Disappointed with my 4850

[SeductivePig]

Ok guys I found something interesting.

On Newegg, it says my card's stock clocks are 625Mhz for the core, and 1933Mhz for the memory.

When I open up CCC, it says my core closk is 625Mhz and my memory clock is 993Mhz.

Does this mean my card is underclocked?

HOLY CRAP I THINK I FOUND THE PROBLEM

MY CARD IS UNDERCLOCKED

The stock memory should be 1933 but mine is 933!!!!! wtf!!

 

[footballrunner800]

On Newegg, it says my card's stock clocks are 625Mhz for the core, and 1933Mhz for the memory.

That is part of a power saving feature. When you load the card, it should go back up to 625/930. Im guessing you're having some problem with something else besides your gpu. Team fortress 2 is heavily cpu dependent. If you get low fps/freeze/bsod in the game i would check with prime again your cpu stability for at least 3 hours.

Edit: Besides being underclocked during 2d, you have to multiply your ram speed x2 to get your actual speed. GDDR3= Graphics Double Data rate v3

 

[footballrunner800]

By reading your previous threads, you are definitely having problems with your cpu. You said that it froze during orthos and you fixed it by blowing off the dust in the HS. Yet you only tested for a couple of minutes. Besides checking for stability, check your cpu temps to see that its not throttling due to excessive heat. Download real temp and run it while running orthos and see what the temps are. If temps go above 70C i would remove the HS and reapply thermal paste.

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: CrazyDesi

When I open up CCC, it says my core closk is 625Mhz and my memory clock is 993Mhz.

No, it means it's reading 2D clocks, which is normal.

So after a reinstall nothing has changed. Gee, I didn?t see that coming. :roll:

Now will you check vsync and your chipset drivers or will you try the magic (tm) reinstall again?

It's amazing how many people recommend reinstalls and overclocks in poor performance situations when in reality they?re the last thing you should do.

 

[SeductivePig]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

Originally posted by: CrazyDesi

When I open up CCC, it says my core closk is 625Mhz and my memory clock is 993Mhz.

No, it means it's reading 2D clocks, which is normal.

So after a reinstall nothing has changed. Gee, I didn?t see that coming. :roll:

Now will you check vsync and your chipset drivers or will you try the magic (tm) reinstall again?

It's amazing how many people recommend reinstalls and overclocks in poor performance situations when in reality they?re the last thing you should do.

How do I check chipset drivers? Are you referring to my video card drivers?

And by vsync, I checked it in CCC and it is turned on to full. Also, how does vsync affect crysis performance even if it's not on, since my fps goes nowhere near 60?

Also, I'll try the orthos program, but when I load it should I stress both cpu and ram, or just cpu?

My cpu idle temp is 45c by the way.

thanks

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: CrazyDesi
Ok guys I found something interesting.

On Newegg, it says my card's stock clocks are 625Mhz for the core, and 1933Mhz for the memory.

When I open up CCC, it says my core closk is 625Mhz and my memory clock is 993Mhz.

Does this mean my card is underclocked?

HOLY CRAP I THINK I FOUND THE PROBLEM

MY CARD IS UNDERCLOCKED

The stock memory should be 1933 but mine is 933!!!!! wtf!!

First of all. forget crysis and D/L 3DMark06 and run it. Then d/l HL2's Lost Coast which should be a free demo with a built in bench. Run it at max settings.

Finally, your card IS underclocked in 2D mode; it ramps up in 3D .. that is normal

and run with Vsynch *off*
- for now!

What are the REST of you setting like in CCC? Do you have "let the application decide"? If not, you are applying filtering which will kill your FPS [depending]

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: CrazyDesi

How do I check chipset drivers? Are you referring to my video card drivers?

No, chipset drivers are for your motherboard. They tell Windows how to configure everything properly to run optimally. If you?ve reinstalled Windows and still get poor performance it?s 99% likely you?ve forgotten to install your chipset drivers.

And by vsync, I checked it in CCC and it is turned on to full.

There's one problem right there - turn it off and also turn it off in all games.

Also, how does vsync affect crysis performance even if it's not on, since my fps goes nowhere near 60?

Without a triple buffer if you're getting 30-59 FPS on a 60 Hz device the framerate will drop to 30 FPS. But let?s not complicate things with triple buffering, just disable vsync first and test it.

 

[SeductivePig]

Should I have on triple buffering or not then? I'm assuming no.

Ok I just updated my chipset drivers.. installation took < 1 second so I have doubts that it did anything lol, i'm probably wrong again.

Gonna restart, then will reply.

 

[BFG10K]

For now turn off both vsync and triple buffering and try to get the performance up to where it should be. When you fix things you can start tinkering with your old settings again.

But like I said the most important thing is to install the latest chipset drivers for your system; without them things will run slow no matter what you do.

 

[SeductivePig]

Ok I tried team fortress 2.

Got a huge improvement.

However, crysis is still the same, if not, worse then before. (laggy at 20fps)

What does this mean?

 

[BFG10K]

Did you turn off vsync in Crysis and your control panel?

Also 1680x1050 all high and 4xAA is probably out of reach of your card. Try 2xAA or no AA instead.

 

[taltamir]

AA? in crysis?

Also... who cares about average FPS, it has nothing to do with smoothness, check your min FPS. use FRAPS for it.

 

[bob4432]

here is my info for crysis @ 1280x1024:


Run #1- DX9 1280x1024 AA=4x, 32 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Overall Average FPS: 36.65

 

[SeductivePig]

Yea my min FPS in TF2 now is like 50.. it usually varies between 50-90.

This is with vsync off and triple buffering on.

So you guys recommend to take AA off of crysis?

Also is it generally better to have vsync/triple buffering on or off?

 

[BFG10K]

Dude, turn off triple buffering if you're not running vsync.

And yes, reduce the AA level in Crysis.

It looks like your problem was a combination of not having the latest chipset drivers and having too high settings in Crysis

I bet if you tried CoD 4 again you'd find a massive improvement.

 

[SeductivePig]

Ok I understand to turn of triple buffering if I don't have vsync on.


But is it better to have both on or off?

Does vsync give a performance increase? Or is it just used to cap your fps at your refresh rate?

 

[Tempered81]

vsync off is usually better performance.

use cat 8.7s too. & oc that e4400

 

[SSChevy2001]

Vsync is only if you notice screen tear, it's not for performance.
Triple buffer helps vsync peformance, but is not to be used when vsync is off.

Best go without both and test for screen tear, if none go without it.
Don't use AA with crysis as it's already to demanding of a title. Also DX9 works better with crysis even with very high tweak.

 

[SeductivePig]

Alright I REALLY appreciate all the help you guys gave me.

Learned a lot of things here.

Thanks!




And just for kicks

My Team fortress 2 FPS is now 50-90, everything high @ 1680x1050, 4x AA

My Crysis settings are 28-35 FPS now, everything high @ 1680x1050, no AA

Have to test COD4 still, but I think it'll be alright.



Can any of you guys enlighten me as to how much FPS increase I can expect if I overclock my 4850? And how much can I expect if I overclock my CPU to 3ghz (from 2ghz?)? Thanks

 

[Tempered81]

Originally posted by: SSChevy2001
Vsync is only if you notice screen tear, it's not for performance.

Vsync makes a huge difference in FPS in many games

 

[thilanliyan]

This is oddly familiar...akshayt anyone?

 

[taltamir]

well, its good to know your problems have been resolved. congrats

 

[QuixoticOne]

Well I suggested doing a simple CPU scaling test to see if it pretty directly correlated with FPS change.
You could even do it with underclocking. If at stock speed you get 30FPS and at stock speed - 10% you get 27 FPS
then the FPS is pretty much tracking your CPU clock 1/1 or whatever, maybe it'll show 0.7/1 or something similar.
If you see significant variation in FPS vs MHz then your CPU is probably the bottleneck.

It is also possible it is compounded by something like a lack of cache memory and the way that affects the game,
or maybe low memory bandwidth if he's running single channel with slow timing RAM.

Certainly driver / game improvement can go a long way to fix optimizing for CPU and cache and memory bandwidth,
so it is not unthinkable that the problem is mainly hardware performance but is compounded by software being non optimum.

First things are to fix your cooling problems, clean up your old driver installs and game settings, install the latest
drivers, latest game patches, and see what you get. Try more benchmarks like 3dmark and not just one game too.

If you find still slow performance, see if it scales with CPU O/C or U/C to a large extent, and if so consider O/Cing the
CPU or so.

I doubt the GPU is malfunctioning, especially if you can see its clock rates actually working at the appropriate 3D rates
running GPUZ while the game is running in a window or whatever.

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: CrazyDesi

Can any of you guys enlighten me as to how much FPS increase I can expect if I overclock my 4850? And how much can I expect if I overclock my CPU to 3ghz (from 2ghz?)? Thanks

Not much in general; most overclocking is done just to get bigger 3DickMark scores to see who can get an extra five points and therefore have the "longest".

In the real world you might get 10% or even 20% extra performance if you're lucky which translates to little to no real-world benefit. You'd have to be pretty lucky to hit 3 GHz on a 2 GHz CPU despite claims to the contrary stating it?s a non-issue.

That and upping the voltage and clocks puts the stability and longevity of the device at risk.

As has been painfully obvious in your example, if you have performance issues overclocking is the last thing you should be trying.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

Originally posted by: CrazyDesi

Can any of you guys enlighten me as to how much FPS increase I can expect if I overclock my 4850? And how much can I expect if I overclock my CPU to 3ghz (from 2ghz?)? Thanks

Not much in general; most overclocking is done just to get bigger 3DickMark scores to see who can get an extra five points and therefore have the "longest".

In the real world you might get 10% or even 20% extra performance if you're lucky which translates to little to no real-world benefit. You'd have to be pretty lucky to hit 3 GHz on a 2 GHz CPU despite claims to the contrary stating it?s a non-issue.

That and upping the voltage and clocks puts the stability and longevity of the device at risk.

As has been painfully obvious in your example, if you have performance issues overclocking is the last thing you should be trying.

if you have solved all you heating issues, you should consider o/c'ing your CPU; that will give you a substantial performance gain.

But head over to CPU/Overclocking forum for the guides. There is a solid FPS increase from 1.9G to 3.0Ghz and very little danger as long as you do not get much extra heat; do not try for an extreme OC and - especially - Do not overvolt!