SLI/CF is microstutter an issue for you?

[Gregster]

A couple of spikes on the CF but looks fine. Do you notice any microstutter in CF on Tomb Raider?

I worked it out that I pick up microstutter after 40ms.

I was considering another 680, but this thread is making me think its a bad move.

It is something to be aware of but don't let this thread put you off. I had SLI 680's and they were super smooth with 313.95 drivers.

 

[Gregster]

Sniper Ghost Warrior 2 (Cry engine 3 game) and very smooth. 5760x1080 with everything maxed.

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
6036, 120000, 42, 62, 50.300

Quite taxing but looks stunning.

 

[Gregster]

I have found a solution to my ridiculous stutter and GPU usage drop issue with the 7970 Matrix Platinums in crossfire I posted here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18496162

I originally managed to sort out BL2 but installing RadeonPro and setting Flip Queue Size 1. However, this didn’t solve BF3, Metro, Heaven or 3D Mark Firestrike. I tried everything Google was throwing at me apart from a complete OS rebuild.

In the end I finally found a solution….

Before:

Spoiler

After:

I got rid of the 7970s (actually still trying to sell one in MM) and got a GTX 690!!

I have around the same FPS, some better, some worse but the difference is really in how smooth it is. It’s smoother now than it was with one 7970, I cannot explain fully how silky gaming is now. As another bonus, PhysX running on GPU, matters to some. So far I am VERY pleased with the GTX690 and I’m surprised at how well it overclocks and how quiet it is. I have the fan on 100% and it’s quieter than one 7970 Matrix Platinum @ 60%...
Even the little things like 3D Mark 2011 and Heaven, there were parts that used to jerk a couple of times at certain points naturally, regardless of what settings used or RadeonPro running, just thought it was the benchmark, those jerks are gone!

My whole experience with AMD Crossfire was terrible, with one card it was okay, minor issues to be honest, nothing that couldn’t be solved with yet another driver update here and there. But Crossfire? I am actually shocked at how bizarre it was. In reviews, here and other forums you will notice a lot of people experiencing no problems or some with minor issues that they “resolve”, and crossfire gets recommended all over the place. After my experience, I regret ever moving from nVidia and I can no longer recommend Crossfire as a valid option. However, I won’t blab about my experience and tell people not to go for AMD Crossfire, as there are many that have found it working fine for them. I’m just sharing my experience and conclusion.

Now I can put that behind me and sit for hours on end playing games, rather than tinker, tweak and pull my hair out. Yay!

I am glad you are happy with the 690 and by all reports, it is a fantastic card. Good to see it is smooth as well, as there is nothing worse than broken gameplay.

I thought you was going Titan if I am honest

Nice to see your honesty about not going on in CF threads as well. Like you say, some people have no issues and some do and this is the same for both CF/SLI, as well as single card proplems. I know you had hair pulling times and people did try and help but sometimes, nothing seems to work.

Anywhooooo, never mind games and get benching...Gaming is so old news and benching is where we are at now

 

[Gregster]

Thanks for the link Rossi. Fascinating stuff. So AMD and Nvidia both agree fraps is a waste of time. Lol. We were all duped.

Great to see AMD implementing a micro stutter solution. Exciting times ahead.

It is a joke of a program apparently

I think I will continue to use it though

 

[Gregster]

I didn't bother reading it and went on Matts assumption

I know if a game doesn't feel smooth and I pick up the slightest microstutter. The results are never different to what I percieve and what is shown in the graphs.

 

[Gregster]

Thats bad advice in 2013......

Waste of time buying 2x690's for the simple fact that thre gimped by 2GB Vram limit so anygame that you play will only have 2GB of ram available therefore limiting the excellent performance of the card regarding its core and shaders.

OP dont waste your money on 2x690's stick with 1 and wait for a more worthwhile upgrade to come along.

I also had 2x690's when they came out, Waste of money cause of the Vram limit.


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Firstly,I am the OP and this thread is about showing your CF/SLI frame times.

Secondly, can you show me where 2GB isn't enough? You are quick to state it and yet show no where this to be true. Show it or keep quiet.

@ Rossi, pay no attention mate and VRAM will only be an issue if you go with super size resolutions of 5760x1080 and above.

 

[Gregster]

If you use Nvidia inspector and turn your 8xMSAA+SGSSAA on 99% of games you will run out of vram i guarantee it, go check for yourselves.

Even on 4xMSAA your going ot be hitting a Vram bottleneck at resolutions over 1920*1200.
Even playing old games like L4D2 with the above settings hits the Vram wall.

Then there is downsampling which eats up even more Vram.

Then there is the new consoles looming over the horizon where 2GB of Vram not be enough.

So buying a 2nd 690 now stands as a bad choice and bad advice to give to somebody.

Plenty of examples in this thread of 690 hitting vram limit early on.....
http://www.overclock.net/t/1249960/official-nvidia-gtx-690-owners-club

Gregster why are your barking? Calm down, Im giving good truthful advice here.

Why on earth would anyone start forcing 8xMSAA+SGSSAA on is beyond me?

I for one, pop the game settings at full and play and unless there is some other issue, I don't bother with NI.

I am far from barking and pulling you up on your supposed good advice...

Edit:

I for one would also not go SLI 690's purely for support of 4 way SLI and the fact it isn't needed at 1440P or below.

 

[Gregster]

Stop telling everyone to research it. I did plenty of games at 5760x1080 full spec with SLI 680's (2GB) and didn't hit the VRAM wall. FarCry3 was the first time I did but with 6xMSAA on (still under the 2GB buffer), I was getting less than 20fps.

Now Crysis 3 at my res resulted in me using 3.8GB of VRAM, so going on your theory, bin anything under 4GB...Make that 6GB because of consoles coming out?

 

[Gregster]

Why not research it Greg? So people can take your word?
Research and analysis is what educates people.

It is pointless and has been done to death so many times before here but you have done your research and provided no evidence to substantiate your claims of VRAM running out at at 1920x1200.

You even said yourself that you dont use NI so what would you know about advanced tweaking and ill prove it here.....

I was going to and probably still do a write up for NI because of how ugly the GUI is. Maybe you could do that because you seem pretty hot on it. This isn't me being funny either, I know a little bit about it but not that much.

OK Greg so you gamed on FC3 at 5760x1080 with 2GB on 680's? Doesnt that tell you at that super high resolution that AA was not working on FC3 from vanilla settings?

I assumed that switching from 0 MSAA to X4 MSAA improved the jaggies, so it was working but you say it isn't?

I explained this before in another thread that FC3 was broken at release and many tweaks were needed at NI custom flag and xml. file for it to work correctly.

FarCry3 worked perfectly for me on 313.95 drivers. It proves the game wasn't broken but drivers were the issue. It is working perfectly well for me with the latest 314.22 drivers again.

I know this because myself and many others over at Guru3d spent many hours tweaking the game all giving input and i can tell you that the vanilla game was broken and you was playing with no AA even though you selected it in Menu.

You was playing at such at High Res that your probably didnt even notice the lack of AA.

Again, a write up of NI would be sweet and you seem to be very clued up on it. Could be useful.

Go over to the Guru3d thread and run FC3 with the tweaks to fix the game and i guarantee at your resolution with 2x680s the cards will be crippled.


Like i said a few posts back here ingame AA dont always work, Its FACT with many games.



4GB is fine and also you cant run FC3 with 6xAA or any other game as a matter of fact.

You can only run 2,4,8,16,32.
You can also combine this with sparse grid for even better visuals but takes a massive vram hit.

This can give a slight blurring( nothing like fxaa) but by adjusting the negative LOD bias of around -500 to -1000 depending on the amount of AA that use.

The new console architecture is reported to use lots of Vram so the PC is gonna need even more because the lack of specific custom gpu chips.

You still didn't answer my Crysis 3 VRAM usage. Surely using 3.8GB now will indeed require more than 4GB when these consoles are released?

 

[Gregster]

I would be interested in that NI link if you have it.

I will give adding AA through NI a play and see if it is noticable.

 

[Gregster]

Really? Well ive been over at Guru 3d for a few years now and everyone over there which is a good few thousand is always looking for the lastest custom AA flag and lastest custom sli compatibility flag if its not included in Nvidia profile already.

Even the official Nvidia forums have a massive thread on NI custom flags and so do other websites.

Rusty i presume your in the minority.

Then there is SweetFX also which is something else i could talk about.

Im actually quite shocked as im in the GPU section of OCUK and nobody has really mentioned that they use these well known GPU tweaks.

I cant even find an OCUK thread on Nvidia downsampling

This is mainly an AMD orientated forum though.

 

[Gregster]

I hope for some warmer weather soon. It seems some people are not happy at the mo and it could be down to a lack of sun. Roll on the spri...Oh wait, roll on the Summer

 

[Gregster]

You are going against your signature again Tommy and only reading what you want to read.

I hope AMD do fix the CF issue of frame drops and runts. This thread was a good way of showing ways to sort it or highlight it but only Matt had any input and he is single card

 

[Gregster]

Why were my posts deleted? I said nothing bad and it was all on Topic and very relevant to this thread

 

[Gregster]

/me strokes his 3GB of vram

And that will be forced to the max when these new fangled console thingys come out.

I will stick with my jubbly 6GB cards and give them a little nod when playing Crysis 3 and seeing 3.8GB of VRAM being used

 

[Gregster]

I've peaked at 4.5GB's on the later biggerer levels

No point recommending anything under 6GB for triple screens anymore then...