HD 7970 under performing...or is it?

[Shayne1980]

Hi all, having received my new pc a couple of weeks ago, I feel that something is just not right. My specs are...
Windows 8 pro
Hd 7970
Fx 8350
Sabertooth 990 fx
8GB KIngston hyper x genesis
Corsair 850w
Corsair H80i

From reading other forums about the 7970 and how amazing their games run, i'm left wondering why I am not saying and thinking that too. All the talk of solid 60fps with games like Skyrim, Crysis 1,2 and 3 an so on. I installed MSI Afterburner so I could monitor performance and games like Arma2 series runs at 28-50 fps inconsistent with GPU usage at 20-40%. This led me to thinking of a bottleneck in the CPU but Crysis 3 ran the GPU at 98%. Skyrim as around 60% GPU usage with 60fps and again inconsistent with dips to the 30's and 40's. I have watched Youtube clips of people playing games with the same specs and settings, solid fps and no drama.

Can anyone here offer any advice or how to source possible bottlenecks or limitations that should not be happening or help me with this frustrating issue.

Forget to say I am running current drivers for GPU and everything else is upto date.

 

[Al.Neri]

my 7970 has been underperforming lately. I first noticed it on FSX, but then tried a few other games that could run maxed out at 60fps when it was installed in november. now it's only getting about 45fps.

 

[Shayne1980]

my 7970 has been underperforming lately. I first noticed it on FSX, but then tried a few other games that could run maxed out at 60fps when it was installed in november. now it's only getting about 45fps.

It is so annoying isn't it. I just ran sleeping dogs, turned vsync off and the fps were through the roof with full GPU usage.

 

[NilSatis]

I have a 7970 ghz edition. The latest beta drivers are a lot better than the released drivers, in terms of performance. If you haven't got those, try them. AMD have managed to solve frame-time lag on a lot of games and they will run smoother; albeit at similar fps. For the games you mentioned; I have (had...uninstalled after many hours) Arma 2, and the game runs like a dog. The engine is terrible; not to mention it is very much a cpu dependent game. It could very well be your cpu that is holding you back on this game; although it is difficult to get great performance on it regardless at maximum settings. I have an overclocked 2500k @ 4.6 ghz, and it still didn't run as well as you would have hoped. It is just a disappointing engine, turn the graphics options down 1 at a time and see what makes the difference for you.

Skyrim is another horrible engine; although there are ways of making it run better for sure. You need to have a look around forums etc for fixes as managed to get mine running great, but it was through use of a few mods and gpu injectors. There is also an issue (I believe) with its use of inbuilt vsync. My solution was not to disable it in config files via ipresentinterval as most threads will suggest as this will bork the physics up in game. Instead us a tool such as MSI Afterburner for next time you want to play, which you have already got, and use the Rivatuner based program that it uses to cap the frame limit to just under your refresh limit and as low as you think that it will drop. I suggest something like 56 to start with (assuming you have all high texture packs and a few mods etc) and you will see the game is a lot more enjoyable to use; and ultra smooth. You should be able to run at maximum settings with an injector and some high res packs (I would use bethesdas with the fixes you will find on nexus if they are still required)

Fsx is also a cpu dependent game and will never use the gpu to maximum potential. Again, the engine that is used dictates this. Most flight simulators are similar in this. If you play games like this a lot, an overclock will help; as will making sure no high priority tasks are running in the background etc. stopping the cpu from utilising all cores effectively. There is no reason unless there is something on the pc not running correctly; or something else has been introduced onto the system (Windows updates perhaps lol) why frame rates will drop so much. The other common reason in certain games are updates of the game. Sometimes (disturbingly often) they seem to introduce frame drops when fixing other problems. Again, I highly recommend downloading Afterburner and getting it to cap frames while you game for some games (others do not seem to like being frame-capped-for some it works wonders. Combine with turning vsync off and on in game, to see where the best performance lies).

Sleeping dogs is an example of a game that run like crap when they first brought it out, but as they fixed the problems in their coding of the graphics engine, they have made it run great. Should be no problems here. Remember you don't want the game to churn out tons of frames if you only have a refresh rate of 60hz as beyond this wastage means higher temps and more load on the gpu. Having said that the 7970 should be (And mine is so yours should be too) capable of producing more than 60 fps on most games. Certainly dx9 games. I find I have to cap a lot of mine to avoid unwanted noise and heat.

One thing to note that AMD; despite their advances in gpu drivers (And they are now very good in most respects) still have not got the implementation of driver level v-sync right. You cannot adjust vsync at driver level via Catalyst for any game aside from ones that run on Opengl if you need to, and this is where they really have dropped the ball. And they haven't solved it. More of a reason to have a frame capping tool such as Afterburner or another similar installed and being used. Hope all this helps! Sorry it was so long.

 

[NilSatis]

You might also want to try RadeonPro. It is a great bit of software, and allows you to set up profiles for games, and set tools such as adaptive vsync etc. This bypasses AMDs inability to force driver Vsync and this clever (free) program does the job instead. It basically allows for the same thing as Nvidia cards have; in terms of a dynamic vsync control that turns itself off when frames are lower than refresh rate and remains on when fps is above refresh rate, eliminating lost frames and micro-stutter; while of course stopping tearing. You can even use injector tools such as Sweetfx and incorporate them into RadeonPro to use at the same time. Have a go and any problems, give me a shout.

Radeon Pro Link

Here is a summary (page 2) :

Adaptive vsync and RadeonPro

 

[Shayne1980]

You might also want to try RadeonPro. It is a great bit of software, and allows you to set up profiles for games, and set tools such as adaptive vsync etc. This bypasses AMDs inability to force driver Vsync and this clever (free) program does the job instead. It basically allows for the same thing as Nvidia cards have; in terms of a dynamic vsync control that turns itself off when frames are lower than refresh rate and remains on when fps is above refresh rate, eliminating lost frames and micro-stutter; while of course stopping tearing. You can even use injector tools such as Sweetfx and incorporate them into RadeonPro to use at the same time. Have a go and any problems, give me a shout.

Radeon Pro Link

Here is a summary (page 2) :

Adaptive vsync and RadeonPro

Hey NilSatis, thank you for taking the time to post all that information to me. I wish I was half as clever with pc's as some of you guys are. I tried out all the things you said, other than the drivers, and things are much improved. I see exactly what you mean about poorly optimised games as I have experimented with quite a few over the last few days. Stalker Cop with heavy mods - solid 60fps. Crysis with all the Hd mods also a solid 60fps and so on.

I have learned a lot from your post so thanks again. I was starting to feel like I had chucked money away =(

 

[NilSatis]

Im glad you don't think you have chucked money away; you have a very good setup, and Im sure you will enjoy it in the long run. Any problems with any particular game, give me a shout via pm. I play far too much and might be able to help having dealt with all sorts of odd problems with games of one type or another, and of course have the same card.
The more you use your pc the more you will learn what tweaks help with games etc. to get max performance out of your rig, which of course helps you enjoy 'em more! Also, don't be afraid to use the beta drivers, they are just the same quality as the certified ones (although they occaisionally have some bugs) and most of the time AMD are just waiting for them to be approved via Microsoft to release them as standard. In most cases they offer definite fixes and improvements. If you have one of the later cards such as the 7970 you really benefit from the latest drivers; especially if you are playing games just out. Have fun mate!