ATI HD Raedon 5870, less than 15 fps on High for BF3

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Manick2005

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Feb 19, 2009
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Does that sound normal for this card? This isn't the only game I'm surprisingly having problems running on high either. The card isn't even 2 years old, but it has been living in a case that has no side on it (because its not big enough to fit it). That being said I still keep my room below 75*c, and I do check my temps which all read normal most of the time. Is there anything I can do to diagnose the issue?

Here are all my specs, if it's of any importance.

Motherboard: Nvidia nForce 650i Ultra
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad @ 2.4GHz (Q6600)
RAM: CORSAIR Dual-channel DDR3 1333MHz 4GB (2 X 2GB) / (XMS3)
GFX: XFX HD Raedon 5870
PSU: OCZ GameXStream 700w
OS: Windows 7 Professional (64bit)
HD1: Internal Western Digital 750GB (WD7501AALS)
HD2: Internal Western Digital 620GB (WD6401AALS)
 
with your current setup (ram, cpu)... I could kind of see that card giving that kind of performance in this game... Is 15fps the max? or average?
 
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that processor is the problem and what is the resolution you are using during BF3?
 
Yeah it has to be your CPU. BF3 appears to be very dependent on clock speed and 2.4 GHz is kinda pokey.

The 5870 is a couple years old now but still more than capable. It should be pulling down near 40 fps on max settings at 1920x1080 on BF3 so unless youre running 3 monitors, it should have enough horsepower for you.

Best thing I can suggest is getting into some overclocking on that Q6600.
 
I've got a 5850 overclocked to around 5870 levels. I'm getting 60 FPS average with everything on high and 4x AA/16x AF @ 1920x1080. This is with an i5-2500k @ 4.5GHz. That CPU is choking you. Also, 4GB of ram is bare minimum, thats certainly not accounting for your low framerate, but with RAM so cheap theres no reason not to get 8GB+
 
Sorry, the resolution I am playing at is 1680x1050. 15 fps is like the average, but it sometimes goes up to like 25. It'll be on the low end when there's a lot happening on the screen, especially from smoke and other particle effects. And lastly, I almost always have two monitors on usually when I play, but will that actually slow me down even though I'm not using it?

What I dont understand though, is that if it's my processor and not my graphics card, why does the game run better when I lower the graphics? Shouldn't that imply its just the graphics card?
 
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I had to upgrade from my q6600 for BC2 - it was simply not playable in full multiplayer games with my 5870 at the time. When I upgrade to an i7 2600k my min fps doubled with the same card. At a minimum you should be able to hit 3.0GHz - which should help. With some tweaking 3.4-3.6 is feasible on air assuming you have a g0 stepping q6600 and a decent cooler. With that said I seriously doubt 15fps would be the result of a slight cpu bottleneck (all indications are that BF3 is less cpu dependent than BC2). Have you turned off all MSAA and checked your vram usage?
 
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Doesn't sound right at all even for that CPU.

Is your GPU stuck at idle clocks or anything? You might want to reinstall drivers too.

Download GPUZ here, http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ Then run it in the background on the sensor tab, and check monitor in background, and have it log to a file. Play BF3 for like 10 minutes. Then post the log here.
 
Manick2005 said:
What I dont understand though, is that if it's my processor and not my graphics card, why does the game run better when I lower the graphics? Shouldn't that imply its just the graphics card?
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I haven't played BF3 (not interested in FPS anymore), but it could be some graphics settings rely on the CPU. Some of Starcraft 2's graphics settings for example are processed on the CPU, such as Physics.
 
Roadhog said:
Doesn't sound right at all even for that CPU.

Is your GPU stuck at idle clocks or anything? You might want to reinstall drivers too.

Download GPUZ here, http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ Then run it in the background on the sensor tab, and check monitor in background, and have it log to a file. Play BF3 for like 10 minutes. Then post the log here.
Click to expand...

Thats what I was thinking. At that low a resolution, 15 fps is ridiculous! I would think even a old Core 2 Duo would do better than that.
 
I'm trying to upload my logfile to mediafire but something is wrong with their site right now. Is there any other way I can show it or site I can upload it to?
 
its the CPU, i was getting 40-55 FPS with occasional dips to 25 on my 2X5770s @ 1920x1080 on High (i7-920 @ 3.8)

2x5770s are pretty similar to a single 5870
 
I have q9450 OC to 3.2 C2D and 5870 and I'm gettting about 55fps 1900x1200 details on high, shadows on low everything else is medium. Turned down AA until it was smooth.

CPU's show about 60% usage.

Makes me think the CPU is not the problem, Q6600 is still a good processor IMO. Might be time to adjust the clock speed on it a bit.
 
If your running that C2Q 6600 at stock then yes that cpu is the bottleneck. It might play every other game fine at stock but it won't running BF3.
 
Rig in my sig (1900x1200) -- on Ultra, HBAO, Post AA High, MSAA None, Motion Blur off I'm getting mid 50's on average. Doesn't go much below 50, and not much above 60.

Same settings but MSAA x2, and I take a 15-20 fps hit across the board.

I believe the 5870 is comparable to the 480, so this should give you a reference as to what some OC'ing on that 6600 will do for you.
 
Manick2005 said:
Ok here's the DL link to my log file. I played for a good 30 minutes so its long.

http://filesmelt.com/dl/GPU-Z_Sensor_Log3.txt
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Odd, your gpu load barely went over 50%...

Open the Catalyst Control Panel, click preferences, then hit restore factory defaults. See if your FPS is any better after that.

I still doubt it's the CPU. Might want to try reinstalling the drivers too. Maybe try another 4gb of ram? Cheap, worth a try.

http://www.techspot.com/review/458-battlefield-3-performance/page7.html
 
People saying it's your CPU are nuts, sorry. Yes, it may be a bottleneck for achieving over 60 FPS, but you shouldn't be dropping that low. I was just testing my Q6600 @ 2.4 with a OCed 6850 last night, and I was averaging about 42 FPS on 64 player Firestorm, Caspian, etc, all settings on High. The problem is clearly your GPU usage, which I also have been having issues with on a variety of AMD cards in the last couple of months.

I actually stumbled on a fix for a number of games, including BF3 and Skyrim. This might sound odd: try enabling overdrive in CCC, set your fan speed to a manual number you are comfortable with (I go with 40-50%, depending on the ambient temp), and manually set your core and memory clock speeds. For whatever reason, for me, that has ensured max GPU usage across two different systems.

I was having the exact same issue you were on Skyrim for weeks. I thought it was bad drivers, etc. Then I noticed my GPU usage was low. I don't know if my cards were underclocking due to overheating or what, but the fan / clock speed fix did the trick. It's worth a shot I guess.
 
Calwen said:
People saying it's your CPU are nuts, sorry. Yes, it may be a bottleneck for achieving over 60 FPS, but you shouldn't be dropping that low. I was just testing my Q6600 @ 2.4 with a OCed 6850 last night, and I was averaging about 42 FPS on 64 player Firestorm, Caspian, etc, all settings on High. The problem is clearly your GPU usage, which I also have been having issues with on a variety of AMD cards in the last couple of months.

I actually stumbled on a fix for a number of games, including BF3 and Skyrim. This might sound odd: try enabling overdrive in CCC, set your fan speed to a manual number you are comfortable with (I go with 40-50%, depending on the ambient temp), and manually set your core and memory clock speeds. For whatever reason, for me, that has ensured max GPU usage across two different systems.

I was having the exact same issue you were on Skyrim for weeks. I thought it was bad drivers, etc. Then I noticed my GPU usage was low. I don't know if my cards were underclocking due to overheating or what, but the fan / clock speed fix did the trick. It's worth a shot I guess.
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Agreed that a Q6600 shouldn't be that big of a bottleneck. I would recommend giving it an overclock though (and aftermarket cooling, if you don't have it already). 2.4 > 3.2+ should make a very noticeable difference for you in-game.
 
+1 on overclocking your CPU. Although I just built a new setup, I was using a Q6600 OC'd to 3.42 and a 5870 and getting between 45-55fps on all high settings, FXAA, and no motion blur.
 
Yeah my Q6600 @ 3.6ghz and a 5870 is enough to run BF:BC2 at 70fps maxed on my sons rig. BF3 runs just fine on High as well @ 1080p
 
How about nuke PC ?

(BACKUP YOUR DATA FIRST)

1. NUKE PC !!!
2. Clean install OS BAM !
3. Install chipset driver BAM !
4. Install video driver BAM !
5. Install DX driver BAM !
6. Install Sound driver BAM !
7. Install Etc driver BAM !
8. Install BF3 BAM !
9. PLAY BF3 BAM !
10. Q6600 still strong BAM ! :cool:
 
those who are saying its the CPU have no idea what they're talking about.

anyway, try to disable all AA settings, hbao inside the game menu.
 
DualOwn said:
those who are saying its the CPU should just go back to your xboxes and stay away from this thread, thank you very much.
Click to expand...

It's the cpu....and I don't own a console. Now there may be other factors at play but that is old school slow unless u OC it.
 
i doubt it is the cpu . you should format ur comp and try again using latest drivers and stuff.
 
it's definitely your CPU.

I did benchmarks on my 2500k at various clock speeds and core counts to show how much CPU performance can hold back frame rates in this game.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1654043

i had to upgrade my Q8200 that was OC'd to 2.8ghz because it could not keep one 560 Ti above 60 FPS at ANY graphics settings at 1920 x 1080, due to misleading review sites i thought i needed more GPU power even though it didn't make sense so i bought another 560 Ti and went SLI, result was a near zero performance increase in BF3, other games had expected performance increases. i unfortunately never did any benchmark runs on the C2Q before i swaped it out for my 2500k but i will say that just going off feel in multiplayer my 2500k with 2 cores DISABLED at 3.4 Ghz is FASTER than my C2Q was at 2.8 ghz!

also looking at CPU utilization while in this game is not a good indicator of what is limiting frame rates, in my tests i could always get higher min and average frame rates by overclocking my 2500k because i have lots of GPU headroom but what windows shows being used CPU wise will never max out. the best indicator of a CPU bottleneck is either look at your GPU utilization in afterburner etc. if its not 80-90+% most of the time your CPU is holding you back big time. i can't get the game to max out both of my GPU's unless i'm looking at just a wall or the end of a round screen were frame rates hit the cap at 200 and there are no polygons for the cpu to calc.

other way is the in game performance graph. its very useful for telling you what the bottle neck is as long as v-sync is off.
 
It's not the CPU, a Q6600 is not even remotely that slow of a CPU that it would bottleneck his 5870 that much (especially in BF3 that actually uses the extra cores). You might want to try clean installing drivers and looking at other factors. DO NOT UPGRADE without first looking at everything you can to fix the issue on the software side.
 
its the cpu

its not the cpu

lol

those with common sense know the stock Q6600 is certainly holding the 5870 back but not anywhere near to the point of only getting 15 fps.
 
cannondale06 said:
its the cpu

its not the cpu

lol

those with common sense know the stock Q6600 is certainly holding the 5870 back but not anywhere near to the point of only getting 15 fps.
Click to expand...

I agree with that...might need an OS reload but you certainly should OC the cpu if possible.
 
The Q6600 (G0) is still a solid workhorse CPU and can OC to about 3.6GHz completely stable on AIR! I would recommend OC'ing that beast to its max potential. Here are some configurations that have proven to provide stable results:

3.5GHz = 389MHz X 9 @ 1.35v
3.6GHz = 400MHz X 9 @ 1.4v ~ 1.425v

YMMV

If you have the B3 model, you should still be able to get it up to ~3GHz no problem.

Good luck!
 
In this case, both sides end up being right I believe, I think the CPU is a bottleneck in that game and you would definitely gain frames from overclocking.

But that is not the main issue here, it wouldn't be holding him back nearly that much. I would recommend at least uninstalling drivers, rebooting into safe mode, running a driver sweeper and installing the latest 12.1 drivers (Plus who doesn't like finally getting a feature NV's drivers have had for years? :p). It seems like you have some sort of driver issue as your GPU doesn't get over 80% usage according to that log whereas on my rigs all my GPU's are hitting 99% usage most of time.
 
Even at stock speeds, a Q6600 wouldn't bottleneck so hard. I mean, the CPU is getting old, but it still games like a champ. But it IS bottlenecking that HD 5870 at stock speeds. All I'm saying is that it shouldn't be only giving you 15fps.

In any case, try to bring it to 3ghz at least and see if anything changes.

I'm betting on GPU driver problems, though.
 
phatbx133 said:
How about nuke PC ?

(BACKUP YOUR DATA FIRST)

1. NUKE PC !!!
2. Clean install OS BAM !
3. Install chipset driver BAM !
4. Install video driver BAM !
5. Install DX driver BAM !
6. Install Sound driver BAM !
7. Install Etc driver BAM !
8. Install BF3 BAM !
9. PLAY BF3 BAM !
10. Q6600 still strong BAM ! :cool:
Click to expand...

What he said! BAM!! :D
 
Turn off motion blur and all AA. then recheck your framerates (using Fraps) MSAA takes a huge hit on video cards in bf3. You should definitely overclock the processor. Simple enough to do just read up on a guide to overclocking your particular processor.

I have a 5870 (2gb) on a i930 at 4.0ghz and my gpu usage is 95%+ all the time.

so i believe its definitely your processor holding back the gpu.

make sure you have vsync off as well.
 
I don't see a Q6600 giving you anywhere near that low of a framerate. That CPU is quite capable..
The fact that you indicated the frames are low in other games, leads me to believe it's either a BIOS settings issue or a defective component. Look in the BIOS and make certain you do not have the video card 'crippled' with something like a x1 as opposed to x16 setting (if it has that option). See if you can get your hands on another video card, (It doesn't matter which camp). It's just for comparison to determine if that's the culprit. Check that HD5870 with GPU-z for overheating and fan speed increase under load.
 
I find it funny that most of you say that the Q6600 is not the issue, yet the majority of you have upgraded to Sandy Bridge based systems. You'd think that if the Q6600 had some life in it, you'd still be using it...

Personally, I found my Q6600 to be more sluggish compared to my E8500. But anyways, I digress. I'd be checking for thermal problems or lack of power going into the card. I've seen both cause performance problems with ATi/AMD video cards.

Is this the only system that you have available? I'd have that 5870 tested in another system to see if it is the card or something else.
 
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