Flagship card not good enough

triss · 13 Apr 2014 at 00:01

http://www.guru3d.com/files_details/display_driver_uninstaller_download.html

Techen · 13 Apr 2014 at 00:06

DDU Version: 12.6.2
Detected GPU : AMD Radeon R9 200 Series
Detected GPU : AMD Radeon R9 200 Series
Detected GPU : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti
Detected GPU : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770
Detected GPU : Standard VGA Graphics Adapter
Detected Driver(s) Version(s) : 9.18.13.2049
Detected Driver(s) Version(s) : 13.251.0.0
Detected Driver(s) Version(s) : 9.18.13.3193
Detected Driver(s) Version(s) : 6.1.7600.16385
Detected Driver(s) Version(s) : 13.251.0.0

I think it needs a clean...

Techen · 13 Apr 2014 at 00:45

Well cleared everything and installed 14.3 but am still getting mantle issues.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/38777455/spiking.png[IMG]

[B][COLOR="Cyan"]That picture is far to wide, the maximum is 1280x wide, use spoiler tags if its wider than that.[/COLOR][/B]

humbug · 13 Apr 2014 at 01:24

@ Techen.

Your CPU is the problem in BF4 with DX.

To give you an example.

R9 290

BF4 Shanghai: Ultra Preset 1080P

DirectX
Min 48, Max 97, Avg 65.158

Mantle
Min 68, Max 116, Avg 94.082

Put simply the difference in performance between DX and Mantle is huge.

Techen · 13 Apr 2014 at 01:29

humbug said:
@ Techen.

Your CPU is the problem in BF4 with DX.

To give you an example.

R9 290

BF4 Shanghai: Ultra Preset 1080P

DirectX
Min 48, Max 97, Avg 65.158

Mantle
Min 68, Max 116, Avg 94.082

Put simply the difference in performance between DX and Mantle is huge.

So a upgrade in CPU is needed?

humbug · 13 Apr 2014 at 01:34

Techen said:
So a upgrade in CPU is needed?

No, its not needed. I'm running a 4 year old AMD Phenom II x6.

In DX i get huge CPU bottlenecks, it can go as low as 40 FPS because the CPU is holding the GPU back.

In Mantle that does not happen, thats the whole point of Mantle, it removes the CPU bottleneck, even on weaker CPU's, with Mantle my old AMD CPU never ever holds my R9 290 back.

Your i5 is plenty powerful, if you use Mantle.

Techen · 13 Apr 2014 at 01:37

humbug said:
No, its not needed. I'm running a 4 year old AMD Phenom II x6.

In DX i get huge CPU bottlenecks, it can go as low as 40 FPS because the CPU is holding the GPU back.

In Mantle that does not happen, thats the whole point of Mantle, it removes the CPU bottleneck, even on weaker CPU's, with Mantle my old AMD CPU never ever holds my R9 290 back.

Your i5 is plenty powerful, if you use Mantle.

Youll notice that the photo is my computer running mantle with huge cpu spikes that freeze the entire game every minute

humbug · 13 Apr 2014 at 02:09

Techen said:
Youll notice that the photo is my computer running mantle with huge cpu spikes that freeze the entire game every minute

I don't get that, at all. what Drivers?

Add this to your BF4 user.cfg

Thread.MaxProcessorCount 4

arc@css · 13 Apr 2014 at 02:13

Your cpu most certainly isn't the problem; from what I can gather, BF4 has had its fair share of problems. Even without mantle, your cpu should be fine.

humbug · 13 Apr 2014 at 02:18

arc@css said:
Your cpu most certainly isn't the problem; from what I can gather, BF4 has had its fair share of problems. Even without mantle, your cpu should be fine.

With Min 40 FPS clearly its not, if i can beat that by a long way with an old AMD CPU in Mantle then clearly its a bottleneck, Even Matt gets much higher Min FPS in Mantle than he does in DX with a very overclocked i7.

arc@css · 13 Apr 2014 at 02:34

Most likely a BF4 specific issue then, since normally speaking, getting a bottleneck with a fast cpu like that is when someone is running two graphics cards (in a select few games).

Doogles · 13 Apr 2014 at 07:05

Techen said:
Am honestly so tempted to RMA or Sell the 290x and grab a 780TI just because of the new updated drivers and extra power.... Disappointed in AMDs slow reactions in fixing mantle, along with lack of games that support it.

If you are going to be like that get another R9 290 and thrash a GTX 780ti, seems like you are expecting to much from it! Turn down the AA and it will Ultra @60fps on just one R9 290.

Silent_Scone · 13 Apr 2014 at 07:54

Game dependant, you're not going to see this gain you're looking for. I get 100FPS on stock 4960 with three Ti at 4K in Floodzone with 110% scaling on top of that. But still even THEN that is with 2x MAAA as any more topples the VRAM limit on occasion.

You're best off as suggested buying a second 290x for now. A Ti will be quicker but you're talking stats quicker, the difference to the eye will be negligible at 1440p. Even less than it would be at 1080 as the bandwidth on Hawaii closes the gap the higher you go.

LtMatt · 13 Apr 2014 at 08:26

A single 290 is not enough to max out BF4 at 1440P/1600P. Neither will a 780TI so you're deluded if you think otherwise. If you knock AA off or down to x2 that will help. You will get a nice gain from Mantle with your cpu, will help with minimums. Mantle is working fine, so use it. Its been working fine for 290 users for a very long time. Just make sure you disable Dices frame pacing to get the highest possible fps when using it. Type RenderDevice.FramePacingMethod 0 into the console and hit enter. Or you can place it in a user.cfg file so you don't have to type it every time you play. Don't be a fool, use Mantle.

Regarding those spikes i think disabling frame pacing will help. However it may be a problem with one of the new DLC maps as the normal maps all work fine. Have to wait for Dice to release a new patch maybe.

Confused Stu · 13 Apr 2014 at 09:50

Techen said:
It only happens every so often, Small squares on the screen. When I run a window over them they go.

Should I still ask for a RMA?

That happens sometimes on my secondary screens, but only happens with the 14.x beta drivers, never had it happen with 13.12 driver or earlier. I've written it off as a driver issue and don't worry about it. Only happens very occasionally for me though (approx 1 boot in 10).

uksoldierboy · 13 Apr 2014 at 09:50

After owning both, if you were to swap out your 290X for a 780Ti you'd see no improvement in fps, this i'm certain of, the 290X is just as quick as the 780Ti in bf4 at 1080P and even more so at 1440P.

Definitely use Mantle and overclock your CPU and that 290X.

LtMatt,

I've not tried disabling Dices frame pacing method, is it just a case of creating a txt file and popping RenderDevice.FramePacingMethod 0 into it?

Gregster · 13 Apr 2014 at 09:52

uksoldierboy said:
After owning both, if you were to swap out your 290X for a 780Ti you'd see no improvement in fps, this i'm certain of, the 290X is just as quick as the 780Ti in bf4 at 1080P and even more so at 1440P.

Definitely use Mantle and overclock your CPU and that 290X.

Sorry but the 780Ti is faster than the 290X, so he would see an improvement in fps.

Finners · 13 Apr 2014 at 10:10

What. 290x do you have? Is it getting too hot and throttling?

uksoldierboy · 13 Apr 2014 at 10:12

Gregster said:
Sorry but the 780Ti is faster than the 290X, so he would see an improvement in fps.

I didn't say the 290X was faster the the 780Ti Greg

, i said in BF4 a 290X is just as quick as 780Ti.

Gregster · 13 Apr 2014 at 10:14

uksoldierboy said:
I didn't say the 290X was faster the the 780Ti Greg , i said in BF4 a 290X is just as quick as 780Ti.

That you did.