Troubleshooting VERY poor performance from R9 290

boblobblaw

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Feb 9, 2015
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I recently upgraded from my 2gb 7850 to this 4gb Sapphire Tri-X R9 290, but now I realize my problems with the 7850 underperforming were due to something else. In Dying Light I've gained less than 10 FPS after the upgrade. In Nosgoth I have vritually the same performance I got out of the 7850, and still dip below 50 fps while on lowest settings possible and utilizing steam launch options "-onethread and -usetexturepool".

I've run MSI Afterburner with the OS display showing GPU/CPU utlization, and the GPU is reaching 100% before any of the cores. GPU clock is still stock at 1000/1300; CPU clock is stock as well. Temperatures on GPU/CPU do not go beyond 60C. I'm at the end of my rope in terms of knowing what/how to troubleshoot.

Specs:
M5A97 LE R2.0
Sapphire Tri-X R9 290 4gb
AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz
G.SKILL Ares Series 8gb
EVGA Supernova 850G
OS on 128gb SSD
Everything else on 1TB external HDD

*Note: I have tried moving Nosgoth and Dying Light to the SSD, but there was no change in performance

*Note2: It's worth mentioning I have a strange and irregular stutter when playing Nosgoth. I can usually count on one, but no more than one, per game of Nosgoth (approximately 20 minutes). The screen will freeze for 3-5 seconds and I will be unable to act, then it will snap back to the game and everything is fine.
 
Solution
I know that Dying Light has very poor optimization for AMD, mainly with their CPUs.

EDIT: Honestly it sounds like bad CPU performance more than anything.

boblobblaw

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Feb 9, 2015
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That's the only thing I can think of. I think I'm going to jump on an i5+mobo combo as soon as a decent deal pops up. It just seemed odd to me considering I've read a lot of good reviews from people using FX6300 with r9 290s and not having any issues.
 

boblobblaw

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Looks like you are correct and it's the processor. I OC'd from 3.5 stock to 4GHz and all of the sudden I have 90-99% GPU utilization, 90+ FPS on max settings in Nosgoth. Unfortunately that's with core temp of 55-60C and socket ~65C+. So it's either aftermarket CPU cooler or time to switch to Intel.
 

boblobblaw

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Feb 9, 2015
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That's the conclusion I came to as well. I have one of these on the way so I can hopefully maintain a 4.5GHz OC and get everything out of the new GPU. Thanks for your help.