BF3/BF4 Graphic Problem I Can't Even Name, Bugging Me For Years

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jfree77

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Jan 7, 2009
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Hi all,

I've had my HD6970 for a few years now and I love it. However, I bought Battlefield 3 upon release and rarely played it. When I did play it, I often got a really nasty graphical problem that I couldn't describe. I stopped playing the game because other games came up and I never really investigated the graphical problem.

It doesn't happen in any other game (multiple CoD games, Bioshock Infinite, League of Legends, dozens of other games).

So I was all psyched to get my hands on BF4, but only to discover I'm getting the SAME.EXACT.PROBLEM. I get constant 50-60 FPS, so I know it's not a simple "not good enough" issue. However, I like BF4 a lot and want to get this issue solved so I can play it.

Here is an example of the problem I'm getting.

That's a relatively tame example. In larger, more outdoor maps, it's unbearable and I can't play.

I can't even Google for possible answers because I don't even know what to call it.

Solutions I've tried so far:

- Newest drivers from AMD site (10/28/2013 beta drivers)
- Turned off/on all the graphical settings, including turning down the graphics to Medium and trying different resolutions. No change, just shittier graphics.
- Fresh install of the game. It's BF4, so it just came out. I had BF3 for a long time and constantly had this problem.

My specs:

- i5 2500k, not overclocked.
- HD6950, but I changed the firmware to make it into a 6970
- 8GB RAM (forgot specs on this
- Kingston SSD

Does anyone have any ideas?
 
Solution
D
Not all engines place the same kind of workload on a GPU, and you're more likely to experience visual problems with excessive memory clocks rather than core clocks. I'm fairly positive the Battlefield games are much more VRAM intensive than most of the games you listed that you play, and yes, that stretching geometry glitch is something you'll get with overclocking memory; for example, I can reproduce that kind of effect easily in lots of games by overclocking my primary 660Ti's memory higher than 6.65Ghz.

To help fix your problem, I'd recommend just downclocking the memory first. Stock HD6970 memory runs at something like 1375mhz, stock HD6950 is 1250, so use the 6950 memory clocks, and if that doesn't help, it could very well be that...
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doubletake

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Sep 30, 2012
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HD6950, but I changed the firmware to make it into a 6970
Click to expand...

This, those artifacts and graphical glitches are almost always because of overclocking. Unlocking the 6950 shaders alone is usually fine and doesn't cause this, but if you are also running 6970 clocks, it could be that your card just can't handle them, particularly the memory, and that's why it's giving you so much artifacting. The memory is most likely the culprit, as the 6950 has RAM chips rated to run at only 5GHz, while the 6970 has chips rated to 6GHz, so you might want to try underclocking your memory and see if that fixes it.
 
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J

jfree77

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Jan 7, 2009
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Thanks for the reply. I can't remember if I just unlocked the shaders, but I think I went whole hog with the 6970 clocks. I'll try rolling back the firmware to 6950.

If it IS the 6970 firmware, don't you think I'd encounter similar issues with similarly graphic-intense games?

 
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doubletake

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Sep 30, 2012
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Not all engines place the same kind of workload on a GPU, and you're more likely to experience visual problems with excessive memory clocks rather than core clocks. I'm fairly positive the Battlefield games are much more VRAM intensive than most of the games you listed that you play, and yes, that stretching geometry glitch is something you'll get with overclocking memory; for example, I can reproduce that kind of effect easily in lots of games by overclocking my primary 660Ti's memory higher than 6.65Ghz.

To help fix your problem, I'd recommend just downclocking the memory first. Stock HD6970 memory runs at something like 1375mhz, stock HD6950 is 1250, so use the 6950 memory clocks, and if that doesn't help, it could very well be that you have some faulty shaders and you may then need to go back to stock 6950 firmware.
 
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Solution
J

jfree77

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2009
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18,510



Can't thank you enough for the detailed responses. I went back to the 6950 firmware and the problem has lessened quite a bit. Now when I go into a game, it will glitch out for maybe 20 seconds, and then settle down.

I'm going to upgrade to a R9 280x because I want to be able to run it a bit faster. But now I know that the problem was GPU-related and I can upgrade without hesitation!

Thanks again.
 
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