HD4870 issues

[Unit1Evangelion]

I just recently built this rig and I have been disappointed with its performance altogether so far. Everything updated to the latest driver and nothing is OC'd. I have Asus HD4870/8.8 Cat. running at 38c idle 47 under full load. Running Crysis on max, I get choppy frames during some battles, looking around too fast and sometimes in random places. Happens with various other games as well. Watching movies along with mkv and h264, i still get chops and frozen frames with updated codecs.

I know it doesn't prove alot but I ran a test with 3DMark Vantage with everything on performance got some some terrible results.

Highest FPS:44
Lowest FPS: 4
Average FPS: 24

GPU score was 8318 if that means anything(3DMark score 0). CPU was crappy as well which seems to be true because my crap runs pretty slow. But I will post that in the necessary place about that.

Anyone know what could be making it run underpar from every review out today? Thanks. System specs are in sig.

 

[Keysplayr]

Have you installed all the proper drivers for your motherboard? Chipset drivers?

 

[Unit1Evangelion]

Yes, updated bios, chipset, audio and net when I first got it. Believe the latest updates were at the end of July.

 

[postmortemIA]

did you have nvidia card before and you didn't reinstall windows?

 

[Unit1Evangelion]

Neg, everything is freshly installed on the new system. Nothing been changed out......yet ><......well besides rearranging fans but that wouldn't effect anything.

 

[Keysplayr]

Have you tried any games yet with the 4870? What framerates are you getting compared to online reviews?
And what OS are you using? Vista, XP, any Service Packs for either?

 

[Unit1Evangelion]

Opps forgot to put that in my profile.....Running Vista 64 fully updated.

Honestly...haven't checked the FPS with the games I have been playing with online stats. I have played HL2/Crysis/NWN2/Mass Effect which all get choppy. But I will test out the FPS ingame and post them up. I did however have a problem with F.E.A.R. and couldn't even play it no matter what settings. Was strange and gave up because it was unplayable.

 

[Zstream]

Temp of your CPU? Temp of the card?

What motherboard?

 

[Keysplayr]

One suggestion, and anyone jump in if they disagree, is to rollback your driver one version. If your running Cat 8.8, try uninstalling it and then install 8.7 or 8.6. If there is no notable difference or improvement, then we can look in another place.

I know you have some of your PC components in your sig, but give us a comprehensive list of what you have.

Motherboard make and model. version to if you can find that.
Power Supply make and model.
Current driver being used for graphics card.

 

[Unit1Evangelion]

Cpu temp:32c
Vid Temp: 38c idle, 47c under full load

Mobo: MB GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L 775 P45 RT
PSU: Cooler Master RP-650-PCAR 650W RT
Vid Driver: 8.8 Catalyst

8.7 did the same thing but not as much. Though 8.8 flickers my movies when cursor moves over window or mouse is moved in Full Screen mode.

 

[Keysplayr]

The vid temp seems to be a clue. Looks far too low for that card. Is the PCI-e power connectors firmly connected to the graphics card?
Is the card getting enough power is what I'm asking?

 

[Unit1Evangelion]

Card is in all the way.

I always thought the lower the temp the better for conductivity. As for power, I have looked around for PSU calculators and none of the calculators actually have up to date hardware so estimated and averaged out is around 550w. So I believe 650w is enough for a single card. I will turn down the GPU fan from 55% to 50% and see if it makes any difference in the morning.

Edit:: Found a Link for calculationthat was upto date hardware for the calculation but its saying after all my stats that its only at 379w. Either way I seem to have enough.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Unit1Evangelion
Card is in all the way.

I always thought the lower the temp the better for conductivity. As for power, I have looked around for PSU calculators and none of the calculators actually have up to date hardware so estimated and averaged out is around 550w. So I believe 650w is enough for a single card. I will turn down the GPU fan from 55% to 50% and see if it makes any difference in the morning.

no, Keys is not asking if you have enough power

Are your PCIe connectors plugged into your card firmly or at all?

Your temps are WAAAY too low - either your PC is in a fridge or your card may be stuck in 2D mode

 

[JPB]

Thanks to some guys here, my wifes 3870 is now running 34C idle and 41 full load

Once I *receive* from a valued member here on the forums, ill have two more cards to adjust fan settings too.

But hopefully you find out what is going on with your 4870 because I should be receiving one around the same time as two 2900 cards :thumbsup:

 

[Unit1Evangelion]

0_o

Yes they are. I'm paranoid about having my vid cards burn out on me. So keeping it around 100f imo isn't too cold . Though I haven't seen anyone yet running their HD4870 at 55% fan speed so I don't know the standard temps at that speed to tell you if its too low ^^.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Unit1Evangelion
0_o

Yes they are. I'm paranoid about having my vid cards burn out on me. So keeping it around 100f imo isn't too cold . Though I haven't seen anyone yet running their HD4870 at 55% fan speed so I don't know the standard temps at that speed to tell you if its too low ^^.

that is loud at 55%

i set my fan speed dynamically with Expertool and it is plenty to OC to 820/1150

BtW, Crysis IS choppy with everything maxed out ... at 16x12 - all settings "very high" and 0AA/16AF, my FPS is 20.11 *average*
that is why i need X3 for 19x12 .. i will have it this coming weekend

 

[Zillatech]

Originally posted by: Unit1Evangelion
Opps forgot to put that in my profile.....Running Vista 64 fully updated.

Honestly...haven't checked the FPS with the games I have been playing with online stats. I have played HL2/Crysis/NWN2/Mass Effect which all get choppy. But I will test out the FPS ingame and post them up. I did however have a problem with F.E.A.R. and couldn't even play it no matter what settings. Was strange and gave up because it was unplayable.

1. Are you running any kind of monitoring software while your playing games & getting the choppy frames? (GPU-Z, Everest, etc.) - I read somewhere this causes choppy frames on another forum

2. What other Applications are you running in the background?

3. Have you updated your DirectX 9 to the latest version?

 

[ComputerDude67]

I know you said Vista was updated but make sure you have Vista SP1 installed. I have a 4850 Toxic and I get ~13000 on 3DMark06 with Catalyst drivers set to balanced; set to Highest Quality graphics I get ~11500. Run the M$ DX update and make sure the BIOS is the latest. Use CPUz and GPUz to make sure all settings are right. Also make sure you have Crysis 1.2 patch and it just maybe that Crysis is slow. I am running Crysis at 1680*1050 all Very High with AA *2 and it runs very well (not sure of FPS).

 

[Grinja]

Originally posted by: Unit1Evangelion
Card is in all the way.

I always thought the lower the temp the better for conductivity. As for power, I have looked around for PSU calculators and none of the calculators actually have up to date hardware so estimated and averaged out is around 550w. So I believe 650w is enough for a single card. I will turn down the GPU fan from 55% to 50% and see if it makes any difference in the morning.

Edit:: Found a Link for calculationthat was upto date hardware for the calculation but its saying after all my stats that its only at 379w. Either way I seem to have enough.

Cooler is better.
I think what Keys meant is that those temps are too low for stock and hence maybe your card was not running at normal frequencies.

Those temps look normal for 55% fanspeed ... too loud for me though.