AMD Radeon 290x and Arkham Knight

[Gnome-Brun]

Hello everyone,

Before telling you about my fears and doubts, here are my current specs:
-RAM: 16 GB (2 x 8)
-Windows 7 64-bits
-Processor: AMD 8350 8 core 4,0 Ghz
-GPU: AMD Radeon 290x with 4GB memory
-DirectX11
-Monitor: ASUS VN247H-P

So, I've tried playing Shadow of Mordor and Dragon Age: Inquisition with this build, which are the most demanding games, graphics-related, I have in my library right now. The V-Sync is on in both cases, but I still have problems regarding the FPS on Ultra. With Fraps, I've checked and it usually goes between 40 (when moving characters) and 60 (when standing still). As for the benchmarks, the lows are usually like 25 and the highs are like 90, with and average of 55-60. I find it quite surprising that these games are lagging with my build. What seems to be the problem? Anyone has a clue or a similar problem? Help; I wanna play Arkham Knight and don't know what to do! I'm listening to your suggestions! Thanks, y'all!

 

[nubbsauce]

Well as for someone who just switched from AMD to Intel/Nvidia after 6 years, AMD seems to have an issue with 3rd party recording software. FRAPs in general is super demanding when it comes to CPU and GPU load. Also, if you are recording to the same HDD that the game is on, you may just be maxing out your HDD usage causing the game to bottleneck.

What I did for recording was just use the Raptr app's recording software to record at max resolution @60FPS. BUT what I did was instead of saving the recording to the SSD which my games were on, I redirected the files to save to my 1TB 7200RPM HDD instead so I didn't overload my SSD.

Since you didn't list your Motherboard, Harddrives/SSDs, or any aftermarket cooling, I'm just going to give you a few tips to max your gaming experience with AMD.

1. If you have an SSD, make sure your graphic intense games are on there and your recording software/output file is on another drive.
2. Make sure your Motherboard is flashed to the latest BIOS to ensure maximum stability and performance since i think AMD is just PCI-E 2.0 for the FX CPUs.
3. Since you are using an AMD 8-Core CPU, I would recommend getting a water cooler for it. Either a 120/140mm or a 240-280mm(If you can fit it) Cooler. The reason I say this is because AMD is infamous for their high temperatures and for some reason, AMDs cannot seem to handle high temps and high loads at the same time very well. This will cause your game to stutter and drop FPS. I noticed when I switched out my stock air cooler to a corsair h105 CPU water cooler, all of my stuttering issues disappeared and my overall performance increased a good 20% overall.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Gnome-Brun]

Well as for someone who just switched from AMD to Intel/Nvidia after 6 years, AMD seems to have an issue with 3rd party recording software. FRAPs in general is super demanding when it comes to CPU and GPU load. Also, if you are recording to the same HDD that the game is on, you may just be maxing out your HDD usage causing the game to bottleneck.

What I did for recording was just use the Raptr app's recording software to record at max resolution @60FPS. BUT what I did was instead of saving the recording to the SSD which my games were on, I redirected the files to save to my 1TB 7200RPM HDD instead so I didn't overload my SSD.

Since you didn't list your Motherboard, Harddrives/SSDs, or any aftermarket cooling, I'm just going to give you a few tips to max your gaming experience with AMD.

1. If you have an SSD, make sure your graphic intense games are on there and your recording software/output file is on another drive.
2. Make sure your Motherboard is flashed to the latest BIOS to ensure maximum stability and performance since i think AMD is just PCI-E 2.0 for the FX CPUs.
3. Since you are using an AMD 8-Core CPU, I would recommend getting a water cooler for it. Either a 120/140mm or a 240-280mm(If you can fit it) Cooler. The reason I say this is because AMD is infamous for their high temperatures and for some reason, AMDs cannot seem to handle high temps and high loads at the same time very well. This will cause your game to stutter and drop FPS. I noticed when I switched out my stock air cooler to a corsair h105 CPU water cooler, all of my stuttering issues disappeared and my overall performance increased a good 20% overall.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Hey nubbsauce,

Thanks for the quick answer. I was actually using Fraps ONLY to check my FPS performances, not to actually record my gameplay performances. With that being said, I do have a couple of questions, coming from a guy who has came to the wonderful world of PC gaming only two years ago. First of all, here are the rest of my specs...
-Power supply: CORSAIR HX series HX650 650W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI
-Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan
-HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
-SSD: ADATA Premier Pro SP900 ASP900S3-64GM-C 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
-Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD5 AM3+ AMD 990FX 8 x SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

1) As you can see, I do have an SSD, but it's not big enough to hold any recent game, which usually goes with between 30GB to even 60GB, since I already have other stuffs (other non-gaming related programs).

2) How do I update my BIOS?

3) Don't have a lot of cash right now, but I'll think about it! But I was hesitating between my AMD Radeon 290x and this one: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202143&cm_re=tri_x_290-_-14-202-143-_-Product

Fortunately for me, it's not too late to change my mind regarding the GPU. Should I switch for the Sapphire since it seems to me that three fans on the GPU are less likely to make it overheat?

4) Any other suggestions to my problem?

Thanks again!

 

[nubbsauce]

Thanks for the info!

Ahh Ok. Since you were just using fraps to monitor, it shouldn't have made a huge impact.

1. You can update your BIOS by going to here: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3891#bios and downloading the latest BIOS. Then you have to update it by creating an image onto a flashdrive. You can search how to do it on Gigabytes site and they should help you out with that.

2. Honestly, I would get the 8gb version of that card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202144

It's not that much more expensive and you get 4gb more of RAM to max out your games!

If you just upgraded to that, you should be fine.