Bf3 cpu(?) problems

[iyzik]

I have two 7970s in crossfire and an Intel i7 3770 3.4GHz. I had some problems a little while ago with fps dips into forties so I tried many different things including completely reistalling windows but I ended up overclocking it to 3.5GHz the same speed as a 3770K. (at turbo it gets 4.3GHz instead of stock 3.9).

Now in bf3 I still am getting dips into fifties when the whole map is in view. I am finding it very hard to believe that this would be a graphics problem unless indeed two 7970s cannot even provide constant 60 fps on ultra (which would be ridiculous). for example i play tdm on noshahr canals and it runs about 100-140 fps unless i am on the side dock area then its 80-95 and when i die and it goes to the loadout menu overlooking the whole map, the fps drops into 50s.

-If i play on an empty server, no dips. Another reason I am thinking it is not a problem with the GPUs.
-At these different points overlooking maps the fps does not change at all if both gpus are oc it stays the same fps as it does on stock clocks.
-While I sit at the top of the tower on Gulf of Oman looking down with fps reading 55, both GPU usage are at 69%.... so if shouldnt they be pumping out more power to get it to 60...
Thankyou for any help

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Well, first of all, the max Turbo you set is only possible when one core is in use anyway.

For a max 4 core OC on that CPU, you can go all the way to 3.9 on all 4 cores (I think), so try that.

 

[iyzik]

Well, first of all, the max Turbo you set is only possible when one core is in use anyway.

For a max 4 core OC on that CPU, you can go all the way to 3.9 (I think), so try that.

Well I have an ASUS MoBo and it has a utility to auto OC the CPU in BIOS so I used that and it bumped up 3.4 to 3.5 and turbo from 3.9 to 4.3. When I look at it in windows in task manager or CPU-Z or wtvr program it says all 8 threads being used and it's running at 4.3GHz (with bf3 running)

Should I try take off the CPU OC altogether nonetheless?

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Well I have an ASUS MoBo and it has a utility to auto OC the CPU in BIOS so I used that and it bumped up 3.4 to 3.5 and turbo from 3.9 to 4.3. When I look at it in windows in task manager or CPU-Z or wtvr program it says all 8 threads being used and it's running at 4.3GHz (with bf3 running)

Should I try take off the CPU OC altogether nonetheless?

Ah, I'm guessing that it's OC'ing the BCLK too, then. It really does surprise me that it's able to OC it ALL the way to 4.3 on ALL 4 cores though. I didn't even know that was possible.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

You can leave it though, since you won't be able to do any better than 4.3 on your own.

One thing though. Try running Prime 95 and see what CPU-Z says then. This is just for my own curiosity more than anything else.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

I just did the math, and even at a 40x multi, it would have had to OC the BCLK to 107Mhz to even get to 4280Mhz. I'm REALLY curious as to how it gets to 4.3 on ALL 4 cores because 107Mhz on the BCLK is pushing past the "safe" limits for BCLK OC'ing.

 

[iyzik]

I just did the math, and even at a 40x multi, it would have had to OC the BCLK to 107Mhz to even get to 4280Mhz. I'm REALLY curious as to how it gets to 4.3 on ALL 4 cores because 107Mhz on the BCLK is pushing past the "safe" limits for BCLK OC'ing.

Ah my mistake it was 4223MHz. But anyway I am resetting BIOS completely and try bf3 again. Any suggestions for CPU settings I should set in BIOS?

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Ah my mistake it was 4223MHz. But anyway I am resetting BIOS completely and try bf3 again. Any suggestions for CPU settings I should set in BIOS?

Sorry, a storm knocked out the power for a few minutes here, but basically, it's doing better than you could on your own, really, especially with a locked CPU.

You can do what I said originally (set the Turbo multi's for all 4 cores to 3.9), but that just puts all 4 cores at 3.9, instead of 4233Mhz, so it would actually be slower (assuming that all 4 really ARE at 4233Mhz @ 100% load).

Also, try using the High Performance power profile in Windows to keep it at max speed when you're playing. That should help at least a bit.

I still have my doubts that it REALLY was at 4233Mhz with all 4 cores under load, but if it WAS, that's VERY surprising to me.

 

[iyzik]

Sorry, a storm knocked out the power for a few minutes here, but basically, it's doing better than you could on your own, really, especially with a locked CPU.

You can do what I said originally (set the Turbo multi's for all 4 cores to 3.9), but that just puts all 4 cores at 3.9, instead of 4233Mhz, so it would actually be slower (assuming that all 4 really ARE at 4233Mhz @ 100% load).

Well I'm not really thinking its the power of the cpu thats a problem i think i may have some weird setting somewhere or something like that. I just reset all BIOS settings CPU back to stock clocks and played another match on noshahr. when im running around the map with vsync disabled gpu usage ranges from 93-98% and fps from 100-150. Then when i get to loadout menu fps drops to 50s immediately and gpu load drops to 75%..

Hmm just played a second game and only dropped to 66 fps on loadout with gpu load 88%. I will try gulf of oman that seems to be the worst

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Well I'm not really thinking its the power of the cpu thats a problem i think i may have some weird setting somewhere or something like that. I just reset all BIOS settings CPU back to stock clocks and played another match on noshahr. when im running around the map with vsync disabled gpu usage ranges from 93-98% and fps from 100-150. Then when i get to loadout menu fps drops to 50s immediately and gpu load drops to 75%..

Hmm just played a second game and only dropped to 66 fps on loadout with gpu load 88%. I will try gulf of oman that seems to be the worst

Just try doing what I said and set all 4 Turbo multi's to 39x and enable the High Performance power profile (Control Panel -> Power Options -> High Performance). Just trust me there. That keeps it from EVER clocking down (basically disables Turbo and SpeedStep completely), and forces it to run at max speed (3.9 in this case) constantly.

You don't want it to run that way ALL of the time, so you can set it back to Balanced when you're done gaming.

 

[iyzik]

Just try doing what I said and set all 4 Turbo multi's to 39x and enable the High Performance power profile (Control Panel -> Power Settings -> High Performance). Just trust me there. That keeps it from EVER clocking down (basically disables Turbo and SpeedStep completely), and forces it to run at max speed (3.9 in this case) constantly.

Ok, am trying that now.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

I should have said "Power Options", but you'll find it.

And read the edit to that reply too.

 

[cbrunnem]

Well I'm not really thinking its the power of the cpu thats a problem i think i may have some weird setting somewhere or something like that. I just reset all BIOS settings CPU back to stock clocks and played another match on noshahr. when im running around the map with vsync disabled gpu usage ranges from 93-98% and fps from 100-150. Then when i get to loadout menu fps drops to 50s immediately and gpu load drops to 75%..

Hmm just played a second game and only dropped to 66 fps on loadout with gpu load 88%. I will try gulf of oman that seems to be the worst

you never said your resolution but i dont see a problem with your frames per second assuming youre at at least 1080p and fully maxed graphics settings.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

you never said your resolution but i dont see a problem with your frames per second assuming youre at at least 1080p and fully maxed graphics settings.

I kind of agree with that, but I actually DO think the 3770 is bottle necking the two CF 7970's here. The GPU usage goes WAY down at times, and that's usually an obvious sign of a CPU bottle neck.

That and two 7970's should be able to keep a constant 60 FPS no matter the situation @1080p.

 

[cbrunnem]

I kind of agree with that, but I actually DO think the 3770 is bottle necking the two CF 7970's here. The GPU usage goes WAY down at times, and that's usually an obvious sign of a CPU bottle neck.

That and two 7970's should be able to keep a constant 60 FPS no matter the situation @1080p.

you are asking a lot out of a cpu to keep up with TWO 7970s though.

Im interested for the OP to try just ONE 7970 and see how that goes.

 

[iyzik]

I kind of agree with that, but I actually DO think the 3770 is bottle necking the two CF 7970's here. The GPU usage goes WAY down at times, and that's usually an obvious sign of a CPU bottle neck.

That and two 7970's should be able to keep a constant 60 FPS no matter the situation @1080p.

Strange that an i7 Ivy would bottleneck though...

Just did what you said and tried gulf of oman. (yes i am on ultra 1080p) fps dropped into 40s on this map. strange thing is at that same point where the low frames are overlooking the map gpu load on both 7970s is at 87% and cpu load 65%. throughout the game gpu load ranges from 70-98% and cpu ranges from 50-70%

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

you are asking a lot out of a cpu to keep up with TWO 7970s though.

Im interested for the OP to try just ONE 7970 and see how that goes.

Yeah, that's what I mean, and why I'm asking him to try the 3.9 on all 4 cores with High Performance enabled.

If that doesn't do it, it won't be done on THAT CPU anyway.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Strange that an i7 Ivy would bottleneck though...

Just did what you said and tried gulf of oman. (yes i am on ultra 1080p) fps dropped into 40s on this map. strange thing is at that same point where the low frames are overlooking the map gpu load on both 7970s is at 87% and cpu load 65%. throughout the game gpu load ranges from 70-98% and cpu ranges from 50-70%

Hmm. Now THAT would make it seem like it's not a CPU bottle neck at all. If it was, the CPU usage should be spiked at 100% when the FPS drops.

Some strangeness going on here.

 

[iyzik]

Hmm. Now THAT would make it seem like it's not a CPU bottle neck at all. If it was, the CPU usage should be spiked at 100% when the FPS drops.

Some strangeness going on here.

I know right? This problems been going on for a while and for all the time I've owned bf3 on this pc I have never seen the cpu usage pass 75% on that game

 

[cbrunnem]

Strange that an i7 Ivy would bottleneck though...

Just did what you said and tried gulf of oman. (yes i am on ultra 1080p) fps dropped into 40s on this map. strange thing is at that same point where the low frames are overlooking the map gpu load on both 7970s is at 87% and cpu load 65%. throughout the game gpu load ranges from 70-98% and cpu ranges from 50-70%

yeah it really sounds like you have a cpu bottleneck or maybe an EXTREMELY slow hard drive which i dont even think is possible. also make sure in CCC you have set you graphics options to use application settings so your not forcing some crazy graphics settings through CCC.

You are maxing at least 4 cores it seems.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

I don't really know what else to say at this point, but I agree with cbrunnem that you should just check that there isn't some strange settings situation going on.

It may STILL be a CPU bottle neck, but that CPU usage makes it seem like it's not.

 

[iyzik]

I don't really know what else to say at this point, but I agree with cbrunnem that you should just check that there isn't some strange settings situation going on.

It may STILL be a CPU bottle neck, but that CPU usage makes it seem like it's not.

Yeah I really feel like it is just a strange setting somewhere but I'm not really sure where else to check for something like that.
BTW I just played one more game on gulf and monitored the game. at the lowest fps point gpu load was actually at 75% not 87 and cpu load around 55%. average cpu load for the entire runtime was 49.97% :/

one last thing was that i dont feel like i started having this issue immediately after i updated BIOS from 0904 to 1406, but I also dont feel like i had this problem on the earlier BIOS version. only problem is i dont know how to downgrade

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

only problem is i dont know how to downgrade

I'm not sure you can, safely. It may just be as simple as getting an older BIOS and downgrading, but I'm honestly not sure on that one, myself.

 

[cbrunnem]

I don't really know what else to say at this point, but I agree with cbrunnem that you should just check that there isn't some strange settings situation going on.

It may STILL be a CPU bottle neck, but that CPU usage makes it seem like it's not.

it is probably a cpu bottleneck since hes maxing at least 4 cores more then likely. remember it has 8 threads so 50% is four cores maxed since after four cores BF3 probably doesnt use the remaining threads very well.

Yeah I really feel like it is just a strange setting somewhere but I'm not really sure where else to check for something like that.
BTW I just played one more game on gulf and monitored the game. at the lowest fps point gpu load was actually at 75% not 87 and cpu load around 55%. average cpu load for the entire runtime was 49.97% :/

one last thing was that i dont feel like i started having this issue immediately after i updated BIOS from 0904 to 1406, but I also dont feel like i had this problem on the earlier BIOS version. only problem is i dont know how to downgrade

CPU bottleneck for sure.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

it is probably a cpu bottleneck since hes maxing at least 4 cores more then likely. remember it has 8 threads so 50% is four cores maxed since after four cores BF3 probably doesnt use the remaining threads very well.

Yeah, I forgot about the HT part of the equation.