Hello, I've been a long time reader of Tom's Hardware, I've found it a great resource to refer to for new builds and especially problem shooting. Well I have my own problem at the moment that I cannot solve. Usually I can always figure it out but this one has me really stumped.
I've just finished assembling my latest gaming rig, I invested quite a bit in it, I'm hoping to get a couple of years out of the majority of the components before another upgrade.
I started to play Far Cry 3 last night and I'm getting horrible FPS on any resolutions, looking at my CPU and GPU usage, it's all rather low.
First my build includes the following;
CPU: Intel i7 870 Overclocked to 3.6Ghz
Motherboard: MSI P55-GD85
Power supply: XFX 750 Watt
GPU: XFX HD7970 Ghz edition x 2 in crossfire Core 1500Mhz, clock 1050Mhz
Ram: Kingston 8 gig
Gaming Hardrive: WD velociraptor
Monitor: Qnix 2560 x 1440
The motherboard, in crossfire mode has the PCI-E lanes in a x16 and x8 configuration.
Power setting in control panel have been setup to run at maximum performance.
I've been doing all types of tests to try and figure out what the problem is, here are my Furmark results.
Crossfire Enabled
2560 x 1440 x4 AA = 31 FPS
1920 x 1080 x 4 AA = 46 FPS
2560 x 1440 x 0 AA = 72 FPS
1920 x 1080 x 0 AA = 113 FPS
Crossfire Disabled
2560 x 1440 x4 AA = 15 FPS
1920 x 1080 x 4 AA = 23 FPS
2560 x 1440 x 0 AA = 35 FPS
1920 x 1080 x 0 AA = 56 FPS
Now those test results are not being reflected in gameplay, even so I still wuld of expected better results.
If I run FRAPs, GPU-Z and Windows Task manager CPU monitor playing Farcry 3, these are the results
Crossfire Enabled
2560 x 1440 x 2 AA optimal setting
20 FPS
CPU Usage 20% - 30%
GPU usage 35% - 45%
1920 x 1080 x 2AA optimal setting
40 FPS
CPU Usage 25%
GPU Usage 25% - 35%
Crossfire Disabled
2560 x 1440 x 2 AA optimal setting
35 FPS
CPU Usage 20% - 25%
GPU usage 100%
1920 x 1080 x 2AA optimal setting
50 FPS
CPU Usage 35%
GPU Usage 100%
Why are these figures so low? It seems crossfire could be the problem, or is the CPU bottle-necking the system, but the CPU usage is always so low? I thought a 4 cored i7 over 3.0 Ghz would of been enough for any game.
Do you think this is likely to be a persistent problem with all future games? Will there be specific fixes for crossfire for Far Cry 3?
So what am I missing here?
I've just finished assembling my latest gaming rig, I invested quite a bit in it, I'm hoping to get a couple of years out of the majority of the components before another upgrade.
I started to play Far Cry 3 last night and I'm getting horrible FPS on any resolutions, looking at my CPU and GPU usage, it's all rather low.
First my build includes the following;
CPU: Intel i7 870 Overclocked to 3.6Ghz
Motherboard: MSI P55-GD85
Power supply: XFX 750 Watt
GPU: XFX HD7970 Ghz edition x 2 in crossfire Core 1500Mhz, clock 1050Mhz
Ram: Kingston 8 gig
Gaming Hardrive: WD velociraptor
Monitor: Qnix 2560 x 1440
The motherboard, in crossfire mode has the PCI-E lanes in a x16 and x8 configuration.
Power setting in control panel have been setup to run at maximum performance.
I've been doing all types of tests to try and figure out what the problem is, here are my Furmark results.
Crossfire Enabled
2560 x 1440 x4 AA = 31 FPS
1920 x 1080 x 4 AA = 46 FPS
2560 x 1440 x 0 AA = 72 FPS
1920 x 1080 x 0 AA = 113 FPS
Crossfire Disabled
2560 x 1440 x4 AA = 15 FPS
1920 x 1080 x 4 AA = 23 FPS
2560 x 1440 x 0 AA = 35 FPS
1920 x 1080 x 0 AA = 56 FPS
Now those test results are not being reflected in gameplay, even so I still wuld of expected better results.
If I run FRAPs, GPU-Z and Windows Task manager CPU monitor playing Farcry 3, these are the results
Crossfire Enabled
2560 x 1440 x 2 AA optimal setting
20 FPS
CPU Usage 20% - 30%
GPU usage 35% - 45%
1920 x 1080 x 2AA optimal setting
40 FPS
CPU Usage 25%
GPU Usage 25% - 35%
Crossfire Disabled
2560 x 1440 x 2 AA optimal setting
35 FPS
CPU Usage 20% - 25%
GPU usage 100%
1920 x 1080 x 2AA optimal setting
50 FPS
CPU Usage 35%
GPU Usage 100%
Why are these figures so low? It seems crossfire could be the problem, or is the CPU bottle-necking the system, but the CPU usage is always so low? I thought a 4 cored i7 over 3.0 Ghz would of been enough for any game.
Do you think this is likely to be a persistent problem with all future games? Will there be specific fixes for crossfire for Far Cry 3?
So what am I missing here?