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7970 benchies...

H

Hexen525

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 20, 2007
Messages
186
I am assuming this is a driver issue, but wanted to confirm with all of you.

I just got my 7970 a couple days ago. It replaced my older 5870 with a stock OC, specs are still in my sig. Loaded up to most recent (shit) drivers and took the card out for a spin. Wow, am I underwelmed. Most of my games show little improvement if any. Not a single canned benchie shows any sign of life (I know, canned benchies are bad, but I do like looking at some fo them).

Skyrim, SWtOR, Rage, Serious Sam 3, Heaven, and FluidMark (I split the engine so my 8800GTX does the PhysX and my 7970 does the backgrounds).

Skyrim is fully maxed out, but won't go above 60fps (v. Sync is forced off in the CCC). Card is about 45% activity. Same with Rage after today's patch.

Serious Sam 3 is fully maxed out with 8xAA and 16xAF. I can actually get 99% activity and about 75fps or so. this is the only game I see a serious (no pun intended) improvement on. Both before today's patch and after it.

SWtOR the card sits around 65-75fps and 50% usage with the settings fully maxed out.

Heaven, this is the first of the odd ones...is almost exactly the same as my old 5870 score wise!! Activity is 99%. Extreme Tesselation, 4xAA, 16xAF, and I get a score of 423. My old 5870, with the same settings, got a score of 420.

FluidMark is the other odd one. On the 7970 I get about 150fps, on my old 5870 I got about 200fps. My little 8800GTX still does it's 70% usage and about 35fps on the physics calculations no matter which card it is paired with.

Now, I have the 7970 maxed out on clocks as far as the AMD sliders will go. 1125MHz GPU and 1575MHz on the Memory. This a driver issue or what?
 
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Hexen525 said:
I am assuming this is a driver issue, but wanted to confirm with all of you.

I just got my 7970 a couple days ago. It replaced my older 5870 with a stock OC, specs are still in my sig. Loaded up to most recent (shit) drivers and took the card out for a spin. Wow, am I underwelmed. Most of my games show little improvement if any. Not a single canned benchie shows any sign of life (I know, canned benchies are bad, but I do like looking at some fo them).

Skyrim, SWtOR, Rage, Serious Sam 3, Heaven, and FluidMark (I split the engine so my 8800GTX does the PhysX and my 7970 does the backgrounds).

Skyrim is fully maxed out, but won't go above 60fps (v. Sync is forced off in the CCC). Card is about 45% activity. Same with Rage after today's patch.

Serious Sam 3 is fully maxed out with 8xAA and 16xAF. I can actually get 99% activity and about 75fps or so. this is the only game I see a serious (no pun intended) improvement on. Both before today's patch and after it.

SWtOR the card sits around 65-75fps and 50% usage with the settings fully maxed out.

Heaven, this is the first of the odd ones...is almost exactly the same as my old 5870 score wise!! Activity is 99%. Extreme Tesselation, 4xAA, 16xAF, and I get a score of 423. My old 5870, with the same settings, got a score of 420.

FluidMark is the other odd one. On the 7970 I get about 150fps, on my old 5870 I got about 200fps. My little 8800GTX still does it's 70% usage and about 35fps on the physics calculations no matter which card it is paired with.

Now, I have the 7970 maxed out on clocks as far as the AMD sliders will go. 1125MHz GPU and 1575MHz on the Memory. This a driver issue or what?
Click to expand...

CPU limited. Your CPU is too slow to show the power of the 7970.
 
I don't see that at all. My CPU usage is rarely over 50%, let alone maxed out. The Heaven benchie for example doesn't even use 10% of my CPU. And how would an almost 4GHz quadcore CPU be limiting this card?
 
I have the PhysX hack for my 8800GTX and official NVIDIA drivers and the latest RC11 drivers from AMD installed. No hacked drivers. Oh, and 1920x1200 resolution.
 
Hexen525 said:
I don't see that at all. My CPU usage is rarely over 50%, let alone maxed out. The Heaven benchie for example doesn't even use 10% of my CPU. And how would an almost 4GHz quadcore CPU be limiting this card?
Click to expand...

The Phenom II's are about as fast as Intels CPU's from 2 generations ago.

It really is CPU limited. You need more power to show the power of the Video card.
 
Wouldn't the CPU at least be maxed out? Why would I have clock cycles to spare?
 
Also, how do you know 1575 memory is stable? It could be unstable and since DDR5 is ECC memory it will just kill your performance.
 
Dropped it down, fired up Heaven...same fps. Also, monitoring the Heaven benchie, it uses 12-13% of my CPU while running the benchie. System Idle is around 83% or so.
 
Remove your GTX 8800 and your Nvidia gfx drivers and install latest 7970 drivers and then retry your benchies. Im sure that will fix your issues. Always put your machine in default config when troubleshooting problems like this.
 
Hexen525 said:
Wouldn't the CPU at least be maxed out? Why would I have clock cycles to spare?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily because some of the games you listed - like Skyrim - only use 2 Cores. Thus, 50% usage is effectively 100%.

The Heaven score looks odd to me though, you shouldn't be CPU limited in that. Install MSI AB to ensure your card is not throttling clocks.
 
You need to go read the whole review, especially the conclusions. At my resolution, my 4GHz quadcore CPU should be handling this thing fine. Not as nice as a 5GHz Sandy Bridge, but better than it is.
 
50% usage on 2 cores is 50% usage on 2 cores. It's not 100% on anything. I have 4 4GHz cores...not 1 16GHz core.
 
Hexen525 said:
50% usage on 2 cores is 50% usage on 2 cores. It's not 100% on anything. I have 4 4GHz cores...not 1 16GHz core.
Click to expand...

You're reading what I said wrong. If a game only can take advantage of 2 cores and you see 50% usage it's using all available CPU power. So as far as the game is concerned... it is 100%. That is the case for Skyrim at least. Serious Sam 3 uses 4 threads. I don't know about the others.
 
You are CPU limited but yes you should be getting more usage out of that card and like everyone just about has told you its because of the 8800GTX.
Having it in there actually causes your 7970 to lose performance. You will believe us after you take it out and run your tests again.
Of course make sure all the drivers are removed and that you have the 7970 drivers, the normal catalyst drivers don't support the 7970.

Of course the increase after you take the 8800GTX out is still going too be 10-20% gain because your CPU limited.
 
Get rid of the phenom. I wouldn't pair that thing with anything less than a Sandy at 4.8 personally. And that's stretching it.
 
If you're getting the same score as a 5870 in the heaven bench with extreme tess and 4xAA|16xAF, something is dreadfully wrong.
 
Both Skyrim and Rage are locked at 60FPS so no matter V-sync on or off will still be 60FPS

What did you expect getting more FPS in game engines that are locked at 60FPS?
So what you saying here you get locked 60FPS on the above games which you should and you see the improvements in SS3 and something is wrong?
Thats basically what you should get...
 
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Wow, didn't see that coming. Figured it out.

A while back I got a Corsair H70 self contained water cooler for my CPU so I could do a little OCing (the stock AMD HS/F sux). Well, the radiator is too large and it forced me to drop the card to the slot below it. Mind you, I have a quad Crossfire board, so 4 PCI-e x16 slots, right? Wrong. The 1st and 3rd are x16 slots, the 2nd (where the card was plugged in) and 4th are x8 slots. Turned the radiator on it's side (can't put the side of my case back on now), plugged the card into the top x16 port and fired up Heaven again. Scored 650 or so with the same settings I was getting 423 on an hour ago. And that is on stock clocks on my GPU and Memory. Going to test the OC next.

I won't deny my CPU is not in the same league as an OC'ed Sandy bridge, but flat slamming AMD is just mean ;)

50% of 2 cores. Skyrim is happy with that. It doesn't mean my CPU doesn't have more to give. Not CPU limited, engine limited. Didn't know that about Skyrim's sync though. That explains a lot. I guess I knew it about Rage, but forgot. Shit engine anyways :mad:

Thanx for the help all.
 
gamingarena23 said:
Both Skyrim and Rage are locked at 60FPS so no matter V-sync on or off will still be 60FPS

What did you expect getting more FPS in game engines that are locked at 60FPS?
So what you saying here you get locked 60FPS on the above games which you should and you see the improvements in SS3 and something is wrong?
Thats basically what you should get...
Click to expand...
Where did you read that? My Skyrim is running at 110 fps lol.
 
Scored a 737 in Heaven with the OC in place on my card. Now to go play some actual games ^_^
 
KickAssCop said:
Where did you read that? My Skyrim is running at 110 fps lol.
Click to expand...

Actually the Creation engine (Also known as Gamebryo with shadows) runs at 64HZ/64FPS, using iPresentInterval=0 will disable v-sync but the game becomes buggy weird speedups etc... so its not recommended disabling it... The whole game becomes out of sync.
That's why many AMD users have problems with stuttering in this game cause of 64HZ bug and its good to use something like DXTory to limit your FPS to 60fps for glass smooth gameplay...
 
For Skyrim, I'd suggest applying the BETA patch. If you look straight up at the sky in first person and your FPS is 60, vsync is still enabled.

I run Skyrim with vsync on because I get odd behavior from physics indoors with it off.

Honestly, it's hard to believe some would suggest you're CPU limited in the heaven bench using extreme tess with 4xAA|16xAF. That's simply wrong.

There are all the charts for games from the 7970 CPU scaling article Guru3d did that was mentioned and linked earlier.













The conclusion below-
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7970-cpu-scaling-performance-review/10
 
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Yeah. At my resolution, I should be mildly limited by my CPU, but not much acording to that review. And it's pretty common knowledge that as you boost the resolution you become more GPU dependant instead of CPU dependant. They even mention that in the beginning of the review.

Well, new system is slowly being built. And not going Intel, sticking with AMD. I have the ASUS Crosshair/Thunderbolt board sitting here. Waiting for some more cash to get a nice Bulldozer to put in it. I think once M$ gets the OS and scheduling issues figured out, it will be a solid CPU. Same issue with XP SP2 and the old Athlon X2 CPUs.
 
So what's up with the GPU throttling itself back? Is it suppose to do that?
 
Hexen525 said:
So what's up with the GPU throttling itself back? Is it suppose to do that?
Click to expand...

That is because of bugs with powertune etc. Uninstall your driver download newest ati 7970performance driver without installing ccc. Then install latest afterburner beta 12 set it to run as windows. Now set powertune with afterburner to 20% and monitor gpu and memory clocks with gpuz as that is showing if card throttles or not. :)
 
rivaltr said:
That is because of bugs with powertune etc. Uninstall your driver download newest ati 7970performance driver without installing ccc. Then install latest afterburner beta 12 set it to run as windows. Now set powertune with afterburner to 20% and monitor gpu and memory clocks with gpuz as that is showing if card throttles or not. :)
Click to expand...

Can I use Afterburner with a Gigabyte card? Last time I tried it I had to have an MSI card installed. CCC says my clocks are good, but my activity is 60% or less in most games. Rage and Skyrim are understandable if they force 60Hz, but SWtOR and others don't (I am getting 70-110fps in other games and the activity is still in the 40-60% range).

And my performance is boosted in all games I've played since I figured out my mobo has a PCI-e issue. Need to figure out how to install that radiator so it doesn't affect my PCI-e or side panel. Ideas? Besides a new CPU/mobo/case/other money spending issues. I am not rich.
 
Hexen525 said:
Can I use Afterburner with a Gigabyte card? Last time I tried it I had to have an MSI card installed. CCC says my clocks are good, but my activity is 60% or less in most games. Rage and Skyrim are understandable if they force 60Hz, but SWtOR and others don't (I am getting 70-110fps in other games and the activity is still in the 40-60% range).
Click to expand...
Afterburner works on any reference model GPU. Again though, you're severely bottlenecked in most games by your Phenom. My i5-2500K @ 5.0GHz barely keeps my 7970 fed in SWTOR, as it's a heavily CPU-dependent game (like most MMO's).
Hexen525 said:
And my performance is boosted in all games I've played since I figured out my mobo has a PCI-e issue. Need to figure out how to install that radiator so it doesn't affect my PCI-e or side panel. Ideas? Besides a new CPU/mobo/case/other money spending issues. I am not rich.
Click to expand...
Post a pic so we can see what we're working with. :cool:
 
Hexen525 said:
Yeah. At my resolution, I should be mildly limited by my CPU, but not much acording to that review. And it's pretty common knowledge that as you boost the resolution you become more GPU dependant instead of CPU dependant. They even mention that in the beginning of the review.

Well, new system is slowly being built. And not going Intel, sticking with AMD. I have the ASUS Crosshair/Thunderbolt board sitting here. Waiting for some more cash to get a nice Bulldozer to put in it. I think once M$ gets the OS and scheduling issues figured out, it will be a solid CPU. Same issue with XP SP2 and the old Athlon X2 CPUs.
Click to expand...

If you get BD go for the 8120. Use BIOS 1102 for the Crosshair V. Set your FSB in the 250-260 range. Run your NB speed at the best you may, or at least 2600. DDR 2133 ram would be a good idea. I'd get 2x4Gb and run them in the red mem slots. Set your ram to 2T. Sometimes it will default to 1T.

DRAM voltage switching frequency will likely be best @ 2x. Set your NB switching frequencies to 2x as well. Disable DRAM voltage over-current protection. Manually set your ram's voltage to what it should be.

Disable; turbo core, APM and ECC in the BIOS. Killing spread spectrum may help with OCing.

You may need to bump your CPU-NB, and NB voltage. You'll definitely need to increase vcore. You'll need to experiment.

I'd highly suggest reading the below thread.

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?2585-ASUS-Crosshair-V-Formula-BIOS-Guide-Overclocking

BIOS 1102 should be below-
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/Crosshair_V_FormulaThunderBolt/#download

If you want to install Win 7 in true UEFI mode, try that-
http://www.overclock.net/t/1035333/official-asus-sabertooth-990fx-owners-club/360#post_14113073

I do it that way myself.
 
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Still odd. You should get higher in Unigine benchmark. I also doubt it's CPU limited with those settings. For reference, max settings with a 7950 at 1000mhz core and 1500 memory was 936.
 
Mr. K6 said:
Afterburner works on any reference model GPU. Again though, you're severely bottlenecked in most games by your Phenom. My i5-2500K @ 5.0GHz barely keeps my 7970 fed in SWTOR, as it's a heavily CPU-dependent game (like most MMO's).
Post a pic so we can see what we're working with. :cool:
Click to expand...

How? I get 100+ fps in SWtOR with my setup on a x8 PCI-e port. If you are having issues keeping up with that game on your i5 OC'ed to 5GHz, I see no reason to go Intel!!!

I got my new mobo, CPU and all installed today. The ASUS mob actually has the top PCI-e x16 port in the same place most companies put their 2nd slot. So I am able to use the top slot on my Mobo and not have it interfere with my Corsair cooler. I was just going to cut the side of my case up a bit to allow the radiator to poke though, but I ended up not needing to. I'll post pics in the next day or 2 of the inside of my case and benchies. I'm not a wire-hider like some of you here on [H]OCP, but I am getting better. I don't do enough gaming PCs to practice.
 
I know, pissing me off. I have nothing against intelligent critisizms. But blatent fanbois are getting under my skin. Like Intel, fine. But I don't. Blind people drive me nuts!!! I spent enough time on the NVIDIA forums to know when an issue is CPU related or not.

Anyways. I got my new FX-8150 installed today (most likely my CPU will bottleneck when booting up or running a simple text program. Does Aero work with this memory? ;-). No OCs yet, still getting my updates and drivers.
 
I don't think a 7970 could perform below a 5870, without some kind of driver/video card/motherboard problem......even cpu limiting would not allow a faster card to perform worse, all things being equal.
 
Hexen525 said:
How? I get 100+ fps in SWtOR with my setup on a x8 PCI-e port. If you are having issues keeping up with that game on your i5 OC'ed to 5GHz, I see no reason to go Intel!!!

I got my new mobo, CPU and all installed today. The ASUS mob actually has the top PCI-e x16 port in the same place most companies put their 2nd slot. So I am able to use the top slot on my Mobo and not have it interfere with my Corsair cooler. I was just going to cut the side of my case up a bit to allow the radiator to poke though, but I ended up not needing to. I'll post pics in the next day or 2 of the inside of my case and benchies. I'm not a wire-hider like some of you here on [H]OCP, but I am getting better. I don't do enough gaming PCs to practice.
Click to expand...
Markdek said:
It's not a cpu limiting problem...drop it.
Click to expand...
P4rD0nM3 said:
Hehehe, everyone is saying it's the CPU.
Click to expand...
Hexen525 said:
I know, pissing me off. I have nothing against intelligent critisizms. But blatent fanbois are getting under my skin. Like Intel, fine. But I don't. Blind people drive me nuts!!! I spent enough time on the NVIDIA forums to know when an issue is CPU related or not.

Anyways. I got my new FX-8150 installed today (most likely my CPU will bottleneck when booting up or running a simple text program. Does Aero work with this memory? ;-). No OCs yet, still getting my updates and drivers.
Click to expand...
You have the evidence right in front of you that your CPU is bottlenecking the card, yet you're accusing people of being fanboys? Ironic, to say the least. Did you think the card runs at less than 100% just for laughs? It's obvious that there were multiple issues there, not having the card installed in the correct PCI-e was one of them, and many, me included, jumped ahead in troubleshooting by assuming the card was installed correctly.

Beyond that, yes, both the Phenoms and Bulldozer are far behind a Sandy Bridge chip as far as performance goes. If you like AMD parts, that's fine, no one here is knocking you for that, but you are getting significantly less performance than a Sandy Bridge chip. If you're staring at a wall in SWTOR, yeah, you probably get 100 FPS. Try running into the Fleet with 150+ people on it and see what kind of FPS you're getting. Furthermore, check your GPU usage in Afterburner. See how it's much less than 100%? Isn't that amazing? But no, you don't have a CPU bottleneck. :rolleyes:
 
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