Getting the most out of a new graphics card (plus other optimizing suggestions)

Professor Snugglesworth · June 2013

I recently placed an order for a new GPU to replace my current one: http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Dual-Link-Graphics-02G-P4-2763-KR/dp/B00DHW4HS4/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1372620292&sr=8-9&keywords=gtx+760

Since it'll arrive in a couple of days, I wanted to take the time to educate myself on how to get the most out of this card, either through official applications or third party tricks.

For reference, my current specs are as follows:

ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series (I believe it's a 5770 or 5775. Either or)

Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1

4096MB RAM

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz x2 ~3000MHz

Budgeting restricts me from completely overhauling my PC, so for now I'm just changing the GPU, as I've been told that alone should give me a much-needed performance boost on PC games.

Speaking of which, I mainly play games through my TV via Steam's Big Picture Mode, which means a 1920x1080 resolution for games and most settings cranked to High or Medium High. I usually disable AA, SSAO and other effects-driven stuff, as I care more about texture quality than particles.

Most of the time I get a pretty stable framerate, but I'm also prone to moments of framerate stuttering, which can also cause the audio to stutter with it. My primary goal is to get smoother framerates, maybe even 60 if possible. I'm not concerned with increasing the visual settings any further unless I was certain I could do so without performance cost.

Since I've mostly been using ATI for my graphics cards (I don't think I've ever owned an Nvidia), this is why I'm asking for advice on things I can do to get the best possible optimization with my setup.

I've also relied on third party programs like RadeonPro and GameBooster. The former can apply things like V-Sync and AF, which reportedly is less taxing than applying them in-game. I also normally use DirectX9 and nothing higher, as higher options tend to affect my performance even further.

So with that in mind, I'm just looking for advice on tinkering this thing for the best possible performance.

TychoCelchuuu · July 2013

This is something you should do on a per-game basis, if at all.

a5ehren · July 2013

Well, for Nvidia, the Geforce Experience software gets you a good starting point for modern games, even though it targets 40 FPS. You can take their initial settings and turn stuff down (AA and SSAO have the biggest impacts) on a per-game basis from the in-game settings. If you want to do more work, you can also setup per-game profiles in the driver control panel that override the game settings.

The 760 should be able to max out older (2+ years) games at 60FPS without any issues. With the new card, quit using DX9 mode as DX11 is more efficient on new hardware.

You'll also want to start budgeting for a CPU/RAM upgrade once the funds are available. Even a modern i3 or low-end AMD chip provides a substantial improvement over a Core 2 in gaming situations.

Professor Snugglesworth · July 2013

I'll keep that program in mind, thanks.

Although what I was initially asking was for any universal tweaks I should be doing through the GPU's control center or any other program, not necessarily a game-by-game basis. Basically if there's any settings I can apply that will benefit me across the board, those are the settings I would like to know about.

Also, and I suppose this goes without saying, I should uninstall my current GPU and Catalyst Control Center before replacing it with the new one, right?

a5ehren · July 2013

Yes, absolutely.

As far as universal settings, I can't think of any. Everything is so variable from game to game these days that there isn't really anything that works for all games.

Wulf · July 2013

If/ when you start to overclock your card, Unigine Heaven is one of the better things I've found for seeing what settings are stable. You want to up the voltage on the card with it's utility first, then clock up your processor and see where that is stable until. Then you reset that to stock, do the same with the VRAM. Then you see where you can get with them both turned up. Generally it will be less than the maximum of each, but will give you higher performance metrics than either alone. Once you have a happy medium between performance and temperature, bam, you're set to lock that in until you buy a new card down the line.

Professor Snugglesworth · July 2013

This what you're talking about? http://www.geforce.com/games-applications/pc-applications/Unigine-Heaven-2

So is that a program that lets me configure my card for overclocking, or am I supposed to use something else to overclock while running that benchmark?

Since I may put off upgrading my older components, I'm willing to try overclocking if it's safer to do these days and guarantees an even bigger performance boost. I'd like further details, please.

And back on the subject of universal settings, generally setting things through the Control Panel would be less taxing than setting them through in-game settings, correct? I've often heard that's the case for v-sync, so I've set that to be always on along with triple buffering on the Nvidia Control Panel.

TychoCelchuuu · July 2013

You shouldn't force V-Sync or triple buffering through the nVidia Control Panel - some games don't handle that very well. This sort of tweaking is something that should be done on a game by game basis, if at all.

Smasher · July 2013

Where are you getting the idea that universal settings are "less taxing" than in-game settings? I'm highly skeptical that's true.

e: unless you mean setting it once is less taxing on you than setting it a bunch of times in different games, which would be true. But see Tycho's posts about different games having different optimal settings.

Professor Snugglesworth · July 2013

I've read it quite a bit among other forums/sites. So much so that I'm pretty surprised that isn't the case.

The argument was that using a program like RadeonPro or the GPU Control Panel to implement the settings would basically reduce the performance from the game, since it wouldn't have to enable those settings itself.

I'd still like advice on the easiest/safest way to overclock though.

Griswold · July 2013

@Professor Snugglesworth

Honestly, your 760 at stock clocks is going to murder most everything at 1080p.

Save the overclocking for when you find a game where your GPU actually struggles. This way, you avoid the headaches of BSODs, artifacting, and throttling due to high temperatures.

My only recommendation is to make sure your drivers are consistently up-to-date -- people are so slow on this and it BOGGLES MY MIND because the gains they leave on the table are often comparable to or greater than the gains from a potential overclock.

You're likely to find your CPU bottlenecks you in current/future games well before the 760 ever will.

Professor Snugglesworth · July 2013

Well, I certainly am getting a better performance boost. Or rather, I'm getting a comparable performance that I did before while cranking up the settings even further.

But I still get the occasional stutter or slowdown, so that's why I was looking into overclocking, to see if I could squeeze out my specs even further so that I could get a flawless framerate.

As for drivers, I used the Nvidia Control Panel to download the latest version of the GPU, though I suspect there may be a beta version or something that might work even better. I also popped TressFX on Tomb Raider and immediately turned it off when Lara's hair turned into a living creature threatening to strangle her.

Is there a particular program that's ideal for checking the best possible drivers for your PC?

threadbareconnor · July 2013

a5ehren wrote: »

Well, for Nvidia, the Geforce Experience software gets you a good starting point for modern games, even though it targets 40 FPS. You can take their initial settings and turn stuff down (AA and SSAO have the biggest impacts) on a per-game basis from the in-game settings. If you want to do more work, you can also setup per-game profiles in the driver control panel that override the game settings.

The 760 should be able to max out older (2+ years) games at 60FPS without any issues. With the new card, quit using DX9 mode as DX11 is more efficient on new hardware.

You'll also want to start budgeting for a CPU/RAM upgrade once the funds are available. Even a modern i3 or low-end AMD chip provides a substantial improvement over a Core 2 in gaming situations.

basically this, the Geforce experience does a great job setting up almost any game out there for your specific hardware.

Griswold · July 2013

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

Well, I certainly am getting a better performance boost. Or rather, I'm getting a comparable performance that I did before while cranking up the settings even further.

But I still get the occasional stutter or slowdown, so that's why I was looking into overclocking, to see if I could squeeze out my specs even further so that I could get a flawless framerate.

As for drivers, I used the Nvidia Control Panel to download the latest version of the GPU, though I suspect there may be a beta version or something that might work even better. I also popped TressFX on Tomb Raider and immediately turned it off when Lara's hair turned into a living creature threatening to strangle her.

Is there a particular program that's ideal for checking the best possible drivers for your PC?

NVIDIA's website should auto-detect the newest stable release for your graphics card and operating system.

What games are you seeing stutters and slowdowns in? I'm curious if it's a CPU limitation at this point.

SanderJK · July 2013

A program like MSI afterburner can detect which part of your hardware is utilised at what percentage. If the game that sees performance issues doesn't give the gpu a full workout you may will CPU limited. I have a very similar cpu, and hit that wall relatively often, with a weaker videocard.

Penny Arcade

Quick Links

Getting the most out of a new graphics card (plus other optimizing suggestions)

Posts