New PC graphics fail advice appreciated

[Johnny_R]

Hey all

I just upgrade my PC for first time in 5-6 years. I put it all together without much research /= wasn't sure what I was doing. The graphics performance isnt as impressive as I expected was wondering if someone could give me some advice on how to improve the PC. Either overclock new CPU? what would you do.

i7-4790(not the overclockable k version)
z97x fatality killer
SSD SanDisk Extreme PRO 480g
2x Radeon R 290X Asus OC (crossfired, however I have not overclocked it)
16gb DDR3 ram not sure which latency can check when I get home.
Windows 7 64bit (with latest updates)
EVGA SuperNOVA 1300Watt 80Plus Gold Full-Modular Power Supply Unit

Running dragon age inquisition and I cant really run it higher than medium with vsync and MSAA.

What would you guys do In my situation? any advice appreciated
Budget I guess is about 1k

 

[Darkbreeze]

What is the brand and model number of your power supply? The rest of your system is fine. Not sure why you have a non-K cpu with a Z series board unless you plan to upgrade later, which seems silly since it would only have been about thirty bucks more for the K chip. Regardless, it might be PSU related or it's possible you have a driver issue. Did you uninstall all GPU drivers and then install the latest catalyst Omega drivers from the AMD website?

 

[Johnny_R]

EVGA SuperNOVA 1300Watt 80Plus Gold Full-Modular Power Supply Unit.

I have downloaded the latest catalyst Omega Drivers from the amd website =/ then I clicked on cross fire enable.

dragon age inquisition on medium settings, mantle, vsync MSAAx2 I am getting 55-60 fps pretty constant. If I alter settings higher it gets pretty choppy and drops from 60 to 30 when I turn or go to open areas.

 

[williamseattle]

Hmm Ram, OS, More info on PC specs Cause ya should be able to get like 90-100 FPS on the highest settings ! ?? or Try another game ? This isnt a Warez-Torrent game is it ?>:/ Cause those dont work at all

 

[Darkbreeze]

Did you install the cards together or did you have one already and then get a second one? If so, were there any issues previously with the single card? Maybe try the uninstall and reinstall procedure using the Display driver uninstaller and then reinstall the drivers. Sometimes when moving from one driver to a new one, it doesn't work for shit without getting a totally clean slate first. You can run the DDU, choose the AMD option, allow the safe mode reboot and afterwards reinstall the Omega package. This procedure works for about half the GPU issues I see here that are not PSU or faulty card related.

http://www.wagnardmobile.com/DDU/

 

[Johnny_R]

thank you I will try that tonight when I get home. Thank you

so you guys think theres a problem?

@williamseattle I updated the OP with more spec details. Not sure what that torrent game you mentioned, playing a legit bought copy made by bioware.

 

[Darkbreeze]

There's a good chance a windows update could be at fault. Try the DDU and reinstall. Then go from there.

 

[williamseattle]

Johnny the question was for some people get games legit or download them from who knows where and they come and ask the community for why this doesnt work and so forth so i was trying to get a answer to your problems with the game and did ya try any other Demos or games or FPS test like Valley on Unigine !

I would try all the Videocard demos and then see if the same prob exists with the game you are testing with and check out some youtube videos for comparing.

 

[Johnny_R]

I will test Valley never heard of that before thanks

 

[williamseattle]

This is a good program alot people use to Benchmark their VideoCards and Highly recommended !
http://unigine.com/products/benchmarks/

 

[Johnny_R]

thanks

 

[Johnny_R]

cleared drivers and reinstalled drivers.

what other parts could I add to this machine to improve it? better CPU? or OC the video cards?

 

[williamseattle]

try checking out the Videos on your Benchmarks and Youtube videos on the video card and game !

 

[williamseattle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpIsH5DMZkQ

 

[williamseattle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8xp0ONkweI dragon age benchmark kinda scary too

 

[Johnny_R]

but bench mark just shows how pc is doing to show off performance right. I just want to improve graphics to battle pretty dragons )*:

 

[williamseattle]

Uh that is a Videocard Benchmark Program that tells you How fast your VideoCard is and the game DragonAge is a HardCore Gamers Videocard Nightmare for getting really fast framerate. The game itself needs alot of Patches to Smooth out the playability and Your System is Fast enough but limited cause the game wants Fast -Demanding Hardware and delivers Med-High 60 fps for alot systems. You personally dont have other games to test out your Gaming PC on ? I want the same as you but for another Personal choice game called Battlefield 4. So i have to start up a New Computer and see where My Budget is for it.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Your system is fine for ANY current gaming title. Any issues with performance will be due to settings, drivers or code within the game itself unless your PSU is underpowered or faulty or there is an actual hardware issue occurring.

 

[Johnny_R]

okok thank you all I will mess around with settings.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I edited the above post to include "unless your PSU is underpowered or faulty or there is an actual hardware fault issue occurring. "

 

[Johnny_R]

If the PSU tests ok what can I do next?

 

[Darkbreeze]

GPU-Z does indicate a crossfire correct?

 

[williamseattle]

GPU-Z does indicate a crossfire correct?

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/crossfire-tab-will-not-show-up-in-ccc-r9-270x-2gb-x2.203671/

 

[Darkbreeze]

What is that link supposed to be telling me? First, it's a different model. Second, I said GPU-Z, not CCC. Not saying you're wrong, just looking for a place for him to start looking at why performance is off. If no crossfire is showing, maybe there's a reason. The manual for his motherboard indicates a crossfire bridge is needed, even for CrossfireX, which is weird since we know those cards don't use one, but maybe it's related.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Also, are you having this problem in every title, or just the one title? Maybe it's an optimization issue with the game related to AMD cards or just poor code like the issue everybody seems to be having with Arma 3 in MM.