Dual-GPU Battle: Does Frame Pacing In Catalyst 13.8 Turn The Tide?

Features
By Don Woligroski
published

We take AMD's Catalyst 13.8 beta driver for a spin to see if its frame pacing feature fixes CrossFire's dropped and runt frame issues. Follow along as we compare the Radeon HD 7990 to Nvidia's GeForce GTX 690 in seven popular titles, with video to match!

Results: Metro: Last Light

Previously, Radeon cards in CrossFire yielded excellent results in Metro 2033. Does that trend continue in Metro: Last Light?

Our first set of tests with the game's built-in benchmark suggested almost identical performance between the Radeon HD 7990 and GeForce GTX 690:

I was set to publish those results when Chris Angelini let me know about a performance issue that almost every one of his event attendees pointed out in actual gameplay. Re-benchmarking the game revealed the problematic behavior:

The Radeon configurations clearly encounter some sort of problem. Existing the game and reloading this level helps smooth out the frame rates again, but choppy performance returns soon after.

It seems clear that this isn't a frame pacing issue, but rather some other bug (perhaps a CrossFire compatibility problem in Metro: Last Light?). As such, the following results highlight our findings, and hopefully help AMD fix the culprit as soon as possible.

Catalyst 13.8 actually demonstrates worse frame time variance, though this is almost certainly affected by whatever underlying issue is hammering performance to begin with.

Don Woligroski
59 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jimmysmitty
    The drivers do seem to make the FPS much smoother overall. BF3 is a good example with the game dropping then jumping and so on but 13.8 made it a much smoother line.

    Its good to see that work is being done to make it more competitive but I fear that its almost pointless since Hawaii XT is on its way and will be a better option in CFX.

    Also Laras hair on the GTX690 was funny. Just fluttering around like crazy. I guess TressFX does make a difference after all.
    Reply
  • jase240
    This is great, AMD is finally getting on par for dual GPU config with Nvidia!!
    This might make 2 AMD cards a way better value than Nvidia!!
    Reply
  • slicedtoad
    awesome, I'm glad they got around to addressing that indiscrepancy.
    Reply
  • viewgamer
    The Metro Last Light benchmark is a modern example of the way Nvidia handles its business.
    These strong arm tactics to eliminate the competition aren't beneficial to anyone, Nvidia's less than pleasant business practices is why I try to support AMD whenever possible.
    Reply
  • viewgamer
    The Metro Last Light benchmark is a modern example of the way Nvidia handles its business.
    These strong arm tactics to eliminate the competition aren't beneficial to anyone, Nvidia's less than pleasant business practices is why I try to support AMD whenever possible.
    Reply
  • Emma Long
    Apart from Metro the 7990 tied the 690 on two occasions and beat it in the rest, that's very encouraging from the red team.
    The situation with Metro last light seems peculiar to me, we've seen things like this before with Nvidia sponsored titles & I thought the industry was passed this sort of thing.
    Nvidia can compete, it has proven so time and time again, which makes this all the more reprehensible.
    I would like to see an Nvidia that competes on the basis of performance & features not strong-arming developers.

    Back to the 7990, so overall it's faster than the 690 and significantly less expensive, at $700 the 7990 puts very serious pressure on the 780 so I'd like to see the 780 added into the benchmarking mix as well.
    Reply
  • CarlitoBanderas
    What's the point of a 690 ? in 1080o & 1440p it's slower than the 7990, in 4K & multi monitor it doesn't have enough memory & it's 300 bucks more expensive.
    Nvidia needs to bring out a 790 asap, the 690 is not competitive anymore.
    Reply
  • m32
    I've enjoyed this article, Toms. We've seen the flaws and now some improvements with the 7990.
    Reply
  • _zxzxzx_
    AMD deserves a pat on the back for working hard on improving their drivers
    Reply
  • aggroboy
    11476339 said:
    What's the point of a 690 ? in 1080o & 1440p it's slower than the 7990, in 4K & multi monitor it doesn't have enough memory & it's 300 bucks more expensive.
    Nvidia needs to bring out a 790 asap, the 690 is not competitive anymore.
    Enthusiast mindshare is still dominated by the GTX Titan, so Nvidia can afford to stand pat.
    Reply