My R9 290 cannot handle Tomb Raider at Ultra 60fps

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T4Gx

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It frequently drops down to 40-50 fps but this benchmark shows it running at an average of 74.6fps.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-290-review-benchmark,3659-11.html

Full rig specs:
R9 290 TwinFrozr gaming edition
FX6300 w/ Antec Kuhler 930 at Stock
GA-78LMT-S2
8GB 1333mhZ RAM
XFX XXX Edition 750w

Is it being bottlenecked by the cpu? If so can I overclock it with that budget mobo to 4.2ghz if I don't touch the voltage?
 
Solution
T



Yes your getting core throttle! Look at the memory 4th graph down its a solid 1250mhz, look at the core 3rd graph down its all over the place. 280x or 7970 doesnt suffer this and has a solid fixed core, hence for many better benchmarks and gaming performance from the cheaper card.

Its caused by AMD powertune which to keep noise and temps down, instead of increasing the fan speed more, it throttles the cpu core clocks...
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I suspect powertune and its obsession with regulating too much power, and keeping heat low still.

So core lock has improved it, but it sounds like it needs a little more juice.

Have you unticked the CCC overdrive box?

Post up a screenshot of your afterburner settings page where you choose unofficial overclock mode, and also the sliders Mhz page.


Ps. i'm seriously considering selling my 290 and going back to a 280x! Particularly in skyrim HD, when a heavy firefight comes into play the 290 just can't cope, the 280x didnt stutter at all!
 
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^^ Where is this "unofficial overclock mode" located?

Oh man thats ridiculous how the 280x is better than the 290 🙁

Right now the sliders are at the default 977 mhz and 1250mhz w/ + 50% power limit
 
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Yes so far I've tried TR, Far Cry 3 and Witcher 2.

And I know for a fact that my 280x was posting 60fps consistent no problem while my 290 is at 45-60fps 🙁

This is all very infuriating. 🙁
 
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I'd love to but I'm afraid of making my pc explode. Will I be fine by just turning up the cpu ratio and not the voltage even with my mobo?
 
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it will be if the vrms are heating up causing the cpu to downclock




as far as overclocking you will be able to over clock a little bit as long as you dont increase the voltage, depending what voltage it is running already it may already be to high, 4.2 can be achieved at about 1.34v, i know on turbo mode it would cause mine to go to about 1.48v which is not needed at all.

you may actually see a temp decrease if you set it manually.

also I recommend setting a custom fan curve in afterburner where the fan speed is max about 85-90c, this will help keep the memory and vrms cooler which could be getting hot,, and setting your limit to+20 anything more than +20 isnt needed and im not sure you can go over 20 without editing the registry as I did.
 
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If cpu-z is correct my core voltage right now is 1.392 😱
 
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Download MSI Afterburner. Monitor FPS, GPU Usage and GPU Temps.

Tell us what you see. If your GPU usage is fairly low on the low FPS times, it is most likely your CPU. Tomb Raider will punish you for that slow CPU.

1382088059a47QS23bNQ_9_4.gif

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/10/23/amd_radeon_r9_290x_video_card_review/9#.Ut_qe7SIaUk

Notice the dips. Now notice the minimums here:

ku-xlarge.png
 
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It is the CPU. Or the fact you have more GPU than you can handle/need.

OC the CPU for a little better performance, or replace it for a lot better performance, but regardless, you will get dips, and if you use V-sync, you'll get a max of 60 FPS.
 
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I ran 2 7970s @1150 on a 8320 @ 4.6 ] with no issues so the cpu is enough to handle one 290, i know my old 6300 had issues when using the turbo mode, it would constantly cause my frame rates to go everywhere, when setting it manually to 4.2 it ran great.

tomb raider probably is a little bit more cpu bound


 
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Well im not going to do that since the point of me buying the 290 is tobbe able tobplay games on max 60fps 1080p.

Guess Ill have to speed up my plans of moving to intel abd probably have the card checked out for defects.

Now on to the task of selecting the best answer lol.
 
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While the Intel CPU would help, getting a constant 60 FPS or higher may be out of reach with todays technology. Some games just won't allow for 60+ FPS at all times.

If that is what you really require, I assume it is so you can have V-sync on without stuttering. I'd suggest replacing the 290 with a 780, and get a G-sync monitor, if that is your goal. There will always be games that have CPU requirements that will not allow for 60+ FPS.
 
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Thats true, I have a 780 ti and I get the odd dips sometimes @ 1440p however most of the time the frame rate is between 55 - 70
I have 3570k with stock clocks.

I had a 780 that I used when I had a 1080p monitor and the performance was good however AMD is supposed to be optimised
for Tomb raider.

 
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Well guys I upgraded to a i5 4570 and a z87-A and now I'm getting 75-80 on FC3 Maxed and 60fps vsync on Witcher 2. o_o

Guess it was the cpu bottleneck along with the core throttle. 😛
 
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