Maybe we can compare Microstuttering results after all

[lavaheadache]

I just discovered that Afterburner 2.3.0 can monitor and graph frametimes. I'm sure some of you probably already knew this but it was news to me when I found it when I was changing what I wanted on my OSD.

Anyhow, I recently have been plagued by pretty intense microstuttering with a single gpu 7970 setup in Farcry 3. As have a lot of people.

Even with steady frame rates at 50-55fps I felt like I was going to vomit. There is just tons of little hitching in the gameplay. The problem goes away(or probably isn't noticeable) when I lower details and the frame rates far exceed my monitors refresh rate. It is also far less noticeable when I use vsync and even less noticeable when I enable crossfire with v sync and a frame cap.

So the point of this thread?

Afterburner is accurately graphing the irregularities I am seeing. Frametimes are varying wildly between something like 12 and 35+ ms. constantly unless I look up at the sky (in game, of course..lol) and frame rates skyrocket minimizing the issue.

Maybe we can use this graph to compare each others results?

 

[lavaheadache]

I just wanted to add that I actually went through the trouble of setting up a fresh install of Windows 7 on a brandnew SSD to see if the stuttering was because of my used and abused 2 year old install that has seen 25-30 different graphics cards and dozens of drivers from both nVidia and Amd. Nope. What it does tell me however, is that people that think switching from nVidia to Amd or vice versa will bork their system are nuts. I highly doubt anybody's rig has seen more card switching than mine and I have yet to have an issue related to it.

 

[boxleitnerb]

Question is:
Where are these frametimes captured? If it is done at the same point in the rendering queue as fraps, it is useless, because that would not be what the end user will actually see - at least in terms of framemetering on SLI.

 

[ViRGE]

Question is:
Where are these frametimes captured? If it is done at the same point in the rendering queue as fraps, it is useless, because that would not be what the end user will actually see - at least in terms of framemetering on SLI.

I'm almost positive it's done at the same point at FRAPS. Afterburner is effectively a FRAPS clone bred with a GPU overclocking utility. It was already capable of intercepting D3D to grab frames, so counting them would be a piece of cake.

 

[Grooveriding]

I just discovered that Afterburner 2.3.0 can monitor and graph frametimes. I'm sure some of you probably already knew this but it was news to me when I found it when I was changing what I wanted on my OSD.

Anyhow, I recently have been plagued by pretty intense microstuttering with a single gpu 7970 setup in Farcry 3. As have a lot of people.

Even with steady frame rates at 50-55fps I felt like I was going to vomit. There is just tons of little hitching in the gameplay. The problem goes away(or probably isn't noticeable) when I lower details and the frame rates far exceed my monitors refresh rate. It is also far less noticeable when I use vsync and even less noticeable when I enable crossfire with v sync and a frame cap.

So the point of this thread?

Afterburner is accurately graphing the irregularities I am seeing. Frametimes are varying wildly between something like 12 and 35+ ms. constantly unless I look up at the sky (in game, of course..lol) and frame rates skyrocket minimizing the issue.

Maybe we can use this graph to compare each others results?

I have the same issue in Far Cry 3 with hitching. Anything under 60fps and it gets really jerky. Have you tried playing with the vsync settings ? Think you can set it to 1 or 2, did nothing for me, may help you though. I also tried using adaptive vsync with the control panel, but it doesn't work and the game runs without vsync.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

What CPU does the op have?

 

[Vesku]

Not noticing anything with Far Cry 3, FRAPs is pretty normal:

Guess everyone gaming at 1080P should copy my computer or something.

 

[Silverforce11]

lava, get the radeon pro beta, play with dynamic vsync or dynamic frame rate (not like afterburner's frame rate limiter, its entirely different and works on frame time).

 

[BrightCandle]

As I mentioned before frame times as its currently measured isn't all of the story. The actual world is created at some moment T1. Lets assume that the CPU does its update on the world first before rendering it and we call that time CPU and the subsequent time for the handoff to the GPU until its output digitally is GPU.

T1 + CPU + GPU gives us T1end

The frametime is actually from the beginning of GPU to T1end. So its missing the CPU world time. This matters because that beginning moment determines at what moment we are playing, if its not smooth then the GPU can render perfect 16.6ms frames but the world will still stutter because the moments in which the world are shown are stuttering.

Stutter is about the whole picture and whether the moments we see are rendered at nice reliable time intervals and then rendered consistently.

 

[Vesku]

Yes, but I am noticing no stutter through my eyeballs and FRAPs isn't indicating anything is amiss either within it's limited abilities.

 

[lavaheadache]

What CPU does the op have?

4.5 ghz 3770k


I don't see why the information afterburner isn't useful. The micro stuttering that I see directly correlates to what the graph shows at any given time.

 

[lavaheadache]

lava, get the radeon pro beta, play with dynamic vsync or dynamic frame rate (not like afterburner's frame rate limiter, its entirely different and works on frame time).

I have the radeon pro beta, I'm not exactly sure how to use the dynamic frame time tool.

 

[lavaheadache]

Not noticing anything with Far Cry 3, FRAPs is pretty normal:

Guess everyone gaming at 1080P should copy my computer or something.

When I game at 1080p I don't really have the problem since my frame rate is well beyond the "stutter zone"

 

[moonbogg]

I have the same issue in Far Cry 3 with hitching. Anything under 60fps and it gets really jerky. Have you tried playing with the vsync settings ? Think you can set it to 1 or 2, did nothing for me, may help you though. I also tried using adaptive vsync with the control panel, but it doesn't work and the game runs without vsync.

I haven't noticed this. Maybe I need to look harder? I don't always get less than 60fps, but when I do, I prefer no hitching.

 

[lavaheadache]

It only happens to me below 60fps as well. I'm curious what will happen on my 120 us monitor. I'll try that out tonight. 120hz had a clear advantage over 60hz for me in skyrim. In Skyrim I needed a frame cal on the 60hz monitor to be smooth yet with the 120 us monitor I didn't