hd7870 performance problems?

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Cool69rtcharger

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May 30, 2013
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Ok so it seems that I am having problems getting my new video card working as well as i think it should. I just bought the powercolor hd7870 pcs tahiti le and put it in my computer and I'm not seeing a jump in performance over my intel hd4000 that i had been running.

The problem I'm running into is that i cant seem to get much better fps over what my integrated hd4000 was getting even at a low res of 1024x768. I'm getting fps that drops below 50 in tf2 not much better then i was getting with my intel hd4000
and as low as 60 in killing floor. I have tried disabling the intel integrated and even uninstalling it. I have even uninstalled some of my games and reinstalled them with no effect on this problem.

I don't know or think that my monitor could be a problem as its a old low res vga monitor that I am using a dvi to vga adapter to even use.

Here is a link to my computer parts that may give you some idea of the specs better then I can type off the top of my head.
www.pcpartpicker.com/p/11tlE

Any help would be appreciated
 
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Cool69rtcharger

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May 30, 2013
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I started with the drivers that came on the cd then went and got new ones so now i have 13.4 and that is only a little bet better than it was with the drivers that came with it
 
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JRAtk94

JRAtk94

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May 26, 2013
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you should've uninstalled the old ones first.

Re-download 13.4, and also download this tool:-
http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/catalyst-uninstall-utility.aspx

Run the cleanup tool, allow it to do it's stuff (sometimes takes up to 5 mins)
After it has finished, RESTART YOUR PC. DO NOT FORGET THIS.

Upon reboot, install 13.4 again.

Let me know if this helps :p

You should use that tool each time a new CCC is released - it completely removes the old driver, ready for a fresh new one :D
 
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Cool69rtcharger

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I have been turning off vsync since 2000 it seems lol it was off and I even tried on a few times to see if it helped anything. that wasnt the highest fps i could get it was the average and lows.

JRAtk94 I will try that now and see if it helps.
 
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Cool69rtcharger

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ok tried that and it didn't seem to help in tf2 i get an fps range of about 300-40 and in killing floor 400-60 the high range is basically looking at a wall and low is trying to play with things on screen.
 
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Cool69rtcharger

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May 30, 2013
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well i guess i will call this an update on the problem or more additional information really. I have noticed that when running killing floor and even cs 1.6 I don't really notice any change in fps based on res or settings it stays in the same areas also if I have gpu z and windows task manager open on a different monitor when playing that I'm not getting more then about 30% gpu and cpu load and still getting fps drops into the 60 range
 
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Cool69rtcharger

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May 30, 2013
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Ok now this thing is starting to drive me crazy. I cant seem to find out what is causing my problems but it seems to not throttle up when I'm gaming or not fully if it is. After playing games my gpu load in gpu-z is on avg 30% max around 80% and temp of around 70 at that load but only still only getting mediocre fps at best. I'm getting a range of 300-60 fps in just about all games with only a little bit better fps in portal 2 where 80 what the low it would go down to. It doesn't seem right that this card would be getting low fps in 10 year old games

i have tried the 13.6 beta drivers and didn't see any change with that i have re-installed games and drivers a few times now im getting the the point that im thinking maybe its the card and not a software thing.
 
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ColSonders

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May 8, 2013
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Did you get anywhere with this?

I have just installed an HD7870 Tahiti LE as an "upgrade" for my A10-5800k APU and am experiencing the same issues.

I've not got much to test on installed yet as i've also just installed an SSD as my main drive, but tried Metro Last Light which will play on my built in APU with low resolution (720p) and all setting on Low.

The same game running on the HD7870 I was expecting to be able to run at 1080p but am getting frame rates that rarely go above 20 with the settings on low.

It actually seems to be worse than my built in graphics, which is a bit pants for a £175 dedicated graphics card compared to a £100 APU.

I'm running this in a mATX case, so it's quite compact in there, once I realised just how much heat the GPU generated I plugged in my case fan to draw cool air in. Though that may be just because i'm not used to GPU's as it wasn't reading as massively hot.

Another thing to note is that i'm using a molex to 6-pin pci-e adapter for one of the two power connections, could it be a power issue?
 
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JRAtk94

JRAtk94

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May 26, 2013
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ColSonders, there's definitely something wrong there.

I have an Athlon II X4 640, which isn't as good as your A10 5800k, and a HD 7750, which is very weak compared to your 7870, and I play Metro Last Light on Medium settings @ 1080p @ ~60fps (~30fps on "outside" levels). I don't use SSAA, or PhysX (obviously), and keep tesselation at Medium.

Ensure that you've disabled PhysX - I drop to 3fps (not exaggerating) when PhysX is on.

Hope this helps.

EDIT: In theory, you should be able to play on high settings @ 1080p with that rig.
 
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ColSonders

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May 8, 2013
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Thanks, I appreciate the feedback and the comparison, i'm pretty new to this whole PC gaming thing as i've always used consoles since they replaced my Spektrum. I'll check those settings in game and see what happens.

For some reason my card doesn't seem as hot tonight whilst idling so gonna get it stressed with some gaming and see what the deal is, i'm sorely tempted to return it and go for something much smaller like a 7790 or 7850.
 
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JRAtk94

JRAtk94

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Ah, I'm glad you've converted from console - PC is the way forward!

And returning it for a 7850 might be a good idea, the 7850 is still a very good card.

Can I ask what your Power Supply is - in terms of Manufacturer and Wattage? It may be the case that it isn't powerful enough to support a 7870. If so, we need to identify this :p
 
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Cool69rtcharger

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May 30, 2013
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I was able to fix my problem and it wasn't anything wrong with the card i had to over clock my cpu and the fps drops stopped it seems that the games i was playing are very cpu based

i now get around 300 fps in tf2 it can drop a little but not below 200 that i have seen at 1080p I may not have been paying that much attention to it since it stopped dropping to 60 but i know for sure it isn't getting anywhere near that low now
 
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ColSonders

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I'm thinking my problems are heat related. Gone back this morning and did a bit of experimenting and after reinstalling the drivers i'm certainly getting better performance than my onboard GPU.

I stuck Metro Last Light on and at the beginning of the story where you get your gas mask and first bullets I stood still and just let it idle. The game would sit at around 60fps (1080p with high settings I think) but then pulse every few second down to 20fps for a second.

Looking at MSI afterburner it seems that during these pulses the GPU usage peaks quite high (85% or so) and the core clock on the GPU drops down to 300Mhz.

Temps have been as high as 100 degrees during gameplay though....I'm running it all in a fairly compact case and the heat off this GPU is warming the whole case up, i'm concerned that the heat will affect my PSU too as that's currently drawing air in from inside the case and is the only exhaust fan on the system.

I can turn my PSU upside down as my case has vents on the top where the PSU sits, but I was worried about it becoming dusty this way.

I tried playing GRID2 with my machine on it's side and the side panel removed vs stood up with side panel on and it seemed to keep the temps much lower at just over 80 degrees.

Heat issue?

My Rig is as follows:
A10-5800k (not overclocked)
2x4GB 1866Mhz Ram
Corsair CX430 Modular PSU
240GB SSD (main drive)
500GB Seagate (Backup/Downloads)
1x120mm case fan installed at front of case to draw air in.

Oh and about the move to PC....currently the issues i've been having are making that PS4 look VERY tempting, nothing wrong with console gaming, it's certainly far less hassle than trying to get an armchair gaming setup on PC that's competitive.
 
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Cool69rtcharger

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May 30, 2013
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well i cant help with the problem really but i noticed you psu is a little under powered for the card. Also have you tried running any benchmarks like furmark, heaven, valley they are all free and may help you see if its the video card or something else that is the problem
 
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ColSonders

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May 8, 2013
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Played a bit more and I think it's something to do with that game, I don't get the pulsing type thing with frames/clock speed on other games.

However the card is just too hot for my case, graphics capability is fantastic (provided there's no issues) but the cooling required to keep this beast playing nicely in such a small case is just too much and far too loud for a living room PC.

So my card is being returned.

Thanks for all the help and advice.
 
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