40% Xfire GPU usage bf3

[~>Dg<~]

Why's it bottlenecking that badly though?
From all evidence/testimonies given, it shouldn't be as bad as that.

99 percent of time it isnt most who say this are justifying there purchase from i5 to i7s

bf3 does offer a little performance gain if in more than one card and at higher resolutions. the fps difference isnt big though and hardly worth it unless you obviously nly play brokenfield

bf4 will literally be the same

 

[setter]

With the cpu cranked to 4.2ghz, card usage maxed at 97% but not constantly. Cpu use hovering between 50 - 60%. 64 player caspian border.

 

[pgi947]

If you play this game a lot and want your rig to run the best on something you spend a lot of time on, I'd say consider a CPU change. To the casual BF3 soldat, I'd say they would be happy playing it as long as it wasn't a slideshow but there's something else to think about now.

100% this too, when I was playing with HT disabled (making the chip essentially a slightly beefy 2500K) the game still ran smooth, it still ran over 60fps and the overall 'feel' of the game was still fine.

Sometimes we just need to put the framerate displays away and enjoy the games we play too

Edit: I hadn't actively played BF3 for ~9 months until this thread, just been on it for 3 hours without thinking

 

[Ian Evey]

If cpu bottleneck caused low gpu usage then what does it mean when you join a 64 player server with all settings on LOW and get 200fps ?

using an i5 3570k, if the game was cpu limited on xfire then a game on low settings would show the cpu bottleneck also give or take a few % allowing for added load using xfire.

Or am i totally wrong ?

 

[pgi947]

You are

With lower settings everything has less strain and less demand for raw grunt, 200fps is the frostbite engine frame limit, as soon as you hit that it isn't going to request any more power from your components.

As you increase settings and resolution the requirement for more power from all components increases greatly.

 

[Ian Evey]

so the amount of cores or threads dont matter at higher res / ultra settings because the gpu is taking the most strain? and also low settings still maxes out my cpu as its still running 200fps. yet at ultra cpu still maxed but fps down to 70 ish.

Maybe the sli results i have seen work differently to the xfire ones in bf3 with regards to the cpu bottleneck, but no other 7970 users with a 3570k report only 40% usage on xfire gpus.

 

[James J]

I think its the game personally, as some of the levels on the expansion packs really run poorly with massive frame drops when looking in certain directions. It never use to be this way either, instead its something thats been introduced with one of the patches. Probably DICE trying to trash the game so people move over to BF4 -.-

 

[Ian Evey]

Just read on anand that this seems to happen on 120 hz or 144hz monitors with low gpu usage.

 

[James J]

Just read on anand that this seems to happen on 120 hz or 144hz monitors with low gpu usage.

Aye it does. I had negative scaling with titan sli on it, where as 1 gpu on this gives a far better experience. Its annoying, but I'm not going to go back from 120+hz gaming over 1 game.

 

[LtMatt]

Thanks for clearing this up Ian and James. We've been racking our brains over this one for a few days.

 

[NoobCannon]

well the jury is in

Spoiler

3770k @ 4.7

7970 x fire 1200/1700

much better usage, game is butter smooth now just gotta get good at it again lol!

Steve

 

[LtMatt]

well the jury is in

Spoiler

3770k @ 4.7

7970 x fire 1200/1700

much better usage, game is butter smooth now just gotta get good at it again lol!

Steve

Glad to hear it mate. Multi gpu really needs an i7 these days to get the best results and most importantly the smoothest performance.

 

[TheRealDeal]

I think as games start using more threads getting the i7 for gamers is going to be the better decision. I went i7 on the 920 years ago and its still going strong and proving a wise purchase. Good to see your getting good usage out of your gpu's now.