Help! Strange graphics results

[slb785]

K for starters heres my rig

Asus Crosshair Motherboard
AMD Phenom 9600 OCd to 2.5ghz
EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 512mb
4GB of OCZ SLI ready ram ddr2 800
Rosewill 850 watt PS
320GB Western digital HD 7200rpm
Wndows Vista Ultimate 64-bit

Now my problem. Crysis is my major benchmark personally cause i built this PC for gaming. But after building this PC i was expecting to be able to run crysis on high graphics no problem. Reading reviews other people have given of the GPU, this rig should have no trouble. Others say they run on high no problems, but for some reason its almost unplayable for me on high graphics (1650x1080 noAA). Now the weird part is that when i drop the graphics down to low settings, there is a minimal performance increase. I would expect perfectly smooth gameplay on the lowest graphics considering its still playable on high, but it still gets choppy.

Why is it that when i turn the graphics down there is a minimal performance increase? Im pretty sure everything is set properly in the BIOS (i left a lot things AUTO cause i have no idea what they do and dont wanna hurt anyting). Ive tried searching for days to figure out what things should be set in my BIOS for overclocking but find nothing. Im clueless

 

[Hazaro]

You are using less of the GPU, and the weight shifts to CPU power.

Gains are minimal.

You can try checking GPU clocks with Rivatuner, PCI-E link bandwidth with CPU-Z, or if your card is properly connected.

High should be no problem.

What frames are you getting?
*There is also a custom config file which will help a lot in your framerate as well.

 

[slb785]

GPU is overclocked as well using EVGA precision.
core @ 756mhz
Mem @ 1098mhz
shader clock @ 1890mhz

Link width is @ 16x

as far as i know everything seems to check out ok in terms of working properly

What is this config file?

Playing half life 2 i can have everything including all the filters cranked all the way up and never see less than 50fps. So i know the card works, it just seems to be a crysis thing i guess

 

[Hazaro]

GPU is overclocked as well using EVGA precision.
core @ 756mhz
Mem @ 1098mhz
shader clock @ 1890mhz

Link width is @ 16x

as far as i know everything seems to check out ok in terms of working properly

What is this config file?

Playing half life 2 i can have everything including all the filters cranked all the way up and never see less than 50fps. So i know the card works, it just seems to be a crysis thing i guess

Crysis 23+ fps is smooth, and that is what I gauge. Sure 50fps is a whole lot better, but you aren't going to be pulling 50fps with Crysis.

Config file makes Crysis run better AND look better.

http://www.incrysis.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=18999

I'd guess you'd pull ~38fps on High with that

 

[slb785]

Well i never actually checked the number but i would guess under 10fps. how do you check ingame?

 

[Hazaro]

Well i never actually checked the number but i would guess under 10fps. how do you check ingame?

Hit console "`" or "~", then type in:

r_DisplayInfo = 1

 

[slb785]

Ill run at around 15 in open areas when no enemies are around and up to 20 in an empty hallway. Once i get into a firefight it drops to around 10. Switching all settings to low adds about 5fps to each of those numbers. Like i said, minimal increase. This is using DX9 not 10. i get better performance with 9

I noticed another number as well in that info box. the MEM number. is around 1300 normal?

 

[Hazaro]

Mine is around there, but I'm using past vHigh config.

Try running CCC 1.31, or getting the config file for optimised high settings and see what it does.

 

[ratbuddy]

Run the processor at stock and check frames, use the gpu_benchmark so it's repeatable.. Clock it up again and see what you get.. 2.5ghz is kinda slow these days, and I don't think Crysis cares that it's a quad..

 

[slb785]

You think i would of been better off with a Dual @ 3.2?

 

[Hipcrostino]

all depends on what proc it is really. ideally you want a 3ghz core 2 duo equivilant at least for crysis.

What you describe in the first couple of posts is classic CPU limitation. OC'ing your gpu will net a little bit, but upping your cpu speed should see you significant gains. To really get flying you need a 45nm intel at 4ghz or more. But it also depends and the grphics settings. Disable things like AA and AF as they tax a lot. Turn down shadows etc. What frame rate do you get on the lowest settings, but 1650 resolution? any improvment?

unfortunatly you really need an intel for games like this atm. a Q6600 was the first intel processor i ever owned too btw.

 

[ratbuddy]

I wouldn't say you HAVE to get an Intel, but you state in the OP that you built the machine just for gaming, and if that's the case, getting an AMD quad was a mistake. Think about selling the mobo/CPU and getting a much higher clocked dual-core..

 

[slb785]

Well i got 2 new games Rainbow 6 vegas 2 and COD4 and they seem to make better use of all 4 cores when viewed on my keyboard performance monitor. Crysis seems to only really make use of 2 and the other 2 cores never get used over maybe 25% if even that.

So i guess its the games fault for only really being able to make use of 2 cores. A dual core with higher speeds would make sense i guess but im not going to downgrade to a dual core just for crysis and lose the benefit on the other games. Oh well. I guess im just ready for the next level of games, even though they havent come out yet too much

If anything i wouldnt sell the motherboard, it still supports dual and even single core processors, so all i would really need is the processor

 

[ratbuddy]

Well i got 2 new games Rainbow 6 vegas 2 and COD4 and they seem to make better use of all 4 cores when viewed on my keyboard performance monitor. Crysis seems to only really make use of 2 and the other 2 cores never get used over maybe 25% if even that.

So i guess its the games fault for only really being able to make use of 2 cores. A dual core with higher speeds would make sense i guess but im not going to downgrade to a dual core just for crysis and lose the benefit on the other games. Oh well. I guess im just ready for the next level of games, even though they havent come out yet too much

If anything i wouldnt sell the motherboard, it still supports dual and even single core processors, so all i would really need is the processor

Downgrade to a dual core for a gaming machine? It's an UPgrade.

 

[slb785]

Downgrade to a dual core for a gaming machine? It's an UPgrade.

Well considering that R6 Vegas2 and COD4 make use of the quad, it would be a downgrade for me. COD4 i run with everything cranked up to high and i think 4x AA and get an average 50-60fps

Maybe crysis will come out with a patch or something to take full advantage of a quad, and maybe im dreamin, i dunno

 

[henzo]

Well considering that R6 Vegas2 and COD4 make use of the quad, it would be a downgrade for me. COD4 i run with everything cranked up to high and i think 4x AA and get an average 50-60fps

Maybe crysis will come out with a patch or something to take full advantage of a quad, and maybe im dreamin, i dunno

In CoD4 I get an average of 90+ fps with everything maxed out with my current rig (check sig) and yours seems to be better vid card wise and ram wise, but I think the Phenom is killing you. Try buying a 5000+ BE and get it to 3.3ghz and see if your fps dont jump up alot. If it doesn't do better, then rma the 5000+ and keep the phenom ( i know its not a good practice, but how else can you find out lol). My Crysis gaming is about 35-45 average with high and no aa. So, it may very well be your amd quad killing you.

 

[slb785]

well if anything i would go with the 6400+ BE. but im not gonna spend anymore money yet i guess. Oh well, at least i got the power supply pretty much for free

 

[slb785]

Just an update for anyone who might encounter the same problem i had. After figuring out how to disable the TLB fix for my processor i got a significant performance increase in crysis. i compared with the patch enabled and disabled and it went from unplayable to playable when i disabled the patch.

Using the crysis cpu benchmark my fps went from an average of about 14fps to close to 40fps when disabling the TLB patch
In the crysis GPU benchmark my fps went from 10-15fps before to an average of 28fps after disabling the patch

CoD 4 Im now getting 100+fps in smaller areas and the more open areas it never drops below 60.

I heard that the patch for the TLB bug caused up to a 10% performance decrease but in my case i had nearly a 50% decrease judging by the numbers in the benchmark. WOW!

I will be purchasing a Phenom 9850 if the TLB bug becomes a problem because i refuse to leave the patch enabled after seeing these results