HD 6850 not working as well as it should

[nvk3]

CPU: Amd Athlon II x4 640 3 GHz
4 GB RAM
PSU is 650W
Windows 7 64 Bit

I pretty much tried everything. Installed the latest drivers, closed up all other programs etc. but I still get low FPS with this card. Before it, I had an HD 5670 which could run Assassins Creed 2 at 1920x1080 at a stable 30 FPS or Crysis at 20-25 FPS on high settings. I decided to upgrade because I wasn't getting a stable 30 FPS in Gta IV. And now, for some reason, GTA doesn't run any better ( I would actually say it runs worse) and Assassins Creed goes below 30 FPS a lot more than before. My friend who owns a computer shop tested it and said that everything seems to be working correctly and that there seems to be no bottleneck. I honestly don't know what to try anymore. I know the card should perform better and not worse than my previous card. The weird thing is, even if I change the resolution from 1920x1080 to 1280x720 the FPS stays the same. If anyone has any idea what could be the problem, any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[geekapproved]

There is no bottleneck, your friend is right.

You must have changed some settings or something, or maybe you didn't remove your previous drivers and install the latest ones.

 

[Sunius]

Did you connect 6-pin power connector from your power supply to your graphics card?

Did you connect the monitor to the motherboard or to the graphics card?

 

[nvk3]

Did you connect 6-pin power connector from your power supply to your graphics card?

Did you connect the monitor to the motherboard or to the graphics card?

Yeah everything is connected and "seems" to be working properly, but in games I get lower than normal FPS.
I've also tried deleting my old drivers and installing new ones but it didn't make a difference.
The strange thing is, the performance seems to be exactly the same as the HD 5670 I had about a year ago, which should not be happening.

 

[Sunius]

I repeat my question:

Did you connect the monitor to the motherboard or to the graphics card?

An answer should not be "Yes" or "no".

 

[nvk3]

I repeat my question:

Did you connect the monitor to the motherboard or to the graphics card?

An answer should not be "Yes" or "no".

Do you think I'm stupid or something?
Yes of course I've connected it, I wouldn't be seeing a picture if I didn't.

 

[Sunius]

I asked what it is connected to!

 

[nvk3]

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/000/554/facepalm.jpg

I asked what it is connected to!

Sorry I didn't really understand the question. The monitor is connected to the graphics card.

 

[Sunius]

Okay thanks for clarifying it.

I saw 4 problems exactly like this one during my time on this forum:

Upgraded AMD card to AMD card, and the performance didn't improve.

The only solution that worked for all the people was windows reinstall. They all tried reinstalling drivers, trying driver deletion tools, but nothing helped. Until they reinstalled windows. Then, it was fixed.

 

[T-Frost]

Reinstall windows 7 like sunius says..Install drivers 11.4 best for 6850 do not use newest..Install CAP even know you don't run x-fire it helps..

 

[nvk3]

Okay thanks for clarifying it.

I saw 4 problems exactly like this one during my time on this forum:

Upgraded AMD card to AMD card, and the performance didn't improve.

The only solution that worked for all the people was windows reinstall. They all tried reinstalling drivers, trying driver deletion tools, but nothing helped. Until they reinstalled windows. Then, it was fixed.

Yeah I already tried reinstalling Windows but it didn't make a difference. I'll try again though. I think I know why it didn't work the first time.

 

[sheepsnowadays]

Monitor your GPU usage, temps, clock speed and voltage when playing those games. Check what your clock and memory speeds are in catalyst 300Mhz at 0.95V unloaded and 775 or 820Mhz at 1.15V loaded. Make sure the memory clock is under 1100Mhz Check and make sure your catalyst settings are not maxed out and check the "use application settings" box.

 

[nvk3]

Well I'm back with some updates and some bad news. Reinstalled Windows again, downloaded the 11.4 drivers, checked my settings in Catalyst, started a game, and no difference. So then I ran MSI Afterburner to check what my GPU usage is when playing GTA IV. I expected to get around 70 or something but turns out the average GPU usage was 33%, with the max being 57%. So obviously something's not right here. I'm pretty much out of ideas right now.

 

[Sunius]

Can you check CPU usage?

 

[nvk3]

CPU usage was generally between 70-80%. This is all at 1280x720 btw.

 

[Sunius]

You've found your issue I guess. What settings are you using for GTA 4?

 

[nvk3]

You've found your issue I guess. What settings are you using for GTA 4?

Pretty much everything is around medium, with view distance really low.
I guess I should buy a new processor then.

 

[Sunius]

Try increasing the settings. The frames per second shouldn't go down, only the GPU usage should go up. Experiment with settings. Some settings are quite heavy on the CPU. Did you install any of GTA 4 patches? If you didn't, installing at least 1.0.4.0 patch should fix your problem.

 

[nvk3]

OK increased all the settings to high, and to my surprise the framerate didn't drop at all. It actually seems to maybe be 2-3 frames higher. Never had it on high since it was barely running on medium.
I guess it really is the CPU then.

 

[Sunius]

So did you install the patches? How many frames per second are you getting?

 

[nvk3]

So did you install the patches? How many frames per second are you getting?

Already had the latest patch. Right now it's about the same as on medium with everything on very high, struggling to hit 30 FPS.

 

[Sunius]

I suppose you could overclock that CPU, it could help to overcome 30 fps barrier.

 

[DarkOutlaw]

Do you think I'm stupid or something?
Yes of course I've connected it, I wouldn't be seeing a picture if I didn't.

Wowzers....

 

[sheepsnowadays]

So your using MSI Afterburner and CCC? if you are they might be conflicting

 

[nvk3]

So your using MSI Afterburner and CCC? if you are they might be conflicting

Well I installed it today just to check my GPU usage so I don't think it matters.
I'll try to overclock my CPU but seeing as I've never done that before I'll have to read up on it.