FPS Spiking BF3 - Competitive Gaming

[UberMeister]

Hey,

I would really like some assistance from the community. Any advice/suggestions are welcome.

First here are my PC Specifications:
Intel Sandy Bridge i7 2600k
16Gb Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz
Asus Maximus Extreme Gene-Z
Sapphire 7970
Corsair Force GT 90gb
Coolermaster Silent Pro Hybrid 1050W PSU

Stock Clocks and Stock Cooling. I am waiting for my water cooling before I start overclocking. Which will be a fully custom loop (CPU and GFX Card).

I use a custom config files for competitive gaming running everything on low to get the best possible hit registry and smooth gameplay.

This setup was used except I had a Radeon 5850 where I was getting 70-90 fps map dependant. I recently upgraded to the 7970 where my frames are between 90 and 160 fps.

With the difference in the cards I expected the frame rate to be high but more constant, more or less 140fps constant not such an abnormal spike. I am using the latest drivers, not BETA drivers.

Thanks a lot.
Its really appreciated.

 

[Kamen_BG]

I think overclocking your CPU will fix the problem.

 

[Sunius]

Limit the FPS to 90. Then it will be constant .

 

[UberMeister]

So you reckon the CPU is the bottleneck? I suspected that this could be the issue but wasn't exactly sure. I know BF3 runs physics on the CPU but with Nvidia cards you can change it to run off the card. It makes sense though, because maps where there are more physics I would expect more spiking.

Thanks for the suggestions. I really appreciate it.

 

[Sunius]

I don't think it's CPU bottleneck. It's natural that FPS is fluctuating - after all, second frame takes different time to render, and since it always tries its best to give you highest FPS, it's always different.

 

[sheepsnowadays]

Ya you should just turn vertical synch on for a constant 60fps

 

[UberMeister]

Just realised, that before my 7970 upgrade hyperthreading was turned off, and is now enabled. Seems like now it doesnt have those irregular spiking.

Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[UberMeister]

I found the solution:

It seems like there is a problem with the 12.xxx drivers for the AMD cards. I couldn't understand why the problem existed with my 5870 and my 7970 after a specific period.

So this is what I did:

1) Uninstall ATI drivers through the normal process (control panel/programs etc)
2) Reboot
3) Delete all ATI/ATI Technologies/AMD folders located in program files/program files x86
4) Also delete all AMD/ATI folders on your primary drive before you get into program files etc
5) Show hidden files/folders
6)Go into users - "your pc name" - app data - local and roaming and delete all AMD/ATI folders here
7)Same as above for the default user
8) windows - run - type "regedit"
9)HKEY LOCAL MACHINE - SOFTWARE and delete all ATI/ATI technologies here
10)Reboot machine
11)Now download and install 11.12 drivers from 2011 before the 12.xx came out.
12)Reboot

I experienced a few fps loss but game running a lot smoother without that weird lag spike. I am still doing further benchmarking etc but it does seem a lot better for me.

If you want a link to see how to remove drivers completely:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihVEGWrk5E4

I would suggest setting a restore point before proceeding with messing with your registry so you don't **** anything up.

Link to 11.12 driver download:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/previous/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx

If you have any questions just pm me. I hope this helps.