Erratic framerates

[mailpranshu]

Hi Toms,

I have picked up a 1 GB Sapphire 5670 for my old PC.

I use it to play a lot of games at present such as:
1. Crysis 2
2. Medal of Honor
3. Batman AA
4. Warhammer Space marines
5. Alien vs Predator
6. BFBC 2
7. RE 5
8. COD Black ops.

My config is below:
Processor : Athlon 5600 X2 @ 3.0 GHZ
Mo Bo : Asus M2A-VM
Ram : Transcend 2x2 GB @ 800 Mhz
HDD : Segate Raptor 1 TB @ 7200 RPM
Display settings : 1440x900
Power supply : Cooler Master HX 750

As a rule of thumb I keep AA completely off. I keep settings at medium. I use FRAPS to bench.

The problem is that my frame rates are extremely erratic. Giving some example below:
1. MOH goes from 50 fps all the way down to 20 fps.
2. Crysis 2 hangs around 35-40 fps.
3. Warhammer is smooth as butter and even on maxed out it runs at a stable 50-55.
4. Homefront is pathetic. 50 fps to 10 fps at times!!!!!!!!!
5. Ditto with COD BO.

My HDD is brand new. I have also ensure proper cooling and airflow, used new paste and none of my components pass 60 degree celsius under stress. I have done a fresh install of Win 7. All my drivers are updated.

I have also monitored Ram and CPU usage and its normal.

Before this I had a 8600 GT which I used to play on with low settings. It was extremely smooth on low settings at 1280x800. I know that the 5670 is in between a 8800 GT and a 9800 GT. I am pretty underwhelmed and dissapointed.

Should not my performance have gone up and have been smoother? I know its not a bottleneck as compared to this article on Toms, my max frame rates are pretty comparable.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5670,2533-10.html

I also enabled visual effects to shift the possible bottleneck to my GPU.

Any suggestions? And I cant buy new parts.

Thanks in advance guys!!!!!!!!

 

[bystander]

Hi Toms,

Should not my performance have gone up and have been smoother? I know its not a bottleneck as compared to this article on Toms, my max frame rates are pretty comparable.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5670,2533-10.html

I also enabled visual effects to shift the possible bottleneck to my GPU.

Any suggestions? And I cant buy new parts.

Thanks in advance guys!!!!!!!!

If you have a bottleneck, which you probably due, this is the type of behavior you'll get. When ever the CPU is holding back performance, the FPS drop. You won't see much of an improvement and smooth performance if the CPU is holding things back.

Also, you didn't make much of an improvement in the Graphics card department. Usually it's best to make larger leaps in performance when you upgrade.

 

[mailpranshu]

If you have a bottleneck, which you probably due, this is the type of behavior you'll get. When ever the CPU is holding back performance, the FPS drop. You won't see much of an improvement and smooth performance if the CPU is holding things back.

Also, you didn't make much of an improvement in the Graphics card department. Usually it's best to make larger leaps in performance when you upgrade.

Hey thanks for the advice. I still have some cash left. and I am holding out for Bulldozer. Would throwing in a PhenomII 945 be a good idea?

It does work on my board.

 

[bystander]

I'm not all that familiar with the AMD CPU's atm, but it would likely be a large improvement.

 

[cuecuemore]

A 945 would help you a lot. It's got a little bit better core strength than your CPU and, of course, twice as many cores. I concur, by the way, with what has been said. If you are completely GPU bottleneck then your framerate can jump all over the place and you may not perceive any difference, but if you're CPU bottlenecked, it will be an annoyance for sure.

 

[Supernova1138]

A Phenom II X4 945 would be a very large improvement, a lot of games are taking more advantage of the quad cores, particularly Crysis 2, BFBC 2 and COD Black Ops, which tend not to run well on anything less than a triple core CPU. However, I'm not sure if your board can support that CPU. It would have to be at least Socket AM2+. You may also have to get a BIOS update for the CPU to work properly. Be sure to check the CPU compatibility list on the manufacturer's website before buying a new CPU.

 

[mailpranshu]

Hey the AM2 boards do. It is officially supported. My Bios is new as well.

 

[Supernova1138]

If the Phenom II will work with your board, it would definitely help with your erratic framerates with the more CPU heavy games.

 

[mailpranshu]

Guys thanks for all the advice.

But something different fixed the problem finally.

I changed my power settings to high. That made a bit of a difference.

In my BIOS, AMD has a cool and quiet function. I shut it off.

And finally, All the games that I am using have different image settings. Here is some stuff that guys with low end cards can try:
- Keep visual settings high.
- Keep your AA as x1.
- Keep you shadows low.

The performance for BFBC2 jumped up and my frame rates became regular. Even MOH is smooth now after setting all presets to high(AA off).

I guess the bottleneck was compensated by putting more stress on the GPU. I kept increasing image settings till it began to taper off. Lots of experimentation.

Thanks any ways guys. The help is appreciated!!!!

 

[mailpranshu]

Best answer selected by mailpranshu.