Far Cry 3 sporadic frame rates...

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
grebgonebad

grebgonebad

Distinguished
Jun 15, 2012
1,044
21
19,615
Hey everyone!

As I'm sure you can guess, I have a quick qiestions about frame rates on Far Cry 3.

Basically, I bought Far Cry 3 some time ago in a sale, and played it for a little while, but then something went funny with my PC and after fixing it never played the game again. But since then I have downloaded FC3 Blood Dragon (For those who do not know what this is, download it, laught at it, and tell your friends, it's epic. FYI, it's standalone, I.E. you dont need FC3 to be able to play it). Now, I managed to play BD on max settings while easily hitting over 60FPS. After completing it I decided to play FC3 again, but on max settings my frame rates drop to around 40FPS. Now, I understand that FC3 is more heavy on the graphics anyway, as it's a bigger game, but still.

Basically, I would like to know if anyone else has a similar rig to mine (Which can be found by hovering over my avatar). I have managed to make it run at a stable 60FPS by running all settings on high, but dropping all AA etc.

Another strange thing is, while I am playing sometimes the game seems so skip frames every now and then. I am running an FPS meter that says my frame rate is constant, with no anomolies, so I dont know whats wrong?

Anyway, thnaks for any help guys!
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
burdenbound

burdenbound

Splendid
Aug 9, 2011
3,225
0
22,960
There is a setting in farcry, something like frame buffer or something like that, make sure that it is turned down all the way. This should help with the slight stutter your getting. If that setting isn't the issue just make sure graphics drivers are all up to date, it's possible your sli setup isn't agreeing with the game.

I would imagine your drop to 40fps might be due to your CPU, not your graphics power. I would monitor CPU and GPU usage while in game and see if your maxing one or the other out.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
grebgonebad

grebgonebad

Distinguished
Jun 15, 2012
1,044
21
19,615


I did notice the frame buffer actually, and I turned this up to 5 frames initially, whihc made it worse, so I turned it off again shortly afterwards. This has helped alot, but it still hasnt eliminated the problem. =/

As far as my CPU bottlenecking the system goes, I dont exactly want to sound like a complete douchebag here, but I think that that is highly unlikely. I am currently running an AMD FX-8350, which is also overclocked (Although only slightly, I ahve my reasons). I have checked my CPU/GPU usage in the past, and the AMD hardly breaks into sweat over it. I think the highest it's ran at while palying FC3 is around 40% accross all 8 cores?

And if I remember right my GPU usage was high, but not maxing out. And the SLI profile for FC3 works well enough. Generally both GPU's show the same usage.

Any other ideas?

Thanks for the reply by the way, appreciated! =)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
grebgonebad

grebgonebad

Distinguished
Jun 15, 2012
1,044
21
19,615
Okay, so when I got home from work yesterday I decided to take another look at my CPU/GPU usage so I could post some more accurate readings.

My CPU generally hovers around 70% accross all 8 cores. Heat is not an issue.

My GPU's seen to be acting a little wierd. GPU 1's usage averages out at around 30-40%, whereas GPU 2's usage is at 100%. I have never seen GPU 2 working harder than GPU 1 before, and so this is quite strange. Both GPU's are using the same amount of VRAM, as is expected, and temperatures are fine. But as well as GPU 2 working harder, it is also running at a higher clock, (1,200mhz or so) than GPU 1 (850mhz or so).

I'm pretty sure that both cards are in fine condition, and niether are very old. But I would be silly to assume that there is no possibility that I have burnt out GPU 1. Could anyone advise as to what to do next?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Jonathan Sifleet

Jonathan Sifleet

Honorable
Apr 25, 2013
926
0
11,160


I don't entirely know how SLI works, but it's possible that it's moving all the work onto the higher clocked GPU for better performance, try putting both at the same clock speed.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
grebgonebad

grebgonebad

Distinguished
Jun 15, 2012
1,044
21
19,615
[/quotemsg]I don't entirely know how SLI works, but it's possible that it's moving all the work onto the higher clocked GPU for better performance, try putting both at the same clock speed.[/quotemsg]

Thats the thing, both GPU's are clocked the same. WHen I said that GPU 2 is running at a higher clock, I meant that GPU 2 is reaching a higher clock speed under load than GPU 1.

I have recently updated my drivers thinking about it, so maybe I'll downdate to some of the previous drivers and see if that makes a difference. Maybe the newer drivers are a little buggy. =/
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
coozie7

coozie7

Champion
Jun 2, 2007
10,015
10
59,215
Have a quick Google for 'Far Cry 3 SLI scaling' there are quite a few possible solutions.
If you're getting stuttering it's a known pain in the tender bits: capping the frame rate with Radeonpro worked like a charm for me doing the same with Afterburner should help you.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
grebgonebad

grebgonebad

Distinguished
Jun 15, 2012
1,044
21
19,615


Thanks for the advice, appreciate it!

I Googled it and it came up with a very good solution using Nvidia Inspector, which everyone seems to be raving about at the moment. It apparently ensuresw that both GPU's scale well. It should apparently make both my GPU's run at 99% for Far Cry 3. Something to do with Nvidia 'forgetting' to add a proper SLI scaling profile for FC3. =P

I am actually using the built in Vsync function in the FC3 settings to cap my frame rate at 60 at the moment. I like using Vsync as I find broken images and minor screen tearing occur otherwise. =/ I was playing FC3 again last night and the stuttering wasnt as noticeable as before. Maybe all it really needed was a system restart? There is still some moniro stuttering going on though, which is still enough to annoy me. It's almost as if every now and then the GPU's suddenly cant cope with whats going on and the frame rate lags out for a split second, even though the frame rate remains constant?

Never heard of Radeonpro before, but im assuming as it has Radeon in the name it is primarily based for ATI cards? Or is it just another utility?

I am using EVGA Precision X, I just like the ease of use and smart looks and layout of the UI. It's also mroe suited to my GPU's as they are EVGA cards. =)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
coozie7

coozie7

Champion
Jun 2, 2007
10,015
10
59,215
Yes, Radeonpro is for AMD cards.
Not too sure how it works in detail but the framerate cap isn't Vsync. I think it 'pauses' the card if it's running above a certain rate by inserting short, variable length, time delays between complete frames.
Fairly sure that feature is available in Afterburner, obviously I can't say about others, Nvidia based software.
To work the cap has to be set at the minimum frame rate the system can sustain-in my case 45 FPS worked well.
I found the stuttering to be worse when running or driving.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
grebgonebad

grebgonebad

Distinguished
Jun 15, 2012
1,044
21
19,615


Ahh, well as I have Nvidia Cards I doubt I can use Radeonpro then. =)

I think what you are describing there is pretty ,much what Vsync does, apart from Vsync matches the frame rate to the referesh rate of the monitor, in my case 60hz so 60 FPS. I shall look into it nonetheless however. =)

I dont aprticularly like playing games at below 60 FPS personally, I find it too choppy. It's torture when I want to play one of my older PC games that are capped at 30 FPS. XD

Yes, you are right, the stuttering is more severe when moving. Interestingly though I find apnning the camera makes no difference. Maybe it's because when you are moving the game is having to be rendered, (Textues, foliage, etc.) and this is what is causing the choppyness?

I shall first try this Nvidia Inspector fix that I have found. Maybe if I can get both cards running at max capacity it will fix it? If not though I shall try and find an alternative to Vsync. There is a frame cappper in EVGA Precision X, so I might give that a go later on if all elses fails. =)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
grebgonebad

grebgonebad

Distinguished
Jun 15, 2012
1,044
21
19,615
Okay, so a quick update.

I tried the Nvidia Inspector fix last night, and it seems to have improved things dramatically. Both GPU's now have the same usage, which means that the scaling has improved. As a result, the stuttering seems to have been eliminated for the most part, although some does remain, but not enough for me to be overly bothered about. =)

My only problem now is, although both GPU's have the same usage, it is only between 40-60%. While most of the time I am hitting 60 FPS or above, there are times that this dips to 40 FPS. I am running on Ultra settings with no MSAA at the moment, and I cant help but think that if I managed to get both GPU's running at max capacity, I woulod be able to hit a constant 60 FPS with 4-8MSAA on top?

FYI, one possible reason that the GPU's arent going above that usage could be that the temps are quite high. I took a look last night and they where maxing out at 80 degrees centigrade. I would assume that the cards would be holding back from processing any more than the 40-60% I am getting to prevent an overheating issue?

Also, I do have both cards OC'd quite alot and they are running on thier astock coolers. I'lll probably try reducing the OC slightly and positioning a fan strategically tonight and see if that increases usage. =) WHat are your thoughts?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom