Nvidia 7900 Versus 7950 Gaming

[DasFox]

I had a pair of Evga 7900GT KO Superclocks but I kept getting issues with artifacts, so after a few RMAs with these Evga upgraded me for free to a pair of 7950 KO 512MB.

I got these yesterday, installed them and played FEAR for a few hours with the new cards.

There was one thing VERY noticeable with the 7950 over the 7900s, they weren't as fluid, meaning game movement of the character was more stuttered, and in many areas of the map, especially areas with lights, and I moved the mouse left and right, I would see some tearing in the screen, which led me to think I had Vsync turned off, but I didn't.

Right now I'm running the Nvidia 93.71 drivers. I haven't played with any others yet, but was thinking of seeing if the 91.47 gave me any better results, or if anyone knew of a TweaksRUS XG driver that seemed to be giving the best results for the 7950.

But with all this said and done, the 7900 cards where Superclocks, and the 7950 aren't, but the 7950 are 512MB each, so I don't see why I would of been experiencing some game lag, and tearing in the screen with the 7950 unless it just doesn't like the 91.47 drivers.

Any input on the 7950 and game play would be appreciated.

THANKS & ALOHA

 

[DasFox]

I got a reply on one forum:

"so your running sli on a opty what do u expect"

Well if there's some merit to that reply does anyone know why there would be a problem with an Opteron running SLI? I didn't notice any with the 7900 cards.

THANKS

 

[aka1nas]

That poster was an idiot. Most likely it's the driver set you are running having issues with SLI. I would rip it out and revert to a known good set. Be sure to use something like Driver cleaner to properly remove all the detritus from the current driver installation before installing a new set.

 

[TheRyuu]

It "should" be more fluid (and smoother) thanks to the added vram but for some reason it's not.

Did you do a complete rip out of the old drivers? (driver cleaner pro, etc..)

And I also gather your running XG drivers. (not that it really matters).

There really shouldn't be any difference between the new cards and the old cards.

(and this might be why I gave up SLI)
*hugs 8800GTS*

Edit:
Did you install the AMD drivers, the windows XP hotfix and the dual core optimizer?

 

[DasFox]

I'll use driver cleaner pro this time and install the XG drivers for the 93.71 version over the Nvidia ones.

ALOHA

 

[Gstanfor]

Trust me, the extra ram does make a difference wrt to fluidity. 7900GT 512mb or 7950GT are very good cards, especially in SLI. I use FW92.91 with my cards.

I'd encourage you to install nHancer and experiment with the SLI options (AFR2 and SLI AA generally provide you with best SLI performance).

My fear settings (runs extremely fluid @ 1600x1200 with these settings)
1
2

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: Gstanfor
Trust me, the extra ram does make a difference wrt to fluidity. 7900GT 512mb or 7950GT are very good cards, especially in SLI. I use FW92.91 with my cards.

I'd encourage you to install nHancer and experiment with the SLI options (AFR2 and SLI AA generally provide you with best SLI performance).

My fear settings (runs extremely fluid @ 1600x1200 with these settings)
1
2

Although the 92.91 drivers were good, they were beta's and left much to be desired (at least to me). They made me go back to the 91.47's. But then the 93.71's came along and brightened my day

(then I got a 8800GTS and I'm stuck with the 97.44, although I have yet to experience a bug)

Anywho...
And IMHO, SLI AA isn't worth it. And gamma AA isn't worth it either. I think the picture looks better without it.

And the default SLI profile is always the fastest (why do you think nvidia makes them anyway?) so don't go messing with the SLI bits of an already existing (nvidia) profile.

 

[DasFox]

I've used nHancer before, my settings are not the problem, there is something going on with these 7950 cards. Either the fact that they are a tad slower then the superclocks is the issue, they don't like these drivers, or there is just something wrong with one of them, or both.


GREAT the driver cleaner pro is no longer FREE.

 

[TheRyuu]

Driver Cleaner Pro:
http://www2.evilshare.com/3471ed30-e8f7-1029-b2ec-00a0c993e9d6

Also here:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Unin...lers/Driver-Cleaner-Professional.shtml

 

[Gstanfor]

I've never had a problem with the 92.91 drivers. They have always correctly rendered everything they are supposed to for me, beta or not.

Fear graphics settings
Fear performance

The builtin profiles are merely a starting point. By no means do they always (or even often IMHO) offer the best performance/settings. AFR2 is probably SLI's best kept secret, and SLI AA gives you the IQ of the combined modes at a fraction of the performance cost.

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: Gstanfor
I've never had a problem with the 92.91 drivers. They have always correctly rendered everything they are supposed to for me, beta or not.

Fear graphics settings
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbar...mg82/7792/fearperformancebb7.jpg--</a>"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbar.../img82/7792/fearperformancebb7.jpg</a></a>
>Fear performance</a>

The builtin profiles are merely a starting point. By no means do they always (or even often IMHO) offer the best performance/settings. AFR2 is probably SLI's best kept secret, and SLI AA gives you the IQ of the combined modes at a fraction of the performance cost.

AFR2 just enables of the the common SLI bits.
They make the profiles for a reason. I don't think it's a starting point. They make it so that it can be fast. If it's fast they people buy their cards. So why would they make the SLI profiles so that some average joe can make it faster by ticking some SLI compatibility bits.

Think about it...

Edit:
And IMHO
XG93.71>*
(right now, for non-G80 owners)

 

[DasFox]

Originally posted by: wizboy11
Driver Cleaner Pro:
http://www2.evilshare.com/3471ed30-e8f7-1029-b2ec-00a0c993e9d6

Also here:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Unin...lers/Driver-Cleaner-Professional.shtml

LOL, thanks but I do know how to GOOGLE.

I'm ahead of you.

 

[DasFox]

wizboy11, why do you like the XG 93.81?

ALOHA

 

[DasFox]

Isn't "Auto Select" the best way to go for SLI?

ALOHA

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: DasFox
wizboy11, why do you like the XG 93.81?

ALOHA

I meant the XG 93.71's (which are now in the XG archive).
I've never used the 93.81's. I got them confused, so sorry.

A lot of people like the XG 97.44's so it's worth giving them a shot. It seems that people without G80 cards, using the driver don't experience the same problems as G80 owners. So give them a shot.

And auto-select is the best. Apparently Gstanfor doesn't know what the fsck he's talking about. He/She seems very confused on a lot of things (Like how AF works )

 

[DasFox]

Ok, well I took out one of the cards, and it ran better with one, so there seems to be an issue with the other card, or running them in SLI.

I'm going to test this other card now that seems to be running single, and see how it does, but it looks like I'm doing another RMA to EVGA.

ALOHA

 

[DasFox]

Well each card by itself seems to run ok.

When I run SLI there is some slight lag as I run, but when I run only one card I don't get this.

For now one card plays the game better then in SLI, so I'm not sure what's up.

I don't see that any of my hardware should have a problem with SLI. I bought the Corsair PSU when I had SLI 7900 cards so I figured for the 7950 cards it should be enough.

 

[DasFox]

The Evga 7900 GT & 7950 both have the same PSU requirements:

Requirements
Minimum of a 400 Watt power supply.
(Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 20 Amp Amps.)
Minimum 500 Watt for SLI mode system.
(Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 28 Amp Amps.)
An available 6 pin PCI-E power connector (hard drive power dongle to PCI-E 6 pin adapter included with card)

So I don't see now how my PSU can be the problem, hmm. :roll:

 

[DasFox]

Originally posted by: aka1nas
That poster was an idiot. Most likely it's the driver set you are running having issues with SLI. I would rip it out and revert to a known good set. Be sure to use something like Driver cleaner to properly remove all the detritus from the current driver installation before installing a new set.

I've tried all the drivers, no good. That friggin guy again over my Opty CPU:

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=2079905#post2079905

Can someone set that clown straight?

Opterons drivers, the only thing is:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/Tec...alResources/0,,30_182_871_9033,00.html

The one to control the speed and volts, etc.. I don't like that crap.

This just looks like the DAMM SLI support SUCKS!

 

[TheRyuu]

Try this:
-Uninstall driver normally
-Reboot into safe mode (F8)
-Run Driver Cleaner Pro
-Reboot (into regular windows)
-Install drivers (I recommend the XG93.71's if you can get them, tried and true, REALLY good driver, if not those then the XG97.44's)
-Reboot
-Tweak
-?????
-Profit?

 

[DasFox]

I don't think Safe mode is going to really do anything, I've never had to go to that extreme in all the years of gaming.

I uninstall from Add/Remove then I go to the Device Manager and Uninstall them there, reboot, and then run the Drive Cleaner on Nvidia and install the new drivers.

XG 93.71 has tearing on the screen when I'm in a lighted room, you know if you've played Fear a lot of the rooms have a light flickering, or the room is very well lit up, when I'm in these areas of the map and I move the mouse around, I seen some separation, tearing in the screen.

But I installed the Nvidia 93.81 and I don't get the tearing anymore and the lag is less noticeable, but still FEAR runs better with one card then two in SLI.

So I don't get why it wouldn't run smoother and faster with two then one, and why I wouldn't see a performance gain with two 7950 over two 7900. It seems like SLI support for the 7950 isn't that great, or I got two cards that don't like working together as SLI.

ALOHA

 

[TheRyuu]

SAFE MODE IS REQUIRED TO GET SOME FILES!!!!!!!

DON'T YOU DARE QUESTION MY METHODS!!!!! :|



Seriously, you need to have it in safe mode for driver cleaner pro to work right.
And if you haven't been doing it in safe mode all these years then you've been doing it wrong.

 

[DasFox]

AHH SORRY DAD, LOL

Really I never heard anyone say safe mode till now. OK.

Oh I'm also checking with Corsair and Evga about my Corsair 520 PSU. Check out my "GameRig" specs I've been wondering if the PSU has been the issue of this. I played Oblivion but only for a few mins. and I didn't really notice the same stutter effect as FEAR.

So if I get the thumbs up for the PSU, I saw this on nHancer about the SLI modes:

http://www.nhancer.com/?dat=d_sli

Auto
This mode tells the driver to select the optimal SLI mode automatically. Unfortunately, this almost never works correctly. It's better to try each of the other two modes, to find out which one works better.

Hmm he says, "Unfortunately, this almost never works correctly"

I never knew that.

Well then it's either Split Frame Rendering or Alternate Frame Rendering.

I don't like that part about Split Frame Rendering being more CPU intensive, hehe, hopefully that isn't to intensive.

So then I guess I just have to play with the SLI Modes and possibly the 7950 are just more picky about FEAR then my 7900s where.

ALOHA

P.S. Ok so what's really the steps then? Unistall the drivers, I typically do that at the Add/Remove then uninstall them from the Device Manager. Then after this uninstall boot into safe mode and run the Driver Cleaner Pro, then reboot back to the desktop?

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: DasFox
P.S. Ok so what's really the steps then? Unistall the drivers, I typically do that at the Add/Remove then uninstall them from the Device Manager. Then after this uninstall boot into safe mode and run the Driver Cleaner Pro, then reboot back to the desktop?

Yea. Uninstall then from device manager (and the add/remove programs if it's there?) then reboot into safe mode, run driver cleaner pro, reboot, install, reboot, ..., profit?

And just select "Auto-Select" for the SLI (in the global tab) that way it will automatically use the nvidia SLI bits which are the best for it.
The game probably uses some form of AFR.

 

[akshayt]

is your page file correct?