Low FPS in Aion w/5870

[Asy]

I recently finished building my pc and everything runs great besides this game, I have tried the drivers that came with the card, which were 9.12, also the 10.1 and the newest beta drivers with no changes to performance. In uncrowded areas my fps ranges from 70-140 When there is anymore than say 20+ people near me my FPS drops to near 10, playing at 1440x900 res. Many people with far less of a vid card and less of a PC are getting at least acceptable FPS. Scored 17266 GPU in 3dmark vantage..0x-8x AA seem to have no effect on FPS either. Any suggestions?
PC specs:
Phenom II 965BE 3.4
Vapor-X 5870
4gb Mushkin ddr3 @1600mhz
Asus M4A79XTD Evo
WD Sata HD
Win 7 64-bit

 

[rodney_ws]

Perhaps a network bottleneck?

 

[daedalus685]

^+1

Certainly sounds like a classic case of network slow downs.

 

[Asy]

What exactly does my network have to do with my frame rates being crap ?

 

[hallowed_dragon]

What exactly does my network have to do with my frame rates being crap ?

Absolutely nothing. I don't play the game so I can't really help you with the FPS. The card you have is very nice so I don't see what could be the problem.

 

[Rustyy117]

Its not network problems, he knows what the sluttering is caused by, and thats low FPS...not high ping.

Theres been a fair few threads about 5xxx series cards and Aion...I say its a driver issue.

 

[daedalus685]

This is an mmo.. there is a huge amount of information that must be sent back and forth (well... not huge... but enough) when in highly populated areas. The network connection has a massive impact on FPS in something like this.

Certainly in its own right the large number of characters the game has to draw will slow it down a good bit as well (if character details are high).

Why exactly would the fps of an MMO not be impacted by the network? Things like character positions, equipment, etc. are not computed locally, that information has to be sent before a new frame can be drawn.

 

[hallowed_dragon]

This is an mmo.. there is a huge amount of information that must be sent back and forth (well... not huge... but enough) when in highly populated areas. The network connection has a massive impact on FPS in something like this.

Certainly in its own right the large number of characters the game has to draw will slow it down a good bit as well (if character details are high).

Why exactly would the fps of an MMO not be impacted by the network? Things like character positions, equipment, etc. are not computed locally, that information has to be sent before a new frame can be drawn.

I think you don't play MMOs. I can tell you that network performance doesn't affect the FPS. If you have crappy network, but good GPU you will see 100 FPS and sudden 'teleports' around you. I play WoW on a laptop and on desktop. The laptop can have drops in network performance, but the FPS remains unchanged.

 

[daedalus685]

I think you don't play MMOs. I can tell you that network performance doesn't affect the FPS. If you have crappy network, but good GPU you will see 100 FPS and sudden 'teleports' around you.

I've played wow for years...

Teleportation issues are from lag (bab ping), slowdowns like this would be from lack of bandwidth.

Just like how a cpu can bottleneck you in a regular game (when it is computing the AI and so on) the same is true of the network in an MMO. At least some information has to be received before a frame can be completed. That information increases with more charters on the screen. The fact that his FPS is fine off in the world and only dives with many people around him would have me believe it is network issue (and that does not mean it is on his end either).

 

[brett1042002]

OP, what is your latency like in the "crowded" areas vs "open" areas in-game? What type of internet connection do you have? Dial-Up, DSL, Fiber, Cable? How much bandwidth do you have?

http://www.speedtest.net/ <--- This can tell you your approximate bandwidth (both down and up) and latency you are currently experiencing. Obviously, this test is not against the Game servers, but might give you an idea what your connection is like. Choose the closest city/server to you.

 

[rodney_ws]

To the OP: Turn down all graphical detail settings to their minimums and play at the lowest resolution the game allows. Go back to the heavily crowded areas... if you're still experiencing lag only in the crowded areas, your lowered FPS is likely a result of your internet connection or perhaps just server lag on their side.

Although I have never played AION, I have played a few MMOs in my day... so while my advice is generic, it is based on actual observations. Do you have another (crowded) MMO that you play that you can test this with?

 

[bystander]

I've played a lot of MMORPG'S including WoW, DAoC, EQ, EQ2, UO, AC, AC2, AoC, Warhammer (man I've played a lot). I've also had bad lag and latency issues at times, and great latency at other times. Unless the game is poorly coded, (which I have no examples of), latency should not effect FPS.

These games will estimate information needed from the server, if it's not given, and just won't do actions if you don't get the proper packets from the internet, but the FPS will remain strong. Usually when you lose connection from the internet, you'll end up running around the zone for a long time until you get disconnected, with all kinds of FPS.

Granted, a poorly coded game could cause FPS issues, but none that I've played.

However, the issues you are having could also be related to the CPU, but both your GPU and CPU appear strong.

 

[bystander]

Your best bet for a solution is on the Aion forums. They'll know more about the strengths and weaknesses of the game, and know what to expect.

 

[daedalus685]

I've played a lot of MMORPG'S including WoW, DAoC, EQ, EQ2, UO, AC, AC2, AoC, Warhammer (man I've played a lot). I've also had bad lag and latency issues at times, and great latency at other times. Unless the game is poorly coded, (which I have no examples of), latency should not effect FPS.

These games will estimate information needed from the server, if it's not given, and just won't do actions if you don't get the proper packets from the internet, but the FPS will remain strong. Usually when you lose connection from the internet, you'll end up running around the zone for a long time until you get disconnected, with all kinds of FPS.

Granted, a poorly coded game could cause FPS issues, but none that I've played.

However, the issues you are having could also be related to the CPU, but both your GPU and CPU appear strong.

You are correct, latency does not affect FPS. But bandwidth would. Lag is a different beast all together.

There are a lot of tasks that the computer can simulate or ignore. But, depending on the MMO, a lot of data has to come from the server end to avoid exploitation. One can code optimizations into a game, but there will be some amount of required data sent to, and from, the server. This can bottleneck just like anything else in a system.

Mind you, this very well could be a minuscule hit compared to the effect of drawing a hundred characters at once.. though if that were the case those with lesser hardware (assuming the same settings) should slow to a crawl.

 

[bystander]

I've spent 30 seconds on many of these games with NO bandwidth and still had full FPS I'd normally get. Granted, as I said before, it is possible Aion doesn't work the same as WoW or many of the other games I played did, so I'd ask on the Aion technical forums, as they do know how that game reacts.

On the other hand, AC and AC2 did react strangely to loss of bandwidth. Though I don't recall FPS being lost, but I never FRAPS it either.

 

[Asy]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/706359808.png
Speed test results there, my ping ranges from 50-150 in game at most periods of times, settings all gfx options at lowest only boost my fps by about 5 compared to highest settings and 8x AA, on Aion forums many people with my same issue and also on the ATI forum, so I guess it seems like a driver problem or game code problem with these cards. Is it possible I am playing on too low of resolution and putting most of the load on my CPU and not the GPU?

 

[Nowayz]

will seem silly but try to orverclock ur cpu in crowded aera and check if u get more fps.
This game in crowded aera requires a really powerfull cpu more than a powerfull card.
I know yours is good though
i have a 5870 with a e8400 and the only way to increase my fps in crowded aera is to overlock it and even at 3.6 the game still want more 😀.
The guys making siege movie mostly have i5/i7 overlocked.
It worth a try anyway.

 

[Asy]

well I see many with very mid-range pc's outperforming mine I will try that, but I dont see why I should need to when ppl like this..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCZkazRIp4M&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAjGCl4SBoc&feature=player_embedded#

both destroying my performance..makes no sense

 

[Nowayz]

yeah i've seen those 2 movies and its pretty weird but they are not so many though with proof of them being smooth in siege without "shift+f12"
Anyway i should get my i5 750 monday so i will let u know my feedback and i will be honest.

 

[Nowayz]

Here my feedback with an i5 750 @ 4 ghz and 5870(catalyst 9.12)

1900*1200 and all setting at max.

town like sanctum near the broker or the craft aera 40>100 fps depending on how many people there is.
Outside 80>200 fps

for fortress its a bit more complicated to explain.
i will compare to the movie u posted,in fact there are not so much enemies in those movies and 15 fps is enough to make the movie looks "smooth" if u fraps on another hdd ur fps wont move that much.
i can handle fortress like the movie u posted at around 15 fps in average and 15 fps is enough to play but when its 200 vs 200,i still cant handle it fps can down untill like 5 fps which is unplayabe but it doesnt happen the whole run.

here a video i found on aionsource where u can see the fps : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdC3Tt3UYX4&feature=player_embedded.

I have around the same perf and if i put all to lowest setting my fps wont increase in fortress so it proves that the problem is not from the card
By the way, mid range card is enough for aion,the problem is somewhere else.

Fortress asking too much cpu/ram in a weird way, hopefully they code it better when they will release 2.0

Hope i helped u to understand that u card has no problem even with aion and dont listen too much people saying they are smooth,80/90% using shift +f12 or talking about when they are pveing.

 

[Guest]

even having 5870 with your new rig not all games can get the best fps you could imagine its also depends on the games how the graphics are made. Yes bandwidth is the one of the reasons why fps is being low as well as the population of the game, some of the replies are really understandable two or three of them are 😛.

I play a couple of MMO's and first person shooting games thats what I noticed about the card and the fps. If your still unsure about what people are trying to explain well maybe watch some reviews about the card itself.

yet am also worried about my fps sometimes but common sense make things better somehow. 😉 wait until the new driver update release probably somewhere in March.

am a happy owner of 5870.

 

[Mineria]

I think you don't play MMOs. I can tell you that network performance doesn't affect the FPS. If you have crappy network, but good GPU you will see 100 FPS and sudden 'teleports' around you. I play WoW on a laptop and on desktop. The laptop can have drops in network performance, but the FPS remains unchanged.

Well, your wrong though, huge lag spike have impact on fps, since the data that is supposed to be forwarded to your graphic card gets delayed, like position, spells etc.
Try Warhammer Online T4 RvR and you know what I'm talking about.
Even the wildest graphic card won't keep FPS.
Most of these games have the lag spikes on the servers thou, bad coding and handling of multiple clients in the same area.

 

[Magged]

I did a little test last night with my Gfx's Card in Warhammer Online. I Have been experiencing alot of stuttering in WAR with my ATI radeon 5850 BE. So tried my older Geforce 9800 GTX+ and ran alot smoother then ATI card but only in WAR and not in other games.

So it has to be something with the game not being optimized for the Radeon 5000-series or that the drivers are *** at moment.

 

[HKH]

I just upgrade my comp yesterday
but my previous rig was

955BE 3.8ghz OCed
2x 5850 in xfire OCed

I run Aion at:
1920x1080
Everything maxed
8xAA

Since Aion doesn't utilize xfire, so just see it as one 5850

I get around 60-90 in non populated areas depending on the area
but I do find a huge dip in FPS when I change my move towards the Elo/Asmo fortresses
It can go down to around 15-35 for like a few seconds, but then it goes back up to around 60+ when I start walking

Personally I think it's a drivers problem, since my crappy laptop running Geforce 130M can get around 55-60 constantly
and it dips to 40-50 around a fortress which is acceptable.

I am totally not sure either, your case is quite odd, if it dips for just a few secs, I think it's trying to load all the background, building details etc. But if it doesn't boost back up, then it "may" be the drivers fault

and screw NCsoft for not utilizing xfire for Aion, I basically just wasted a few extra bucks, since it is a MMO and I tend to play Aion more then COD mw2, BC2 etc.

Meh, I'm quite satisfied with my frames, hope you get yours fixed soon