HD 7950/GTX 670 Micro-Stuttering

[dienan47]

Okay. I have an HD 7950 (DC2) and I know how micro-stuttering can ruing gaming experience. When playing a game like Witcher 2, looking at the bottom of the screen I can see the ground and objects on it having not smooth movement at 48-59FPS.. It's like they are jumping, skipping frames every 1/2 second but if I foucs (literally) on distant objects I can't notice it. I've seen identical spikes on fraps bench HD 7950 vs. GTX 660Ti and the latter having no spikes at all..
So my question is simple,
if I RMA this and upgrade to a GTX 670, is it possible to get smooth frame rates? I have seen GTX 670 user complaining about micro-stuttering but very much less complains than HD 79xx micro-stuttering.
Will AMD fix this soon? I tried both beta and WHQL but still can't get play Farcry 3 in very high setting due to heavy micro-stuttering..
Please provide an answer..

 

[cooldudesubho]

Nope,you won't see any difference.If your framerate is under 60 or you are not using vsync.You will always notice that.

 

[stickmansam]

Are you sure if micro-stuttering and not just the fps bouncing the arround as it goes up and down and up and down as you move arround?

Try reducing settings so you hit above 60fps min and then vysnc and see if issues remain

 

[iam2thecrowe]

it can also be the cpu or not enough ram. CPU is very critical to having good frame latency.

 

[cobra5000]

I have a hard time believing that you have micro-struttering, with a video card that used to cost $400.00. Other factors must be involved.

 

[dienan47]

My CPU is i5-3450 and I have a 4GB of XMS RAM. I'm sure my FPS isn't bouncing around. I'm using MSI AB to limit FPS to cap @ 59 to eliminate any tearing.. I can tell between tearing and stuttering. What I'm seeing is stuttering..
However, in Witcher 2 main menu FPS goes above 1500 (known issue) and my card starts making a very high pitch noise. Is it a bad coil? When FANS reach 25+% RPM I'm also getting a high pitch noise (I stopped the fans for a second and it's gone and when I reconnect the fans it started again) and it's very annoying when working and surfing web.. Should I RMA it?
Thanks..

 

[bigcyco1]

There something wrong you should not have any micro-stuttering the Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 and the AMD Radeon HD 7950. They offer performance that is nearly as good as that of the high-end models, but at a more modest price. If you stick with a 1080p or 1920 by 1200 display with one of these cards, you should be in good shape.One exception to this rule is The Witcher 2, an extremely demanding game in part because it tries to do too much with DirectX 9, an older graphics interface. Still, even most action RPGs like Diablo III and hybrid shooter RPGs like Mass Effect 3 run acceptably on modestly priced hardware.I try other games fry cry 3 and Witcher 2 are extremely demanding games .

 

[Mahisse]

Well if you're not happy with the card RMA before it's too late.

 

[bigcyco1]

Well if you're not happy with the card RMA before it's too late.

+1

 

[iam2thecrowe]

My CPU is i5-3450 and I have a 4GB of XMS RAM. I'm sure my FPS isn't bouncing around. I'm using MSI AB to limit FPS to cap @ 59 to eliminate any tearing.. I can tell between tearing and stuttering. What I'm seeing is stuttering..
However, in Witcher 2 main menu FPS goes above 1500 (known issue) and my card starts making a very high pitch noise. Is it a bad coil? When FANS reach 25+% RPM I'm also getting a high pitch noise (I stopped the fans for a second and it's gone and when I reconnect the fans it started again) and it's very annoying when working and surfing web.. Should I RMA it?
Thanks..

not enough ram. get 8gb ram. and also What PSU do you have? you need a good quality 550w psu to power that setup adequaetly.

 

[patrick47018]

I second the 8 GB of RAM make it 1600mhz at least. And I have a 7950 with far cry 3 max setting I get solid 60/61

 

[dienan47]

I have a Seasonic X-650 PSU.
I'm going to RMA on Monday. Can you guys tell me what this 'Coil Whine' is and the outcome of this? Will it blow up or burn? I have no idea why it's making that noise. Even when exiting heaven dev: names screen (free version) FPS is above 1500 and I hear the same noise. I need to make sure I don't get this on the next card I'm getting..

 

[bigcyco1]

Coil whine does not hinder performance it just extremely annoying lol there nothing that can be done to fix that at least not that i am aware of anyway sorry.

 

[stickmansam]

I agree it may be an issue with ram, 4gb is pretty low

cap it at even lower to see if the issue remains at like 40fps, below what the card can output so it has more than enough frames

also in unrelated games, vsync removed suttering/tearing even though I had used the in game controls to limit fps to 60 so i dunno if this is an issue

 

[dienan47]

If I run a memory test, will I be able to tell if the ram is faulty or not? Please post some trusted memory testing softwares..
If not then how can I say if this is a ram issue? I ran this card on a table with a crap 2GB ram and Farcry 3 wasn't this much stuttring @ 1600x1020..

Does GTX 670 has less frame latency problems than HD7950? I bought this because the store said this card could be OCd and can catch GTX 670 easily..

 

[stickmansam]

Its a ram issue in not having enough ram to load everything so certain files will ahve to be paged, causing drop/slow downs AFAIK

Latency problems are also not just inherent in the card (AMD generally has bit worse suttering) but also in how demanding the game is. It could mean a sudden drop from 59fps to 40ish fps which could be very noticeable as you move around the game.

The 7950 can be OC'd to match the 670 so that wasn't a lie

 

[stickmansam]

EDIT: Double post

 

[dienan47]

Found a load of articles in techreport testing a GTX 660Ti and a HD7950.. Turns out AMD has huge latency problems. Amazing nobody here knows this or maybe they are just accepting this issue?

 

[stickmansam]

In some games they have tested, they haven't tested all of them and next driver is supposed to have more fixes (I mentioned above that AMD had worse latency issues)

http://techreport.com/review/24218/a-driver-update-to-reduce-radeon-frame-times/5

In my personal experience I get rid of the issues with sudden drops in fps that won't show up on avg fps or even min fps by just tweaking my fps so high its above vysnc any drop would be irrelevant

I have had some issues with techreport though in their methedology
http://techreport.com/review/24022/does-the-radeon-hd-7950-stumble-in-windows-8/6

"Both of these cards perform quite acceptably here, we should note. We've had to lower our "badness" threshold to 33.3 milliseconds since neither card surpasses the 50-millisecond mark for even a single frame."

it generally seems that the DX11 games are better off for AMD than DX9 games (note that on my 7850 I haven't noticed any differences (and no stuttering before anyhow) from before the AMD fix and after in skyrim myself

 

[dienan47]

^This problem is found worse in AMD 79xx cards. Not 78xx cards. Micro-Stuttering is not FPS going 50 to 40 in a sec, I think you're experiencing something else as my FPS never bounce around like that except when there's a huge explosion, etc... Micro-Stuttering is when one frame takes more time than other frames to render. I played Farcry 3 on HD 2500 and at low settings gameplay was smooth as butter. With HD 7950 I get aweful micro-stuttring and predictable micro-freezes that feels they are happening every 4 seconds..

For an example when I'm playing Dead Space 3, if I look at an object moving from point A to point B I'm seeing the object micro-stopping a dozen times (i have fraps on and fps doesn't even move in space flights) before reaching point B.

 

[stickmansam]

well if you are experiencing such big issues, you should wait for the next driver update and if that doesn't fix it then consider moving to 670 (next gen cards are not for a while so pricing should be pretty constant)

 

[bystander]

^This problem is found worse in AMD 79xx cards. Not 78xx cards. Micro-Stuttering is not FPS going 50 to 40 in a sec, I think you're experiencing something else as my FPS never bounce around like that except when there's a huge explosion, etc... Micro-Stuttering is when one frame takes more time than other frames to render. I played Farcry 3 on HD 2500 and at low settings gameplay was smooth as butter. With HD 7950 I get aweful micro-stuttring and predictable micro-freezes that feels they are happening every 4 seconds..

For an example when I'm playing Dead Space 3, if I look at an object moving from point A to point B I'm seeing the object micro-stopping a dozen times (i have fraps on and fps doesn't even move in space flights) before reaching point B.

Why do you think it is worse with the 79xx and not the 78xx? I haven't seen a test with the 78xx cards, but I have seen it with 68xx, 69xx, 79xx, and they all suffer similarly until they are well above your refresh rate, which means the 79xx suffers less often.

Anyways, it could be the game. I know in the prologue, The Witcher 2 has poor performance. It changes after you leave the city.

 

[dienan47]

^ http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/177173/HD-7950-May-Give-Higher-Framerates-but-GTX-660-Ti-Still-Smoother-Report.html

Micro-Stuttering can be so annoying for people who feel the fps drop from 60 to 50.. Many say there's no difference but a trained eye and a good gaming mouse can tell you more. If you have no idea what I'm seeing, watch that video..

 

[bystander]

^ http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/177173/HD-7950-May-Give-Higher-Framerates-but-GTX-660-Ti-Still-Smoother-Report.html

Micro-Stuttering can be so annoying for people who feel the fps drop from 60 to 50.. Many say there's no difference but a trained eye and a good gaming mouse can tell you more. If you have no idea what I'm seeing, watch that video..

While that test was done with a 7950, that does not mean the 7850 or 7870 would not have the same problem. It may leave the possibility that they don't have the problem, as it wasn't tested, but you can't say it affects the 79xx cards more either, because we don't know that.

 

[dienan47]

^All GFX card have micro-stuttering. A GFX card with pure frame latency isn't going to come out for a very long time. I don't think it's possible to make one thus even if they manage to make one that would cost as much as nvidia's super-computer. However my point is, nvidia cards give frames in a close-to-being-even rate while AMD cards run all over the place making huge spikes reaching 60ms or even 190ms all the time. I benched this against a GTX 670 and found that card also has this problem, very small to be honet. The question I'm hoping to get an answer is, is the upgrade is worth it to pay more money? Will a GTX 670 hold out and let me survive 2-3 years? Looking back at GTX 570 doesn't give me a good answer and finally will the 2GB memory on this card be enough for games with high-resolution textures? I logged my Wither 2 gameplay and with normal resolution textures, mem usage as much as 1300Mb in Kadwani camp area and Loc Muine.. Would high resolution textures require more than 2Gigs of vram?

Thanks..