[SOLVED] 6900xt bad performance

[superick12]

My friend and I both managed to get a hold of an MSI gaming X Trio 6900xt.
When we installed it we noticed that the performance is very bad, even worse than my 5700xt in some cases.
our main problem is frame drops in Apex Legends, the game we are both addicted to. I have a 750W power supply and he has an 850W, I have an all AMD build with a 3700x and he has an i9 9900k. His performance is even worse than mine in some cases, I updated all drivers and even tried overclocking to no luck. Did we just get duds or is there something we can do?

 

[Karadjgne]

850w is recommended for Intel cpu's, like the 9700k +. It's not necessary for a 3700x.

The 6900xt on average will max at @ 300w ish (depending on model) and even pushed to limits the 3700x will be stretched at 150w. Add in another 100w for the RGB and the rest of the pc and you'd be lucky to get 550w total pc power draw at max. Gaming usually runs at @ 70% of max at best, so just over 400w. A 750w psu is just fine.

First, update the bios. You have an amd/amd system soight as well take any advantage to use SAM (Smart Access Memory, sometimes called ReBAR). That's enabled in New bios revision as of Feb. for 3000 series gpus.

Second, amd base drivers are the same, not so for extras like game optimizations that are gpu specific, as is any vbios changes for things like SAM.

Third, your gpu isn't the issue. Your cpu is. The cpu sets fps limits, the gpu lives upto them or doesn't. A2/B2 is Ryzen primary slots, you'll want to tailor your ram settings using Dram Calculator and manually set fclock in bios. The more fps the cpu can pre-render, the more fps the gpu has to work with.

At 1080p with that gpu, you are cpu bound.

 

[superick12]

UPDATE: I got the PSU but that didn't change much. I do now have the recommended specs tho so that problem is solved

 

[Karadjgne]

Ok. Ram in A2/B2. Enable xmp. Then get dram calculator and typhoon burner software. Use those to manually change the subtimings on the ram in bios, and manually set fclock to 1600. May or may not be able to tinker with the 5 primary timings, I couldn't on my RipJaws, but just that change and a few others to cpu voltages got my 3700x to a 4893 in Cinebench R20. The stock with just xmp enabled was 3723. I have no set OC, nor use pbo, but I still get 4.4GHz with few cores and 4.2GHz with all cores vs stock settings of 4.2GHz single and 3.7GHz all cores.

Everything is still pretty much set to auto. Made a considerable difference in performance and lowered load temps from low 80's to a 62°C Prime95 small fft.

 

[M3rKn]

FYI

750 is a full 100w lower than the manufacturers recommended PSU and the user is having problems - always fix the obvious issue first.

UPDATE: I got the PSU but that didn't change much. I do now have the recommended specs tho so that problem is solved

For the record I did say your 750w PSU was fine. 😎 Its easy to tell people to throw more money at their problems when its not theirs to spend.

 

[Karadjgne]

A smart man once said "if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the solution"

The 750w psu was passable. It'd work. The chances of it being the underlying cause might have been slim, but slim is a vast % higher than None.

While it might suck that Op went and spent hard earned cash on a more appropriate psu, the result is twofold. First being the obvious, Op now has a more appropriate psu, that's better built, has better protections, has enough wattage to cover spikes and not risk bluescreen due to undervolt or overcurrent situations. In a much better place physically as far as health and safety of the pc is concerned.

Secondly, power delivery is now off the table. Eliminated as a suspect. That throws out a ton of possible causes and results. Narrows the search parameters by a good amount. Because the psu is directly and indirectly involved in every single thing that happens with a pc, being able to eliminate power as a suspect is huge.

Yes, it does kinda suck, I totally agree there in that aspect, but if there's a knock in the engine, the very first thing done always is change the oil. Right or wrong, fix or not, change the oil. Start with that out of the equation and knowing the oil level is correct and the right oil is in the motor. And unfortunately an oil change costs money.

Question. Is Apex running in DX11 or DX12 mode? Is it running in a 4k DSR?