6800GT Far Cry running like crap

R

ruffz

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 16, 2002
Messages
504
So I just picked up my 6800gt at Fry's earlier and decided to get some far cry going when I got home. I used drivercleaner to get rid of the old ATI drivers, and installed the drivers from the CD that came with the card. I set all the details to the maximum at 1280x1024x32 and it ran like absolute junk. It was decent indoors, but the first time I stepped outside it chopped and stuttered like I was trying to run it on a ti4200 or something. Also I noticed there were some sort of texture issues when I went outside, the shoreline was totally black. I went down to ground level and in the whole area around me the ground was black except for the green shrubs.

So then I decided to turn the res down to 1024x768 and the details down a notch. When I went back into the game the shoreline wasn't black anymore but it ran pretty much the same as it did on the previous resolution. The FPS dips down into the 30's quite a bit but usually hangs in the 60's to 70's or so. I was under the impression that this card would run far cry a lot smoother, especially on 1024x768. I've been dealing with stuttering graphics on this motherboard (it appears to be a widespread problem caused by nvidia's nforce drivers) but this just totally disappointed me.

Another thing to note is that this card doesn't seem to want to overclock much with coolbits. When I click "detect optimal frequencies", it sets the card to 377 / 1010. I tried to push it to ultra speed and tested it but it failed. Did I just get a dud card or am I doing something wrong? I haven't used nvidia for close to 2 years now so maybe I missed something important.
 
Some tips:

- Get the latest NVIDIA drivers. 6800 drivers aren't on NVIDIA's website yet, so you'll have to find an unreleased series 60 driver.
- Get the 1.1 patch for Far Cry.

Check and see if the problem occurs in other games. If it does, look at your power supply (is it a cheap unit - cheap PSUs, even "500 watt" models, can often cause GPU problems). If your PSU if OK, return this baby, it's sick.

Also, what is your system config?
 
bsoft said:
Some tips:

- Get the latest NVIDIA drivers. 6800 drivers aren't on NVIDIA's website yet, so you'll have to find an unreleased series 60 driver.
- Get the 1.1 patch for Far Cry.

Check and see if the problem occurs in other games. If it does, look at your power supply (is it a cheap unit - cheap PSUs, even "500 watt" models, can often cause GPU problems). If your PSU if OK, return this baby, it's sick.

Also, what is your system config?
Click to expand...

I'm using the 61.36 drivers right now, I tried the 61.71 but they caused problems. Just downloaded the farcry patch, it's been a while since I played it so I reinstalled and didn't bother to get it. The problems with farcry are the only problems I have currently, been playing CS and UT2k4 and it's nearly flawless. I don't think there's anything wrong with my PSU, it's a quality antec 480 truepower. I really would like to stick away from returning the card since they tell you to not take it back to the store but to send to them. I was impatient enough to run out and get the card today cause I didn't want to wait til Wednesday for Best Buy to ship it out, so I certainly don't want to have to get it replaced and go back to my 9700 for a week or so in the mean time. I did a bit of testing with coolbits earlier and the core clock would go to 400mhz, but the memory wouldn't go past about 1.04ghz. It seemed a little odd to me that it set the optimal frequencies so low after seeing some other people saying it put theirs over Ultra speed. Another thing I've noticed is that when I used the auto detect option in farcry it set all the details to Low.
 
Well I can report the good news that farcry seems to be fixed. A bit earlier it was almost unplayable due to the stuttering graphics but its smooth as butter right now. Any ideas on why my card won't overclock worth a damn?
 
ruffz said:
Well I can report the good news that farcry seems to be fixed. A bit earlier it was almost unplayable due to the stuttering graphics but its smooth as butter right now. Any ideas on why my card won't overclock worth a damn?
Click to expand...


Sometimes TSMC has a good day, and sometimes they don't. I wouldn't worry about it. It's still a damn fast card.
 
ruffz said:
Well I can report the good news that farcry seems to be fixed. A bit earlier it was almost unplayable due to the stuttering graphics but its smooth as butter right now. Any ideas on why my card won't overclock worth a damn?
Click to expand...

The 1.0 patch was all messed up on 6800s. I assume the 1.1 patch fixed it?

As for overclocks, its the luck of the draw. The only overclock you are guaranteed with the BFG 6800GT OC is the 370mhz core overclock it comes stock with.
 
ok then you should change the title of your post, it's misleading.
 
tranCendenZ said:
The 1.0 patch was all messed up on 6800s. I assume the 1.1 patch fixed it?

As for overclocks, its the luck of the draw. The only overclock you are guaranteed with the BFG 6800GT OC is the 370mhz core overclock it comes stock with.
Click to expand...

Well I had heard that like 98% of people that bought this card were able to get it to atleast ultra speeds. It'd be just my luck that I'd get the one out of every hundred that doesn't overclock well :mad: I think I might try to get it replaced by BFG unless I can fix it soon.
 
patch 1.2 is in the final stages and should be out soon. You should see a noticable jump in your fps with this patch. Also make sure you're rendering the game through the sm 3.0 path and not the 2.0 and check to make sure vsync is disabled. Lastly you should try the 61.45 drivers, though beta they have been stable.
 
would changing the AGP voltage do anything to help the overclocking?
 
ruffz said:
Well I had heard that like 98% of people that bought this card were able to get it to atleast ultra speeds. It'd be just my luck that I'd get the one out of every hundred that doesn't overclock well :mad: I think I might try to get it replaced by BFG unless I can fix it soon.
Click to expand...

Well to be honest out of all the people who I've read overclock speeds of, and that number is more than 30 now, you are only the 2nd one who couldn't break 400 core.

That being said, it doesn't mean there is anything wrong with your card, nor does it give you the right to return it as defective. You are only guaranteed 370mhz core - 1000mhz memory with the card - any additional overclocking is bonus and luck of the draw. Remember by getting a BFG you already get a 20mhz core overclock out of the box and you get a lifetime warranty with that overclock as well unlike any other manufacturer.

FarCry IQ and performance will improve significantly with the 1.2 patch btw.
 
Well honestly, why should I pay the same price when other people are getting more out of their card? It's not like BFG would have any loss from replacing it. More likely I'd just take it back to frys and get an exchange.
 
ruffz said:
Well honestly, why should I pay the same price when other people are getting more out of their card? It's not like BFG would have any loss from replacing it. More likely I'd just take it back to frys and get an exchange.
Click to expand...

People getting "more out of their card" are voiding their warrantees and running it past the manufacturer approved specifications. What happens if you return it and the next one you get is really defective, i.e. it doesn't work? Is it really worth all the hassle for an extra 5% in speed? If it ain't broke... ;)

Anything a 370mhz GT chokes on a 400mhz GT is going to choke on just as badly.
 
I can get the core clock to 400 mhz and beyond just fine, it's the memory that's the problem. It won't go higher than 1.03 ghz.
 
ruffz said:
I can get the core clock to 400 mhz and beyond just fine, it's the memory that's the problem. It won't go higher than 1.03 ghz.
Click to expand...

lol what are you complaining about then, you are going to see the most performance from raising the core speed anyway. The memory on all GTs is 2.0ns, rated at 1ghz so people getting more than that are getting lucky and definitely running the memory past rated spec.

I really wouldn't worry about it, just run it at 400/1000, returning it would be foolish when you could get one that doesn't even OC to 400 core which is the most imporatnt part.
 
tranCendenZ said:
The 1.0 patch was all messed up on 6800s. I assume the 1.1 patch fixed it?

As for overclocks, its the luck of the draw. The only overclock you are guaranteed with the BFG 6800GT OC is the 370mhz core overclock it comes stock with.
Click to expand...

The 1.0 patch didn't even support the 6800's. I tried to play Far Cry without installing the 1.0 patch on my XFX 6800GT and the graphics were shit lol. The textures weren't applied to rocks, buildings, gournd, or half the other models in the game. I was running around in a world with lots of bright yellow objects and large black square areas on the ground.

Far Cry 1.1 patch

# Improved shader speed (up to two times faster) for NVidia Geforce FX cards on very high settings
# Fixed fog bug with NVidia drivers
# Added support for NVidia NV40 chipset
# Fixed realtime shadows from blended trees
# Made improvements to lighting shaders on very high settings
# Fixed bug with lake reflections
# Added support fro PS3.0 shader profile
 
yeah with 1.0 everything inside was WAY too bright. it runs great with 1.1, i'm averaging probably about 75-80 fps on 1024x768.
 
ruffz said:
yeah with 1.0 everything inside was WAY too bright. it runs great with 1.1, i'm averaging probably about 75-80 fps on 1024x768.
Click to expand...

Now crank it up :D
 
on the overclock question, have you compared your temps compared to others? Maybe there is a heat issue of some type. I've seen a couple reports of messed up heat sink installs out of the box.
 
As I'm sitting here right now it's running at 54c with an ambient temp of 34c. From what I've heard that seems to be a very normal if not below normal temp.
 
ruffz said:
As I'm sitting here right now it's running at 54c with an ambient temp of 34c. From what I've heard that seems to be a very normal if not below normal temp.
Click to expand...

Yes, but that's the core, correct? You mentioned that it's the memory that isn't overclocking well. If you're feeling adventurous, maybe you could put some AS5 on the RAM and/or possibly get an alternate cooling solution?

For the eVGA cards (for example), the compound used on the core is a lot better than what they use on the RAM. Perhaps the same thing for BFG?

I feel your pain about not getting what "everyone else" is getting. Those who don't overclock don't understand. There's no getting around the frustration that 98% of the people buying the card are essentially getting 6800ultras. :)

Good luck man! Let us know how it turns out!

H

P.S. My eVGA 6800GT is on the way. I'm a bit anxious to know if I'll be the 2nd guy posting here with no ultra overclock. :)
 
ruffz said:
Well I can report the good news that farcry seems to be fixed. A bit earlier it was almost unplayable due to the stuttering graphics but its smooth as butter right now. Any ideas on why my card won't overclock worth a damn?
Click to expand...


The 1.1 patch fixed my same stuttering and low fps issues. The difference between overclocking my card to Ultra levels and using stock clocks is so *small* in actual gameplay I find it quite un-needed to run it at ultra levels...for now, until I get a better power supply. My 12v rail runs around 11.75 when gaming as it is...

Make sure and set your Vsync to OFF in the control panel before playing Far Cry. It made my game much smoother and average framerate much higher...burning101 explained it nicely for me why I was having those issues...

Congrats on the card, they are great.
 
burningrave101 said:
The 1.0 patch didn't even support the 6800's. I tried to play Far Cry without installing the 1.0 patch on my XFX 6800GT and the graphics were shit lol. The textures weren't applied to rocks, buildings, gournd, or half the other models in the game. I was running around in a world with lots of bright yellow objects and large black square areas on the ground.

Far Cry 1.1 patch

# Improved shader speed (up to two times faster) for NVidia Geforce FX cards on very high settings
# Fixed fog bug with NVidia drivers
# Added support for NVidia NV40 chipset
# Fixed realtime shadows from blended trees
# Made improvements to lighting shaders on very high settings
# Fixed bug with lake reflections
# Added support fro PS3.0 shader profile
Click to expand...


Amen to that, I had exactly the same issues before applying 1.1....I was a bit flabbergasted at first as to why my $400 card sucked in Far Cry. A quick search found out why, now it flies.
 
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