HT off for BF4 = amazing smooth performance!

S

SHiZNiLTi

Gawd
Joined
Jan 15, 2006
Messages
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My friend and I were benching tonight and came upon an awesome find. I remember back in BF3 I disabled HT due to some shuddering issues and to my surprise, the issue is still here...

While in game open up console and do a ~perfoverlay.drawgraph 1 in an empty server and check out the graph in the lower left hand corner.

When I had HT on I was getting huge yellow spikes and frame rate was fluctuating a lot while just standing still. Also when I looked up to the sky I was only getting around 135fps which I thought was odd because usually I'm at 200fps... being at 4.9ghz and when you look up the GPU has no load on it, it's all CPU so 200 should be easy to hit even with all ULTRA @ 1920x1080 with 2xMSAA as shown in the below screenshot.

Anyways I turned HT off and HOLY SHIT what a difference, no more big spikes on the perfoverlay.drawgraph 1 and fps has gone up a lot and doesn't fluctuate near as much, the game feels so much smoother now.

Please try this out if you are having issues!

Ur0mpjX.jpg


4axFpNt.jpg


xApFBrX.jpg


*EDIT: Vid on results...
http://youtu.be/yMGmY6qQWQY?t=57s&hd=1

@0:00-1:00 bonus footage of my dog and turtle :D

@3:00 HT on gameplay, notice huge yellow spikes, when I shoot I get spikes.

@3:50 CPU/GPU usage results, notice the GPU usage has lots of dips, CPU usage is low due to being spread out across all 8 threads.

@7:30 HT off gameplay, notice how there's hardly any spikes even when shooting. Overall 5-10 more FPS on average and before when looking at the sky max fps was fluctuating like crazy from 80-100fps with very large spikes on the graph, now it's @ 200 and the absolutely no spikes at all with HT off.

@8:40 CPU/GPU usage results. notice how the GPU usage pegged right up at 100% no dips at all, CPU usage is higher, but more level.
 
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Graphics =/= CPU limitations and/or problems in game, lilbabycat. He was just stating that his framerates were hitching until turning off HT.
 
lilbabycat said:
Look at something with actual graphics involved and post differences.
Click to expand...
lol, figured someone would say that. You have to remember when your testing CPU you want relieve the GPU of any stress. This is why CPU benchmarks are done in lower resolution, this eliminates the GPU from bottlenecking performance so you can see real results from CPU.




More Result info from HT on vs HT off...

* I noticed with HT on my GPU usage had alot of spikes and would dip down to 70-80% often, now with HT off my GPU usage is pegged at 99%, this is awesome!

* CPU usage with my [email protected] when HT on was all over the place on all 8 threads, some threads were in low 30% range others around the 50% range, with HT off I get equal CPU usage across all 4 threads, about 80-90%.

Also my test environment is a clean install Windows 7 pro, I wonder if Windows 8 the optimization across all 8 threads with HT on is better.
 
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I have a i7 3770, and my GPU is at 99% with HT ON (Win 8.1 here) and since Yesterday patch it's freaking butter smooth..
 
I get 200 FPS too when I look at the sky or ground. :eek: You need to compare the FPS when actually playing...

What exactly is the graph showing anyways? All I see is a straight line, no fluctuation like you said, and it just gives single digit numbers so it can't be showing fps....
 
And just like BF3, I expect this will be fixed within a month or two. The HT issues with BF3 were patched out by December 2011.
 
I wonder that's been attributing to some of my issues. I remember it in BF3 but I heard talk that HT was fine in BF4 so I just assume it was ok to leave on.

Facking EA
 
King Icewind said:
I get 200 FPS too when I look at the sky or ground. :eek: You need to compare the FPS when actually playing...

What exactly is the graph showing anyways? All I see is a straight line, no fluctuation like you said, and it just gives single digit numbers so it can't be showing fps....
Click to expand...
King Icewind, I'm not trying to show off max fps by any means. We are talking about CPU here and fluctuations in fps with HT on vs HT off. Your CPU has 6 cores and 12 threads, it probably is effected differently then my 2600k and must handle HT in a different manner. If you are not seeing any spikes on your chart, large spikes that is that reach the top of the bar or beyond then you are good to go, and have no issues so leave it on. It was a night and day difference for me, when HT was on the spikes would go beyond the top of chart and pop up ever 2 seconds or so.

I'll create a video this afternoon to help show what I'm talking about to help prevent any confusion on this.




The perfoverlay graph shows you the frame render time for the GPU and CPU so the lower the better. Also if the CPU graph is below that of the GPU then you are GPU limited and vice versa.

The ideal case would be GPU and CPU to be in sync.
 
my 2600k and must handle HT in a different manner
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There were some changes to Ivy for HT, and a kernel's handling of logical processors will vary.

http://techreport.com/review/22835/review-intel-core-i7-3770k-ivy-bridge-processor/2

There are other tweaks to improve Hyper-Threading (a few queues are now partitioned dynamically between two threads, rather than shared statically at 50-50) and AVX performance (more registers to help deal with memory access that cross cache lines).
Click to expand...
 
We need more people to test this out. I've only had 2 of my friends test and both have the same 2600k as me and saw big difference as I did.

Come on guys try it out, post your results...

* Go into an empty server.
* Open consol type in perfoverlay.drawgraph 1
* Run around a little make note of where your standing zoom in on a few objects and stand perfectly still, see if your getting big yellow spikes.
* Take a SS of the graph

* Now Disable HT, go back into the same server, go to the same location, do the same things and see if the spikes are gone and if FPS is better or not.
 
§·H·ï·Z·N·ï·L·T·ï;1040330723 said:
We need more people to test this out. I've only had 2 of my friends test and both have the same 2600k as me and saw big difference as I did.

Come on guys try it out, post your results...

* Go into an empty server.
* Open consol type in perfoverlay.drawgraph 1
* Run around a little make note of where your standing zoom in on a few objects and stand perfectly still, see if your getting big yellow spikes.
* Take a SS of the graph

* Now Disable HT, go back into the same server, go to the same location, do the same things and see if the spikes are gone and if FPS is better or not.
Click to expand...
I will attempt it later on tonight. I also have a 2600k...but much less graphics card than you. FWIW, mine is on a mild OC of 4.3ghz. My biggest problems so far is mouse input lag not FPS spikes/dips and I can't figure out if it is hard drive thrashing or my mouse dying.

Thanks for the console commands.
 
Cool, Ya make sure to take a couple screenshots before and after and do it in a empty server so results are consistent.


Also for the mouse make sure to check raw input for in game settings. Also disable motion blur and weapon zoom DOF(Depth of Field) off.

Then in windows...
6/11 Windows Setting
un check Enhance pointer precision

In mouse software...
1800dpi @ 500hz (polling/report rate)

This has helped out big time!
 
any one know of the best settings for "competitive play"?

so many options in games these days now, hard to tell what does what. i usually turn shadows off in games like this(and arma 2/3) so i can see the enemy better. what about post processing, what does that do?

tia
 
post process = FXAA = blur filter to smooth edges If there is a Motion-Blur, HDR, or Light-rays option, turn it off.
 
Krenum said:
200 FPS looking at the sky! Hot damn!
Click to expand...
Was for CPU benching purposes, with HT on was at 100fps with lots of spikes, with HT off 200fps with no spikes at all.
Opie said:
Turning HT off is like magic. Butter smooth now.
Click to expand...
Nice Opie!!!


I'm uploading a vid now to show you guys 1st hand what the difference looks like with HT on vs off. Stay tuned....
 
§·H·ï·Z·N·ï·L·T·ï;1040330934 said:
Cool, Ya make sure to take a couple screenshots before and after and do it in a empty server so results are consistent.


Also for the mouse make sure to check raw input for in game settings. Also disable motion blur and weapon zoom DOF(Depth of Field) off.

Then in windows...
6/11 Windows Setting
un check Enhance pointer precision

In mouse software...
1800dpi @ 500hz (polling/report rate)

This has helped out big time!
Click to expand...

I have raw input on, I will check the motion blur and DOF. I know my "enhance pointer precision" is off also. I don't run the mouse software anymore on my G500 because it too caused lag. I set it up, downloaded settings to mouse, then uninstalled software. I know it isn't the DPI settings. Its a very noticeable lag, and my HDD activity goes nuts when it is happening. Checked my pagefile last night and it had ballooned to 16GB. Fortunately, the problem takes 3 hours to manifest itself so I should be able to test your HT settings with no ill affect.

I get off work at 10pm tonight I will get screenshots asap.
 
Sprayingmango said:
lololol this thread is hilarious :eek:
Click to expand...

Troll much?

A member has found a specific problem and is looking for help to test a potential solution to see if his fix works for just him or everyone else. This game is buggy as hell from launch because of everything from video drivers to the game itself. Any potential solutions for the community are welcomed. I appreciate his efforts.
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
Troll much?

A member has found a specific problem and is looking for help to test a potential solution to see if his fix works for just him or everyone else. This game is buggy as hell from launch because of everything from video drivers to the game itself. Any potential solutions for the community are welcomed. I appreciate his efforts.
Click to expand...

Agreed. People gave me shit when I complained about stutter in some of my games a few years ago. Now you see posts about that kind of thing all the time.
If this guy had an issue, managed to fix it, and is helping others - good for him!
 
Domingo said:
Agreed. People gave me shit when I complained about stutter in some of my games a few years ago. Now you see posts about that kind of thing all the time.
If this guy had an issue, managed to fix it, and is helping others - good for him!
Click to expand...

This. If I had a cpu lying around with HT I would test this myself. Nice find OP.
 
Just a thought, but what are your cpu temperatures? You just have air cooling at 4.9ghz with 1.4v, so maybe with turning off ht all you did was lower the temps which stopped any previous throttling.
 
I tried it with the rig in my sig and saw no difference with FPS or GPU usage, the only thing different was CPU Usage went from average 50%-60% to 80%-90%
 
Does core parking (un parking) have a similar effect to disabling hyperthreading?
 

Vid on results...
http://youtu.be/yMGmY6qQWQY?t=57s&hd=1

@0:00-1:00 bonus footage of my dog and turtle :D

@3:00 HT on gameplay, notice huge yellow spikes, when I shoot I get spikes.

@3:50 CPU/GPU usage results, notice the GPU usage has lots of dips, CPU usage is low due to being spread out across all 8 threads.

@7:30 HT off gameplay, notice how there's hardly any spikes even when shooting. Overall 5-10 more FPS on average and before when looking at the sky max fps was fluctuating like crazy from 80-100fps with very large spikes on the graph, now it's @ 200 and the absolutely no spikes at all with HT off.

@8:40 CPU/GPU usage results. notice how the GPU usage pegged right up at 100% no dips at all, CPU usage is higher, but more level.
 
I'd say that's pretty conclusive evidence for HT OFF being better than ON at the moment in BF4. Battlefield 3 suffered like this as well until either graphics drivers or game updates finally fixed the stuttering/jittering/hitching. And I wonder if win7 vs win8/8.1 would make a difference. In any case I hope it's fixed soon, interesting results.
 
Hey OP, what is the music in your video? Thanks for uploading it, I'm one of the few in here who appreciates this kind of feedback from the community, even though I'm not a 2600K owner or a BF4 owner.

The music in your video reminds me of some sludge or doom metal without the distorted lead guitars. I like it.
 
Good video results , well done. It's funny though I have the same performance with hyperthreading on as you do off but with a i7 930 overclocked to 4Ghz. So it seems that it isn't a conclusive problem for all owners of Sandy bride or lessor CPU's.
 
Im betting win7 issue not hyperthreading issue. Probably disabling hyperthreading is a work around for the game and win7 not working well together with a ht cpu. Im on 8 and gpu is pegged 99% constant. Ht on of course. Turning it off would be like throwing $100 out the window. Could by win8 for that :p
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
I have raw input on, I will check the motion blur and DOF. I know my "enhance pointer precision" is off also. I don't run the mouse software anymore on my G500 because it too caused lag. I set it up, downloaded settings to mouse, then uninstalled software. I know it isn't the DPI settings. Its a very noticeable lag, and my HDD activity goes nuts when it is happening. Checked my pagefile last night and it had ballooned to 16GB. Fortunately, the problem takes 3 hours to manifest itself so I should be able to test your HT settings with no ill affect.

I get off work at 10pm tonight I will get screenshots asap.
Click to expand...

CNN, Are you saying that after 3 hours of playing BF4 it's the cause of your PF ballooning to 16GB?!?! If so that is that insane...On my rig in my sig, I don't even have a PF, and did not notice any issues when playing the BETA for a few hours at a time..

Are you running a shitload of stuff in the background? I usually have FF open with 10-20+ tabs (although I close Pandora One), TRIXX, GPU-Z, RealTemp, Logitech software for my G700s, CrashPlan, and MSE running and I never have any ram issues (again this was with the BETA)..

I am glad I held off on preordering the final game..I knew that there was no way that DICE was going to have all the issues from the BETA ironed out in less then ~2 weeks..I plan to get it from GameStop on BF for $30..Hopefully there will be new GPU drivers, a game patch, and then Mantle coming soon afterwards..
 
I've got 24GB's of memory and it never spikes above 4-5GB's total when I'm playing BF4. Sounds like a memory leak issue for him.
 
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