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Low FPS using R9 290, i7 860 (2.8)

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  • Intel i7
  • ATI
  • FPS
  • Graphics
  • Low FPS
  • Graphics Cards
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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May 26, 2014 8:36:33 AM

my machine is 6 years old but I've got this new gpu and its not running as I expected in games.

Fps seems to vary a lot between a wide range of values.

I ran 3dmark fire strike and got comparable graphics score to other systems with the same processor http://i.imgur.com/BuP0B28.jpg

I ran also Metro last light BM but got a much lower than normal fps reaching a min of 6 on 1080
this is Metro BM on my 1366x768 screen http://i.imgur.com/VYlbnIG.jpg

when i run metro LL at the beginning of the game when I exit the room fps averages 9

P.S.: am running win 7 and feel the windows movements isn't that smooth + when moving windows there is a level of tearing + it lags maximizing and min windows.

I bought this gpu used so am really afraid its dysfunctional.

More about : low fps 290 860

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a b U Graphics card
May 26, 2014 8:45:39 AM

Your fps results should be higher, but may not be optimal since your CPU may be bottlenecking the R9 290. But anyway, try using Driver Fusion to remove all video drivers and then reinstall drivers. Also, if you are able to overclock the CPU, then do so. That will ease any CPU bottlenecks you may have with some games.
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May 26, 2014 8:50:38 AM

Joseph DeGarmo said:
Your fps results should be higher, but may not be optimal since your CPU may be bottlenecking the R9 290. But anyway, try using Driver Fusion to remove all video drivers and then reinstall drivers. Also, if you are able to overclock the CPU, then do so. That will ease any CPU bottlenecks you may have with some games.


I already did a fresh windows 7 install for the issues ... am really starting to doubt the card is broken , but the 3dmark score says otherwise
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a c 198 U Graphics card
May 26, 2014 9:09:35 AM

By 'fresh install' did you fully format the HDD then install or install over an existing installation?
When you reinstalled Windows did you remember to reinstall the motherboard drivers?
Don't try to troubleshoot with Beta software, use the latest WHQL certified drivers instead.
Run Dxdiag maybe it's a DirectX problem.
Check your games are fully patched, if they're on Steam, verify the cache files: open Steam>library>right click on the game>Properties>Local Files>Verify Cache.
Don't forget to disable Advanced PhysX in Metro LL, it's in the Gameplay options!
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May 26, 2014 9:12:45 AM

coozie7 said:
By 'fresh install' did you fully format the HDD then install or install over an existing installation?
When you reinstalled Windows did you remember to reinstall the motherboard drivers?
Don't try to troubleshoot with Beta software, use the latest WHQL certified drivers instead.
Run Dxdiag maybe it's a DirectX problem.
Check your games are fully patched, if they're on Steam, verify the cache files: open Steam>library>right click on the game>Properties>Local Files>Verify Cache.
Don't forget to disable Advanced PhysX in Metro LL, it's in the Gameplay options!


I created a partition, formatted it, installed windows....the only drivers I manually installed were the GPU drivers, should i install the mb drivers as well ?!
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a c 198 U Graphics card
May 26, 2014 9:16:44 AM

Yes.
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Best solution

a c 105 U Graphics card
May 26, 2014 9:21:21 AM

the problem is your cpu.

i'll explain. at your resolution 1366x768, your gpu isn't even warming up, it likely is sitting at like 1% utilization... this is a card that can push millions of pixels, yet it's being asked to push thousands... so your gpu is waiting on your cpu to do the draw calls and all the other things a cpu is asked to do. Your cpu simply can't do it fast enough.

when a gpu is the bottleneck, your gaming experience it typically pretty smooth most of the time because gpus can regulate how fast they shove frames out the door... and adjust accordingly, when your cpu is the bottleneck the gpu's "frame regulation" rarely works... and the game gets choppy and unplayable (well, when a gpu bottlenecks sometimes this can happen too especially if it's ram bottlenecked).

at your resolution it's 100% guaranteed to be a cpu bottleneck. no gpu driver or gpu on the earth will fix this. overclock your cpu or upgrade....

while you're at it, spend a little bit on a better monitor, with a r9-290, you should be using a 1080p monitor at the least.
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a b U Graphics card
May 26, 2014 9:30:13 AM

Look into either getting a 1080p monitor + performance CPU cooler for CPU overclocking or an i7-4770k + z87 board. 1366x768 should not be today's resolution standard, anyway.
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a c 198 U Graphics card
May 26, 2014 9:42:19 AM

Is Metro LL the only game causing problems?
That particular game has a few oddities: SSAA HAMMERS the frame rate, stick with the AAA option and turn it off in the benchmark. Make sure advanced PhysX is turned off in the gameplay options because this pulverises the frame rate on AMD cards, and turn the quality settings to 'just' high, you'll not see any difference but it adds considerably to the frame rate.
Those wildly variable frame rate numbers are normal, I get 3.5FPS as a minimum on the Metro 2033 benchmark and 8 in the LL runs, both games are perfectly smooth (with the tweaks I mentioned applied) on my lesser rig@1080 res.
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May 26, 2014 9:43:54 AM

ingtar33 said:
the problem is your cpu.

i'll explain. at your resolution 1366x768, your gpu isn't even warming up, it likely is sitting at like 1% utilization... this is a card that can push millions of pixels, yet it's being asked to push thousands... so your gpu is waiting on your cpu to do the draw calls and all the other things a cpu is asked to do. Your cpu simply can't do it fast enough.

when a gpu is the bottleneck, your gaming experience it typically pretty smooth most of the time because gpus can regulate how fast they shove frames out the door... and adjust accordingly, when your cpu is the bottleneck the gpu's "frame regulation" rarely works... and the game gets choppy and unplayable (well, when a gpu bottlenecks sometimes this can happen too especially if it's ram bottlenecked).

at your resolution it's 100% guaranteed to be a cpu bottleneck. no gpu driver or gpu on the earth will fix this. overclock your cpu or upgrade....

while you're at it, spend a little bit on a better monitor, with a r9-290, you should be using a 1080p monitor at the least.


Thanks for the reply, but I've noticed that gpu usage reaches 96% in splinter cell however as i said its fluctuating a lot 30-96 in most games
However how can I exclude the gpu isn't defective ?
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May 26, 2014 9:47:36 AM

coozie7 said:
Is Metro LL the only game causing problems?
That particular game has a few oddities: SSAA HAMMERS the frame rate, stick with the AAA option and turn it off in the benchmark. Make sure advanced PhysX is turned off in the gameplay options because this pulverises the frame rate on AMD cards, and turn the quality settings to 'just' high, you'll not see any difference but it adds considerably to the frame rate.
Those wildly variable frame rate numbers are normal, I get 3.5FPS as a minimum on the Metro 2033 benchmark and 8 in the LL runs, both games are perfectly smooth (with the tweaks I mentioned applied) on my lesser rig@1080 res.


the extremely crappy performance is only in metro yes...however its the very old cracked edition, I believe its version 1.0 which makes it unreliable

other games however are giving good fps but not the one u should be getting with this card
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a c 105 U Graphics card
May 26, 2014 10:07:57 AM

adnan_J_A said:
ingtar33 said:
the problem is your cpu.

i'll explain. at your resolution 1366x768, your gpu isn't even warming up, it likely is sitting at like 1% utilization... this is a card that can push millions of pixels, yet it's being asked to push thousands... so your gpu is waiting on your cpu to do the draw calls and all the other things a cpu is asked to do. Your cpu simply can't do it fast enough.

when a gpu is the bottleneck, your gaming experience it typically pretty smooth most of the time because gpus can regulate how fast they shove frames out the door... and adjust accordingly, when your cpu is the bottleneck the gpu's "frame regulation" rarely works... and the game gets choppy and unplayable (well, when a gpu bottlenecks sometimes this can happen too especially if it's ram bottlenecked).

at your resolution it's 100% guaranteed to be a cpu bottleneck. no gpu driver or gpu on the earth will fix this. overclock your cpu or upgrade....

while you're at it, spend a little bit on a better monitor, with a r9-290, you should be using a 1080p monitor at the least.


Thanks for the reply, but I've noticed that gpu usage reaches 96% in splinter cell however as i said its fluctuating a lot 30-96 in most games
However how can I exclude the gpu isn't defective ?


a defective gpu wouldn't work at all.

they don't just "sorta work"
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May 26, 2014 10:17:47 AM

ingtar33 said:
adnan_J_A said:
ingtar33 said:
the problem is your cpu.

i'll explain. at your resolution 1366x768, your gpu isn't even warming up, it likely is sitting at like 1% utilization... this is a card that can push millions of pixels, yet it's being asked to push thousands... so your gpu is waiting on your cpu to do the draw calls and all the other things a cpu is asked to do. Your cpu simply can't do it fast enough.

when a gpu is the bottleneck, your gaming experience it typically pretty smooth most of the time because gpus can regulate how fast they shove frames out the door... and adjust accordingly, when your cpu is the bottleneck the gpu's "frame regulation" rarely works... and the game gets choppy and unplayable (well, when a gpu bottlenecks sometimes this can happen too especially if it's ram bottlenecked).

at your resolution it's 100% guaranteed to be a cpu bottleneck. no gpu driver or gpu on the earth will fix this. overclock your cpu or upgrade....

while you're at it, spend a little bit on a better monitor, with a r9-290, you should be using a 1080p monitor at the least.


Thanks for the reply, but I've noticed that gpu usage reaches 96% in splinter cell however as i said its fluctuating a lot 30-96 in most games
However how can I exclude the gpu isn't defective ?


a defective gpu wouldn't work at all.

they don't just "sorta work"


So do u think I'll get better performance with a 1080 monitor ? if not I guess am over clocking with a CM 212
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a c 198 U Graphics card
May 26, 2014 10:23:10 AM

Cracked as in pirated? If so it's possible it is carrying any number of nasties and should be thoroughly removed very quickly. And run a full virus/malware sweep afterwards.
I've a feeling the main source of the less than expected performance is the CPU, it's a fast part but not really able to keep up with a R9 290 without some overclock. If it has the stock cooler you can overclock, but be VERY, VERY careful to keep an eye on it's temperatures I think you'll see an improvement with even a fairly light speed increase.
One other possible is that the current PSU isn't up to the job, what is it, mate?
Another check is to run GPUZ, play a game for a few minuets with GPUZ open at the 'sensors' tab, exit the game and see if the GPU usage or clockspeeds vary greatly.
And no, a defective GPU will not usually work properly, at the very least it'll show artifacts.
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May 26, 2014 11:16:32 AM

coozie7 said:
Cracked as in pirated? If so it's possible it is carrying any number of nasties and should be thoroughly removed very quickly. And run a full virus/malware sweep afterwards.
I've a feeling the main source of the less than expected performance is the CPU, it's a fast part but not really able to keep up with a R9 290 without some overclock. If it has the stock cooler you can overclock, but be VERY, VERY careful to keep an eye on it's temperatures I think you'll see an improvement with even a fairly light speed increase.
One other possible is that the current PSU isn't up to the job, what is it, mate?
Another check is to run GPUZ, play a game for a few minuets with GPUZ open at the 'sensors' tab, exit the game and see if the GPU usage or clockspeeds vary greatly.
And no, a defective GPU will not usually work properly, at the very least it'll show artifacts.


Oh, thats a relief...
for the PSU am using a 750 W thermaltek tough power (6 yrs old but has an 8 pin cable )
I used Msi afterburner + rivatuner in-game and in most games there is around 50% usage gpu
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a c 198 U Graphics card
May 27, 2014 12:13:45 PM

What monitor are you actually using, mate?
At 1366x768 that R9 290 is totally wasted, which explains the 50% GPU usage, it's far more at home on a 1080 screen, at least.
And yes, the CPU is a bottleneck, overclocking it is certainly a good idea just don't expect a stellar OC with the Hyper 212 Evo, it's good, but no super cooler, I'd look for about 3.6GHz tops.
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