Crysis 2 laggs on 5970

[Pilen]

Hi!

I've been suspicious about my graphics card for a while now. And all started with Crysis 2. I used to get this weird fragments, strange colors etc. which often indicates that there is something wrong with the graphical card. After I reinstalled Windows it stopped so I figured it was the driver (and it's ATI so I wouldnt be surprised).

The game ran somewhat smoothly on the Enthusiast setting but when Ultra and High Res came out the system again started to get kinda slow and laggy. I thought that it was suppose to be like this because it's kinda intense for the card. But when I heard that a college of mine had a single 5870 and ran at ultra + high res with no lagg I started doing some research.

I mean, how can a single 5870 be better than "World's fastest card" when I bought it.. I ran some tests using 3D mark 11 basic edition and checked my results and compared them to their information and found this:

I also ran Heaven Benchmark and it gave accurate results comparing what I've read from others with a 5970.

I've been going at this for a while now and it was til today that I had enough and wanted some help with this. I tried playing Crysis 2 and in one sequence the entire game lagged so badly that I couldn't even play.

I use the latest drivers and my system is updated.
If there is something wrong with my card and that it's performing badly, how can I prove this for the retailer and get a new one using my warranty? I mean it's working but not as I expected and not according to 3DMark11.

Is there something else I can do about this?

Hardware Specs:

MOBO: ASUS Crosshair IV Formula, Socket-AM3
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition @ 4,0GHz
RAM: Corsair Dominator DDR3 1600MHz 4GB CL8 x2
GFX: HIS Radeon HD 5970 2GB GDDR5
PSU: Corsair HX 1000W PSU
HDD: Crucial RealSSD C300 2,5" 128GB
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14

Very thankful for replies

 

[nadim615]

I'd consider getting a new card, the 5970 isnt really cut for Crysis 2. Try the GTX 570. Best card for the value.

 

[dlads]

Ello m8,

I've got a 6870 and it too has begun to lag out a bit, i've also reinstalled windows and i'm yielding some pretty strange results from it, crysis 2 now lags at any res and even COD Black ops is being a bit of a b*tch.

However i am using more than one display and it did start happening when i lost the ability to use one display at a time (I hate the catalyst i think it's an awful piece of software)

Basically what happened for me is, when i pressed the HDMI button on my big tv (not my primary monitor) and then tried to play in duplicate, it lagged like crazy, since then i have been unable to get the performance i once had.

Also 3d doesn't work on ATI cards with Crysis 2 unless your using tridef or iz3d which is just a joke on Cryteks part too, it will work on the 1.2 update but anything past that it won't because they took it out? WTF?

Things i've tried:

Multiple drivers (using tweaked ones at the moment)
Lowering gpu setttings from catalyst (no effect)
Lowering settings in Crysis 2 (some effect but performance isn't what it should be.
Completely removing the second display (no effect)
Getting Angry and shouting at PC (no effect) : )

IF you have any luck with this then pass on what you did as i imagine we're not the only ones with this issue.

Cheers m8 and sorry i couldn't be more helpful, if i get any joy i'll let you know, i'm just re installing the game now from scratch, going to remove all ATI drivers after that and use a cleaner (drivers) then start over.

 

[dlads]

Sorry i forgot my specs

Win 7 64 bit
AMD Phenom 2 x4 940 Black edition @ 3.8
MSI 790gx
4 gig ddr2 Corsair
Asus 6870 1gb gpu @ 1000 / 1100 Tweaked drivers 11.5
2 x 500gig hdds
Antec 900 case CPU Temp @ 28 idle 40 load, gpu @ 38 idle 60 load
LG Flatron 22 inch M228WDP TV monitor + LG LED 3DTV 47 inch

 

[Kkkk1]

I'd consider getting a new card, the 5970 isnt really cut for Crysis 2. Try the GTX 570. Best card for the value.

Why is a 5970 not really cut for Crysis 2. As the original poster said a single 5870 ran Crysis 2 on ultra. I also have a 5970 and run Crysis 2 without any problems at all.

 

[Pilen]

Hi,

I forgot to update the thread. I've solved my problem by some help from the AMD forums.

Apperantly Crysis 2 are using too much tesselation in their games when they don't really have to which makes the game lagg for some user (more for the ATI user than nvidia because nvidia handles tesselation about 10% better)

After I turned off tesselation the game went from laggy as hell to smooth, nice flowing game. I also ran the benchmarks again with a great inprovement.

Check out the original thread at AMD forums:

http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=260&threadid=154673&forumid=11

 

[FlintIronStagg]

my single gtx 480 eats crysis 2 at maxxed settings and all the dx11 features at 1080p.
with 30-45fps.
why cant a 5970 deal with it?
i would assume its a different issue.

Same here with my 570. Crysis 2 had alot of issues with xfire scaling for the longest time, I wonder if they have another bug they haven't fixed yet. If your friend runs it smooth with a 5870 maxed then you should be eating it alive. NVIDIA tessellation scaling should have nothing to do with it if your friends runs it fine and your better card doesn't.

 

[Pilen]

Well i've talked with him and he wasnt sure if he ran the game with dx11 settings or not. But the tesseleation issue helped me.

 

[bystander]

There are a few things to consider here.

-What is your resolution, and what was the resolution of that 5870 system.

-What was the CPU on the other system. Your CPU is 6 cores, but not all that fast per core, and Crysis 2 doesn't take advantage of a lot of cores.

-What FPS was that 5870 system getting? A lot of people around here talk about how they can play at max settings, but at 20's and 30's FPS. For many people that feels laggy and makes me sick, to others, like those above saying how their single card eats it for breakfast, they think it's fine.

-Do you have MLAA turned on in the CCC or SSAA?

-You can turn down the Tessellation levels within CCC now, if tessellation is the issue. That was a weak spot for the AMD cards below the 6900 series.

For reference: My 6950's, unlocked and overclocked, averaged 53 FPS in the Crysis 2 benchmark with everything maxed at 1080p.

 

[Pilen]

Yeah I turned off tessellation in CCC and the game is not laggy now.

 

[bystander]

Yeah I turned off tessellation in CCC and the game is not laggy now.

You shouldn't need to turn it completely off, you should be able to run it at reduced tessellation.

 

[Pilen]

Yeah I know but i'd rather play without tessellation than having occasional laggs. I think I can manage with 4x or 8x tessellation but I can hardly tell any difference. I'm looking into getting a PhysX dedicated card as I mentioned and was advised to do in the other thread I posted in.

 

[Pilen]

P.S.

I experienced that some fragments in the game were flashing like it has done before so there may be something wrong with the card or the drivers (like they always do). But if there is something wrong with my card, I don't really know what to do to proove it to the store that I bought it from.

They will just test it and say that there is nothing wrong with it.

When I turned Object Graphics down from Ultra to Enthusiast the fragments stopped (dunno if it's even called that). I can't say that I'm very pleased with my card and that it would be nice to just get a GFX580 instead because the drivers are not optimal. You'd think that when ATI sells such an expensive card that they would use the extra cash to hire some real programmers that could manage do make a better driver/utility (CCC)

 

[bystander]

Yeah I know but i'd rather play without tessellation than having occasional laggs. I think I can manage with 4x or 8x tessellation but I can hardly tell any difference. I'm looking into getting a PhysX dedicated card as I mentioned and was advised to do in the other thread I posted in.

Don't bother with a physX card. Crysis 2 does not use physX. You will not gain anything at all from this.

 

[Pilen]

So how can I fix this? Getting a new card totally or is this a driver issue? Really hard to pinpoint where the trouble is except the tessellation. But I still experience issues with the game like the crazy fragments in the game.

It kinda flashes from objects that doesn't move when I'm also standing still In-game. It's not right =/

 

[bystander]

I don't recall any of those with the 6950's, you could try a different driver version. What are the temps of the GPU's?

 

[veenk]

HD5xxx doesn't really works well in tesselation...that's one of the reason AMD released the HD6xxx series...

try to downgrade the driver (don't forget the driver sweeper to get a perfect clean install) and/or setting off the tesselation...

 

[nadim615]

well I only bothered reading about half of this, . But from what I understand, its not working for most people, even with some better cards. I dont actually have crysis 2, so i cant test it (I have a GTX570). I think at this point it may just be heat slowing it down. Like if your CPU is overheating, or your GPU is overheating. You could also try overclocking your graphics card(s) using MSI afterburner.
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

 

[FlintIronStagg]

There are a few things to consider here.

-What is your resolution, and what was the resolution of that 5870 system.

-What was the CPU on the other system. Your CPU is 6 cores, but not all that fast per core, and Crysis 2 doesn't take advantage of a lot of cores.

-What FPS was that 5870 system getting? A lot of people around here talk about how they can play at max settings, but at 20's and 30's FPS. For many people that feels laggy and makes me sick, to others, like those above saying how their single card eats it for breakfast, they think it's fine.

-Do you have MLAA turned on in the CCC or SSAA?

-You can turn down the Tessellation levels within CCC now, if tessellation is the issue. That was a weak spot for the AMD cards below the 6900 series.

For reference: My 6950's, unlocked and overclocked, averaged 53 FPS in the Crysis 2 benchmark with everything maxed at 1080p.

I, sir, dont run in the 20's.

 

[bystander]

I, sir, dont run in the 20's.

In the 30's is also not playable for myself at least, and many others. I did say 20's and 30's.

And even if you consider 30's as playable, it most certainly isn't "eating it alive".

 

[FlintIronStagg]

In the 30's is also not playable for myself at least, and many others. I did say 20's and 30's.

And even if you consider 30's as playable, it most certainly isn't "eating it alive".

I was referring to the 30-45 fps and agreeing with that. I did not say " eats it alive". I would just say runs @ playable fps. Some people like 60 locked and to those, good for ya, I couldn't care less as long as my dips are above 30.

 

[nadim615]

Another good point. 6 core system. Not too effective. Most games these days only use 2-4 cores, the other 2 (in your 6 core system) are pretty much useless and not doing much while your playing games. Your better off splitting that processing power via 4 cores rather than 6. Just in case you decide to upgrade or something. Also, try getting a gadget or something that monitors your CPU/RAM/GPU usage. It may not all be in one, but you can get multiple. Try running your game, and play it in windowed mode so you can see if anythings maxing out while your playing (GPU, CPU, RAM) and well if one of them is, there's your problem. Also getting something to monitor heat in your system. I have a program called Speccy, it works great. Tells you the temp of anything in your system. If anything is in the red (70 celsius+ I believe), then that could be slowing down your game too as your parts arent working as hard at that point to try and cool your system off, so you should consider getting your cooling upgraded.

Speccy: http://www.piriform.com/speccy

RAM/CPU monitor: http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=587ef54f-e121-418b-b258-e583e105a0d6&bt=1&pl=1

GPU monitor: http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=0ae2038e-03c6-4454-9729-1bfd6626cc4c&bt=1&pl=1

 

[FlintIronStagg]

As long as OP has turbo mode on that 1090t should be powering down the 3 unused cores then ocing the 3 remaining cores on its own if the game is using less than 4 cores

 

[Pilen]

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply. I've been doing some testing and the temperature don't get above 81C. But I still experience occasional lagg and freezes. Even though it's just for a couple of second, there still there. And they occur when the GFX activity hits 99%. I don't use Turbo mode because the overclocking guide that I used said that you would get better performance if you overclock without turbo mode on.

I mean, I run all 6 cores at 4GHz, I doubt it will run faster/better with 3 cores at 4GHz

I still think there is something wrong with the board. Is there anyway to run some tests to verify this? I ran Furmarks benchmark and I got 200 points when the other 5970 cards got 3000 to 5000 points

 

[nadim615]

Yea. So its probably not your CPU then, most likely your GPU. Your saying that your getting freezes when your GFX activity hits 99%. Well pretty much your maxing out your GPU usage lol. So thats why its freezing... Also, you still might want to upgrade your cooling, 81C is kind of hitting the borderlines of overheating. Most parts can only withstand up to 90-95C before overheating or doing serious damage. Also, the closer you get to your TJ max (as much heat as your parts can take) the less effective they become, as your computer attempts to make them not work as hard, thus creating less heat.

Conclusion: Upgrade your cooling, and your GPU.