Radeon hd 7870 not running at full capacity

MasterEdwardss · Dec 18, 2013

Recently replaced my NVidia GTS450 with the 7870 and when playing some games the Catalyst application shows it's working at nearly 100% activity but others, like minecraft, run at 30% and under. Any ideas why and how to fix this? Thanks

Mjolnir · Dec 18, 2013

Because Minecraft isn't an intensive game. It won't utilise the gpu like that. It's normal.

MasterEdwardss · Dec 18, 2013

Mjolnir said:
Because Minecraft isn't an intensive game. It won't utilise the gpu like that. It's normal.

I can understand that, but I'm also having the same problem with Driver San Francisco. It's running at around 40% activity and as a result I'm suffering from frequent framedrops. With the card's spare capacity I would hope it'd be able to adjust its activity so that these framedrops are avoided

ATMINSIDE · Dec 18, 2013

What's the rest of the system? That Driver game also isn't THAT GPU intensive.

MasterEdwardss · Dec 18, 2013

ATMINSIDE said:
What's the rest of the system? That Driver game also isn't THAT GPU intensive.

Rest of the system isn't great but my old GPU didn't framedrop as badly as this one does sometimes!
i3 550 @3.2GHz, 12gb Kingston RAM 666MHz, 7200RPM Samsung hard drive on standard Dell Inspiron mobo. I'll soon be upgrading the mobo and processor to an AMD FX 8320 to make sure that's not bottlenecking, I just find it weird that War Thunder will run on max settings above 70fps because it's using 100% activity, but other games only use 40% and lag.

ATMINSIDE · Dec 18, 2013

I would put my money on a CPU bottleneck.

When you get the 8320, make sure to get a motherboard with an 8+2 VRM.

MasterEdwardss · Dec 18, 2013

ATMINSIDE said:
I would put my money on a CPU bottleneck.

When you get the 8320, make sure to get a motherboard with an 8+2 VRM.

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97/ would this do the trick? I can't find where it tells you the voltage phase

ATMINSIDE · Dec 18, 2013

MasterEdwardss said:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97/ would this do the trick? I can't find where it tells you the voltage phase

AMD VRM Database

I wouldn't use the M5A97.

anthonyg45157 · Dec 18, 2013

I'd say CPU bottle neck in driver. Although minecraft for sure isn't taxing your GPU enough.

Grab a new processor and see everything run faster and smoother

MasterEdwardss · Dec 18, 2013

ATMINSIDE said:
AMD VRM Database

I wouldn't use the M5A97.

Could you recommend a better one in this price range?

MasterEdwardss · Dec 18, 2013

anthonyg45157 said:
I'd say CPU bottle neck in driver. Although minecraft for sure isn't taxing your GPU enough.

Grab a new processor and see everything run faster and smoother

I think you may be onto something with the CPU bottleneck. All my other games, Just Cause 2, LA Noire etc. run beautifully at 60fps on max settings but never higher than that

ATMINSIDE · Dec 18, 2013

MasterEdwardss said:
Could you recommend a better one in this price range?

GA-970A-UD3P

Should do fine for a mild to mid-range overclock. Its the new version of my board.

MasterEdwardss · Dec 19, 2013

ATMINSIDE said:
GA-970A-UD3P

Should do fine for a mild to mid-range overclock. Its the new version of my board.

Okay thanks for your help, I'll go for that motherboard then and see if that sorts any bottlenecking!

Mjolnir · Dec 19, 2013

Your platform, 1156 is still alright? Why not try find a used i5/i7? For gaming it shouldn't be bottlenecking that much.. What's your current board?

MasterEdwardss · Dec 19, 2013

Mjolnir said:
Your platform, 1156 is still alright? Why not try find a used i5/i7? For gaming it shouldn't be bottlenecking that much.. What's your current board?

What would be the best intel chip with 1156 socket? It's only the original Dell Inspiron board

Radeon hd 7870 not running at full capacity

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