Great post from the LT. I had this same issue with serious GPU usage fluctuation in graphic heavy games like BF3 and BF4. It is noticeably smoother as well and after watching afterburner graphs it was indeed switching between boost modes and flashing the BIOs fixed it.
Also anyone having weird usage or stuttering, try closing your internet browsers when playing (regardless of which one).
Flashed mine - (((thanks again LTMatt)))) - and yes mine did stutter. I thought it was server lag so tried more. The fps fluctuated wildlt too, like when BF4 was in the beta. Minimising browser did get rid of this but I also did turn back on ULPS. Now it is smooth again albeit lower fps.
What I have noticed since flashing is my fps has dropped from what it was with stock BIOS. Under stock I left ULPS on (just installed 13.11 bv9.2 with no changes) and the only thing I could notice was GPU-Z saying one was running at 99%. But it was smooth and I have notice it throttling between 950-1000Mhz as with all drivers previous.
Since flashing and closing browsers it is smooth but with a reduced fps. PAracel Storm I was in the 80 fps range. Before flashing my avearge GPU % usage was in the 50% range And now it is above 70% and avearging high 80's. CPU (i5 2500k @ 4.4Ghz) running high 90%'s
So I'm getting less fps and more GPU usage.
My Q's,
Does does disabling ULPS just get rid of the GPU-z sensor @99% or is that core 'actually' running at 99%. Is disabling ULPS required predominantly for OC'ing. With a 7990 I'm not that bothered about OC'ing at the moment as it's not needed.
Another p[roblem I have is flickering of textures in BF4. One of my freinds says this is a characteristic of dual GPU cards. Anyone else suffer this or know of fixes what to look at.
Sorry for questions I'm a bit of a noob at the 'real' techie stuff.
Thnaks in advance for any replies.