Incredibly low fps with Radeon 6950

dpk33

Senior member
Mar 6, 2011
687
0
76
i recently had to return my old sapphire 6950 and i got a new gigabyte 6950. the old sapphire 6950 worked perfectly with no problems,but then i was forced to return it (dont ask why). this card doesnt perform well with most of my games (1920x1200). in bad company 2, everything highest, 8x AA, 16x AF, no HBAO, etc. I get around 30-40 fps on average. In black ops and TF2, everything highest settings, i get around 30-40 fps as well. even my really old 4870 did better than this. it's really bothering me. what could be the problem and how can i fix it?
 

RavenSEAL

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2010
8,661
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...Do you have ANY idea what 8xAA does to a GPU playing BC2?

p.s. why did you return the sapphire version if it worked perfectly? :confused:
 

dpk33

Senior member
Mar 6, 2011
687
0
76
...Do you have ANY idea what 8xAA does to a GPU playing BC2?

p.s. why did you return the sapphire version if it worked perfectly? :confused:
LOL it's kind of complicated... but still, the point is, i did. but the old 6950 handled the same settings on BC2 perfectly (55+fps)
 

betasub

Platinum Member
Mar 22, 2006
2,677
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0
^ Assuming you are correct about fps for the old 6950, and the new card is identical (reference 2GB with BIOS switch), with same drivers & detail settings.... try using OverDrive to increase PowerPlay limits (and overclock) to see if these improve fps.
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
12,040
2,256
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I play with 2AA in BC2 at 1920x1200 and I get down into the 40s sometimes too. Using 8AA is just gonna make it slower.
 

tincart

Senior member
Apr 15, 2010
630
1
0
Did you uninstall the display drivers and run driver sweeper before installing the new card and re-installing the display drivers?
 

digitaldurandal

Golden Member
Dec 3, 2009
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I play with 2AA in BC2 at 1920x1200 and I get down into the 40s sometimes too. Using 8AA is just gonna make it slower.

I assume you have HBAO and everything turned up? Seems to me like you really shouldn't hit 40s at those settings. My 5870 would run into 40s... at 5760x1200 16AF no HBAO everything else turned up. Maybe the game hates AMD processors?
 

dpk33

Senior member
Mar 6, 2011
687
0
76
GPUZ screen shot? Let's make sure you're not at 1xPCIE or something.
No, the new 6950 is running at the exact same clock speeds, in the exact same slot as my old Sapphire 6950. All of the games have the same settings too. I did a reinstall of the drivers using driver sweeper so that shouldn't be the problem.

my old sapphire 6950 ran everything perfectly.
I assume you have HBAO and everything turned up? Seems to me like you really shouldn't hit 40s at those settings. My 5870 would run into 40s... at 5760x1200 16AF no HBAO everything else turned up. Maybe the game hates AMD processors?
nah hbao was turned off.. still getting 30-40ish FPS. but what i'm really worried about is the fact that TF2 is getting this kind of fps as well...
 
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notty22

Diamond Member
Jan 1, 2010
3,375
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Use gpu-z built in camera/ screen shot - upload function to post a screen shot as Spyder mentioned.
Sometimes installing a card in slot the gold pads don't seat correctly and you can end up not getting 8x lanes or 16 or whatever its supposed to be.
aau.png
 
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dpk33

Senior member
Mar 6, 2011
687
0
76
Use gpu-z built in camera/ screen shot - upload function to post a screen shot as Spyder mentioned.
Sometimes installing a card in slot the gold pads don't seat correctly and you can end up not getting 8x lanes or 16 or whatever its supposed to be.
aau.png
 

SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
1,002
126
Cool, thanks... that just rules out some possible problems.

Can you run Afterburner or something whle you game to make sure the temps are in check and that it's clocking where it should?
 

dpk33

Senior member
Mar 6, 2011
687
0
76
Cool, thanks... that just rules out some possible problems.

Can you run Afterburner or something whle you game to make sure the temps are in check and that it's clocking where it should?
so what are the other possible problems?
 

tincart

Senior member
Apr 15, 2010
630
1
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so what are the other possible problems?

Run after burner or some other program that gives you a graph of the GPU temps and clocks. Play something for a bit and then check the graphs to see if the GPU is being downclocked during play.
 

SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
1,002
126
so what are the other possible problems?

Software issue, for some reason something is just borked? If you run Afterburner you can log your temps and clock speeds while you game. If the GPU is getting too hot, or not kicking up to it's full 3D clockspeed in game that will tell us something as well.

I put a second 5870 in my system to run Crossfire about a week ago. I had nothing but problems, I wanted to throw this machne out the window. Finally as a last resort effort, I formatted the drive and reintalled Windows, apps, etc. After that everything worked perfectly. Drivers installed on the first go and detected Crossfire without any issues. Even though all I did was put in another 5870, something that should have been a pretty straight forward upgrade,I already have drivers installed, something went wrong. Reinstalling an OS isn't difficult, but can be a bit time consuming with backing up data, reinstalling applications, updates, etc. But, it's something to try if you find that the temps are ok and the clockspeeds are where they should be, etc.
 

dpk33

Senior member
Mar 6, 2011
687
0
76
Software issue, for some reason something is just borked? If you run Afterburner you can log your temps and clock speeds while you game. If the GPU is getting too hot, or not kicking up to it's full 3D clockspeed in game that will tell us something as well.

I put a second 5870 in my system to run Crossfire about a week ago. I had nothing but problems, I wanted to throw this machne out the window. Finally as a last resort effort, I formatted the drive and reintalled Windows, apps, etc. After that everything worked perfectly. Drivers installed on the first go and detected Crossfire without any issues. Even though all I did was put in another 5870, something that should have been a pretty straight forward upgrade,I already have drivers installed, something went wrong. Reinstalling an OS isn't difficult, but can be a bit time consuming with backing up data, reinstalling applications, updates, etc. But, it's something to try if you find that the temps are ok and the clockspeeds are where they should be, etc.

when i flipped the bios switch, my bad company 2 started getting some better frames, but my other games still stayed the same.. any idea about that?
 

Arkadrel

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2010
3,681
2
0
What is your Power slider in CCC set too?


powertune_small.jpg


powertune2.jpg



rough exsample:

-20% power = 70 fps
+20% power = 100 fps.



This probably isnt your issue, but it cant hurt to check its not currently at its -20% value, atleast set it to 0% or higher.



This card doesnt perform well with most of my games (1920x1200). in bad company 2, everything highest, 8x AA, 16x AF, no HBAO, etc. I get around 30-40 fps on average....even my really old 4870 did better than this.
http://www.techspot.com/article/255-battlefield-bad-company2-performance/page5.html

Battlefield bad company 2, at 1920x1200 , High settings, 2xAA/4xAF
gets about 42 fps (with a Core i7 920 processor OCed to 3.7ghz+ AND a 4870).


I doubt your 4870 was giveing you better performance at the same settings... anyways something is clearly up (software wise most likely)... since your performance isnt higher though.

Do driversweep ect run regcleaner... everything you can think of, and install fresh drivers from AMD.com.
Could also be a windows issue,... sometimes things just get borked, and its time it reinstall.
 
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dpk33

Senior member
Mar 6, 2011
687
0
76
What is your Power slider in CCC set too?


powertune_small.jpg


powertune2.jpg



rough exsample:

-20% power = 70 fps
+20% power = 100 fps.



This probably isnt your issue, but it cant hurt to check its not currently at its -20% value, atleast set it to 0% or higher.



http://www.techspot.com/article/255-battlefield-bad-company2-performance/page5.html

Battlefield bad company 2, at 1920x1200 , High settings, 2xAA/4xAF
gets about 42 fps (with a Core i7 920 processor OCed to 3.7ghz+ AND a 4870).


I doubt your 4870 was giveing you better performance at the same settings... anyways something is clearly up (software wise most likely)... since your performance isnt higher though.

Do driversweep ect run regcleaner... everything you can think of, and install fresh drivers from AMD.com.
Could also be a windows issue,... sometimes things just get borked, and its time it reinstall.

the power slider is set to +20% still the same problem. also, my 4870 gave better performance on black ops and team fortress 2, not on BC2.

EDIT: bad company 2 seems to be running perfectly fine now. other games are having really bad fps.

EDIT2: Reinstalled windows and everything works great. Thanks
 
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tincart

Senior member
Apr 15, 2010
630
1
0
So clearly a software problem. Too bad it was identified since the solution would probably have helped other people.