480 SE FPS

[4DJ]

Hi all

Have received my gigabyte 480 SE.

Overall very happy coming from an 8800 GTX.

At the moment In Crysis 2 I am getting 50-60FPS in enclosed environments but in larger areas\battles 40FPS is the average however this sometimes drops to the 30's and can feel a little jerky. is this normal for that card with the following spec

1900x1200
Core 2 Duo E6750 @ stock
6gb pc2-6400

or is something not quite right (a new bottle neck maybe)

Any comparisons or opinions appreciated

Thanks

4D

 

[wedgie]

Sounds about right that, upgrading the dual core would gain some frames but nothing drastic. Crysis is definately one of those games where the average can be fine, but it's the dips that are most noticable.

 

[HeX]

You don't say what settings you are using in Crysis.

DX10 is a fair bit slower than DX9 (though visually there's nothing in it).

Are you using AA?

Very High still puts a lot of strain on even modern GPU's.

 

[OCPete]

On my i7 rig my 480 overclocked as per signature is rock solid @ 60FPS at all times. Max settings but lower res.

What gfx settings are you using?

Also put afterburner on and look at GPU utilisation in the game.

And check a CPU utilisation program as well (task manager would do).

My money is on the CPU.

 

[Zaim]

Hmm you should be getting better fps in Crysis 2, sounds like a cpu bottleneck

 

[4DJ]

Sorry guys

just to confirm Crysis 2, not the original! 2

Graphics set to Extreme at 1900x1200

with v sync on (in game)

basically maxed out at that res.

afterburner shows the 480 at around 98% utilisation in game however resource monitor also shows the 2 cores of the CPU at 100% so it looks like everything is being stressed.

 

[cmndr_andi]

Looking at this article, Crysis 2 seems to be a pretty CPU-heavy game and makes good use of a quad core.

With a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo and a GTX 480, I think it is very likely that it is your CPU that is holding things back.

 

[~REALiTY]

I would say its the CPU, your graphics card is more than powerful enough to handle this, so it looks like the cpu could be causing the drop in fps when a lot is going on because it has to do more calculations

 

[postmanfw]

My old 8800GTS saw a good improvement when i went from stock to 4GHz on a E8500 so i would say your cpu will be holding the card back.

Have you considered overclocking the cpu?

 

[SouthEastBlue]

100% down to the CPU, more and more games these days perform better with a tri/quad core processor so if you want a reason to upgrade then there it is.

 

[4DJ]

my knowledge of overclocking is not 100% so I followed this last night just to give it a go

1. Lower the DRAM frequency to 667MHZ from 800Mhz so it will be FSB:RAM=1:1

Update : Set ur PCIe frequency to Manual and set it to 100MHz just to be sure it wont go high and do Video card Probs

2. Increase the FSB to 400MHz from 333Mhz(your stock speed) dont change the multiplyer leave it at 8 or Auto.
When you do this ur DRAM frequency will increase to 800MHz so itll be running on stock speed, No OC on Ram

3. And u got a overclock of 3.2GHz

rebooted and seemed stable CPUZ stated @3.2Ghz

ran the game again and if it did make a difference it was hard to spot still 30-40FPS in a busy area maybe the lows were slightly higher\not as frequent

However I have to say every time I've tried over clocking in the past I can never say wow that changed things so end up putting it back to stock.

 

[skotish|]

If you can afford even a Q6600 it would sort yer problems out

 

[OCPete]

Overclock your GPU as well!

Super easy in afterburner.

Stick to stock volts to begin with and slowly up the sliders one at a time. Test at each new level with some games (and Kombustor if your cautious).

 

[postmanfw]

If its the cpu thats holding back the gpu then making the gpu faster wont really help that much.
As said try to pick up a 2nd hand Q6600 or a E8500/E8400 and overclock it

Most Wolfdales will do 4GHz

 

[4DJ]

Cool thanks for the info guys.

looks like the 8400 is a good shout

i'll let you know how I get on.

 

[daveash]

Cool thanks for the info guys.

would you say £100.50 is a fair price for a new Q8400 retail set....

and a worth while upgrade in my position?

Thanks!

4D

It's not bad, but a Q6600 will probably clock higher with a lower FSB (thanks to a higher multiplier). Search Q6600 SLACR on a popular auction site and it should give you some results <£100.