BF4 Crossfire 270x terrible performance

[zielritter]

Specs:
CPU: FX-8350 @ 4.4ghz
OS: Windows 7 64 bit
GPU: 2 XFX 270x @ 1150/1475 Crossfire
PSU: 850w Corsair
Mobo: ASUS m5a99fx pro r2.0
RAM: 4x2gb GSKILL 1600mhz

GPU Driver: 13.11 Beta 9.5

I picked up a second XFX 270x today and have my crossfire working fine.....except in BF4. I'm beginning to think that AMD is lying about how badly their CPUs bottleneck in multiplayer games.

Running one 270x on ultra without MSAA I was getting 85-99% utilization, which I was fine with. I would get 40-60 fps on most maps.

Adding the second 270x, now my GPU utilization is 40-50% and my frame rate is more or less the same. Adding 4x MSAA doesn't even impact fps, which tells me the CPU is the weak link.

Now, before you say it, I know the crossfire set up works fine. My 3dmark GPU score went from 9200 to 17300. Similar results on unique heaven. What's going on here? Btw, none of my cores are parked. I made the registry changes and all are active.

 

[dudewitbow]

if CPU bottlenecking is an issue, wait till post BF4 Mantle patch(later this month) to see if it alleviates any cpu problems. But in a serious sense, battlefield 4 atm is unoptimized, theres a reason why EA had the devs drop most of their plans and start to work on fixing battlefield 4

if you need the article to back it up

 

[zielritter]

Just to illustrate, look at my perfoverlay. It takes the CPU twice as long to render a frame on average as the GPUs during normal gameplay. This means that roughly anything better than a 270x is going to be completely bottlenecked by an FX-8350 running at 4.4ghz. Let me repeat, AMD's second best desktop CPU (my CPU is equal to 9370 clocked at 4.4ghz, which is second only to the 9590) is hamstrung by anything greater than a mid-level GPU.

I'm not talking not being able to get 100fps, I mean that I cannot even get 60fps average in MP running this CPU. That's not good, AMD - mantle or not.

Forgive me crappy pic. I had my phone handy and snapped a pic.

 

[dudewitbow]

the thing is, not everyone can replicate what you have. i'm sure there's something wrong somewhere software wise(either driver or game) or there would be hundreds of threads like these. even premium builders have had multi card setups with an 8 core fx series processors. have you downloaded the FX core hotfix for windows?

 

[zielritter]

Just to provide an update - someone on the BF4 forums was kind enough to point out that I was reading my perfoverlay backwards. My GPU is actually bottlenecking my CPU, not vice-versa.

Since it's taking roughly twice as long for my GPU to render as my CPU, I'm thinking one of the GPUs isn't even getting activity. This would explain the ~50% usage.

Anyways, I downloaded Afterburner this morning and I'm going to try some things like disabling ULPS, forcing constant voltage, and syncing clocks. I also read that frame pacing might help.

Lastly, does anyone know how to get past versions of a beta driver from AMD? Someone mentioned that rolling back to B2 13.10 might help me out, but I can't find the actual driver from this package. The links I've found only provide CCC 13.10 and the HMDI audio driver.

 

[zielritter]

Closing this. I switched back to a single 270x and just got my OC up to an impressive 1220/1475 without any voltage changes. This pulls a 9300 on 3dmark11. I'm going to return the other 270x.

The only reason I wanted Crossfire was to maintain an average of 60fps+ on BF4 Ultra and since that's the ONLY game Crossfire doesn't work on (Benches and other games push both cards to 99%), there's no need to keep the second card.

With one card and MSAA turned off I rarely drop below 50fps and usually hover around 60-70 so I'm happy.

 

[closest_num_2_0]

your solution lies here if you do not add this string of code to the settings in notepad it wont utilize all your cores
C:\Users\(yourwindowsusername)\Documents\Battlefield 4\settings
PROFSAVE_profile
GstRender.Thread.MaxProcessorCount 8
add that line anywhere
then save in note pad

 

[zielritter]

your solution lies here if you do not add this string of code to the settings in notepad it wont utilize all your cores
C:\Users\(yourwindowsusername)\Documents\Battlefield 4\settings
PROFSAVE_profile
GstRender.Thread.MaxProcessorCount 8
add that line anywhere
then save in note pad

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Why would Dice optimize a game for AMD and then make the user have to figure out that they need to add this obscure command line in order for the game to work correctly for the type of CPU that AMD has designated as their flagship? Does not compute.

Anyway, your idea is irrelevant at this point. I've since dumped the 8350, switched to IB/3570k, and gone back to 270x Crossfire. BF4 never drops below 83% GPU utilization for both 270x's in multi-player with the 3570k at 4.2ghz. Also, games like WoT, War Thunder, and SC2 now actually fully utilize my graphics cards and give me substantially higher frames.

Short story, if you're going to game higher-end, go with an Intel CPU. Low-end, budget gaming go with an APU. AMD's marketing plan suggests this much.

 

[closest_num_2_0]

im not joking just try it youll be surprised i did not believe it at first too

 

[zielritter]

im not joking just try it youll be surprised i did not believe it at first too

If that's the case AMD should sue Dice for intentionally sabotaging their multi-core CPU performance.

 

[closest_num_2_0]

did you try it then post again

 

[zielritter]

did you try it then post again

Read my first reply to you. All of it.

 

[closest_num_2_0]

trust me it works you will feel stupid not listening to me if you dont want it you can reverse it

 

[zielritter]

trust me it works you will feel stupid not listening to me if you dont want it you can reverse it

Lol, you're dense. Let me spell it out since you won't read: I don't own the 8350 any longer. I sold it and bought a 3570k which destroys the AMD. Please learn to read for comprehension.

 

[Casper Larsen]

trust me it works you will feel stupid not listening to me if you dont want it you can reverse it

Lol, you're dense. Let me spell it out since you won't read: I don't own the 8350 any longer. I sold it and bought a 3570k which destroys the AMD. Please learn to read for comprehension.

And you should really learn manners and etiquette. You asked a question and someone attempted to help no matter how little help it ended up being.

Keep that attitude for when you play multiplayer games with 13 year olds.

 

[closest_num_2_0]

trust me it works you will feel stupid not listening to me if you dont want it you can reverse it

Lol, you're dense. Let me spell it out since you won't read: I don't own the 8350 any longer. I sold it and bought a 3570k which destroys the AMD. Please learn to read for comprehension.

And you should really learn manners and etiquette. You asked a question and someone attempted to help no matter how little help it ended up being.

Keep that attitude for when you play multiplayer games with 13 year olds.

btw just change the code to GstRender.Thread.MaxProcessorCount 4 because i also have an intel 3770k and with intel it is also only using one core try it! it really works i really want to spread the word casper would u mind trying it setting the processor count to the number of processors u have?

 

[zielritter]

trust me it works you will feel stupid not listening to me if you dont want it you can reverse it

Lol, you're dense. Let me spell it out since you won't read: I don't own the 8350 any longer. I sold it and bought a 3570k which destroys the AMD. Please learn to read for comprehension.

And you should really learn manners and etiquette. You asked a question and someone attempted to help no matter how little help it ended up being.

Keep that attitude for when you play multiplayer games with 13 year olds.

Oh shut up Casper (are you a friendly ghost?). The thread has been answered already and he comes in with a reasonable response initially to which I reply I no longer own the processor and he continues to respond without reading that initial response from me. Yes, that is being dense.

I guess you're one of those posters who doesn't read the entire thread and just jumps to the end with you're no context 2-cents as well? Pray tell, what "etiquette" am I violating by telling someone to read relevant information in the same thread before replying?

Closest_num_2_0 - I'm sorry I told you to read my very clearly detailed response saying that I no longer own that processor, which would have saved you the trouble of continuing to post needless input.

 

[zielritter]

trust me it works you will feel stupid not listening to me if you dont want it you can reverse it

Lol, you're dense. Let me spell it out since you won't read: I don't own the 8350 any longer. I sold it and bought a 3570k which destroys the AMD. Please learn to read for comprehension.

And you should really learn manners and etiquette. You asked a question and someone attempted to help no matter how little help it ended up being.

Keep that attitude for when you play multiplayer games with 13 year olds.

btw just change the code to GstRender.Thread.MaxProcessorCount 4 because i also have an intel 3770k and with intel it is also only using one core try it! it really works i really want to spread the word casper would u mind trying it setting the processor count to the number of processors u have?

Can we close this? He's straight up telling information that's not true. My 8350 was using all 8 cores with some topping out at 90%. You're totally naive if you think BF4 was using one core. How did you even verify that? Screen shots our you're fabricating.

 

[closest_num_2_0]

your loss not mine does not hurt to try it

 

[Casper Larsen]

trust me it works you will feel stupid not listening to me if you dont want it you can reverse it

Lol, you're dense. Let me spell it out since you won't read: I don't own the 8350 any longer. I sold it and bought a 3570k which destroys the AMD. Please learn to read for comprehension.

And you should really learn manners and etiquette. You asked a question and someone attempted to help no matter how little help it ended up being.

Keep that attitude for when you play multiplayer games with 13 year olds.

Oh shut up Casper (are you a friendly ghost?). The thread has been answered already and he comes in with a reasonable response initially to which I reply I no longer own the processor and he continues to respond without reading that initial response from me. Yes, that is being dense.

I guess you're one of those posters who doesn't read the entire thread and just jumps to the end with you're no context 2-cents as well? Pray tell, what "etiquette" am I violating by telling someone to read relevant information in the same thread before replying?

Closest_num_2_0 - I'm sorry I told you to read my very clearly detailed response saying that I no longer own that processor, which would have saved you the trouble of continuing to post needless input.

et·i·quette
[et-i-kit, -ket] Show IPA

noun
1.
conventional requirements as to social behavior; proprieties of conduct as established in any class or community or for any occasion.
imply observance of the formal requirements governing behavior in polite society.


You started with "Lol, your dense" and you are clearly still continuing to show bad manners. This is a place where people help eachother. I did read the thread and while closest_num_2_0 clearly wasn't helpful, he was clearly TRYING TO BE. Why did you feel the need to call him dense when the thread was
Attempting to belittle people is apparently something you enjoy(And is rather terrible at.....The friendly ghost? Seriously?)

 

[closest_num_2_0]

Casper Larson you are very nice u have stood up for me although i may not be helpful utilizing all your cpu cores does help alot i am getting 120 fps on my r9 280x on ultra preset

 

[Casper Larsen]

Casper Larson you are very nice u have stood up for me although i may not be helpful utilizing all your cpu cores does help alot i am getting 120 fps on my r9 280x on ultra preset

But the OP changed hardware.

 

[closest_num_2_0]

i dont understand what u are saying yes it does change the useage of hardware but what we all want is inthe end of the day fps improvement right?

 

[zielritter]

Casper Larson you are very nice u have stood up for me although i may not be helpful utilizing all your cpu cores does help alot i am getting 120 fps on my r9 280x on ultra preset

But the OP changed hardware.

But he's convinced that BF4 is shipping from the factory and only using 1 core despite evidence to the contrary on every review of there.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Be civil and stop the name calling please.