Framerate chugs at table startup?

[frostyarcade]

Hey guys. After some recent updates, when I start a table it usually drops in frame rate for about 5-10 seconds then plays normally. I am assuming the game is loading the textures/items etc for the table? Has anyone else ran into this issue? Is there a fix? Once this 5-10 second "chugging" period is over, the game will play full speed w/o issue. Some tables take longer than others to get to full speed (anywhere from 3 to 10/15 seconds). This is directx11, gtx 750 ti (latest driver), 8gb ram, and a 3570k cpu. I'm using default dx11 settings but with 1600x2560 portrait res (due to the infamous locked aspect ratio issue...)

 

[relaxation]

I only experience slowdowns when I'm at or above 95% gpu usage, for me that means (4K/2160p) in DX11 with a GTX960 on two specific tables TOTAN and CV when zooming up close (lots of added light math). You could check if your 750Ti is a bottleneck for you by having GPU-Z [http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/] open in the backround, launch a table, wait for it to load then alt tab to see what it's utilization was.

 

[frostyarcade]

I tried other lower resolution settings last night to see if it would help, but it would still chug for a couple seconds when starting the table (then play normally/full speed) so I might as well just stick with the higher res I was using... I guess I'll just live with it, like I do with the locked 16x9 aspect issue (letter boxing).

 

[Crawley]

I'll get the framerate drop initially too from time-to-time. If you enable FPS in Steam you can watch your fps. When it does the table flyby the fps will go from somewhere between 1-30fps. Then jump to the 60fps - which is what it should stay at. I have had cases where it got stuck at 30fps. If that occurs it'll sometimes jump to 60 if I start the game. But more often than not it won't and I'll have to exit the table and then go back in.

I am downsampling so that requires a little extra horsepower from the video card. But once I'm at 60 fps I'm golden. This is on a 780 OC.

 

[Firefox2000]

That 1600x2560 res will be bottlenecking your 750ti somewhat, a good card for 1080p on med setttings.

Try disabling all the AA and post effects options in the start up settings for DX11.

 

[relaxation]

You should choose either to Downsample or AA, they're the means to round off edges, so if any of you had both I'd suggest you stick to one. I keep to 1440p backbuffer on my 1080p screen since the miniscule visual improvement of 2160p isn't worth the 40w of extra processing power.

my MSAA samples and Anisotropy are set to 1.

 

[frostyarcade]

Thanks for the responses guys, I appreciate it. I am having the exact issue that Crawley mentioned to the tee. The game will run flawlessly after that initial table load chug he & I mentioned. I tried lowering the backbuffers, but it had no effect on the issue, so I just kept with 1600x2560.

My MSAA is set to 4 & Anisotropy to 16 (MSAA Quality set to zero). I'll set those both to 1 tonight and see if there's any change.

 

[Firefox2000]

^^You actually might have to disable them totally, that 750ti simply does not have the grunt at that res to do them without hitting bottleneck issues, and even when disabled i suspect that x2560 will still causes slow downs at that res.

Let us know how you get on bud.

 

[relaxation]

The main issue isn't the resolution itself, it's the horsepower required for the DX11 shaders to manipulate all those pixels on the fly, as an example my old entry-level HD6670 from 5~6 years ago can play at 2160p in DX9.

Last year, DX12 hit and perhaps it's hyperbole but a headline read "Ashes of the Singularity Can Handle Upto 20000 Units At Once, DX12 Allows Thousands of Light Sources" emphasis mine it would be great if it was only a tenth of that to really have all (100+, on any given table) light sources casting light on these pinball tables compared to DX11 where it may only have 4 to 8 real light sources.

 

[frostyarcade]

Interesting info, thanks guys. Unfortunately, the issue persisted at all levels of resolution/MSAA settings after system restarts. I also tried 16:9 ratio resolutions to see if that helped at all, but it would still chug briefly after restarting my PC.

So I switched back to what I was using since it looked so great. Like I mentioned earlier, it will play at full speed after that initial 5-10 second table load up. Seems like the game just needs to warm up my gpu once after booting my PC.

 

[frostyarcade]

Would this "warming up" process be because my gpu (750 ti) does not have an external power source and is solely powered by the mobo/pci slot? Would there be a way to modify it using precision x? I would only want the increased power for TPA use, not for other programs. Thanks for any help!

 

[lio]

I have this on my 2gb gtx 670 as well and the reason for it is probably that the game is loading stuff as it is needed for the first time so the stutter stopps once everything has been loaded. I also get a short stutter when the achievment popup comes in.

 

[frostyarcade]

The big hurt REALLY hurts.. I can't seem to get that table out of a slow frame rate chug. I'm not using down sampling, just the standard resolution of my monitor in portrait. Any suggestions? What about suggestions for a better GPU? It's got to be mini itx sized, like my 750 ti. Note: my other specs are in post #1.

 

[frostyarcade]

Problem solved- upgraded to a 1060.