XFX HD7970 DD

[jakeythehobo]

Hi All,

I recently built my new PC:

i5 3570k 3.5Ghz
XFX HD7970 DD
Coolermaster Bronze 650W PSU
8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600Mhz
Coolermaster centurion 5 II
Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
Arctic Freezer i30
2TB 7200rpm seagate HDD

I'm currently using a Sony 40" 3D LED TV as a monitor (set in game mode) and have it passing through my 5.1 surround sound, the GPU doing all the picture and sound.

When playing Crysis & Crysis Warhead, using fraps it tells me I'm getting 24fps, with and without Vsync enabled. Without Vsync enabled there's far too much screen tearing.
When playing Prototype 2 it jumps around 40-80fps but screen tears, because when Vsync is enabled, the mouse lag is ridiculous.
When playing Borderlands 2 with or without Vsync, it sits around 70fps constant.

Is my low fps when playing Crysis related to my TV, or should I look in to overclocking etc, or both?

I did have Catalyst 12.8 installed, but the sound kept dropping in Windows, and Windows Media Player, but it was okay in games, apps, online etc, so I uninstalled it.

I've not currently overclocked anything, as since this is all quite new to me, I'd rather research overclocking all my stuff than just doing it.

Let me know if you need any more info.

Cheers,

 

[jakeythehobo]

It's a constant 24fps pretty much. It seemed pretty smooth when I first started playing it the other day, but now it seems to stutter. That's when I used Fraps and found 24fps. The problem with that is, I'd ideally like to get all my games 40+fps wherever possible, and according to the many reviews, benchmarks etc the 7970 was a good choice.

Do you think part of the problem is because I haven't OC'd?

Cheers for the quick reply.

 

[dechy]

Haven't played Prototype 2 either, but I was getting better frames with Crysis with my 2 4870s in crossfire if memory serves.

As for Borderlands 2, I'm playing that now with everything maxed (except PhysX -> 7950) @ 1080P and I'm capping at 120FPS (using a 120Hz monitor for refresh rate, not actual 3D) inside and outside when there isn't much action, but usually hover around ~95FPS.

OC'ed the 2500K to 4.5GHz, but card is stock.

Never played on a TV, or used a pass through with the sound system, but do you have just a normal LCD you can try?

 

[jakeythehobo]

I don't know how to check fps without using Fraps if I'm honest, since I'm totally new to PC gaming.

I didn't think 24fps seemed good either, especially when with my GPU I seen reviews with 55-65 on 1920x1200.

I'm gonna borrow a monitor from work and see if that's the problem.

I think Fraps would take some fps away, but not so many that it would come from 40+ to 24 constant I think.

I dunno if part of the problem is using the GPU as a sound card essentially as well, since I'm a bit of an audiophile lol, but I wouldn't have thought it'd have taken that many fps away.

I'm not recording during Fraps, just using it to get an idea of what's happening.

When I get the results back after using an LCD I'll see what's what.


If you have any more suggestions please let me know.


Cheers again for the replies.

 

[dechy]

Fraps doesn't even make a dent in FPS if it's set to only show the FPS overlay.

If you double-click on the Fraps icon in your system tray, go to the movies tab and click the disable button on the left so that nothing is set (in case you press it by accident). Do the same thing for the FPS tab to the Benchmarking hotkey; this should leave the F12 Overlay Hotkey enabled. You can disable the Monitor Aero desktop option in the General tab as well.

Quit Fraps, load it again, start Borderlands 2 and hit F12 at the menu screen until you see the yellow FPS numbers in whichever corner you want. With a 7970 and even a stock 3570k you should be hitting way higher than 70 inside; my CPU is barely doing anything while playing, so it seems like a game that's more GPU-centric.

FYI, good on you for researching how to overclock correctly your CPU if you're new to it; you've got a beast of a system already, no use frying or going through the headaches of living/troubleshooting an unstable system with an incorrect OC!

 

[jakeythehobo]

Cool, cheers again to everyone for all the help.

I'll download MSI afterburner tonight, and make sure I'm not recording in Fraps either.

I've also got a 1080p Dell E2211Hb borrowed from work to try out tonight, to see if it's maybe just because I'm using the TV as a monitor that's causing the problem. I'm hoping that that's all it is, and I can just buy a monitor to use it with.


Is there a guide on OC'ing specifically the i5 3570k on this site? I know there's been other Ivy Bridge ones, but obviously since I'm new to it I'm not sure if it's different for different CPU's?

 

[jakeythehobo]

Also, I was having issues with CCC 12.8 dropping sound in Windows, but not in apps, internet etc, so I uninstalled it. I tried re-installing it but got the same issues.

Should I re-install it and bear with the irritance of dropping sound, go for the beta 12.9 or just leave it as is?

 

[jakeythehobo]

Using the monitor right now I borrowed from work. 1080p using DVI cable and getting 60fps with vsync on constantly, apart from occasionally dropping to 30 fps in Crysis. All seems okay.

Need to get me a new monitor lol.

That's without CCC installed. Gonna install that and see if there's any improvements above that.

Cheers for all the help!