FPS Drops/Lag Spikes

[BeadyRoller]

Hi

I've got a 7970 GPU but on certain games my games will have little lag spikes, for example on Arma 3/Rust it'll be a steady 30-40 FPS but it'll drop quickly to a 20 and make the screen almost stutter/lag, it does this in a quite a few of my games and with my GPU it shouldn't be doing that.

Has anyone got any advice so I can stop this as it's very frustrating at times.

Thanks.

 

[TropicoSuarez]

It's probably not your GPU that's the problem. I have a 7950 and experience the same problems in ARMA 3. It's really just your connection going crappy all of a sudden. Your ping sometimes skyrockets due to a bad connection, and no matter how good your GPU is, the FPS will drop and the game will lag. There's really not much you can do about this, because your internet speed and connection are determined by your internet provider, and the quality of the components they use. A network card might help this a bit though. Intel makes some pretty good network cards at all price points, they might boost your internet speed a bit and help with the lag. But not by mch

Good Luck!

 

[BeadyRoller]

Thanks for the reply but my internet connection is really good, I have a 14 ping normally in Arma 3 which is usually the best in the lobby so I don't think that's the problem.

 

[TropicoSuarez]

Thanks for the reply but my internet connection is really good, I have a 14 ping normally in Arma 3 which is usually the best in the lobby so I don't think that's the problem.

In that case, then check your graphics card rivers. If they're not up to date, that could be causing the FPS drops.
This is the latest beta driver:http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/latest-catalyst-windows-beta.aspx?cmpid=social17945534

 

[BeadyRoller]

Will try that but I don't think that's the cause as I have been suggested that before and it didn't work.

Any ideas? Is it something I can chance in CCC maybe?

 

[TropicoSuarez]

Will try that but I don't think that's the cause as I have been suggested that before and it didn't work.

Any ideas? Is it something I can chance in CCC maybe?

Maybe... go into CCC and go to gaming and then 3D application settings. Under texture filtering, un-check "Surface Format Optimization".

If that doesn't work, then open your Catalsyt Control Center, select Gaming and 3d App Settings, then under the Texture Filtering un-tick / turn off the "Surface Format Optimization"

Second fix = Disabling Catalysy AI ( the important one imo );

Open your Catalsyt Control Center, select Presets and Add preset..., Write down a name you prefer in the name part ( let's call it Tropico ) then save and close. Now select Manage presets... , choose the preset with the name you just made ( Tropico ) click apply then close.

Now go to C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\ATI\ACE\Profiles and open the file with notepad ( Tropico )

Now find the line : ** Change it's value from **"Enable" or "Enable2" to "Disable"

Hope this helps!

 

[BeadyRoller]

Ok mate but what does this all do? I don't want to start messing around with stuff if I don't know what it's for if you know what I mean cos I want to be able to restore it if it makes it worse.

Cheers.

 

[TropicoSuarez]

Ok mate but what does this all do? I don't want to start messing around with stuff if I don't know what it's for if you know what I mean cos I want to be able to restore it if it makes it worse.

Cheers.

The Format Optimization 'dumbs down' textures slightly to match what CCC thinks your build can handle. Your 7970 can definitely handle the games you play (because my 7950 can) so unchecking this will stop CCC from suddenly changing textures in-game. This might help.

The second option creates a profile for your computer that will turn off Catalyst AI. Catalyst AI does the same thing as Format Optimization, optimizing performance by slightly downgrading quality. AI does it more often though. Shutting it off should help too.

 

[BeadyRoller]

Thanks for the reply again mate.

The thing is with me having a 7970 shouldn't it be able to handle the textures being very high? How much will it dumb them down? Have you done this yourself?

Another example is on Borderlands 2 I get over 100 FPS at times but every minute or so I'll get a stutter or lag spike which will drop it to around 60 but cause the screen to freeze for like a millisecond.

 

[TropicoSuarez]

Thanks for the reply again mate.

The thing is with me having a 7970 shouldn't it be able to handle the textures being very high? How much will it dumb them down? Have you done this yourself?

Another example is on Borderlands 2 I get over 100 FPS at times but every minute or so I'll get a stutter or lag spike which will drop it to around 60 but cause the screen to freeze for like a millisecond.

The settings that 'dumb down' textures, format optimization and Catalyst AI are turned on by default. Turning them off stops CCC from changing new textures in the game from being 'dumbed down'. So for example, when all the enemies appear in Borderlands two, a new area is loading, or something of that nature happens, CCC will stop having to 'dumb down' new textures. The game will display the textures at full quality without them being suddenly changed, and this should stop the sudden lag spikes and fps drops.

I haven't done this myself, only recommended it to others who had this problem. But if you want to reverse the changes to AI (because the other is simply checking a box), then you can re-enable AI by going back to that notepad file and type enable where you changed it to disable last time.

 

[BeadyRoller]

None of that worked mate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmRTriuskXM

Go to 4:30 on this video and this is the type of stutters I get on all games. Any ideas? This is my recording.

 

[Gtr780ti]

Did u ever fix this? I'm getting the same problem