Very poor performance in BF3. FX-8150/MSI HD 7970 @1125/1575

[Noilzan]

Hello there guys. I'm sorry for making a thread like this, i know how dull it is, but you are my last hope.

I'm using:

MSI HD 7970

FX-8150 at stock

8gb corsair vengeance @ 1600mhz

1920x1080 @ 120hz

I've been using this system for a month or so and i'm having some major issues with battlefield 3.

If i enable the ultra preset, i'll never go over 40 fps, usually having around 30 - unless im staring up in the sky.

I literally have to set everything to medium to be able to maintain a solid 60+ FPS, which sounds really weird considering my components.

The only other "demanding" game i've been able to test is Assassins creed revelations and im able to keep a good FPS with more or less the higest settings, so i'm guessing the problem has something to do with BF3.

The only answers i've gotten are the ones telling me that there is defenitely a GPU related issue, as opposed to the CPU not being up the job.

Is anyone familiar with this issue? I would really, really appreciate some help on this matter. I feel like i've looked everywhere without any luck.

If the moderators consider this thread being inappropriate or misplaced, i'll gladly remove it.

Thanks in advance

/Noilzan

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

Have you tried putting your GPU at stock speeds?

 

[Stevo]

Are you running the game with "V sync" on ? because you have a 120Hz refresh rate you should never put it on. Unless you can defiantly get 120 ish FPS. concerning the CPU tho, I've no idea how good it is cause I don't follow AMD's side of things. it could very well be a bottleneck problem as BF3 is a very CPU intensive game. but like I said I wouldn't know a good AMD CPU if it sprayed awesome sauce on my bed sheets.

 

[PEXON]

Don't ever use the word bottleneck again. An FX CPU and a 7000 series card will NEVER 'bottleneck.'

 

[yassarikhan786]

Don't ever use the word bottleneck again. An FX CPU and a 7000 series card will NEVER 'bottleneck.'

+1. That word is thrown around so lightly.

 

[Matthias2437]

Don't ever use the word bottleneck again. An FX CPU and a 7000 series card will NEVER 'bottleneck.'

Yeah. The newest AMD cpus may have slightly been a let down but an eight core CPU that is stock 3.6 ghz isn't going to bottleneck any current single card.

I do recommend dropping the overclock on your 7970 back to stock though, overclocking too high can reduce performance.

 

[S_I_N]

Don't ever use the word bottleneck again. An FX CPU and a 7000 series card will NEVER 'bottleneck.'

not saying I disagree or agree but got anything to back that up?? Something can always be bottle-necked. IMHO its his cpu its being ran stock. A modest oc on that puppy and it'll alleviate his bottleneck for BF3 a very cpu intensive game gpu as well.

 

[SieB]

No way would the CPU be the bottleneck, people keep on about CPUs bottlenecking the GPU, with an old CPU like a Pentium 4 then yeah it may bottleneck the GPU but there is no way an FX-8150 or anything above a pentium D dual core would be a bottleneck.

[font=Verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans]BKCXb is using a Pentium D @ 4.5ghz with a 560Ti and having no probs on Crysis 2 which is just as demanding as BF3[/font]

http://forum.overclo...ts/page__st__20

 

[Stevo]

jeeze guys... I did mention it twice in my post "I don't have a clue what AMD's CPU ranges / performance are" I didn't know [font="Verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans"]FX-8150 was there latest chip. was just a suggestion. as that can cause frame loss in BF3[/font]

 

[jonnyfgm]

i think your problem must be software related somewhere. I have a 7970 and can run BF3 on ultra (apart from lately i keep getting direct x crashes but thats a seperate issue)

if you have access to a spare HDD might be worth attempting a fresh install of windows on that and trying BF3 on that, good way to eliminate possible sources of the problem

Have you had any issues with other games?

Run a 3d mark 11 test and see what score you get, this mainly depends on the GPU performance so should be a good way of testing things

 

[PEXON]

jeeze guys... I did mention it twice in my post "I don't have a clue what AMD's CPU ranges / performance are" I didn't know [font=Verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans]FX-8150 was there latest chip. was just a suggestion. as that can cause frame loss in BF3[/font]

Why comment then? An FX chip as I said won't, 'bottleneck,' any new card. All you have to do is look at benchmarks. The 8150 keeps up with the 2500K performance wise. The problem may be drivers.

So I presume my 955-BE bottles my 560Ti on BF3 on ultra... er no... It runs at 40 fps, with everything cranked up no problem.

 

[Noilzan]

After playing a round of BF3, i noticed that my gpu usage was running at about 60% in afterburner which was quite weird.

I have no idea what causes this...

 

[Big WigglyStyle]

After reading some "bottlenecking" comments I feel I should say that an 8150 is currently AMDs flagship processor and will not bottleneck a 7970. I have an i5 2500k at stock speeds with a superclocked gtx 570 and I get 50fps average on ultra in intensive situations on a 1080 screen with 2xAA in bf3 I would say try knocking it back down to stock speeds,check for drivers. And make sure your card isn't overheating because when cards get hot they turn down performance to stay within their heat limits

 

[Rastalovich]

I'm so so so glad I finally got an anti-bottleneck posse. I love you all !

Anywho, does the 7970 or perhaps the drivers, have any known issues with the game ? A google of the issue may bring up some stuff.

To check your system generally, this is where I find artificial benchmarks to be very handy. Install some futuremark stuff like TTL uses in the reviews and run them. If these results are kewl, then it's the game itself/drivers.

 

[TheOneHalf]

I'm so so so glad I finally got an anti-bottleneck posse. I love you all !

Anywho, does the 7970 or perhaps the drivers, have any known issues with the game ? A google of the issue may bring up some stuff.

To check your system generally, this is where I find artificial benchmarks to be very handy. Install some futuremark stuff like TTL uses in the reviews and run them. If these results are kewl, then it's the game itself/drivers.

BF3 hates memory overclocks at least I found I get massive performance reduction on my 7970 when overclocking the memory. (Also weird visual glitches apear )

 

[Rastalovich]

BF3 hates memory overclocks at least I found I get massive performance reduction on my 7970 when overclocking the memory. (Also weird visual glitches apear )

That could be a knock-on effect of BF3 using a huge amount of video memory. Just like the main memory on a computer, if you don't use much of it, a bad overclock 'can' be used to get to the desktop. Attempt to use all the memory, like a stress bench app, and the memory fails.

Use a game that takes up a lot less memory than BF3 and you get away with the bad overclock.

This really is where stress testing apps for cpu/memory/graphics are useful.

 

[TheOneHalf]

That could be a knock-on effect of BF3 using a huge amount of video memory. Just like the main memory on a computer, if you don't use much of it, a bad overclock 'can' be used to get to the desktop. Attempt to use all the memory, like a stress bench app, and the memory fails.

Use a game that takes up a lot less memory than BF3 and you get away with the bad overclock.

This really is where stress testing apps for cpu/memory/graphics are useful.

The odd thing being the heaven benchmark runs fine only BF3 seems to have an issue with my memory being overclocked in any form or shape

 

[jonnyfgm]

i have my VRAM significantly overclocked and BF3 doesn't mind at all

 

[Grim_Reaper]

How about overheating? What are the temps? Is the PSU operable? Is the OS fresh? Try different card, to exclude of confirm 7970. Just common recommendations, but who knows if it gonna help.

Though, it sounds like software problem.

 

[cerbrus2]

Their is no way the Bulldozer will "bottleneck" the 7970. BF3 actualy runs better on my friends system with a 8core fx chip than it does on mine with a overclocked 2500k, merely due to the fact that BF3 is one of if not the only games that supports 8 core CPU processing. So the CPU is deffinatly not an issue.

I will say though that the results you are getting does sound alot like the card is damaged in some way. or hasent got enough power, so has lowerd its performance to suit the power it is getting.