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680 SLI owners + BF3

chipachap

chipachap

chipachap

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Joined
23 Dec 2011
Posts
1,137
Location
Ireland
Just wondering what everyone has to say about 680's in SLI in BF3 Multiplayer. I am using 2 X 7970's in Xfire and I just can't seem to get it running right.

My main query is what is GPU usage like on multiplayer, are your cards running consistently at 98% or above no matter what settings you have on?

I am fed up of not being able to turn down settings to get the 120 FPS I want for my monitor and I am just wondering is it an AMD driver issue or is it a BF3 MP issue.

When I play Co-op or campaign my gpu's are stuck at 99% no matter what settings I have on but in multiplayer even when i OC my FPS stays the same and usage just drops. They are also at 99% in Crysis 2 at max settings with all the add-on packs.

I've a 2500K at 4.8Ghz so i know it's not a CPU bottleneck. I've also tried numerous drivers and CAP's with little improvements.

By A in Caspian Border up on the rock it dropped as low as 56FPS with 68% usage on both cards :(

Any input in appreciated and screenshots if you feel like it! Need to know if I should sell these for 680's or if the problem is on both sides.
 
Rusty0611 said:
Why do you want 120 FPS?

What resolution do you play? I get 60-120 FPS (avg. 85-90) with one 680 at 1080.
Click to expand...

I want 120 Fps because my monitor is 120hz capable and well after trying 120 fps I wouldn't go back to 60, tearing is barely visible and everything is seriously smooth! Just the standard 1920X1080.

Is that ultra preset or are you using FXAA with MSAA disabled?
 
It maybe a CPU bottleneck as its got allot more work to do and cant feed the GPUs fully all the time plus server lag load can bring down fps as well.
 
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What's the rest of your system, CPU Ram PSU Mobo etc? what AMD drivers/CAP
What res you running?

I get between 70 and 120fps on BF3 at ultra since the patch on my mildly oc'd 7970.

Edit, seen your specs on your profile. Suggest un-installing all the drivers using the AMD program in add/remove programs, then check the registry for AMD/ATI keys and delete. Restart and re-install.
 
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If an 2500K at 4.8Ghz is a bottleneck then there's something seriously wrong somewhere, I only join to servers with less than 60ms ping and leave if it get's laggy but my fps never drop when usage is up they only drop when usage drops, even if i turn down to low fps stays at ~100 but usage drops to 50% each.

I've a 2500K @ 4.8Ghz with a watercooling all-in-one kit, keeps it <60 degrees in bf3.
ASRock Fatal1ty z68 gen3 pro mobo
8Gb Kingston HyperX 1600Mhz ram
1TB Seagate HDD
BenQ XL2420T
Corsair GS800 PSU

What settings is that dave_beast, and is that with one card? I'm using the RC11 driver with 11.12 cap3. If I use 12.2 or 12.3 i get missing textures on maps, 12.2's give me lockups and the 12.4's screw up Fifa on me, so I'm stuck on these!

As i said above even when I turn down settings or OC FPS stays the same but usage in AB drops. If i look into the distance and when i'm flying in Caspian Border and in a handful of other places they are at 99% but it's when i'm on the ground where i need it usage and fps are all over the place.

EDIT 2: I'm not the only one that has this problem, hundreds of people on a range of forums have the same problem and no-one has found a fix, in Eyefinity they work perfectly but I presume that is because such a resolution is dragging the cards to the max even though i need them at their max for 120fps aswell but it's not happening.
 
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http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18373291

ALXAndy said:
You're better off with the latter. Mostly because there isn't a CPU on earth that could let two 6990s stretch their legs properly.

Infact I would be truly surprised if that Q6600 could even let one 6970 loose.

My I7 950 holds back my 7970 when compared to my friend's I7 2600k. By about 15%.
Click to expand...


http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=358530
Intel LGA 2011 6 Core 3960 @ 5Ghz
Asus Rampage IV Extreme
QuadFire 7970
X-Fi USB Sound Card Need single card bracket for my PCI-E X-Fi
16GB G.Skill 2133Mhz DDR3 Quad Channel Ram 9,11,10 @ 1.65v.
3 Acer 23" 3D Ready LCDs
2x Ultra X4 1600 WATT P/S 's


All 99% load in BF3
 
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I read in reviews that a 3960X is only a slight bit better than a 2500K for gaming performance wise but surely a 2500k at 4.8 shouldn't hold back 7970 in Crossfire? In places it get's to 99% each but it's not consistent.

I was getting perfect scaling in Eyefinity alright, would you care to test 1080p for me on Gulf of Oman testing usage throughout? Would be much appreciated!
 
chipachap said:
I read in reviews that a 3960X is only a slight bit better than a 2500K for gaming performance wise but surely a 2500k at 4.8 shouldn't hold back 7970 in Crossfire? In places it get's to 99% each but it's not consistent.

I was getting perfect scaling in Eyefinity alright, would you care to test 1080p for me on Gulf of Oman testing usage throughout? Would be much appreciated!
Click to expand...

Not my Rig, but do you have a CPU monitor running that you can see while playing to see if it corresponds.
 
What do you mean? I took a couple of SS in BF3 with the perf overlay thing but I don't know where they save to. What type of monitor do you suggest?
 
I have a CPU bottleneck in my system.

1 680 GPU and I get 99% usage no problem. In SLI I get between 50-80% usage.

When I drop off 4xAA to 0xAA I get no more fps, and just a lower usage on my GPUs.
 
Would there be any reason why an overclocked 2500k be inferior to a similarly clocked 2600k?

Other than HT, which rarely has any effect on games, they are both the same cpu.

I don't see BF3 cpu usage being excessively high in MP to start bottlenecking gpus.

Can anyone shed some light on this?
 
Just to add some info to this thread, yes a 2500k in BF3 @ 4.8 is a bottle neck I have just changed from a 2500k to an FX 6100 @ 4.6Ghz GPU is a 480 GTX and everything is a hell of a lot smoother on the FX as its using all 6 cores and delivering better high FPS and not so low, low FPS. With the 2500k clocked at 4.8 I was getting lag spikes when thing's got heavy in 64 player caspian boarder servers not so now. BF 3 loves multicore CPU's the more the better!

Get yourself a 26/2700k seems a shame to bottle neck such a great GPU setup.
 
The situation in this thread is analogous to Q6600 bottlenecking 5850 xfire, even though 5850 or 460 are the perfect sweet spot gpus for the likes of Q6600 cpu and similar. Heck my [email protected] bottlenecks single 5850 (stock) to around 82-84% gpu usage in Crysis, BF3 multiplayer etc. Goes to show that even in heavy gpu dependant games, cpu can be a major factor in holding back a graphics card.

As we all know that generally graphics cards are always way faster than cpus in performance, even though architecture is completely different.

[email protected] is extremely fast processor but what is even trumping this is xfire 7970s or sli 680s. However one thing that intrigues me is that as seen from Final8y and Cool Breeze results and as seen in the linked threads, processors with more cores or hyperthreading seem to be the stronger option in terms of supporting multiple gpus. Could it be that more cores provide better support for xfire/sli?

Could it be that other factors influence multiple gpus performance; perhaps quadchannel ram? Although not computer scientist myself:p
 
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Cool Breeze said:
low FPS. With the 2500k clocked at 4.8 I was getting lag spikes when thing's got heavy in 64 player caspian boarder servers not so now. BF 3 loves multicore CPU's the more the better!

Get yourself a 26/2700k seems a shame to bottle neck such a great GPU setup.
Click to expand...

64 player caspian border is a killer for cpu performance and my favourite map:p. As long as you stay at the edges of the map, everything is smooth and nice. The moment you jump into action, lol the perfomance takes a definite hit depending on your cpu. The other map is strike at karkand, another cpu heavy map.

My [email protected] is easily 96-99% cpu usage in these maps.

Another thing I have noticed about BF3 is that it loves to make use of whatever resources are available to it. So if you have more cores, it will make use of these cores. More vram, it will make use of it.
 
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