Radeon 5970/Starcraft 2 performance

[addictedto60fps]

Was just wondering what others are experiencing with this card in Starcraft II. I can pretty much max out Starcraft at 2560x1440 and play with very good frame rates (above 60) on most of the maps. However, when there is a decent amount of units on screen and they are all fighting at the same time, the frame rate tanks big time (to 30 or so). Is this what others are experiencing with their 5970? I've also tried playing the game at lower resolutions (1920x1080), but the game still chugs when a lot of enemy units are fighting at the same time. Is this normal with this card? I find it strange that Starcraft is more taxing on my system than mostly everything else I've played on it so far.

Edit - doh, I meant to post this in the AMD flavor section. Mods - anyway this can be moved there? Sorry.....

 

[shansoft]

It's normal, the game is horrible with any multi-gpu setup

 

[addictedto60fps]

Ok, good to know that it's not my card or my system. I can even run Metro 2033 better than this, for heavens sakes!

 

[jeremyshaw]

what is your CPU? My i7 930 provided much stabler frame rates in SC2 vs my old E7200.

 

[addictedto60fps]

I have an i7-975 3.33GHZ overclocked to ~4.0GHZ.

 

[jeremyshaw]

ah... then I guess you can try disabling one HD5970 core before entering SC2. My HD5870 (OC'd to 920mhz) only nabbed about 45fps at your resolution, but it didn't tank to 30fps, even in 3v3 endgame army smashes.

 

[addictedto60fps]

Hmm, how low have you seen your fps drop to? On some maps, I can easily get over 100 fps on 2560 x 1440, but in 3 on 3 battles, I've seen my frame rates drop to the 30's.

 

[jeremyshaw]

about 40fps, it probably does go into the high 30s, but I have never caught it (using ctrl+alt+f - it show the ingame FPS counter).

EDIT: correction, I am at 2560x1440, so maybe not identical res

 

[krelkor]

Which map? what circumstances? 2v2? 1v1? single player?

There is no way you're going to get decent framerates on some custom maps. 20 min into Nexus wars is impossible to overcome

 

[addictedto60fps]

Got it. Thanks. I'll try messing around with the settings in the CCC some more and see if I can get the frame rates to be more stable. With the new hotfix from AMD, I don't think there is a way to disable Catalyst AI, though. ><

 

[addictedto60fps]

Pretty much any map, I have big frame rate drops when there are a decent amount of units onscreen. And when I say decent, I would not even say it's a lot. Maybe like 60 units or so fighting all at once (just a guesstimate). Are the custom maps the ones that aren't made by Blizzard? Oh, and I mostly play with my friend, and do 3x3 or 4x4, versus cpu.

 

[addictedto60fps]

about 40fps, it probably does go into the high 30s, but I have never caught it (using ctrl+alt+f - it show the ingame FPS counter).

EDIT: correction, I am at 2560x1440, so maybe not identical res

No, that's the right resolution. I mostly play at that resolution. If the frame rates gets noticeably bad, I'll then drop the resolution.

 

[rUmX]

Are you running any AA? AA hurts framerates a ton especially when there are a lot of units on the screen.

 

[addictedto60fps]

Nope, no aa.

 

[Intel_Hydralisk]

The fps will drop in big battles no matter what system you're on. You can't expect massive battles to stay above 60 fps. This happens on all systems.

 

[shansoft]

The fps will drop in big battles no matter what system you're on. You can't expect massive battles to stay above 60 fps. This happens on all systems.

It happens on Multi-GPU more often.. its game issue....

That is why I went back to single GPU for this game ...

 

[addictedto60fps]

Ok, good to know, guys. I just wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with my system, card, etc, and it appears that I'm good, then.