BF4 CPU/System Lag spikes - NOT FPS

Bam · 26 Apr 2014 at 19:55

Upgraded to an i5 and new mobo. BF4 now actually looks great, but I'm getting very regimented spikes, as if the FPS were dropping from 60 (I have that as my max atm) to 30, happens every 10s, and lasts for 1-2s. I have the FPS counter up, and thats solid at 60.

I've tried current and non beta drivers, as well as some older 13.xx ones. Any thoughts as to what's causing this, as it appears to unrelated to my GFX card.

Thanks

bJN · 26 Apr 2014 at 20:07

Out of interest, is the game on an SSD or an HDD? I had a few jitters before I moved it onto my SSD and haven't had a recurrence since!

Krisali · 26 Apr 2014 at 20:11

Welcome to BF3/4. This would happen on my old system tried everything to fox it and in the end had to reinstall Win7. PITA

robertchalmers1 · 26 Apr 2014 at 20:14

thats exactly why i dont play it anymore either

Bam · 26 Apr 2014 at 23:37

bJN said:
Out of interest, is the game on an SSD or an HDD? I had a few jitters before I moved it onto my SSD and haven't had a recurrence since!

SSD, along with the entire Origin Games folder.

The spikes are routine, its like something is dipping out etc. Its bad enough to stop me playing, which seems a tad crap, considering I upgraded just to play BF4 on something better than a Phenom :confused:

Rroff · 26 Apr 2014 at 23:45

Its not just rubber banding? does it do it in the firing range map to?

bJN · 26 Apr 2014 at 23:54

Have you checked memory usage also then? Could be an issue there possibly. Other than that, I have no idea what could be causing it

~>Dg<~ · 27 Apr 2014 at 00:06

should be fine. check gpu hd or drivers.

Bam · 27 Apr 2014 at 00:41

Same on Test Range, yeah. Memory is 8Gb, and nothing running in the background.

I forgot to say that was in DirectX, as any version of mantle seemed to crash bf4.exe, to often to be bothered. That said, using 14.4 now, and seems slightly more stable on my 7870 (Mantle), but instead of graphical spikes, I now have one of those those weird ripple lines, when I move. Hey ho, back to troubleshooting rather than playing lol /facepalm

Muska · 27 Apr 2014 at 01:10

This sounds crazy but I had exactly this on BF3 till I set origin to not be enabled during game play. That fixed it for me.

Bam · 27 Apr 2014 at 01:14

Muska said:
This sounds crazy but I had exactly this on BF3 till I set origin to not be enabled during game play. That fixed it for me.

This is BF/EA/Origin, sounding crazy is par for the course eh

I'll check, but I normally turn that off.

Finners · 27 Apr 2014 at 11:27

The ripple on the screen is your screen tearing, as you have your fps set to 60 and I'm assuming a 60hz monitor the frames are close but not sync'd so you get a ripple run up or down your screen.

Turn vsync on or adjust your max fps to either 55 or 65, with the second option you will still get screen tearing but no input lag and it won't appear as such an obvious ripple.

Have you enabled the frame rendering graph to see what is causing the spike? And how much VRAM are you using?

I have a few settings I use in a configuration which smoothed my bf4, I look when I'm next on my PC and put them up in here.

Bam · 27 Apr 2014 at 11:54

So, running on Mantle 14.4 (Official not the RC they released just before) seems to be very stable and smooth as butter at 59.94 FPS and VSync on. I've never used Vsync in all my years out of habit from playing Quake/CS etc, its always introduced horrendous input lag, but on BF4, it actually makes input lag better.

Oh well, seems to be running okay for the moment so I'll test again today

V4NT0M · 27 Apr 2014 at 11:59

Personally I wouldn't use vsync in BF4 either, the input lag is noticeable, I also wouldn't limit the fps to 60, is there a particular reason to limit it?

~>Dg<~ · 27 Apr 2014 at 13:29

ripple is screen tear with a cap fps or vsync on you dont play with vsync on in fps

Finners · 27 Apr 2014 at 14:00

Skyfall said:
Personally I wouldn't use vsync in BF4 either, the input lag is noticeable, I also wouldn't limit the fps to 60, is there a particular reason to limit it?

Don't know about op but I find a constant fps noticeably smoother than letting it run at maximum all the time when you have dips from 100+ Down to ~60. So I cap it at 65 to stop that.

tidusjar · 27 Apr 2014 at 17:07

robertchalmers1 said:
thats exactly why i dont play it anymore either

+1

Rroff · 27 Apr 2014 at 17:10

Finners said:
Don't know about op but I find a constant fps noticeably smoother than letting it run at maximum all the time when you have dips from 100+ Down to ~60. So I cap it at 65 to stop that.

Been running with a mixture of settings so as to keep 125fps (capped) as constantly as possible as it minimises perceived screen tear when using no vsync at 120Hz.

Also means I can keep as clean an image as possible without making it look too low quality.

Bam · 27 Apr 2014 at 17:19

Skyfall said:
Personally I wouldn't use vsync in BF4 either, the input lag is noticeable, I also wouldn't limit the fps to 60, is there a particular reason to limit it?

The input lag with Vsync is not present when I use it. As I mentioned, I'm a long-time advocate of staying well away from it, its the first setting I change "Always Off", but for me, with BF4, and setting FPS to 59.94, it makes my input better, I'm surprised, but I am on mantle, so maybe it handles it differently.

Bam · 27 Apr 2014 at 17:22

Finners said:
Don't know about op but I find a constant fps noticeably smoother than letting it run at maximum all the time when you have dips from 100+ Down to ~60. So I cap it at 65 to stop that.

Most sites will tell you that 30fps is the limit the human eye can see, but any gamer will tell you they can tell you the difference between 30fps and 50fps on a monitor. 60fps seems to be the happy medium for me, with ultra settings and vsync, no lag, in fact its better, and with the better quality and less fps, it feels smoother than as you say, 125 fps dipping to 80 when the stuff hits the fan.