BF4 SLI issues

[ozzy702]

Running the 331.65 drivers on my SLI 780 setup and performance is terrible. Very jerky and stuttery. Not smooth at all. Game plays great in single GPU configuration. Do I just have to wait until NVIDIA fixes their drivers?

i7-3770k @ 4.4ghz
Z77-Sabertooth
8GB 2133 GSKILL
Corsair HX-750

 

[Pandamonia]

The Irony is not lost on me.

AMD fixes CF and SLI is now broken.

You couldnt make this up...

Warning issued for thread crapping.
-- stahlhart

 

[dust]

Running the 331.65 drivers on my SLI 780 setup and performance is terrible. Very jerky and stuttery. Not smooth at all. Game plays great in single GPU configuration. Do I just have to wait until NVIDIA fixes their drivers?

i7-3770k @ 4.4ghz
Z77-Sabertooth
8GB 2133 GSKILL
Corsair HX-750

No, you can move on...

 

[moonbogg]

So the game is smooth with SLI off and crappy with it on? Are you on windows 7? All I know is I had the same stuttering issues with windows 7 and windows 8.1 didn't only cure it, but it gave a huge FPS boost.

 

[ozzy702]

So the game is smooth with SLI off and crappy with it on? Are you on windows 7? All I know is I had the same stuttering issues with windows 7 and windows 8.1 didn't only cure it, but it gave a huge FPS boost.

Yes, Windows 7 wish a fresh install. I didn't feel like shelling out the money for 8.1 since I don't like the UI (I use it on a laptop at work).

I never played with SLI on BF3 (just picked up my 2nd 780 with the price drop) but BF4 has been a let down after dropping good money on a second card.

Are there settings that can be changed to smooth things out or is it a waiting game for smoother drivers?

In single configuration the game plays beautifully and is very close to BF3 on the smooth factor. I fully expect after DICE fixes things like they did after the BF3 release that BF4 will be smooth as butter, I'm just wondering if I should hold on to this 780 in the hopes that SLI runs as smooth as a single card or if I should send it back to newegg.

Any advice is welcome.

 

[Grooveriding]

I get a lot of microstutter in Battlefield 4 multiplayer with SLI as well. Not sure what the deal is because most games are smooth.

 

[Stuka87]

Yes, Windows 7 wish a fresh install. I didn't feel like shelling out the money for 8.1 since I don't like the UI (I use it on a laptop at work).

I never played with SLI on BF3 (just picked up my 2nd 780 with the price drop) but BF4 has been a let down after dropping good money on a second card.

Are there settings that can be changed to smooth things out or is it a waiting game for smoother drivers?

In single configuration the game plays beautifully and is very close to BF3 on the smooth factor. I fully expect after DICE fixes things like they did after the BF3 release that BF4 will be smooth as butter, I'm just wondering if I should hold on to this 780 in the hopes that SLI runs as smooth as a single card or if I should send it back to newegg.

Any advice is welcome.

If the game runs smooth at the settings that you want to play at, I would not bother with a second card. If you are going to be upgrading to a 120Hz 1080P display, or a larger 1440P display, keep the second card. I am sure any BF4 specific SLI issues will be addressed.

 

[Spidre]

I'm putting my money on BF4 optimization...

 

[ozzy702]

If the game runs smooth at the settings that you want to play at, I would not bother with a second card. If you are going to be upgrading to a 120Hz 1080P display, or a larger 1440P display, keep the second card. I am sure any BF4 specific SLI issues will be addressed.

I play at 1440p. It runs smooth with a single card and lower settings but I wanted to try cranking things up. Even with the same settings as I run in single card configuration it stutters.

The reason I posted is that the drivers specifically mention BF4 optimizations so I figured it would be running fairly well. It sounds like SLI is "broken" at the moment for BF4 but should be fixed in the future.

For those of you that played BF3 with SLI was it a pleasant experience? I HATED my 7950's in crossfire which is what prompted me to pickup the first 780. I'm just wondering if it's a symptom of multiple GPU's or just drivers in their infancy for a particular game.

I have ran more AMD cards that NVIDIA over the years but I switch back and forth depending on who has the best performance at the time. Hoping SLI is fixed soon, if not I'll send back this 2nd 780 and look at selling the other 780 and picking up either an AIB 290X or a 780ti.

I noticed with these drivers tabbing out to the desktop is buggy compared to drivers in the past so maybe there's some serious improvement to be done. Any word on the next betas?

 

[Venomous]

BF4 is just a mess in general and until they address it's shortcomings, you're just wasting time installing, tweaking and Uninstalling drivers and settings.

CoD Ghost plays like a dreAm so I'm sure in due time dice will get this worked out. I know this is the last BF game I buy into... What a crappy launch trying to keep a release date with a product only 90% ready.

 

[24601]

Sounds like a heavy CPU bottleneck there.

It's not surprising. The game is CPU bottlenecked running single GPUs as well.

One of the main reasons it's so pointless to have crazy GPU performance.

 

[ozzy702]

Sounds like a heavy CPU bottleneck there.

It's not surprising. The game is CPU bottlenecked running single GPUs as well.

One of the main reasons it's so pointless to have crazy GPU performance.

From what I can tell the CPU isn't bottlenecking, at least not 99% of the time. Remember, it's only choppy in SLI, not single gpu.

Others on the nvidia forum and on evga have reported similar behavior in BF4 so I'm chocking it up to DICE and NVIDIA needing to fix issues with the game/drivers.

 

[Grooveriding]

Yeah I am certainly not CPU bottlenecked. Oddly the beta felt smooth, but since the release and newest drivers from nvidia it has been a mess. Lots of stutter with SLI on.

 

[Teizo]

What a crappy launch trying to keep a release date with a product only 90% ready.

Has allot to do with this I imagine. I don't have it yet, but just like the open beta had bad stuttering at first...it later got patched and ran really well. Imagine it will be the same here.

I've never been fond of being a beta guinea pig, so I'm going to wait for them to get everything sorted out before I bother with it.

 

[Venomous]

Well I wouldn't be busting down doors to get it anytime soon. When I fire it up I hVe a 50% chance of playing the game without issue. As much as I've hated the call of duty games after cod 4, I do have an appreciation with a working game. If it weren't for COD Ghost I would probably have really been a real bitter person.

I also don't think Nvidia or AMD are to blame here when it comes to BF4. I think realistically it wasn't ready for launch and having a 3 way release. ( console / PC. ) took the zip out of their dooda. If anything, AMD and Nvidia have kinda made this game more playable then without extensive driver makeovers. I'm sure others have opinions on this subject but I'm really trying to be positive despite whos pointing fingers. If anything I would think BF4 would work better on AMD cards since AMD's launch was geared toward BF4 with the included bundle.

Seems DICE let both parties down and are trying to fix issues on the console portion of this nightmare first.

 

[24601]

From what I can tell the CPU isn't bottlenecking, at least not 99% of the time. Remember, it's only choppy in SLI, not single gpu.

Others on the nvidia forum and on evga have reported similar behavior in BF4 so I'm chocking it up to DICE and NVIDIA needing to fix issues with the game/drivers.

SLI of the same card is pushing more frames than a single card of that SLI.

I thought this was obvious.

BTW, I have the same issue with a single 7970. I have my settings such that I get 55 fps 99 percentile minimum on 64 player conquest large.

 

[RaulF]

BF4 is just a mess in general and until they address it's shortcomings, you're just wasting time installing, tweaking and Uninstalling drivers and settings.

CoD Ghost plays like a dreAm so I'm sure in due time dice will get this worked out. I know this is the last BF game I buy into... What a crappy launch trying to keep a release date with a product only 90% ready.

I can say the complete opposite on my end.

BF4 runs good, ghost just a few days now runs decent. And i have to disable xfire for it work without lag.

 

[ozzy702]

SLI of the same card is pushing more frames than a single card of that SLI.

I thought this was obvious.

BTW, I have the same issue with a single 7970. I have my settings such that I get 55 fps 99 percentile minimum on 64 player conquest large.

Even when vsync is enabled the same behavior is presented so no, I don't think it's a cpu bottleneck. I'm pretty sure 99% of the issue is sli is broken on bf4. Watching cpu usage none of the cores are anywhere near maxed.

I can pull a steady 60fps with the setting I've been using. I just wanted to push crazy eye candy with the second card.

I think a big part of the problem is the game not being polished. I experience little problems with my AMD box in single gpu mode but it's pure crap with crossfire so it may just take time for DICE and drivers to be where they need to be.

In regards to COD... I have played every COD title up until now and they have all had problems at launch that took awhile to fix. Not bashing COD but none of those games come close to the scale and complexity that the battlefield series does. 64 players, commander, vehicles, huge maps and a ton of weapons etc make it a lot bigger challenge to tackle than regurgitating COD over and over again. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge COD fan, but bashing DICE for having buggy releases while ignoring the issues that COD titles have had is one sided.

 

[felang]

Even when vsync is enabled the same behavior is presented so no, I don't think it's a cpu bottleneck. I'm pretty sure 99% of the issue is sli is broken on bf4. Watching cpu usage none of the cores are anywhere near maxed.

I can pull a steady 60fps with the setting I've been using. I just wanted to push crazy eye candy with the second card.

I think a big part of the problem is the game not being polished. I experience little problems with my AMD box in single gpu mode but it's pure crap with crossfire so it may just take time for DICE and drivers to be where they need to be.

In regards to COD... I have played every COD title up until now and they have all had problems at launch that took awhile to fix. Not bashing COD but none of those games come close to the scale and complexity that the battlefield series does. 64 players, commander, vehicles, huge maps and a ton of weapons etc make it a lot bigger challenge to tackle than regurgitating COD over and over again. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge COD fan, but bashing DICE for having buggy releases while ignoring the issues that COD titles have had is one sided.

I still dont understand how the hell Ghosts uses more VRAM than BF4.

 

[24601]

I still dont understand how the hell Ghosts uses more VRAM than BF4.

DX9 vs DX11

BF4 also makes heavy use of instanced textures and instanced objects.

 

[Grooveriding]

I wouldn't be surprised if nvidia uncorked BF4 and gave up their frame pacing to look better in benchmarks, I say this because BF4 is the only game where I really see stutter with SLI on, but don't with it disabled. The only other game I notice it in is Crysis 1 and in that game it's been like that as long as I can remember.

Have any review sites done that whole FCAT business on nvidia SLI in Battlefield 4 ?

 

[moonbogg]

I'm not exaggerating when I say BF4 runs better than BF3 did for me, with higher minimums and much higher average FPS, with the same hardware and SLI enabled. Know why? I've said it a million times and people don't care enough to take action on it. Windows 8.1 fixed the performance issues completely coming from windows 7. My only issue is I don't have enough vram to have textures on Ultra. Those have to be set to high, but all else is Ultra and runs like a 2 year old game thanks to windows 8.1.
If this game is important to you, windows 7 is gimping you like you wouldn't believe.

 

[Silverforce11]

Very few review sites even do BF4 and the ones that do are mostly doing SP which isn't relevant at all because 64 MP conquest large maps is heaps more taxing on the system. We need to demand better from these review sites, they are just slacking off, reviewing a purely MP game using SP is just wrong.

 

[24601]

I'm not exaggerating when I say BF4 runs better than BF3 did for me, with higher minimums and much higher average FPS, with the same hardware and SLI enabled. Know why? I've said it a million times and people don't care enough to take action on it. Windows 8.1 fixed the performance issues completely coming from windows 7. My only issue is I don't have enough vram to have textures on Ultra. Those have to be set to high, but all else is Ultra and runs like a 2 year old game thanks to windows 8.1.
If this game is important to you, windows 7 is gimping you like you wouldn't believe.

I thought that people already concluded that this was purely a core parking issue effecting SMT and CMT cores, and is easily solved without going to 8.1.

 

[Owls]

Running the 331.65 drivers on my SLI 780 setup and performance is terrible. Very jerky and stuttery. Not smooth at all. Game plays great in single GPU configuration. Do I just have to wait until NVIDIA fixes their drivers?

i7-3770k @ 4.4ghz
Z77-Sabertooth
8GB 2133 GSKILL
Corsair HX-750

323.27 drivers have made things slightly better, not great, but better. Use single display performance mode also. I'm using 3x GTX 680s and I get random fps spikes into the teens when stuff blows up near me, or i die, or use a tv missile. it's beyond frustrating. I tried disabling core parking, HT, etc. This is purely a driver issue and something nVidia should be ashamed of.