95 replies to this topic

[Cpt_Kill_Jack]

How to set Nvidia Graphics Card (GPU) to higher performance In Hawken:
By Cpt_Kill_Jack



This mostly helps high end graphics card and mid range graphics cards. Would also recommend another program like MSI Afterburner to set a custom fan profile but this is up to you.

- This option will not work for integrated mobile graphics cards.
- If you have ever rolled your drivers back or the option is not available this could be the reason why its not there. My suggestion is a clean driver install which I explain how to do with the the current driver 310 series and above in the driver installation section.
- XP drivers may not have the Power management options that Window Vista and 7 have.



Step one:
Open the Nvidia Control Panel.


Following steps will be taken from this image.

Step Two:
Click on Manage 3D settings.

Step Three:
Click on the Program Settings tab.
Note this is an important step because if you leave it set to global settings your gpu will never idle even in windows desktop.

Step Four:
If you do not see Hawken in the drop down list in the Program Settings menu please add the hawkengame-win32-shipping.exe to the list from the root folder for Hawken and in the Bin folder.

Direct location of the EXE:
64Bit Systems: C:Program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonHawkenBinariesWin32HawkenGame-Win32-Shipping.exe

32Bit Systems: C:Program FilesSteamSteamAppscommonHawkenBinariesWin32HawkenGame-Win32-Shipping.exe

Step Five:
Once you have Hawken selected in the drop down menu look for the Power management mode option and set it to Prefer maximum performance.

Step Six:
Apply the settings and start or restart your game.


Please note that if you update your drivers you will have to reapply these settings.


But these settings will make your graphics care in Hawken Stay at Full load clock meaning your getting the full power and not just what the driver thinks you need because the game doesn't load it enough. This should fix low FPS for The game. If you need anything explained any more in depth please let me know what needs further explanation and I would be happy to edit it.




Driver Recommendations:

I recommend a clean driver install with 337.88 WHQL.  The link for the driver can be found at the bottom of the tutorial.
Please note that the Windows Vista and Windows 7 drivers are now also the drivers you download for Windows 8.


GeForce 337.88 WHQL for desktop GPUs: [Windows 8/Windows 7/Vista, 32-bit] [Windows 8/Windows 7/Vista, 64-bit]

GeForce 337.88 for desktop GPUs: [Windows XP, 32-bit] [Windows XP, 64-bit]

Spoiler

GeForce 700 series:
GeForce GTX TITAN Black, GeForce GTX TITAN, GeForce GTX 780 Ti, GeForce GTX 780, GeForce GTX 770, GeForce GTX 760, GeForce GTX 760 Ti (OEM)

GeForce 600 series:
GTX 690, GTX 680, GTX 670, GTX 660 Ti, GTX 660, GTX 650, GT 645, GT 640, GT 630, GT 620, GT 610, 605

GeForce 500 series:
GTX 590, GTX 580, GTX 570, GTX 560 Ti, GTX 560, GTX 550 Ti, GT 545, GT 530, GT 520, 510

GeForce 400 series:
GTX 480, GTX 470, GTX 465, GTX 460 v2, GTX 460 SE v2, GTX 460 SE, GTX 460, GTS 450, GT 440, GT 430, GT 420, 405

GeForce 300 series:
GT 340, GT 330, GT 320, 315, 310

GeForce 200 series:
GTX 295, GTX 285, GTX 280, GTX 275, GTX 260, GTS 250, GTS 240, GT 240, GT 230, GT 220, G210, 210, 205

GeForce 100 series:
GT 140, GT 130, GT 120, G 100

GeForce 9 series:
9800 GX2, 9800 GTX/GTX+, 9800 GT, 9600 GT, 9600 GSO, 9600 GS, 9500 GT, 9500 GS, 9400 GT, 9400, 9300 GS, 9300 GE, 9300, 9200, 9100

GeForce 8 series:
8800 Ultra, 8800 GTX, 8800 GTS 512, 8800 GTS, 8800 GT, 8800 GS, 8600 GTS, 8600 GT, 8600 GS, 8500 GT, 8400 SE, 8400 GS, 8400, 8300 GS, 8300, 8200 / nForce 730a, 8200, 8100 / nForce 720a


ION series:
ION LE, ION

GeForce 337.88 WHQL for notebook GPUs:  [Windows 8/Windows 7/Vista, 32-bit] [Windows 8/Windows 7/Vista, 64-bit]  
Important Information in Spoiler for Notebook GPUs

Spoiler

This driver will install on the following GPUs with the exception of some notebooks listed below:

GeForce 800M series:
GeForce GTX 880M, GeForce GTX 870M, GeForce GTX 860M, GeForce GTX 850M, GeForce 840M, GeForce 830M, GeForce 820M

GeForce 700M series:
GeForce GTX 780M, GeForce GTX 770M, GeForce GTX 765M, GeForce GTX 760M, GeForce GT 755M, GeForce GT 750M, GeForce GT 745M, GeForce GT 740M, GeForce GT 735M, GeForce GT 730M, GeForce GT 720M, GeForce 710M

GeForce 600M series:
GeForce GTX 680M, GeForce GTX 675M, GeForce GTX 670M, GeForce GTX 660M, GeForce GT 650M, GeForce GT 640M LE, GeForce GT 640M, GeForce GT 635M, GeForce GT 630M, GeForce GT 620M, GeForce 610M

GeForce 500M series:
GeForce GTX 580M, GeForce GTX 570M, GeForce GTX 560M, GeForce GT 555M, GeForce GT 550M, GeForce GT 540M, GeForce GT 525M, GeForce GT 520M, GeForce GT 520MX


GeForce 400M series:
GTX 485M, GTX 480M, GTX 470M, GTX 460M , GT 445M, GT 435M, GT 425M, GT 420M, GT 415M, 410M


GeForce 300M series:
GTS 360M, GTS 350M, GT 335M, GT 330M, GT 325M, GT 320M, 320M, 315M, 310M, 305M


GeForce 200M series:
GT 230M, GT 240M, G210M, GTX 285M, GTX 280M, GTS 250M, GTX 260M, GT 220M, G210M


GeForce 100M series:
G 110M, GT 130M, GTS 160M, G 105M, G 103M, G 102M, GT 120M


GeForce 9 series:
9600 GT, 9400


GeForce 9M series:
9400M G, 9650M GS, 9200M GS, 9500M GS, 9400M GS, 9800M GS, 9300M GS, 9800M GT, 9100M G, 9800M GTS, 9500M G, 9700M GT, 9600M GS, 9650M GT, 9400M, 9300M G, 9800M GTX, 9600M GT, 9700M GTS


GeForce 8M series:
8800M GTS, 8600M GT, 8400M GT, 8800M GTX, 8800M GS, 8600M GS, 8700M GT, 8400M GS, 8400M G, 8200M G, 8200M


ION Notebook series:
ION (Notebooks) , ION LE (Notebooks)

If have a request for a specific driver that is not listed here please just ask and I and get you a link.



Installing Drivers:
When installing drivers I would suggest going to the Custom section instead of standard and checking the box at the bottom that says Clean install.

This will remove your current driver and ask you to restart. Upon restart the driver install will begin and when its finished it will ask you once more to restart. After this your driver is installed and you shouldn't have any issues.

--------------------
Updates:


Feb 24th, 2013 - Rewrote for hawken.
Feb 24th, 2013 - Changed some text colors for easier reading.
Feb 24th, 2013 - Added direct location path for the Hawkengame exe
Feb 25th, 2013 - Updated Driver links to 314.07 WHQL Drivers.
Feb 27th, 2013 - Reverted Driver links to 310.70 WHQL Drivers due to Reports and testing showing higher frame gain.
Mar 29th, 2013 - Updated driver links for 314.22 WHQL Drivers after testing showed improvements in FPS in High&Lows
Feb 17th, 2014 - Long overdue Compatibility update. Updated for Steam release
Feb 19th, 2014 - Driver Compatibility update for GTX Titan Black
Jun  06th, 2014 - Driver Updated for latest WHQL 337.88

Edited by Cpt_Kill_Jack, June 06 2014 - 08:35 AM.

[Ipimus]

YEAH!!... GREAT MAN!!! Just melted my GPU.. real cool!!!

LoL.. kiddin. Ty. seen a small improvement in my FPS from 30 to 40, 470 GTX.

[KyRoS]

Interesting. Thanks for the tip. Will see if this improves performance. Could prove useful for a number of games.

[Cpt_Kill_Jack]

KyRoS, on February 24 2013 - 12:56 PM, said:

Interesting. Thanks for the tip. Will see if this improves performance. Could prove useful for a number of games.

This was originally written for World of Tanks because the game didnt properly utilize the gpu and it continuously flipped between load and idle clocks. This keeps it locked at Load clocks. To this day the support staff still link to the tutorial on the WoT forums.

[_Caffeine_]

Any reason you recommend that specific driver version over the most recent update_  Better performance_

[Cpt_Kill_Jack]

People have been having issues with the 313 driver with hawken. And there really is no difference between 310.70 and 310.90 because it was just to add support for some feature that wasnt needed.

[Major_Victory]

New drivers are out, I'm using 314.07 I believe. Works great.

[_Caffeine_]

Yeah I'm on the latest 314.  Wasn't playing back in December so I'll grab the 310 release and try it out.

[RentAKnight]

Have you played with the other settings_

[Cpt_Kill_Jack]

FXAA may help Rent if you want to give it a try. Its a faster shader based Anti Aliasing. The only downside is it can make things like text not as sharp as normal.

[necroq]

_Caffeine_, on February 24 2013 - 04:26 PM, said:

Yeah I'm on the latest 314.  Wasn't playing back in December so I'll grab the 310 release and try it out.

share tests pls. i play with 314 too

[_incitatus]

I have been crashing to the desktop constantly and after following the setup in this post I don't crash anymore!  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

[_Caffeine_]

Played all night on the 310 release, couldnt tell a difference from up to date 314 drivers on my rig.

[SS396]

Cpt_Kill_Jack, on February 24 2013 - 03:00 PM, said:

People have been having issues with the 313 driver with hawken. And there really is no difference between 310.70 and 310.90 because it was just to add support for some feature that wasnt needed.

I disagree, I had major issues as soon as I upgraded from 310.70 to 310.90.  It was so bad I had to revert back.  So there was some major change.  I noticed graphical artifacts on the scoreboard screens mostly.

Now I am on 314.07, and it is solid.  No graphical issues to report since release, however I have noticed my temps are a few degrees higher than normal at idle than with the 313.96 beta driver.

I didn't have any graphical or temp problems with the 313.96 beta driver either.

@RentAKnight

I set these:

Multidisplay mixed - Single display performance mode
Power management mode - Prefer maximum performance
SLI rendering mode - Force alternate frame rendering 2 (this sets SLI mode in hawken (mode 1 or 2 works))
Texture filtering negitive LOD - ALLOW
Texture filtering quality - High performance
Texture filtering trilinear opt- ON
triple buffering - OFF
vertical sync - OFF

Edited by SS396, February 24 2013 - 11:01 PM.

[Alastor_Crow]

I updated to the latest driver (released Feb 18) and holy fuzzy bunny, an instant 15~20 FPS improvement in graphics and much less lag spikes.

[Hollow_Knight]

STICKY
THIS
THREAD

Thanks a bunch!  Been wondering why I was getting such poor FPS

[Keiichi81]

People should really have power management set to maximum performance in their global settings, not just specifically in a custom Hawken profile. I mean, unless there's some reason they don't want to get the most out of their GPU in all of their games..._

Edited by Keiichi81, February 25 2013 - 06:02 AM.

[Cpt_Kill_Jack]

Keiichi81, on February 25 2013 - 06:00 AM, said:

People should really have power management set to maximum performance in their global settings, not just specifically in a custom Hawken profile. I mean, unless there's some reason they don't want to get the most out of their GPU in all of their games..._

There are issues with that. One being that the card will never switch to idle even at the desktop. You dont really need it in the global. If a game makes use of the gpu enough it will never flip between Load and idle clocks (crysis is an example). It really depends on the game.

[Cpt_Kill_Jack]

Alastor_Crow, on February 24 2013 - 11:05 PM, said:

I updated to the latest driver (released Feb 18) and holy fuzzy bunny, an instant 15~20 FPS improvement in graphics and much less lag spikes.

Interesting I may try the update and if it does improve I will update the links. I ususally update this review with only drivers I have tested to make sure that they work and would actually increase performance but other people like i said were expressing issues so I didnt attempt the 314. I now have it installed and will begin testing and will update the links. For my previous versions it would have to do with WoT where I have had this Tutorial running since 2011.

Edited by Cpt_Kill_Jack, February 25 2013 - 07:22 AM.

[Cpt_Kill_Jack]

Ok I installed the 314 and to me it didnt have any issues but the high fps seemed like it dropped to me but i will need to run some more map tests with that but the Low fps did increase to sitting usually around 60 and not below. Ill go ahead and update the links.