GREAT GPU.... decent fps :(

[beasteben]

I decided to spend some of my tax refund on a new graphics card and memory. I was running an ATI 4850 series and I just upgraded to a 6970. I was running with 4 gig of memory and upgraded to 8. I have a 2.8 quad core cpu. After the upgrades, I saw almost no improvement in fps while in rift, wow, or MWF2. Right now my benchmark is Rift, and it only runs at a steady 30 fps (at $400, I'd like it to be super nasty high). My buddy has a lesser computer and he gets a steady 40 fps! My nerdiness and wallet are raging.

I have only moderate computer knowledge. I have upgraded the video card's application and drivers. I am running DirectX11. What's going on!?

 

[omnisome]

Clear all of your graphics drivers with a good driver-sweeper and download the drivers from the AMD site, never use the disk! What power supply are you using?

 

[beasteben]

Clear all of your graphics drivers with a good driver-sweeper and download the drivers from the AMD site, never use the disk! What power supply are you using?

Its 650W, I can check to company when I get home. I'm posting on "the man's" time at work.

 

[Derbixrace]

that 2.8ghz quad of yours may be holding that GPU from its full potential, you could OC the CPU a bit and see if it improves performance.

 

[beasteben]

that 2.8ghz quad of yours may be holding that GPU from its full potential, you could OC the CPU a bit and see if it improves performance.

Is it a difficult surgery to replace a cpu on the motherboard?

 

[omnisome]

that 2.8ghz quad of yours may be holding that GPU from its full potential, you could OC the CPU a bit and see if it improves performance.

Very doubtful, what model of CPU are you using beasteben?

Is it a difficult surgery to replace a cpu on the motherboard?

No.

 

[wolfram23]

Sounds like CPU might be holding you back... but we need full system specs.

Also you could try running 3DMark11 and see what you get. Should be more than 4k graphics score I think.

 

[Derbixrace]

if its an athlon, phenom, or a core 2 quad at 2.8ghz then it could bottleneck a bit but if its a core i5 or i7 then it should be fine. however a little OCing wouldnt hurt

 

[beasteben]

Just got home, sorry about the delay and thank you for the quick responses, I think I'm in love with this community.

AMD Phenom II X4 925 Processor 2.8GHz
8 GB of 1600 ram
64 bit windows

 

[Derbixrace]

go to your bios and change your HT reference clock from 200 to 215, then the CPU should run on 3ghz. try to game and see if it does any difference.

it should be stable without any voltage changes.

 

[beasteben]

Hate to take any more of your time, but to get to bios i have to spam f8 at the windows logo after start up yeah?

 

[Derbixrace]

no i think you need to spam the del button as soon as the PC boots but im not sure

EDIT: and dont expect any big performance increases its only a 210mhz OC, its just good to know if there is any performance difference at all to know if the CPU bottlenecks.

 

[beasteben]

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/785356

This was teh 3dMark 11 results. I'll try overclocking the cpu a bit, ty for the help.

 

[portal]

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/785356

This was teh 3dMark 11 results. I'll try overclocking the cpu a bit, ty for the help.

To be completely honest that looks about right for your range. Here is my latest http://3dmark.com/3dm11/578037 and I'm running two 5870s crossfire on i7 930 @ 3.8ghz.

Also, I just noticed you were not at the latest drivers when you ran that. I would take advice of what people said and completely remove all your old drivers, and run the test again.

Edit: Also, can I ask why two of your memory modules clock at 533mhz and the other two are at 667mhz.

But ya the 6970 is marginally better than a 5870 (remember I'm running two) and to me it looks like your score is fine.

Now as for a solution to your problem: Rift as well as any mmorpg demands a lot. There are some points on ultra where my setup will drop me below 60 fps. You should play around with AA, and with your setup I suggest starting at high or ultra and slowly move things up with shadows being the last thing.

 

[omnisome]

if its an athlon, phenom, or a core 2 quad at 2.8ghz then it could bottleneck a bit but if its a core i5 or i7 then it should be fine. however a little OCing wouldnt hurt

Overt.

no i think you need to spam the del button as soon as the PC boots but im not sure

This is dependant on the motherboard model. Most likely F10 or Delete.

 

[beasteben]

To be completely honest that looks about right for your range. Here is my latest http://3dmark.com/3dm11/578037 and I'm running two 5870s crossfire on i7 930 @ 3.8ghz.

Also, I just noticed you were not at the latest drivers when you ran that. I would take advice of what people said and completely remove all your old drivers, and run the test again.

Edit: Also, can I ask why two of your memory modules clock at 533mhz and the other two are at 667mhz.

But ya the 6970 is marginally better than a 5870 (remember I'm running two) and to me it looks like your score is fine.

Now as for a solution to your problem: Rift as well as any mmorpg demands a lot. There are some points on ultra where my setup will drop me below 60 fps. You should play around with AA, and with your setup I suggest starting at high or ultra and slowly move things up with shadows being the last thing.

Thank you for the comment! I may be a bit confused about how to delete my old drivers. I'll look up a guide for that. When I look under devices, I can only see one video card. In "remove programs" I can only see one video driver. I am probably looking in the wrong spot.

 

[portal]

Thank you for the comment! I may be a bit confused about how to delete my old drivers. I'll look up a guide for that. When I look under devices, I can only see one video card. In "remove programs" I can only see one video driver. I am probably looking in the wrong spot.

Download the drivers
Goto device manager and uninstall the driver
Run driver sweeper if you want
Restart computer if it tells you
Install drivers and run a benchmark like Heaven 2.1 and 3dmark11 to verify fps

 

[gamerk316]

Sounds like a CPU bottleneck. I wouldn't pair anything above a 4890 [or 5770] with a un-overclocked C2Q/PII.

Its actually amazing how quickly we went from "Duos are good enough for gaming" to "intel Core2Quads are a bottleneck now".

 

[beasteben]

Yeah, the tax refund has been a great excuse to get my hands dirty. One thing leads to another... Now i'm looking at a motherboard and a i5-2500k.

 

[Derbixrace]

this is a nice mobo if youre looking to go with sandy bridge http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130574