Sapphire HD7950 OC perfromance issues?

[Yukicore]

Hey, everyone.

Introduction (Might be irrelevant) : I've been playing with many different configurations, installing and reinstalling my system over and over again, coming to conclusion that hardware performance very much depends on software. So now, using as less extra software on my computer as possible, I have set up my computer the 4th time in past 30 days.

I am still not satisfied with the results I am getting, for example : Newer games play just fine on my computer with no performance issues (with exceptions), but a little bit older games, in this case Splinter Cell Conviction plays like crap, on max settings (8xMSAA) plays at 20Fps average. But in the meantime older video card HD6870 with all system worse than mine (as seen on this video : http://youtu.be/CFm7Y5fy0KE?hd=1&t=22s ) performs so much better.

Is this normal? I bought this video card, as of thinking that it will run all the current and older games on max settings with an ease. I decided to go with Sapphire HD7950 OC Dual-X over MSI 560Ti, now I am thinking that I made the wrong decision.

Specifications for my computer.
CPU - Intel i5 3570K
GPU - Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC (Dual-X)
RAM - Crucial Ballistix 8GB (1600MHz)
MTB - Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H
PSU - Coolermaster GX-750W
HDD - Western Digital 7200Rpm 32Mb cache

 

[Rvenger]

What version video drivers are you running?

 

[blackened23]

What are your CCC settings? You should have everything set to application preference. If you have your AA set to SSAA in the control panel, it should be at the left most setting. The ATI software makes it really easy to screw things up with override settings, when you should only use application preference 95% of the time. I bring this up because I recall someone having a similar problem with crysis 2 and in turned out, in his stupidity he had SSAA set in the control panel with every single override option available set. Then he was surprised that crysis 2 ran slow - yes, this is stupid on his part, but a lot of people do this apparently.

This seems to be a common occurance, ATI seems to make it way too easy to use override AA/AF/etc which you really shouldn't except for exceptionally old games, or when you have a ton of horsepower to spare (eg crossfire)

The other thing is ensure that you don't have background applications open like flash, and monitor your GPU clockspeeds during gaming. Flash videos in the background can make your card run at lowered 2d clockspeeds.

 

[Yukicore]

I am using the latest ( version 12.8 )

What do you mean CCC settings? Don't they only activate if you have saved them to a specific application? I have over ride selected, because I was applying the tweak to one game. So if i get what you meant it's that settings you select apply to all the applications (games), and the ones you create as a new application profile just use those settings instead of the ''global CCC 3D application settings''?

 

[blackened23]

From what I remember they apply to everything across the board and you should never use override AA, you should never use MLAA (because it sucks) and you should never use Adaptive AA/SSAA, you should always use the left most setting unless you're playing an old game. Everything should be application preference or it will destroy your performance.

Things to not use unless you have performance to spare: MLAA (mostly because its garbage), Adaptive AA (should always be left most setting) SSAA (should be left most setting), any form of override AF (should be application preference), basically anything and everything should be application preference unless you have performance to spare (eg crossfire) or playing an old game. AA should always be MSAA unless again you don't mind a hit in performance. I think ATI makes it too easy to set this to be honest, it is really easy to screw your system up with CCC settings - you can't set SSAA on nvidia unless you rummage through nvidia inspector which is a 3rd party download. Its easy to screw up your performance by stupidly setting something to SSAA (as in my crysis 2 example earlier)

Lastly, you should have all background applications closed, you can't do stupid stuff like run flash videos in the background or anything like that. I've heard of some people doing such things, it puts your card at 2d clocks or lowered clockspeeds.

 

[Yukicore]

Do you have catalyst 12.8 yourself? Because there is nothing mentioned about any MLAA's or SSAA's etc. I changed all the settings that they are either default or application settings. But nothing has changed.

For background applications, I don't know how to tell which ones are ruining PC's performance, but all I got on toolbar is AVG, Steam, Fraps, Logitech Setpoint (keyboard and mouse application) and that's it.

Can't say If there aren't any bad registry issues or some stupid program that is ruining something for me, I got CCleaner to help with the registry and cache cleanup.

On previous computer I had Tune-Up which was messing with performance and after installing Nero disc burning software my computer was screwed, or maybe not, because on next windows reinstall I was experiencing some bad frame-rates for older games like FlatOut UC and Hitman BM, I was getting half the frames, when looking for possible causes I found windows updates, they weren't downloading or installing, just telling me that they are available (as I had set it not to install and download automatically), after turning completely off, I got my frames back.

So I don't know what to do, this is messed up with computers, didn't thought that it would be this annoying...

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Isn't msaa > fsaa > mlaa

 

[Yukicore]

I'm still in need of an answer, I haven't fixed this problem yet. Changing settings on Catalyst didn't help me.

 

[futurefields]

definitely a driver/software issue since the 7950 is a lot faster than a 560 ti

can you talk to sapphire or amd or something? maybe report it as an issue and they can reelase a fix. or try the splinter cell forum maybe there is something in an .ini that you can fix to get better performance, obviously the 7950 should beast mode that game at the highest settings.

what other games are you having problems for?

 

[3DVagabond]

Is your friend running the same drivers as you are?
Is your card running at 3D clocks when you are playing Splinter Cell?

 

[Yukicore]

@futurefields
Nonono, what I meant is from problem type of view, I'm sure it performs much much better, but I have issues with drivers, coil whines etc.
Other games, well, I don't, not now anyway, I did have, when I had sh*t load of ''computer assistance'' programs running, like Tune Up and stuff...


@3DVagabond
I have no idea.
How do I check on that? What are 3D clocks?


Additionally: I have confirmed that versus XFX HD 7950 (which is by 150MHz slower) in benchmark test ''Heaven'' is slower than my video card. Didn't finish the test at the end, but I'd say it gets about 20% better frame rates at same settings (about 50FP/s vs about 60FP/s), well that's a start... :/

I did some digging when I was trying to run GTA IV on this video card and processor. Problem was that game didn't use available resources, and was giving bad frame-rates and pop-ins. I ended up finding article about this issue, and there was written that it's caused by drivers and unsupported hardware, so it might be same kind of issue of game not using available resources, how do I check on it, and make sure it is just that?

 

[futurefields]

Well if you only having performance issues with one game then its probably a issue specific to that games engine. If you own Splinter Cell I would take the issue to their official forum and see what people can help you with. If all other games are performing fine then from a hardware standpoint it sounds like the card is fine. You never mentioned coil whine in any of your previous posts.

 

[Yukicore]

It's because I ended up with a conclusion that it is normal, the coil whine occurs slightly when running very demanding games, and it gets really bad when in menu's with like 1000FP/s or so, 150FP/s does the trick just fine too... :/ But most games have Vsync, so no big deal, right?

 

[RussianSensation]

Download MSI Afterburner to check your GPU clock speeds in a game or in a 3D application.

http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

- Reset 3D gaming settings in the CCC drivers to Defaults, disable Wait for vertical refresh (OFF)

- Check your GPU utilization and GPU clocks via MSI afterburner in some gaming benchmarks such as Metro 2033 Benchmark or STALKER COP Benchmark or Alien vs. Predator benchmark. STALKER COP is especially good since it does 4 separate runs (but make sure to set everything to the highest HDAO, 4xMSAA, Ultra lightning, DX11, etc.) See if you compare those scores to your 6870.

- Check that your GPU is ramping up to 950mhz+ (BIOS 2 I believe?) in those 3 games.

- You can run Unigine Heaven 3.0 since HD7950 should be much faster than HD6870 there just to diagnose if you have a problem. Set everything to Very High and Tessellation to Ultra with MSAA to 4x.

 

[Yukicore]

I reinstalled Windows once more, then I ran the same game (Splinter Cell Conviction), I got same frames with 8X AA as previously with 4X AA. (also I had Microsoft Flight Simulator downloading in background, so yeah. It was running on all max settings 48Minimal and 60Max, as I had Vsync on. I also had in CCC morphological filter (as it makes edges much much smoother, it makes games look so much better)) So yeah, must have been some software f*ckup again. But the issue that made me reinstall the computer - Sound crackling, hasn't left me.

At the first installs everything was fine, then in previous it begun, after removing application Easy Tune 6 it had disappeared, but now with this fresh install it's back again (when using ET6). What might that be? Anyone had this before?

 

[RussianSensation]

Vsync on without Triple buffering can really kill performance if you go below 60 fps.

Sound crackling? I am guessing that is related to Realtek chip in the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H? Or are you feeding sound via the videocard to a receiver?

Did you install the latest onboard sound card drivers? You really don't need to use EasyTune 6 once you set up manual overclocking setting in the BIOS and save that BIOS profile.

For a program that doesn't use a lot of processing power, if you still wish to monitor your CPU, GPU temperatures and other system parameters, I recommend that you download HWInfo64. It works very well and shows you the important 3.3V and 12V Power supply voltage rail minimums, as well as the fan speeds, chipset motherboard temperatures, hard drive temperatures, etc.

 

[Yukicore]

Then should I check triple buffering in CCC settings?

I have VIA (as manufacturer) HD audio deck (program came with motherboard's installation disc, but I have downloaded and from beginning installed the latest version)

Well I have used Easy Tune once, and on start up motherboard said I am using wrong settings, so I guess I could just remove it. But say this, does windows have a startup managing program? Because I don't really want to install any kind of program, because I am done reinstalling my computer for this month.

Thanks for the program, I WILL check it out, because I was looking for one. On one of my windows installs I was using a CPU and GPU temp/usage monitor as a Windows 7 gadget, visually lovely, but performance loss is extremely high.

 

[Yukicore]

Oh and also, forgot to mention, very rarely and only for some games some game artifacts flicker for like 0.5 seconds, is that normal? For example playing Driver San Francisco like every 20 or so Minutes this happens once, pretty annoying.

And is there a solution to have all resolutions set up to screen fit? Because I can only play on native resolutions, and some games doesn't have 1080P, but something x 1000 or else.

Thanks.

 

[Yukicore]

Anyone?!?!

 

[jakeepc]

Anyone?!?!

If you're getting artifacts, downclock your GPU a little bit, if you've overclocked it it's probably the problem, run a 3dmark11 and furmark test, if you're seeing artifacts, it's best to RMA the card to sapphire, because if it's stock it may be faulty.

 

[Tweak155]

If you're getting artifacts, downclock your GPU a little bit, if you've overclocked it it's probably the problem, run a 3dmark11 and furmark test, if you're seeing artifacts, it's best to RMA the card to sapphire, because if it's stock it may be faulty.

Hey, I guess he COULD still be having the issue :biggrin: