Why do the 3870s give rubbish min fps??

[J.D]

Is the 2900pro that good?

It is when you don't use AA. Easily double the power but not at stock, I had to OC to get the true performance out of the card. You can use AA with some titles but you have to play around with different AA modes to get the best performance. Without AA the card is really fast. I wouldn't recommend anyone to get one though. The power draw is more than the new X2 3870 and the fan is really loud when cranked up. Single 3870XT would be a lot better but then you are sitting in 8800GT territory which is the faster card and can handle AA a lot better but not at the biggest resolutions. I'd only recommend the X2 3870 for big resolution gamers unless AA isn't important then you could easily get the single 3870 and have some great gaming experiences. If AA is needed then a single Nvidia card is top dog in that regard.

I only bought the GTX so I could run AA/AF without the hit. Without AA the AMD cards run very well and the more immersed you get the less you look for jaggies. I didn't notice much improvement moving to the GTX other than AA.

 

[Phil2008]

guys with 3870 cards, could you tell me what your min fps is on crysis plz?

I'm not sure what's going on for you Speedy?. I did try Crysis but it was only with the 2900Pro I have and the FPS wasn't the best but this was with an X2 3800 @ 2.8Ghz, 1gb(2x512mb) of DDR400 @ DDR466 2.5-3-3-7 1T, DFI Ultra-D and the 2900Pro @ 847Mhz and 1000Mhz memory.

I might pop the card in during the night or 2moro and give it a run again and see if I receive the same performance with this system.

If Crysis isn't doing well when I test then it's down to one game then as on every single other title that I tried, the 2900 kicked my X1900XT upside down and inside out, it showed the old GFX what it's all about .

I'll also test Dirt for you as I have it installed but we have different systems now and it won't be a good comparison. My mums got my old parts now but her PSU couldn't handle the 2900Pro.

thanks mate,, Im sure the stuttering in dirt has nothing to do with the card, and todo with my system,, basically something isnt flowing freely somewhere.

 

[Scougar]

I would also say that the 38xx seem to 'lag' without AA turned on. I can't really remember how my x1950xt as I only playd with it for a week roughly before selling it, but I seem to remember it being more consistent.

i.e. in games like cod4, the difference between max and minimum is huge.. your doing 90fps then suddenly down to 43 just because you looked round a corner. but anyway. The wierd thing is that it does honestly not seem as responsive as my x1950xt I had. In cod4 which really is a twitch game, i can get as high as 95fps with everything on max (except aa) but it still feels like it isn't smooth when I turn around or try to have a 1 on 1 battle with someone. Feels like its lagging.

Matthew

 

[Amonlym]

Guys - those of you getting a bad low fps on crysis, try firing up riva tuner and using lowlvl overclock to force the clocks into 3d mode perminently then try again,

Im willing to bet the low fps comes at a time when the gpu is lightly loaded and so drops to the 2d clocks (with the associated brief pause). and when you RAISE the details, this keeps the card loaded higher stopping it jumping to 2d clocks as much/atall.

give it a try.

 

[ClarkyAC]

Whats your cpu?

I could run crysis on medium with a 6600GT and a Athlon 64 4200 @ 2.6ghz (single core), when i got the 3870 it then suddenly started frezing every 5 seconds for 5 seconds. I changed my processor to a Athlon 6400 black and its all fine now

 

[Scougar]

I'm using Rivatuner to lock the clocks, and still it seems my performance isn't that good. FPS looks great, but I think it could be better. Maybe CoD4 needs better than a 2.66 C2D and a 4x pci-e slot lol.

Matthew

 

[gareth170]

ive benchmarked crysis with my 2900 @ 774 / 860, everything high , 1650x1050, vista64, dx9.

2008-01-31 11:10:46 - crysis64
Frames: 4112 - Time: 120000ms - Avg: 34.266 - Min: 14 - Max: 54

i think the low min fps is due to graphic loading in the game. that why sometimes it slows down for a second... i know my cpu is bottlenecking abit. but still not bad fps

 

[fraps]

I don't understand - how can your AMD quad core be bottlenecking?

 

[gareth170]

I don't understand - how can your AMD quad core be bottlenecking?

because most games only use 1 or 2 cores.. like crysis uses 1 core.. which my cpu runs at 2.2ghz per core

 

[Scougar]

Blimey Gareth> 1650x1050 on EVERYTHING HIGH = 34 avg fps!

What the heck are you getting with 1280*1024 res? You must be close to 40fps. That is a VERY good result for the 2900! (especially since your's is a pro ). My C2D @ 2.66 can only manage 32.95fps on high @ 1280*1024!

Crumbs.

Matthew

 

[gareth170]

Blimey Gareth> 1650x1050 on EVERYTHING HIGH = 34 avg fps!

What the heck are you getting with 1280*1024 res? You must be close to 40fps. That is a VERY good result for the 2900! (especially since your's is a pro ). My C2D @ 2.66 can only manage 32.95fps on high @ 1280*1024!

Crumbs.

Matthew

i'll benchmark with 1280x1024 soon... just sorting something out with my gf.. we had an arguemeant last night..

 

[Scougar]

i'll benchmark with 1280x1024 soon... just sorting something out with my gf.. we had an arguemeant last night..

Get that sorted first Nothing worse than having tension in the home. Looking forward to the results though

Matthew

 

[gareth170]

2900 @ 774 / 860, everything high , 1280x1024 , vista64, dx9.

2008-01-31 18:18:08 - crysis64
Frames: 4891 - Time: 120000ms - Avg: 42.758 - Min: 16 - Max: 58

can someone explain why... i haven't down anything special, only installed ati 8.1 and crysis and the patch

 

[Jakus]

Guys - those of you getting a bad low fps on crysis, try firing up riva tuner and using lowlvl overclock to force the clocks into 3d mode perminently then try again,

Im willing to bet the low fps comes at a time when the gpu is lightly loaded and so drops to the 2d clocks (with the associated brief pause). and when you RAISE the details, this keeps the card loaded higher stopping it jumping to 2d clocks as much/atall.

give it a try.

Good Post, I told Speedy about this last week but he was not listening..

I don't think this is the Crysis problem though
Benchmark..
29/01/2008 23:47:38 - XP
Beginning Run #1 on Map-island, Demo-benchmark_gpu
DX9 1900x1200, AA=No AA, Vsync=Disabled, 32 bit test, FullScreen
Demo Loops=1, Time Of Day= 9
Global Game Quality: Medium
==============================================================
TimeDemo Play Started , (Total Frames: 2000, Recorded Time: 111.86s)
!TimeDemo Run 0 Finished.
Play Time: 36.46s, Average FPS: 54.86
Min FPS: 41.10 at frame 1946, Max FPS: 67.03 at frame 1660
Average Tri/Sec: 51379400, Tri/Frame: 936628
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.98
TimeDemo Play Ended, (1 Runs Performed)

But playing the Game it can swing between 20-40 fps according to Fraps although I don't notice a slowdown

actual setting I play at

29/01/2008 14:29:03 - XP
Beginning Run #1 on Map-island, Demo-benchmark_gpu
DX9 1900x1200, AA=No AA, Vsync=Disabled, 32 bit test, FullScreen
Demo Loops=1, Time Of Day= 9
Global Game Quality: Custom
Custom Quality Values:
VolumetricEffects=Medium
Texture=Medium
ObjectDetail=High
Sound=High
Shadows=Medium
Water=Medium
Physics=High
Particles=Medium
Shading=High
PostProcessing=Medium
GameEffects=Medium
==============================================================
TimeDemo Play Started , (Total Frames: 2000, Recorded Time: 111.86s)
!TimeDemo Run 0 Finished.
Play Time: 49.64s, Average FPS: 40.29
Min FPS: 30.74 at frame 153, Max FPS: 52.26 at frame 995
Average Tri/Sec: -40184360, Tri/Frame: -997388
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.92
TimeDemo Play Ended, (1 Runs Performed)

Above is 2 3870's in Crossfire with 8.1 hotfix drivers and My Cards cannot clock change

 

[Phil2008]

Good Post, I told Speedy about this last week but he was not listening..

I would try riva tuner for crysis, but I dont want to mess xp up cos its a clean install

 

[Phil2008]

Ive tried your setting "kakus"
VolumetricEffects=Medium
Texture=Medium
ObjectDetail=High
Sound=High
Shadows=Medium
Water=Medium
Physics=High
Particles=Medium
Shading=High
PostProcessing=Medium
GameEffects=Medium

at 1280x1024 with vsync on, and now my min fps has jumped to 27fps and the max is 52fps... so what setting or settings has made the min fps jump up from 15 to 27??

 

[alexthecheese]

Good Post, I told Speedy about this last week but he was not listening..

I don't think this is the Crysis problem though
Benchmark..
29/01/2008 23:47:38 - XP
Beginning Run #1 on Map-island, Demo-benchmark_gpu
DX9 1900x1200, AA=No AA, Vsync=Disabled, 32 bit test, FullScreen
Demo Loops=1, Time Of Day= 9
Global Game Quality: Medium
==============================================================
TimeDemo Play Started , (Total Frames: 2000, Recorded Time: 111.86s)
!TimeDemo Run 0 Finished.
Play Time: 36.46s, Average FPS: 54.86
Min FPS: 41.10 at frame 1946, Max FPS: 67.03 at frame 1660
Average Tri/Sec: 51379400, Tri/Frame: 936628
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: 0.98
TimeDemo Play Ended, (1 Runs Performed)

But playing the Game it can swing between 20-40 fps according to Fraps although I don't notice a slowdown

actual setting I play at

29/01/2008 14:29:03 - XP
Beginning Run #1 on Map-island, Demo-benchmark_gpu
DX9 1900x1200, AA=No AA, Vsync=Disabled, 32 bit test, FullScreen
Demo Loops=1, Time Of Day= 9
Global Game Quality: Custom
Custom Quality Values:
VolumetricEffects=Medium
Texture=Medium
ObjectDetail=High
Sound=High
Shadows=Medium
Water=Medium
Physics=High
Particles=Medium
Shading=High
PostProcessing=Medium
GameEffects=Medium
==============================================================
TimeDemo Play Started , (Total Frames: 2000, Recorded Time: 111.86s)
!TimeDemo Run 0 Finished.
Play Time: 49.64s, Average FPS: 40.29
Min FPS: 30.74 at frame 153, Max FPS: 52.26 at frame 995
Average Tri/Sec: -40184360, Tri/Frame: -997388
Recorded/Played Tris ratio: -0.92
TimeDemo Play Ended, (1 Runs Performed)

Above is 2 3870's in Crossfire with 8.1 hotfix drivers and My Cards cannot clock change

Nice work soldier! I have a E8400 3870x2 1920 rig coming next week and am looking forward to some good FPS!

 

[roadie]

There are some issues on some cards with Powerplay going to its 2d setting, even though you are in a 3d environment:

XS link

This could cause low minimum FPS.

 

[fraps]

because most games only use 1 or 2 cores.. like crysis uses 1 core.. which my cpu runs at 2.2ghz per core

I would have thought crysis would use 2 cores

 

[Jakus]

There are some issues on some cards with Powerplay going to its 2d setting, even though you are in a 3d environment:

XS link

This could cause low minimum FPS.

Yes, But from My testing I don't think that is the only reason for the Crysis problems, I feel there may be many complex issues with the engine which while allowing reasonable play at lower fps is maybe not playing nicely with more powerful hardware setups.