Question Is the GTX 980Ti and PC from 2016 Good For VAM?

[juytoo3zDEE]

Hi I've been playing Vam and VaMx but every time i do my computer starts making big fan noises. My pc is like i7 i think. Memory 32GB. i guess that doesn't matter right? Is my computer not good enough for VAM? I play fine(Bettter with Mirroing OFF, and Performance setting at low or standard)(standard set in VamX) but seems i can only have 2 characters at a time( i dont load any environments with walls and stuff just empty scene with simple floor and maybe bed, and chair and couch and few photo unity props) and it's fine for me cause i wanna play as the virtual partner with the VR hands....but yeah all animations seem pretty fuid except the thing that worries me is the fan noise. Andi'm not sure if that is doing bad to my computer and i should give up VAM or not. Is my computer just not good enough?

 

[Lytanshade]

i used VAM with a 980ti and 6600k for a few years without issue.

Download HWinfo and see what's overheating. You're probably overdue refreshing the thermal paste on your CPU, If you haven't you should do that for sure. Paste is cheap and plenty of YouTube guides on how to do it.

 

[juytoo3zDEE]

Thanks a lot. How do i even use this thing? I run Vam and then i run this HWinfo. and then what does it tell me?
I noticed in your screenshot the thing in red says Vam is at 1920x1080 and 60hz and fullscreen. I wonder if that makes a difference. Can the game be run in window mode while i'm wearing the Quest 2....would that make it less stress on the pc? Is there even a windwed mode? and lower resolutions i can switch to?

 

[Nameless Vagabond]

Technically, thermal cycling is bad for the components of your computer, but it's an unavoidable part of enjoying high-performance-demanding games and simulators like VAM.

Here is an article on the subject, if you're interested:

Overclocking's Impact on CPU Life - Overclockers

10/28/99: See Comments from Lee Winde regarding MTBF and Temperature:” There are several areas which, I believe, are lacking or need further explanation. My background in electronics is EE in ’67 and considerable R/D development for ten years in audio

www.overclockers.com

The TLDR is:

So if your temps are getting pretty high, consider upgrading your cooling system

 

[juytoo3zDEE]

Thanks a lot for that info. i guess it is what it is.

 

[Lytanshade]

just check the core temps of the CPU in HWinfo while your fans are screaming. if it's north of about 80C then that's the culprit and next job is to change the thermal paste. The info is fairly intuitive.

The screaming fans are a symptom of heat, not performance. SO that's the mission to solve.

GPU temps down the bottom same deal. the 980ti will set its fans to 100% and throttle if too hot as well. but it's more of a mission to change the thermal paste.

I used the same system in VR as well. the benchmark was mostly run in desktop mode and 1080p for comparison vs other systems

 

[Lytanshade]

for the OP question though, the system is fine for your uses, It's just noisy cos it's overheating due to (likely) old thermal paste and possibly poor case cooling. The CPU cooler is another thing to look at, but i wouldn't throw money at a 2016 system

 

[SPQR]

the thing that worries me is the fan noise

vam pushes for as many frames as possible to my knowledge, so your gpu will often run close to max

One of the most essential vam plugins imo is MacGruber's FrameLimiter from his Essentials pack and you might want to try that. It allows you to set a limit to the frame rate and that will give your gpu some space to breathe. You should be able to do that through GPU's application settings too

 

[juytoo3zDEE]

vam pushes for as many frames as possible to my knowledge, so your gpu will often run close to max

One of the most essential vam plugins imo is MacGruber's FrameLimiter from his Essentials pack and you might want to try that. It allows you to set a limit to the frame rate and that will give your gpu some space to breathe. You should be able to do that through GPU's application settings too

Hey how do you use MacGruber's??? I put it in the Addons folder..then i dont know where to access it in the game. And it should be a total game plugin or per scene?

 

[SPQR]

Hey how do you use MacGruber's??? I put it in the Addons folder..then i dont know where to access it in the game. And it should be a total game plugin or per scene?

In the Session Plugins tab, pick MacGruber.Essentials > MacGruber_FrameRateControl.cs

and change the FrameRateTarget to the limit that you want

 

[juytoo3zDEE]

In the Session Plugins tab, pick MacGruber.Essentials > MacGruber_FrameRateControl.cs

and change the FrameRateTarget to the limit that you want

Oh Sessions, i tried putting it in the Scene plugins...When i put it in the Sceneplugins, nothing really helped except when i was editing the scene in my PC without the Quest 2 connected. i did't hear that much spinning but then it started making noise even though the fps was around 30 to 40fps. But then no matter what when i put on the Quest...i got bunch of high loud fan noise.

I also tried it with the NVIDIA control panel i tried setting, for VAM
=max frame rate 30
=Optimize for Computer performance ON
=Vertical Sync( i'm guessing that's the same as the so called vsynch) set it to OFF cause i heard it's not good for low end pcs

Well, when i set those in NVIDIA control panel, they didn't help out the highspeedandLOUD fans(or whatever it is) at all even though the FPS was kept at around 30 to 40.

 

[SPQR]

it should work the same as a scene plugin too, the only difference is that:
- session - plugin will stay there until you restart vam
- scene - plugin will stay there only in that scene, if you change the scene you have to add it again


you can check how the settings work in windows taks manager (ctrl-shift-esc )
Hit more details and in the Processes tab sort by GPU and you'll see how much VAM is taking and your gpu total % usage

You can test like that settings and see what helps and what not. Also maybe you have some other stuff taking a lot of GPU in there and it adds up

 

[juytoo3zDEE]

it should work the same as a scene plugin too, the only difference is that:
- session - plugin will stay there until you restart vam
- scene - plugin will stay there only in that scene, if you change the scene you have to add it again


you can check how the settings work in windows taks manager (ctrl-shift-esc )
Hit more details and in the Processes tab sort by GPU and you'll see how much VAM is taking and your gpu total % usage

You can test like that settings and see what helps and what not. Also maybe you have some other stuff taking a lot of GPU in there and it adds up

Thanks a lot, i pushed Go to Details and for me there's no column for GPU . theres' only column for memory, CPU, Disk, Network. i wonder why.

Also even though i don't find the GPU list in proces/more details( there is no column for Gpu) i looked in the Performance tab and for a long time when not connected to VR headset(just using in PC)...the GPU graph stay contant straight line and no loud fans or nothing. it's strange . Cause last time i installed the Macgrubber Essentials FPS plugin i was getting many noise fans.

I wonder if it's only when i connect it to the VR headset. ANd if it is i wonder why. The PCVR Quest link thing makes the GPU work more hard?

 

[SPQR]

ah I think you have to right click on any column header and check it there, it might be hidden by default

 

[juytoo3zDEE]

Thanks a lot, Ok here are my results. Next day i run VAM on PC without Quest Link cable , without using QUEST. Yesterday even with just PC it increasing starts the Fans High and Loud but this time I'm not sure i cannot tell you for sure i did't spend 10 minutes testing it. maybe only 4 or 5 but it was quiet all the time. Here is an image. Interestingly for GPU it says 0 all the time and the graph also always stays flat( i only use one character, and an environment, most times the environment is just a bed and few chairs and posters.But recent i tried a full bedroom i download as a Scene. And that's what i tested today and still GPU says 00, CPU %1 or something. I have Mcgrubber FPSLImiter installed in the Scene plugins for now, thanks for telling me about i can put it in the Session plugins too.

But interesitngly even though i saved my scene with the plugin set to 30fps. When i reopened the scene today morning, i saw the plugin didn't have what i set it to( 30fps). it had no value set. But even so, it was staying around 30 to 40fps.

I'll try it with the Quest 2 and Link too and see if with that it does start getting loud fans. cause it does seem it does.
Oh and i want to say
All my applications running i dont have any that use the GPU extensive, they also say 00 in the GPU. And usually i dont have multiple applications running at the same time. Except there are background applications but not my choice, they run by themselves but you said to sort by GPU and i dont see any of them have any numbers more than 00

 

[SPQR]

I'm not sure why it's like that for you, maybe update the nvidia drivers. There's also a performance tab in task manager and you should be able to see GPU usage there too, maybe that works.

if it helps it seems like fan noise is something other people complained about for that GPU, like:

Very hot and loud GTX 980 Ti help!!!

I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this as I’m new here but I don’t know if anyone could fill in the gaps in my knowledge. I have an issue with my GTX 980 Ti (specifically Zotac AMP! Extreme Edition). Put simply its always running hot and the fans are at full speed even when just ope...

linustechtips.com

What @Lytanshade said is most likely the best solution, to change the thermal paste and clean it up like this