Bad fps in games and would like some help please.

[heroofspirits]

hello all. first time at this forum so 'scuse the errors and such.

As per my rig down below ( I HOPE!) i want to know your opinions on it. I recon its a dam good rig for what i could buy (yes this a custom rig.) its just that i get craptacular fps when playing almost any game. hovering around 25-30 fps in busy areas (like in pala on far cry 2) to 55-60 when hardly moving or looking at an object closely. (also FC2)
I have tryed on most other games like crysis, world at war, sims 2, company of heroes, fall out 3, ect. are basically the same. any tips on how to improve my fps?

(NOTE: all game settings set to as low as possible with dx 10 games as well still the same, no change in frames.)


3dmark06 score 18002

 

[jaguarskx]

Not all games are optimized for SLI or XFire, but most are it seems.

Crysis is very demanding (and probably poorly coded), so FPS in that game is relatively low. FC2's performance is better than Crysis, but still a little bit demanding.

I think Sims 2 frames are capped at about 30 FPS no matter how powerful your video card is.

See following for some benchmarks:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gtx285sli-hd4890cf.html

 

[heroofspirits]

Not all games are optimized for SLI or XFire, but most are it seems.

Crysis is very demanding (and probably poorly coded), so FPS in that game is relatively low. FC2's performance is better than Crysis, but still a little bit demanding.

I think Sims 2 frames are capped at about 30 FPS no matter how powerful your video card is.

See following for some benchmarks:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gtx285sli-hd4890cf.html

the sims 2 i knew about just thought of throwing the game in lololol
yeah they are a little demanding from what i have heard.

 

[Helloworld_98]

Your CPU is a botteneck for that gfx card but it still doesn't explain the fps.

try to find out if there's an fps limiter and make sure the internal crossfire is set up on the card.

 

[mactronix]

Your CPU is a botteneck for that gfx card but it still doesn't explain the fps.

try to find out if there's an fps limiter and make sure the internal crossfire is set up on the card.

The CPU is not a bottleneck, especially clocked over 3Ghz. I remember the reviews when the card first came out the test rigs were running 8200 and 8400 CPU's and stating it wasnt getting restricted by the CPU.

Mactronix

 

[quake1fan]

Some things to try:

Try setting your CPU and memory to stock clock settings (disable overclocking). It's possible to get a slower computer when overclocking if you make a mistake or your motherboard BIOS has a bug, etc..

As a test, close the ATI icon in the task tray and then use task manager to terminate the CCC.EXE process. Sometimes those two processes slow down games.

Check ATI Catalyst Control Center and make sure that 'anti aliasing' is set to 'applicaiton controlled' and also that 'anisotropic filtering' is set to 'application controlled.' Also make sure these are disabled in your games. If you enable 24x AA and 16x filtering then you are going to get much slower performance. Maxing AA and AF aren't worth a drop to 25 to 30 FPS. 60FPS is a nice minimum.

Right click your 'Computer' icon on the desktop and select 'properties' and make sure the proper CPU speed shows. Also, as a test temporarily turn off any power saving features in your BIOS (probably should be off since you overclock).

Also turn off one of your GPU's in your video card as a test. A single 4870 can get good FPS in those games at 1920x1200.

Make sure your PCI-E bus is using all 16 lanes for your card. Maybe CPU-Z will tell you that or try GPU-Z.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Did it seem to be faster system before?

I keep a spare hard drive with just XP and drivers so that I always have a "fresh install" ready to boot if needed. I use it if I think I've got old/new driver conflicts, any software or registry issues that's eating my CPU cycles other than a virus. If you don't have spare hard drive, you can always a fresh install.

 

[apache_lives]

CPU is partly to blame - if an i7 can perform any better in games then a dual core that means theres some sort of bottlekneck, and we all seem to forget - some applications like loads of memory bandwidth, so do some games - something the older gen CPU's lack after the L2 cache limit etc

as for "Operating system: the ever craptacular vista home premium 64x" - it aint a bad operating system.

 

[swifty_morgan]

Are you sure you're not over expecting how many fps you think you should get vs what you are actually getting ? Most of the games in the past year or so have frame rates well below the "standard" 300+ from games prior due to the new engines and new game architecture. If what you're playing doesn't go below 25fps and none of them get jerky or choppy I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Having said that, the first place I would look is in the drivers. Secondly the memory speed. Not to forget going into the video cards control panel and making sure vsync is OFF. Check the AA and other settings. Make sure they are set so the games control ( game options ) panel makes the option to have AA and what not turned on.

I've been playing farCry2 again for the past couple of days. No stutters or anything. I also haven't checked my frame rates either. I will say that farCry2 puts more stress on my components than Crysis did. My opinion anyways.

Q9550/8gig/GTX260/9600 physics..........no OC.

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Helloworld_98]

The CPU is not a bottleneck, especially clocked over 3Ghz. I remember the reviews when the card first came out the test rigs were running 8200 and 8400 CPU's and stating it wasnt getting restricted by the CPU.

Mactronix

Have you seen that even i7 965's bottleneck a 4870 X2 sometimes?

I guess not.

 

[heroofspirits]

Some things to try:

Try setting your CPU and memory to stock clock settings (disable overclocking). It's possible to get a slower computer when overclocking if you make a mistake or your motherboard BIOS has a bug, etc..

As a test, close the ATI icon in the task tray and then use task manager to terminate the CCC.EXE process. Sometimes those two processes slow down games.

Check ATI Catalyst Control Center and make sure that 'anti aliasing' is set to 'applicaiton controlled' and also that 'anisotropic filtering' is set to 'application controlled.' Also make sure these are disabled in your games. If you enable 24x AA and 16x filtering then you are going to get much slower performance. Maxing AA and AF aren't worth a drop to 25 to 30 FPS. 60FPS is a nice minimum.

Right click your 'Computer' icon on the desktop and select 'properties' and make sure the proper CPU speed shows. Also, as a test temporarily turn off any power saving features in your BIOS (probably should be off since you overclock).

Also turn off one of your GPU's in your video card as a test. A single 4870 can get good FPS in those games at 1920x1200.

Make sure your PCI-E bus is using all 16 lanes for your card. Maybe CPU-Z will tell you that or try GPU-Z.

almost done that. funny enough just got back from a drive and my pc wouldnt start. waited a little and once i turned it on again, i found bios (I think) had crashed and it told me it had gone back to the last well known state, which had etherything at standard. will try a game in a few minutes

 

[heroofspirits]

Did it seem to be faster system before?

I keep a spare hard drive with just XP and drivers so that I always have a "fresh install" ready to boot if needed. I use it if I think I've got old/new driver conflicts, any software or registry issues that's eating my CPU cycles other than a virus. If you don't have spare hard drive, you can always a fresh install.

yeah it did. would reach 90 or so fps in far cry 2 no sweat. (TYPO?) then it just started going slow, which is when i discovered one of the gpu's aint workin properly.

 

[mactronix]

CPU is partly to blame - if an i7 can perform any better in games then a dual core that means theres some sort of bottlekneck, and we all seem to forget - some applications like loads of memory bandwidth, so do some games - something the older gen CPU's lack after the L2 cache limit etc

as for "Operating system: the ever craptacular vista home premium 64x" - it aint a bad operating system.

An i7 can perform faster due to it being a faster CPU. That's a restriction NOT a Bottleneck. The two are technically (I don't mean being pedantic "technically" I mean physically different as far as what technologically constitutes a bottleneck) and architecturally different.we have done this enough times on here now that someone with as many posts as you should have seen at least one of the threads where both Strange Stranger and myself. Have gone to pains to explain this to people under the false apprehension that just because X CPU would give you 5 more FPS you must be "Bottlenecked" A True Bottleneck is a lot different.
By your reckoning every CPU made is a Bottleneck when running a decent GPU, even the ones they haven't invented yet.

 

[mactronix]

Have you seen that even i7 965's bottleneck a 4870 X2 sometimes?

I guess not.

See above

Mactronix

 

[Helloworld_98]

I disagree, a bottleneck is something which holds something else back. A restriction is something that stops it from going any further, they are the same thing.

In this instance the CPU can't push out enough calculations while the GPU can still push out more calculations.

 

[namcost]

simply answer for the op.

if you have and older mobo, with pci-express 1.0, you are running half power.

pci-1.0 gives your gfx 75 watts of power, plus whatever you need to connect to it externally.

pci-2.0 gives your gfx 150 watts of power, plus whatever you need to connect to it externally.

my 4870 1gig pci-2.0 card is running half power right now, which means I'm not getting my full potential out of it. every card draws from the motherboard, just some need more juice, hence power supply's with pci express connectors, either 6, 6+2 or 8. each line gives 75 watts of power. so technically the 4870 runs about 300 watts, 150 from the motherboard and 150 from the psu pci-e connectors.

if you don't believe me, go get gpu-z and dump your bios to a file, then open it with note pad, mine told me specifically "warning, this card is running half power, please make sure all connections are plugged in and working".... until i get a pci-e-2.0 mobo, I am SOL.

 

[heroofspirits]

simply answer for the op.

if you have and older mobo, with pci-express 1.0, you are running half power.

pci-1.0 gives your gfx 75 watts of power, plus whatever you need to connect to it externally.

pci-2.0 gives your gfx 150 watts of power, plus whatever you need to connect to it externally.

my 4870 1gig pci-2.0 card is running half power right now, which means I'm not getting my full potential out of it. every card draws from the motherboard, just some need more juice, hence power supply's with pci express connectors, either 6, 6+2 or 8. each line gives 75 watts of power. so technically the 4870 runs about 300 watts, 150 from the motherboard and 150 from the psu pci-e connectors.

if you don't believe me, go get gpu-z and dump your bios to a file, then open it with note pad, mine told me specifically "warning, this card is running half power, please make sure all connections are plugged in and working".... until i get a pci-e-2.0 mobo, I am SOL.

have 2.0 if you read what i wrote before hand you will se that etherything was working fine its just that now all of a sudden its slow. real slow. might be driver issues might reinstall windows and start over.

 

[EXT64]

Reinstalling is the best option now if it isn't too much of a hassle. Also, be sure Vsync is off. Do both cards still show up in CCC, etc?

Edit: and namcost, will you stop posting that everywhere. It isn't true, if the cards were actually running at half power, they wouldn't (they would crash). 1.0 works fine (though this is completely OT, as the OP has 2.0).

 

[heroofspirits]

Reinstalling is the best option now if it isn't too much of a hassle. Also, be sure Vsync is off. Do both cards still show up in CCC, etc?

Edit: and namcost, will you stop posting that everywhere. It isn't true, if the cards were actually running at half power, they wouldn't (they would crash). 1.0 works fine (though this is completely OT, as the OP has 2.0).

i have reinstalled most of my games. they now work well, but not as good as before, yet still better than wjhat i was getting. the only game i am still having problems with is far cry 2. i have decided not to play it as now when i play it, i can here a odd cliccking noise coming from the gfx card and its very, say, frightning as to what it could be doing!

almost sounds like a old hdd, clicking away...

thanks for the help anyway!