Performance disparity with my 7870

[Keyboarddd]

First, the specs:
E8400 @ 3ghz
4gig DDR2 Ram
P5KPL-CM
Corsair 650TX
HIS HD 7870- Running 12.8

Temps on both GPU and CPU are fine. Card + CPU are not overclocked. It's quite old and it might just be the age but I can't really believe that.

Basically the problem is that I'm getting (by my standards) bad, inconsistent fps using my ATI cards (I also have a 4890) in various games. The reason why I'm so confused is that my 9600GT runs CSGO (1280x800) AND GW2 (1680x1050) at ~60 frames dipping down to 30s, I think this is on par for the card since it's quite old. The actual problem is that my 4890 ran GW2 at ~10 and my 7870 hilariously runs it at the same level as my 9600GT. Same pitiful performance for CSGO, although the 7870 runs it slightly better. I also have a 120hz monitor and I really hoped that this card would help push my framerates (highest performance settings possible) to at least 120 constant.

No artifacts to speak of, no heat problems.

Should I just buy a 560 TI/nvidia and be done with it? Or is there something I can actually do about this (barring getting an entirely new rig which isn't really possible at the moment)

Some of the things I've tried:
Overclocking the card/CPU, messing with power settings, testing various resolutions/detail levels, forcing AA, reseating the card, tried 12.4 and 12.8 drivers

I mean I just got the 7870 today and it really just made me sad at how little my framerates improved over the 9600GT.

 

[mkristian]

you got a bottleneck somewhere, sounds like it very well could be CPU. The lower resolution you use the more strain will be placed on your CPU (can't really rememeber why).

I don't think changing to nvidia will fix your problem unless you have driver issues somewhere. You could try totally cleaning your system from all display drivers and start again. Also try and defrag the games through steam, i found that boosted my FPS by upto 50 sometimes with my 560ti.

 

[spentshells]

uninstall drivers using driver sweeper
http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/
reboot PC
install latest drivers
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx
enjoy

yes the cpu is a bottleneck for some games but hearing what your saying indicates other issues.

A co worker has a 6950 after moving from 8800GTS 512 (about the same 4890 or just a bit less) and he said the performance difference is night an day. He also has the e8400 without an oc
There is no reason for this complaint so take the steps I provided above.

Performance should at least double

 

[esrever]

guild wars 2 looks like its cpu bottle necked. no idea about csgo

 

[viktorbkk]

Can you test the graphics card on another system, to make sure it is 100% functional? I had a 7870 recently installed on an i5 system, and this card rips games apart. Your CPU is kinda old but it shouldn't be such a bottleneck, especially for games like CS GO.

Once you made sure the GPU is ok, try resetting everything, bios, drivers etc. Maybe a clean Win7 install too if you can.

 

[spentshells]

card works fine you have major driver issues

 

[rdm3]

I have an XFX 7870 and have been having similar problems. I'm running i5-2500K @4.4 Ghz, 1.29V and my frames are the same or worse than my GTX 570 I have in another rig. I've tried using drivers 12.4-12.8 and it just doesn't seem to shred anything. I can't even run World of Warcraft at all ultra setting w/o my frames dipping into the 30 fps range.

I have noticed my GPU is at 100% usage on the ultra settings, even with stock settings. Is that just an indicator that the settings are too high for my card in that game? I'm pretty disappointed with the 7870's performance as well. And, I can overclock to respectable number (~10% increase) in benchmarks, but as soon as I fire up WoW (I have yet to try many other games) I immediately crash.

 

[spentshells]

wow

 

[Keyboarddd]

I've tried 12.8 drivers, they didn't perform too well. I guess I should try some of the older drivers + try reinstalling windows.

 

[spentshells]

Have you done what I told you ? not likely you should do that instead of pissing around all day.

 

[Keyboarddd]

I've already tried that, as soon as I got the card I installed the latest drivers and no go.

 

[spentshells]

I've already tried that, as soon as I got the card I installed the latest drivers and no go.

You used driver sweeper ?