for weeks and ended up by formating my Windows 10 and it solved it but now my game crash randomly to desktop with no errors whatsoever... I gave up since then.

My specs:

i5 7600k stock settings
Asus Strix Z270F (we got the same mobo)
Asus Strix 1070
Corsair 16gb 3000mhz (same ram sticks as well)
Seasonic G-550w
2x AOC screen 1920x1080@60hz
Windows 10 Pro

Just my 2 cent on that matter, maybe somethings not right with our mobo because back then I was looking for someone else with the same issue and found no one... until now. It's been 2 months that I haven't launched Witcher 3 to test it again, it's the only game that gives me issues for some reason. Currently playing PUBG, Battlefield 1, Overwatch, Doom, LoL, modded Fallout 4without any issues.

 

[wazabee900]

It actually came up a long time ago -- the game was running fine on dual cores but refusing to recognize anything but Core 0 on quads. Or vice versa. Something like that. Why this would have happened again (and only in your case, seemingly, wazabee900 [...lucky you! ]) is beyond me, but that would definitely be something to look into.
(P.S. -- Thanks for all the help, iCake! After we sort this issue out, the three of us should take on a world issue! I read that chocolate may be extinct by 2100. We can start there.)

Yeah I'm completely at a loss! I don't know if it's a game issue or something I've done wrong whilst building my system. Was there a way round these issues you mention from long ago?
(P.S. I suspect in the year 2100 I will still be playing TW3 at 25fps haha.)

Here's what I meant about the learning curve with reading it. "Performance Cap" can be caused by lots of different things. TW3 is a massive game (resource-wise) and needs to keep CPU, RAM, GPU, and VRAM in sync to work properly. That's, of course, true of any software, but it is easier to knock things waaay out of sync with games, and TW3 is more demanding than most. If you didn't see any voltage issues specifically mentioned, then that's a great sign. Instead, it means that something is starving your components of data. That smells like a bottleneck, and it's most likely in the CPU. Can you cross-reference the CPU, GPU, and RAM to see what the readings for each were at the same time Power Consumption and Memory Controller were reporting PerfCap?

I now tested at White Orchard where the stupid 30 fps dips occur around the inn. But again everywhere around it is a sweet 60 fps, but in regards to the PerfCap I've noticed when the dips occur here it doesn't change to 'Idle' it is constantly saying 'VRel' now, whether I'm near the inn or running round the fields. But of course the Load and Memory controller still decline near the inn. The CPU also doesn't seem to be any different when these dips occur either, all 8 threads are about 35-60% whether I have frame drops and low GPU usage or not. Also the RAM is around 6.5gb at all times.

Also, also! I'm playing through TW3 again now, and this time around, I noticed slower overall performance than I have ever seen before. At the same time, I have noticed almost 0% pop-in anywhere. As I was regularly getting FPS fluctuations between 30-60 all over, I simply capped the FPS manually at 48 in my user.settings. The framerate hasn't moved since: Velen countryside...48 FPS. Downtown Novigraad...48 FPS. Huge thunderstorm in the thickest woods of Skellige during a battle with multiple enemies and signs being thrown around...48 FPS. No hitching -- no stuttering -- no lagging -- nuthin! Just 48 FPS everywhere, constantly, solid. I have never been more in love with this game...(Clears throat. Composes himself. Straightens tie.)

I really hope to play through again as when I'm running round at a smooth frame the game really does look amazing on this system, just these problems are really putting me off and knowing that when I get to Novigrad and even Oxenfurt first in this save and it being unplayable really puts me off putting any time into it. If I can get this sorted and I naturally get dips then I'd happily clamp the frames at say, 50fps, so that I get a solid experience! It's just obviously I don't know what this system should be aiming for as a whole as no matter what settings I get these drops! As for Pre-Rendered frames I do already have it set to 1 in the Control Panel.

 

[wazabee900]

Well, that's weird because I experienced a pretty similar issue a few months ago...

FPS would drop to 25-30 fps for no reason, GPU usage was stuck at 60-70%. Though, it was only happening in Novigrad or around it.

I tried to fix the issue for weeks and ended up by formating my Windows 10 and it solved it but now my game crash randomly to desktop with no errors whatsoever... I gave up since then.

My specs:

i5 7600k stock settings
Asus Strix Z270F (we got the same mobo)
Asus Strix 1070
Corsair 16gb 3000mhz (same ram sticks as well)
Seasonic G-550w
2x AOC screen 1920x1080@60hz
Windows 10 Pro

Just my 2 cent on that matter, maybe somethings not right with our mobo because back then I was looking for someone else with the same issue and found no one... until now. It's been 2 months that I haven't launched Witcher 3 to test it again, it's the only game that gives me issues for some reason. Currently playing PUBG, Battlefield 1, Overwatch, Doom, LoL, modded Fallout 4without any issues.

I did consider a clean Windows Install but the Media Install Tool gave me problems so I just gave up and tried to resolve the issue otherwise, as I didn't really wanna format the the PC. I think windows 10 is crap anyways, preferred 7. But thought that might be my only option left to try, still might be!

Strange that you say you couldn't find someone with the same issue cos I haven't found a matching one at all really either which is unusual! I've also had no issues with other games although I've not tried too many yet. Interesting about the mobo as it was the last thing I made my mind upon when building!