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Performance issue with AMD cards

GoogalyMoogaly

GoogalyMoogaly

GoogalyMoogaly

Soldato
Joined
29 Aug 2010
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(I've mentioned this problem in the BF4 benchmark thread, but it understandably gets lost)

I recently bought a couple of Sapphire 290s (instantly flashed with the new BIOS from Sapphire's website).
I put them in my rig and moved the 7950CF into my other rig (see sig for details).

I did fresh driver installs on both machines using the DDU Uninstaller thingy from Safe Mode.
Installed the 9.4 beta drivers.
BF4 was getting around 70fps at 1080p on Ultra.

I then downloaded the 9.5 betas and did a clean install of them. But that failed, so I had to install the 9.4 betas and then install the 9.5s over them.
They seem ok.

Ran Heaven 4.0 on each. 7950CF gets around 1500 (using setting in Kaap's Heaven 4 thread), and the 290s get over 2100. This seems pretty reasonable for stock cards.

But BF4 runs at around 80fps on the 7950CF (but fluctuates a lot). On the 290s though I struggle to get 60fps solid.
One difference between the machines is that the 290 machine has 2 monitors attached (only game on 1) while the 7950 machine only has a single monitor.

I also ran the Metro 2033 benchmark on the 290s and the result was very low (can't remember it off the top of my head).

To compare, the 7950CF machine used to run a single GTX 670 and was getting around 70fps at the same setting that 7950CF is now running.

Both machines are running Win7 HP.

Any ideas why I get such poor performance?
Any ideas how I fix it?

Thanks.
 
I see you said you have MSI AB can you try without that just to rule it out.
Control panel/Power options this on High performance and not power saver?

Maybe also run a Virus scan?? Kinder just shooting out idea here.
 
Weird.

What screen resolution do you run in?

A few things I would try if it was my rig:

Make sure ULPS is un checked in afterburner if your using it.

Run afterburner or gpu-z in the background and do a few heaven loops. Flip back to one of them half way into a run and see what the temps are looking like on both cards. perhaps ones throttling or both, because of temps?

I only use a single screen and a single 290, but it just plain refuses to work consistently when plugged into the bottom dvi connector. If I plug it into the top one I get no problems. Can you try the 2nd monitor on the 2nd card, top slot, or doesn't CF work like that?

Bench both cards individually too see if ones not up to spec?

Roll back your windows to the last restore point (usually gets done every time you install new drivers) and try installing beta 9.5 again?

report back! ;):D
 
Well, I did a quick fresh install on a spare SSD and it seems to be working much better (although still not as good as I was expecting for 290 CF).

So guess there must be something on the other install that is causing problems. My guess would be some Nvidia drivers hanging around. I used Driver Fusion and the DDU Uninstaller, but it hasn't helped.

Anything else I could try?
 
Did you run DDU in safe mode after you had un installed everything? I'm even as anal as removing the network cable so when I reboot, windows cant go to the internet to DL anything.

Did you try benching each card individually? maybe ones slowing the other down?

Ohh and from the previous post about plugging into that lower DVI port. On my sapphire 290r, if I plug the cable into the lower DVI I get black screens now and then, or the monitor doesn't sync sometimes from a cold boot etc. I have had zero black screens or sync issues with the top port. Only 1 screen plugged into this system.
 
Yeah, ran DDU in safe mode.

Not tried Benching the cards separately though. I did consider it though, but the fact a new install seems to solve (or at least vastly improve the performance) would suggest the cards aren't the problem (or at least not all of it).

It's now gone from struggling to hold 60fps to sitting at around 80-90 occasionally going up to 130 or more (very briefly and usually when I'm dead).
I'm thinking 290CF should be averaging over 100fps on ultra at 1080p though, shouldn't it?

EDIT: Does anyone know if it's possible to disable a graphics card in the Rampage IV Extreme BIOS so I don't have to physically remove a card or flip the little physical onboard switch?
 
On my 290r at stock with only a 2500k clocked at 4ghz I get better fps as that (win7 64bit with bf4 64bit executable). OK it drops a bit here and there but it usually sits around 90ish fps. Almost feels like your CF is disabled?
 
Just double checked. deployed on a random server, standard ultra 1920x1080 settings, sat there for a few mins and it kinda settled on 85fps. not much going on the screen though.
 
Just tried each card individually and there doesn't seem to be much difference between that and both cards. I did LtMatt's test to check Crossfire was on though (i.e. get the logo appearing in the top right).
I've also noticed the second card by itself seems to be about 10-15fps worse than the other one. Maybe it gets hotter and throttles?
And this is on the fresh install. They're even worse on the original install (which I've still got and would like to go back to if I can fix the issue).
 
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