9 replies to this topic

[M A S E]

Hey everyone,

There is backstory here to explain why I found out this information. You can simply scroll to the bold text near the bottom to get the intel you came here for. This is particularily for Nvidia users because I don't know much about AMD.. but I figure this works for you guys too if your CPU operates similar to mine.

Mobo - Gigabyte Z58-UD3H-B3
16 Gigs of Patriot gaming RAM - 1333mhz
GTX 660ti upgraded to GTX 760 before Clans
Intel i5-2500k (speeds vary from 3.3 to 4.5)

I'm posting to share with everyone, in the event that you, a friend, a unit member.. or anyone you find who is having FPS stability issues with MWO. This is an opportunity for you to help them if they carry a CPU similar to mine. Now... there is in honesty quite a list of things that can cause MWO to have mad FPS drops when critical moments require those frames. Some of you may laugh, shake heads... but there are times that people like myself can overlook/ over analyze a problem with our computers. We think they are broken in some shape or form when honestly.. its simply us users and our ignorance/ forgetfulness.

I had a 6 month break from MWO, and played Diablo 3's expansion like the hermit I am until a couple weeks before Clan Wave 1. To my knowledge MWO ran ever so smoothly.. headshotting ravens at full speed and being called a cheater for it (got vids). This was also shortly after DmC was released via Team Ninja, because my recently upgraded mobo died. So when I got it replaced, I did my thing getting my computer rebuilt and all that fun... I had additional computer problems, played with my bios, overclocked my rig and all that stuff. However there was a very new USB technology that was added to that timeline of mobo's. And little did I know that there was a feature enabled in my bios that was causing MWO's FPS stability to go haywire for these past 16 months. the 64 bit, HUD (somewhat) optimization and other fixes have certainly helped my GTX 760 from dropping to as low as 12 fps (for real).. until last night. I was talking about SLI with a friend, and it me that I haven't checked my PCI-E's performance since I last had 2 cards in my pc. I only use 1 unless I need more power.

Sure enough while playing GTA-5.. my Nvidia details said my single gpu was runing at 8x 2nd generation. So I did a little reading.. and this is what I learned;

Sandy Bridge (2000 series) in particular, supports USB 3.0 Turbo. Unlike Ivy-Bridge (3000 series) my i5-2500k can only support this function via using the mobo's first PCI-E's port. If your tower/ mobo has/ supports USB 3.0, you need to go into your BIOS and turn off the "TURBO" feature ONLY. Your USB 3's will still function, just not at the expense of PCIE x16.

I couldn't believe how consistent my gpu was staying above 50.. now I can do Terra Therma on max in Training grounds and hit 110.. but the consistency I was getting when I gpu was running on 16x was like re-experiencing when I first built this former beast machine.

Final Note:

There is a price for this towards a game exploit. Alot of people with not-top-of-the-line pc's don't know that the more players are in your visual cone.. the more your frames drop. You can find clumps of enemies this way because your visual obstruction has nothing to do with the way the game communicates within its code.

All in all Im happy to share this new experience with everyone. And for those who look into it, I hope it gives you the results you are looking for.

Edited by M A S E, 27 December 2015 - 03:22 PM.

[Y E O N N E]

Hmmmm...I wonder if this applies to Sandy Bridge-E as well. LGA 2011 CPUs have the full set of PCI-E lanes, unlike the LGA 1155/1156/1150 CPUs, which operate with a restricted set.

Doesn't guarantee that this isn't a problem, though.

[Narcissistic Martyr]

AM3+ MB have add in controllers for USB3 at least most do so this shouldn't apply to FX CPU builds

As for FM2? I honestly don't remember.

[Chemie]

cool story bro...only a graphics card only uses ~4 lanes of the PCI-e (out of 16) so there is plenty there for USB3.

[Durant Carlyle]

Note: You have to be very specific in your advice, OP. There are several settings with "Turbo" in them. Turning off the wrong one will only hurt performance.

It's not something in your CPU. DO NOT turn off your CPU's Turbo function. Only turn off the USB Turbo function.

This is caused by Gigabyte's non-standard USB 3.0 implementation -- they can take some of the PCIe lanes normally allocated to your GPU and instead use them for extra USB 3.0 speed. The trade-off is NEVER worth it.

I repeat...

DO NOT TURN OFF THE CPU TURBO FUNCTION.

ONLY TURN OFF THE USB TURBO FUNCTION.

Edited by Durant Carlyle, 27 December 2015 - 07:21 PM.

[Goose]

Chemie, on 27 December 2015 - 04:41 PM, said:

… only a graphics card only uses ~4 lanes of the PCI-e …

wat

[Chemie]

Goose, on 27 December 2015 - 10:06 PM, said:

wat

https://www.techpowe...xpress_Scaling/

GT980 has no change in performance running on 8 lanes. This leaves 8 lanes unused so other things can use that bandwidth. In fact, even the 980 can run on x4 and still deliver 95% performance proving 4-5 lanes is all that is needed. OP uses 660Ti so this is not even using bandwidth of 4 lanes.
No cards uses the x16 lanes bandwidth in PCI3.0

Edited by Chemie, 28 December 2015 - 06:02 AM.

[Goose]

Soooo we've heard the 8 lanes version of this once or twice before; But seeing as the version 2-4 lanes test came out 9% short, I think you are misapplying the phrase "need" … <_<

[Y E O N N E]

Chemie, on 28 December 2015 - 05:57 AM, said:

https://www.techpowe...xpress_Scaling/

GT980 has no change in performance running on 8 lanes. This leaves 8 lanes unused so other things can use that bandwidth. In fact, even the 980 can run on x4 and still deliver 95% performance proving 4-5 lanes is all that is needed. OP uses 660Ti so this is not even using bandwidth of 4 lanes.
No cards uses the x16 lanes bandwidth in PCI3.0

It could be that it isn't actually a bandwidth problem so much as poorly written software getting in the way.

[Zink1701]

Another thing to note is Intel Speed Step (I am using an i5 2500k oc to 4.3GHz and a GTX 980 ti with 8GB RAM). If you OC your CPU then this may cause you a lot of problems. I have had no issue in most games with this option turned on but MWO it has caused me nothing but grief. This option dynamically adjusts CPU VCore and Frequency depending on system load. After much testing i found the VCore and Frequency would drop mid game at certain points. When the action kicked off the CPU VCore and Frequency would jump up again to its maximum (so in a lull it would drop to 2.7-3.5GHz, action starts and it jumps to 4.3GHz). When this jump happened for a split second the game would drop to 30 odd FPS and look like a micro freeze in game then it would jump to catch up. Turning off speed step solved my FPS and micro freeze issue. I dont have an option for TURBO on my USB 3.0 so this may be something to consider.

EDIT: Alter bios settings at your own risk, I have put a lot of research hours into this and I am fairly competent when it comes to PC building and tweaking.

Edit 2: Also some CPU temperature monitoring software causes problems with frame rate in games (desktop gadgets ect) I would advise turning off any monitoring software first and test before altering any settings in BIOS (this wasn't the case for me but my sons machine issue stopped when I turned off thermal monitoring on his desktop gadget)

Edit 3: Intel Speed step is NOT the same as turbo mode on the CPU it is a separate option in BIOS.

Edited by Zink1701, 29 December 2015 - 03:21 AM.