HD 4870 insane stuttering

[Dwarfius]

Hi!

I bought a Visiontek HD4870 1 week after its release, and the card has some very strange behaviors. In Crysis, Gears of War and Call of Duty 4, the game freezes for 3-7 seconds each time I turn around or when I look at very open spaces. I know the textures must be loaded but it was not that bad with my old 8800 GTS G80 (1 second lag max). However, when this stuttering isn't happening, the framerate is absolutely fantastic. Other games have no problems at all.

Here are my specs :
- E6750 @ 3.2Ghz
- HD4870
- OCZ StealthXtreme 600W
- 2Gb RAM 800Mhz
- Vista 32 bit

I tried reformatting, and I tested with every single driver available since 8.6 hotfix (even betas and custom drivers...). I also tried overclocking the card but it was actually worse. Temperature is not the problem. I ajusted the fan speed and my temps never go above 45C.

Any help/suggestions will be highly appreciated because right now, these games are unplayable.

Thank you and sorry for my bad English.

 

[thilanliyan]

I think it might be your 2GB of ram that's the problem. Vista is a bit memory hungry unless you trim it down manually....Try overclocking the ram a bit...see if that helps.

 

[Dwarfius]

I had the same setup (with Vista 32 bit) with my 8800GTS and never had these problems. Actually, Call of Duty 4 never lagged once.

 

[Quiksilver]

What resolution and driver settings?

 

[Aberforth]

Crysis will stutter with 2 GB RAM and Radeon 4870. To reduce the stuttering disable AA, turn off Windows Defender, move the page file to a different drive and upgrade your RAM.

 

[Dwarfius]

Resolution : 1680x1050
Drivers : Catalyst 8.8 (8.522)
Not sure what you mean by driver settings, but everything is set to default (including clock speeds).

 

[Dwarfius]

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Crysis will stutter with 2 GB RAM and Radeon 4870. To reduce the stuttering disable AA, turn off Windows Defender, move the page file to a different drive and upgrade your RAM.

I know it's supposed to stutter a bit but why is the stutter worse than my old setup (with a 8800GTS)? The average frame rate is better but it's nearly unplayable. With the 8800GTS the framerate was pretty constant.

Oh and I never put AA with Crysis.

 

[Aberforth]

Originally posted by: Dwarfius

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Crysis will stutter with 2 GB RAM and Radeon 4870. To reduce the stuttering disable AA, turn off Windows Defender, move the page file to a different drive and upgrade your RAM.

I know it's supposed to stutter a bit but why is the stutter worse than my old setup (with a 8800GTS)? The average frame rate is better but it's nearly unplayable. With the 8800GTS The framerate was pretty constant.

My friend had this issue when he upgraded to 4870- there was a lot of disc thrashing and the game was less responsive, it stopped when he upgraded his RAM. Crysis has no optimizations for Radeon 4870 especially when AA is enabled, it's runs better with nv cards. Disabling AA will reduce stuttering by 50%.

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: Aberforth

Originally posted by: Dwarfius

Originally posted by: Aberforth
Crysis will stutter with 2 GB RAM and Radeon 4870. To reduce the stuttering disable AA, turn off Windows Defender, move the page file to a different drive and upgrade your RAM.

I know it's supposed to stutter a bit but why is the stutter worse than my old setup (with a 8800GTS)? The average frame rate is better but it's nearly unplayable. With the 8800GTS The framerate was pretty constant.

My friend had this issue when he upgraded to 4870- there was a lot of disc thrashing and the game was less responsive, it stopped when he upgraded his RAM. Crysis has no optimizations for Radeon 4870 especially when AA is enabled, it's runs better with nv cards. Disabling AA will reduce stuttering by 50%.

Read his OP; it's not happening with just Crysis. Although upgrading to 4GB of RAM would be beneficial to him. I don't think that could be the major cause of this problem.

OP:

Was the 4870 Installed on a fresh format after the 8800GTS, or did you just remove the previous drivers?

Also with the games you listed 9Cod4, gow, crysis) are those the only games this happens with? Or Was that the only couple of games you tried. What happens if you try to play a more flexible game; like HL2 or CSS?

Lastly, by settings I mean't; Vysnc on? AA? AF? Etc.

 

[Dwarfius]

OP:

Was the 4870 Installed on a fresh format after the 8800GTS, or did you just remove the previous drivers?

Also with the games you listed 9Cod4, gow, crysis) are those the only games this happens with? Or Was that the only couple of games you tried. What happens if you try to play a more flexible game; like HL2 or CSS?

Lastly, by settings I mean't; Vysnc on? AA? AF? Etc.

- I installed the 4870 on a fresh format.

- Devil May Cry 4, HL2, Bioshock, CSS, etc all play perfectly. It only happens with the three games I mentionned but I could also add Company of Heroes.

- AA and AF are turned off. I don't know about Vsync, so I'll check this out.

 

[Calculator83]

get more ram, + 64bit windows.

 

[BFG10K]

Your CPU is overclocked; have you run it at stock?

 

[Genx87]

What motherboard chipset are you using? This sounds exactly like an issue I had with my 6800GT + NForce3 250 chipset. When I installed the motherboard drivers it would do this. If I used the standard generic microsoft drivers it was perfect.

 

[Stern]

I'm just building a system and I will be playing similar games, does a 4870 with 4 GB ram and a E8500 sound ok for that? Thanks

 

[sonnygdude]

Stern, I'm running Vista x64, an E8500, and a single 4870 and I haven't seen any stuttering whatsoever in COD4, it's running smooth a silk w/ all the eye candy maxed at 1920x1200. I would go with the previous posters and guess it's insufficient RAM maybe? My OS seems to use about 1.3 GB just sitting there

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: sonnygdude
Stern, I'm running Vista x64, an E8500, and a single 4870 and I haven't seen any stuttering whatsoever in COD4, it's running smooth a silk w/ all the eye candy maxed at 1920x1200. I would go with the previous posters and guess it's insufficient RAM maybe? My OS seems to use about 1.3 GB just sitting there

True, but it can be very hard to measure the actual RAM usage of Vista while idle as it handles a lot of tasks "as able" when other programs are not using the RAM.

Something else is at play here; i can play GoW and CoD4 just fine with a 3.0 e2160, 2GB RAM, and a 8800GTS on 1920X1200 with SOME eye-candy enabled. I dont have the answer, but I don't buy that the RAM is entirely at fault either.

 

[smyffalis]

used to happen to me quite a bit with my e8200 @ stock, 2gb ram, hd 3870. i hated it. especially online. so i overclocked to 3.61ghz (450fsb) which brings my ddr2 800 to 900mhz. not much of an overclock, but its helped quite a bit. i want to overclock my ram more, though it causes BSOD so i havent been bothered doing it!

more ram does seem like the best solution btw.

i used vista x64 and use settings on high by the way.

 

[apoppin]

try O/C'ing your CPU

.. and make sure you have the right MB chipset drivers

Now, when you say you tried O/C'ing the 4870 and it made it worse, that is very strange; now see what happens when you OC your CPU.
:Q

Don't use any custom drivers; just Cat 8.8. Make sure you uninstall all the extra programs related to monitoring or tweaking your card.

Are any setting in CCC "forced" ?
- like "wide tent" or SuperSampling .. or 8xMSAA; that will definitely give you a little 'lag'; let the 'application decide' everything for now

 

[bobsmith1492]

I have the same problem in Oblivion with Qarl's texture pack mod and a 4850. I have Vista 64-bit with 6GB RAM so I know it isn't the RAM...

Certain areas will stutter (down to <1 FPS) for a couple of seconds if you turn around. Then, sometimes after that happens - if you turn around few times quickly - the whole area slows permanently down to ~2FPS. Typically everything is ~20-35FPS.

I do have forced 2xAA on, with HDR set in the game menu.

 

[Dwarfius]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
Your CPU is overclocked; have you run it at stock?

Yes, same results (OC'd CPU provides higher average fps)

Originally posted by: Genx87
What motherboard chipset are you using? This sounds exactly like an issue I had with my 6800GT + NForce3 250 chipset. When I installed the motherboard drivers it would do this. If I used the standard generic microsoft drivers it was perfect.

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R

try O/C'ing your CPU

.. and make sure you have the right MB chipset drivers

Now, when you say you tried O/C'ing the 4870 and it made it worse, that is very strange; now see what happens when you OC your CPU.


Don't use any custom drivers; just Cat 8.8. Make sure you uninstall all the extra programs related to monitoring or tweaking your card.

Are any setting in CCC "forced" ?
- like "wide tent" or SuperSampling .. or 8xMSAA; that will definitely give you a little 'lag'; let the 'application decide' everything for now

I already tried OCing the CPU. No forced settings in CCC.

By the way thanks for the replies everyone.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: bobsmith1492
I have the same problem in Oblivion with Qarl's texture pack mod and a 4850. I have Vista 64-bit with 6GB RAM so I know it isn't the RAM...

Certain areas will stutter (down to <1 FPS) for a couple of seconds if you turn around. Then, sometimes after that happens - if you turn around few times quickly - the whole area slows permanently down to ~2FPS. Typically everything is ~20-35FPS.

I do have forced 2xAA on, with HDR set in the game menu.

Qarl's texture pack is known to take a huge amount of video ram...so that would be your problem since you have a 512mb card.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: Dwarfius
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R

Did you install all the chipset drivers?

 

[Dwarfius]

Originally posted by: thilan29

Originally posted by: Dwarfius
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R

Did you install all the chipset drivers?

Everything that came with the CD.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Originally posted by: thilan29

Originally posted by: bobsmith1492
I have the same problem in Oblivion with Qarl's texture pack mod and a 4850. I have Vista 64-bit with 6GB RAM so I know it isn't the RAM...

Certain areas will stutter (down to <1 FPS) for a couple of seconds if you turn around. Then, sometimes after that happens - if you turn around few times quickly - the whole area slows permanently down to ~2FPS. Typically everything is ~20-35FPS.

I do have forced 2xAA on, with HDR set in the game menu.

Qarl's texture pack is known to take a huge amount of video ram...so that would be your problem since you have a 512mb card.

Why only certain areas and only some of the time - and why does it "lock" into a super-low-FPS mode...

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: Dwarfius
I bought a Visiontek HD4870 .

I think I found the issue......



(oh come on, we havent had any good NV/ATI rage in here in at least a month)