Should a 5850 be choking on both Ultra and high on MW2?

[marmasatt]

Granted this is a new system, and I've barely had time to tune it. But I need some opinions here. This is not something I've run into every day. I just put together an X58 system, 6 gigs of DDR3 1600mhz, and an i7 920 slightly oc'd to 3.2ghz (w/ a Radeon 5850.)

I have not run FRAPS yet or done any diagnostics - just real time play. It is noticeably worse then an e8400 paired w/ a GTX 260, which I upgraded from. It's like night and day worse. Was this game optimized for Nvidia or did I possibly just get a bad driver installation or something? I have the newest Catalyst from Guru 3D (2/19/10) other than some that were released yesterday.

Just thought it was weird. Game is unplayable on both "Optimal" and "high" settings....

 

[Termie]

I have a similar system to yours but don't own MW2. In the more graphically challenging BC2, however, I am running all high at 1920x1200. To see if your card is malfunctioning, I'd run a benchmark that you can easily compare to reviews, like Unigine Heaven or 3dMark. If you just upgraded the card in an existing system, driver conflicts could be causing this problem. Try uninstalling all graphics drivers with a driver cleaner and reinstalling upon reboot.

Also, run FRAPS while playing to get an accurate gauge of your frames per second, so you can compare that to published reviews of the 5850 playing MW2: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5830,2564-6.html

 

[Adam8281]

Soundsl ike something is wrong to me. My e8400 and HD 4850 played MW2 on highest settings like butter. Why don't you try the Catalyst that was (sort of) released yesterday?

 

[BFG10K]

If you reformatted Windows, you've probably forgotten to install your chipset drivers.

 

[jaggerwild]

Granted this is a new system, and I've barely had time to tune it. But I need some opinions here. This is not something I've run into every day. I just put together an X58 system, 6 gigs of DDR3 1600mhz, and an i7 920 slightly oc'd to 3.2ghz (w/ a Radeon 5850.)

I have not run FRAPS yet or done any diagnostics - just real time play. It is noticeably worse then an e8400 paired w/ a GTX 260, which I upgraded from. It's like night and day worse. Was this game optimized for Nvidia or did I possibly just get a bad driver installation or something? I have the newest Catalyst from Guru 3D (2/19/10) other than some that were released yesterday.

Just thought it was weird. Game is unplayable on both "Optimal" and "high" settings....

Whats the operating system, what monitor, what resolution? Little things are important when it comes to trying to help you out.

 

[NoQuarter]

Does it run any different in single player over multiplayer? MW2 engine is actually heavily tuned for ATI, should have np on that system.

 

[Bill Brasky]

I would uninstall drivers and try an older Catalyst build. 9.12 is rock solid, which I'm using with my 5850. You did reformat, correct?

 

[marmasatt]

Sorry if I was unclear (as I must have been since you guys have several questions).

Old build - e8400, 4 gigs, GTX 260

New build, fresh install Windows 7, chipset drivers WERE installed (card seems to be ok for other games), 6 gigs, i7 920, 5850. Both SP and MP suck. It even bogs down in the menu screens if I pause while playing (like the icon pointer arrow won't even move quickly). 28" LCD @ 1920 x 1080 res..... Did I miss anything? Trying the new drivers now....

 

[marmasatt]

Just installed Catalyst 10.3 released this week. No difference. Will try FRAPS and report back when I have time.

Edit: Yes something is retarding my framerates here. I'm getting literally 6 - 8 on Fraps, lol. This is ridiculous.

Thanks.

 

[darckhart]

have you tried your gtx260 with this new system?

you really shouldn't have any probs whatsoever with mw2. i used 9.12 hotfix, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3 and they're all fine. afaik it's dx9, and you can pretty much max out everything. my only gripe was that thermal sight problem, but they fixed that in one of the 10.somethings.

 

[marmasatt]

Yes, I think it's a config issue or setting or something. I'm not even really noticing it on other games, unless maybe COP is a not optimal...

I think I may reinstall the game.

 

[Bill Brasky]

In case you haven't already, try running gpu-z and confirm that you graphics card specs are in proper order. Specifically double check that your pci-e interface is running at x16.

edit: Dude. You're not seeing it in other games.

 

[Tristicus]

What options do you have on? For instance, are the textures set at the highest? Those provided a large burden on my card.

 

[Schmide]

Sounds like CPU throttling to me.

 

[marmasatt]

Ok, I'm really starting to get pissed now. Been working this on and off all day. Did GPUz. It is identical to yours Zaitzev. It's running at PCIe 2.0 16x. GPU Temp @ 58.5 and the only thing different from our charts is my memory is 1000mhz not 900....Fraps is still 8 freakin FPS. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the game. MY GTX 260 is gone, but I basically had everything on high with it IIRC. This is not even playable, that's how I know something's drastically wrong here. What is the CPU throttling of which you speak, Schmide?

If I can figure out how to post a Gif, I can provide a snapshot of Fraps or Gpuz.

 

[Narynan]

have you tired any other games? Are you running afterburner so you can make sure that its not staying at the 157 / 300 clocks. It sounds like its staying at the low voltages.

 

[marmasatt]

Well, I mean Call of Pripyat is a tough one. Because while its no Crysis, it's not bad, graphics wise. And the textures consume alot of resources. So that game is sputtering a bit, but not too badly. At least it's playable. And TF2 looks great, but that's no test, really. Can you install chipset drivers over the old ones, or do you unistall through device manager like a video card. Because the disc wasn't working properly so I did end up going to the EVGA website directly. Shows up fine in CPUz though - x58 system....

 

[thilanliyan]

CPU throttling happens if the CPU is overheating...but if you're not getting that in any other games...

 

[Sylvanas]

Got the latest fraps? There was an update recently because it was making some games tank in FPS.

 

[BFG10K]

Are you forcing something like 8x super-sampling from CCC?

 

[zerocool84]

You need to run your processor and gpu both at stock speeds and see if that helps.

 

[marmasatt]

Are you forcing something like 8x super-sampling from CCC?

No. Everything on the 2 highest settings is not working (w/ only 2X and 4X).
Again, I'm getting 8 FPS - a literal slideshow. I don't even think 8x would do that with this card, amt of memory, and processor, do you?

Zero, I have never OC'd the video card, and now I'm no longer OC ing the CPU. No help. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll answer whatever questions you guys have. It can't be the latest version of Fraps, because while I have it (just to get FPS for this issue) it was doing it before I ever installed it.

Again, my question - can you install chipset drivers over what you already have, or no? Because I did have issues right at first as W7 didn't like the EVGA disc for some reason. Then I went to the website and chose a few things. Wonder if I missed something. Is there any chance this is it?

 

[betasub]

Yes you can, and yes there is a chance.

 

[marmasatt]

We may be on to something w/ the CPU stuff guys.

I ran 3DMark06 and the CPU test was choking bad. It was visible. It was like 3/5 FPS during the test. Here is my score on my system:

3D Mark Score: 13054
SM 2.0: 6063
SM 3.0 4607
CPU Score: 4660

(CPU Speed): 2653

Is this terrible for this system? I think it's not great.

I was just using the EVGA software to OC. Now I'm not even OC'ing. So explain more of this CPU throttling to me and give me my next plan of attack pls?

 

[Termie]

We may be on to something w/ the CPU stuff guys.

I ran 3DMark06 and the CPU test was choking bad. It was visible. It was like 3/5 FPS during the test. Here is my score on my system:

3D Mark Score: 13054
SM 2.0: 6063
SM 3.0 4607
CPU Score: 4660

(CPU Speed): 2653

Is this terrible for this system? I think it's not great.

I was just using the EVGA software to OC. Now I'm not even OC'ing. So explain more of this CPU throttling to me and give me my next plan of attack pls?

Can you tell us what settings you used in 3dMark06? The "default" that most people use is 1280x1024, no AA, no AF, I believe.