Low 3DMark11 scores with 7870, need advice

[rdm3]

Using this card (XFX Double D 7870): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150605

Getting low 3DMark 11 scores without adjusting anything:

(On the performance setting)
P5621
Graphics score:5312
Physics score: 8062
Combined Score: 5527

Most reviews claims this card is "easily overclockable," but if I add as little at 50 Mhz to the core clock it becomes unstable, even if I increase the voltage! Also, when I replace it with a GTX 570 I get the same or better performance. Especially, when playing WoW, this card barely runs it at 40fps at stock settings.

Setup: HAF912 case, 16 Gb G.Skill RAM, i5-2500K@4.4Ghz (1.29V stable), Hyper 212+ heatsink, Crucial M4 128Gb SSD, Thermaltake Toughpower XT 750W PSU

No idea why this card hates me, any ideas? Tried 12.4-12.8 Catalyst drivers, same result.

Also, any minor OC and the GPU usage goes between 85-100% GPU usage ingame. Are my settings/expectations too high? What is a typical GPU usage (consistently) when playing a game that a video card can handle?

 

[blazorthon]

You might have a bad card and if so, an RMA might be in order.

Also, when you changed driver versions, did you uninstall the drivers by booting into safe mode and deleting the drivers with Driver Fusion or a similarly thorough way, or did you just uninstall them normally?

 

[rdm3]

I uninstalled the drivers normally, rebooted, ran Driver Sweeper, rebooted, ran CCleaner, rebooted......then installed 12.8 drivers. Also, why is my GPU usage typically 100%, I thought WoW was a more CPU-intensive game? Thank you.

 

[rdm3]

Well, I re-installed the drivers a 4th time and seems to be working a little better. Maybe just some left over crap I somehow missed. Also, from reading it sounds as though 100% GPU usage with no vsync is actually a good thing.

 

[blazorthon]

Also keep in mind that Nvidia tends to get over-inflated 3Dmark and such scores. You would do better to compare actual gaming benchmarks rather than synthetics. Synthetics are only good for comparing cards within the same family, if even that.

 

[rdm3]

Best answer selected by rdm3.