40% Xfire GPU usage bf3

NoobCannon · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:26

ok, so as this is my first attempt at xfire im a complete and utter noob at this and hoping there is a simple answer.

basically I cant get my GPU usage to go over 40-50 % in bf3

my specs are

i5 3570k @4.7
7970 x 2 1200/1500
z77xd3h

I run bf3 @ ultra 1080p 120hz everything on max excl motion blur

ive just done a complete driver sweep and reinstall and reinstalled after burner

when running benchies both cards get maxed out but I just cant work it out for bf?

hope someone can help ive basically got my DSR period to make this work or the new card is gonna have to go back

Steve

LtMatt · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:32

NoobCannon said:
ok, so as this is my first attempt at xfire im a complete and utter noob at this and hoping there is a simple answer.

basically I cant get my GPU usage to go over 40-50 % in bf3

my specs are

i5 3570k @4.7
7970 x 2 1200/1500
z77xd3h

I run bf3 @ ultra 1080p 120hz everything on max excl motion blur

ive just done a complete driver sweep and reinstall and reinstalled after burner

when running benchies both cards get maxed out but I just cant work it out for bf?

hope someone can help ive basically got my DSR period to make this work or the new card is gonna have to go back

Steve

Simple, cpu bottleneck. Buy an i7 if you want to see 99% usage on both gpu's.

NoobCannon · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:34

bah I never thought it would be this bad

also the game seems to run like pooh, felt like it was running better on one card, any suggestions?

if a cpu upgrade is req I guess the card will be going back!

setter · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:35

Seems very low though tbh. With a 3570k @4.5ghz and sli gtx 670's, my gpu's were maxing at 80% in bf3. Max settings with x4 msaa at 1920x1200. A stock 3770k has seen the card use rise to 91% in bf3.

pgi947 · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:36

Do you have vsync enabled? And what frame rates are you seeing?

Tonester0011 · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:37

40% on each card does seem very low, more to it than just a simple CPU bottleneck imo. Is it the same usage regardless of GPU clock?

LtMatt · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:40

Agreed usage is low even for a bottleneck. I would guess hes using vsync as i see around 40-50% usage with my crossfire setup with vsync on.

setter said:
Seems very low though tbh. With a 3570k @4.5ghz and sli gtx 670's, my gpu's were maxing at 80% in bf3. Max settings with x4 msaa at 1920x1200. A stock 3770k has seen the card use rise to 91% in bf3.

Probably need to overclock that 3770k to see 99% usage at a res of 1080p.

TheRealDeal · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:41

As ltmatt said bf3 loves cpu threads so that will bottleneck your gpu's a little. However there's no way you should be seeing 40% on each gpu as you still have a strong cpu. As above check if vsync is enabled as that might be lowering how hard your 7970's have to work.

Martini1991 · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:43

LtMatt said:
Simple, cpu bottleneck. Buy an i7 if you want to see 99% usage on both gpu's.

No.
There could be a bottleneck, but 40% GPU usage? That isn't because it's an i5.

setter · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:44

LtMatt said:
Agreed usage is low even for a bottleneck. I would guess hes using vsync as i see around 40-50% usage with my crossfire setup with vsync on.

Probably need to overclock that 3770k to see 99% usage at a res of 1080p.

True mate, will hopefully be getting it sorted this weekend. Aiming for 4.5ghz. Was similair to when i tried my old 920 with sli 470's, card use was about the same with that cpu at stock.

=XDC=FluphyBunny · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:44

LtMatt said:
Simple, cpu bottleneck. Buy an i7 if you want to see 99% usage on both gpu's.

Really? Quick look at benchmarks still have little or no difference for an i7?

NoobCannon · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:44

ive tried with and without v synch, even tried radeon pro [alltho I don't really know what im doing] tried following a few guides such as setting flip que size to 1 etc but nothings making any difference!

fps im seeing as high as 200 and as low as 50!

tbh ive notice erratic using with my one 7970 recently, maybe I should try a reinstall of bf?

TheRealDeal · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:46

Martini1991 said:
No.

For bf3 its the truth as hyper-threading works well in this game. It's not a must though as i remember there only being a 5% improvement in performance where multi-gpu was concerned.

LtMatt · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:48

Martini1991 said:
No.
There could be a bottleneck, but 40% GPU usage? That isn't because it's an i5.

No debate, there is a bottleneck. At best he will see around 70-75% usage, and even thats optimistic at 1080p.

setter said:
True mate, will hopefully be getting it sorted this weekend. Aiming for 4.5ghz. Was similair to when i tried my old 920 with sli 470's, card use was about the same with that cpu at stock.

I found 4.5ghz on sandy enabled me to run with pretty much constant 99% usage in bf3 so 4.5ghz on ivy should be plenty mate.

=XDC=FluphyBunny said:
Really? Quick look at benchmarks still have little or no difference for an i7?

Yes really. Used both an i5 and an i7. Believe it or not even my 680 slaying single overclocked 7970 was slightly bottlenecked in bf3. Not by core speed but by lack of core/threads. It won't be noticeable to most though. Once you chuck in a second gpu the bottleneck becomes very noticeable though by low gpu usage and microstutter.

NoobCannon said:
ive tried with and without v synch, even tried radeon pro [alltho I don't really know what im doing] tried following a few guides such as setting flip que size to 1 etc but nothings making any difference!

fps im seeing as high as 200 and as low as 50!

tbh ive notice erratic using with my one 7970 recently, maybe I should try a reinstall of bf?

What sped is your cpu running at? You can try overclocking it but you're limited by cores/threads not by cpu speed.

setter · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:50

=XDC=FluphyBunny said:
Really? Quick look at benchmarks still have little or no difference for an i7?

Tbh, i have noticed quite a difference in bf3 by switching to a ht enabled cpu. With a single card, the 3570k coped very well though.

NoobCannon · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:50

LtMatt said:
What sped is your cpu running at? You can try overclocking it but you're limited by cores/threads not by cpu speed.

cpu speed is 4.7

Martini1991 · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:51

TheRealDeal said:
For bf3 its the truth as hyper-threading works well in this game. It's not a must though as i remember there only being a 5% improvement in performance where multi-gpu was concerned.

I don't debate there could well be a bottleneck.
Just that the 40% is caused by the i5 and magically an i7 will make it 99%.
Because that is a bunch of balls.

The maximum HT will gain when the CPU's being fully maxed out is about 30%.

EDIT : Ignoring the fact that you saying 5% would contradict LTMatt's Night/Day explanation of how much it'll improve

LtMatt · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:51

setter said:
Tbh, i have noticed quite a difference in bf3 by switching to a ht enabled cpu. With a single card, the 3570k coped very well though.

+1 infinity.

NoobCannon said:
cpu speed is 4.7

You need an i7 im afraid if you want to see your gpu's stretch their legs in this game. That said we can still try to improve your current performance.

NoobCannon · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:53

ive just tried again dropping my clocks incase it was an instability problem but the usage stayed the same.

and also as I said earlier pretty choppy!

im re-downloading bf3 atm so wont be able to try and suggestions until tomorrow but any help is appreciated tbh,

Martini1991 · 19 Jun 2013 at 19:55

Run BF3 with a single card, report back the GPU usage and frame rates.