newly installed 280x running mediocre

[MccPC]

I bought a slightly used 280x from eBay and installed it yesterday. I upgraded from a 7770 and the performance really inst much different. Certain games will have a slight improvement but still feel choppy. The game concerning me the most is GTA 4, its running hardly better than the 7770, no matter what setting i cant get it to stay above 30 fps (unless i put everything on low). Even with the settings the same as i had them before it only gets a few fps more than the older 7770. What am i doing wrong? I have tried installing the drivers from both msi and amd websites and the amd one does perform better but still not good. I'm a little concerned if it has something to do with the dual bios switch thing sense it used. If you have any ideas or questions please let me know. Thanks!

Athlon x4 3.8ghz
msi r9 280x
ddr3 4gb
600 watt corsair

 

[chris987]

Athlon x4 3.8ghz is preventing your r9 280x from shinning! which one do you have exactly and what mobo?also another 4gb of ram is recommended.!

 

[BigBadBeef]

GTA IV's engine feels really odd, even in high framerates at max settings; you cannot benchmark your card on one single game, install multiple games, programs, run them and compare results to native R9 280X benchmarks. You can use bandicam or fraps to display framerates on the corner of the screen while running games.

Other than that you also need to have a CPU and MEMORY strong enough to handle games at max settings which the R9 280X allows.

EDIT: Yeah okay I see your configs now, you don't even have nearly enough memory but the CPU may be just barely enough.

 

[MccPC]

My board is a MSI A78M-E35 FM2+ Ive tried multiple games with this and there is either slight improvement or none. For example just cause 2 i can play 1080p with 60 fps but its very choppy and will drop down a lot more than the old 7770. And in task manager it never says I'm using more than about 3gb of ram.

The cpu is a Athlon 750k overclocked from 3.4 to 3.8

 

[chris987]

well check this out http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7970_CPU_Scaling/1.html since you have an older chip the gap would be even bigger. also are you sure you arent experiencing any voltage drops? i wouldnt count your mobo as a reliable o/cing board. dual bios has different clocks and different fan profile with the second one being more aggresive. as for the additional 4gb that was a general recommendation.

 

[MccPC]

what should my voltages be?

 

[chris987]

what should my voltages be?

you voltage most probably is right. you must ensure it isnt flactuating.that would lead into sudden deeps in speed (Mhz) and to additional performance drops.monitor your cpu to see if it stays at 3.8ghz all the time. even if it does you wiil still have bottleneck though. unfortunately you will need a stronger cpu/mobo combo to make the most out of such gpu.

 

[MccPC]

Ok, But still why is this card performing barely better than my 7770, Shouldn't i get at least 30 fps on highish settings on gta 4?

 

[chris987]

Ok, But still why is this card performing barely better than my 7770, Shouldn't i get at least 30 fps on highish settings on gta 4?

well since its bottlenecking the performace really depends of the gpu utilization.if it remains low it wont perform well. play with gpuz in the background.when you finish check the max gpu usage. also if you also suspect another reason run a furmark regardless of the cpu it should max out while stress testing.also some graphic options have a greaten inpact on cpu. obviously you cant play at max settings. blend them a bit.

 

[MccPC]

My gpu can reach 100 percent on benchmarks, but on gpu z and afterburner ect it reads it as r9 200 series, dose this mean my drivers are bad?

 

[chris987]

My gpu can reach 100 percent on benchmarks, but on gpu z and afterburner ect it reads it as r9 200 series, dose this mean my drivers are bad?

no, thats (bios info) what it should say actually but yours as an 280x the shaders count should be 2048 and rops 32 / tmus 128 . as for the drivers make sure you have the latests.

 

[MccPC]

Even dxdiag says its a r9 200 series, why is this whats wrong, it should say 280x.

 

[chris987]

Even dxdiag says its a r9 200 series, why is this whats wrong, it should say 280x.

mine says hd 7900 series, thats not a problem really!

 

[MccPC]

ok, but still why am i getting almost no performance increase?

 

[maxalge]

ok, but still why am i getting almost no performance increase?

You have an unbalanced computer, your cpu is currently the limiting factor.

 

[MccPC]

but wouldnt i at least get the performance of like a 270x or 660 ti because those go good with the cpu, this card is performing like a overclocked 7770

Im going to try to overclock my cpu to about 4.5ghz if i can with the 212 evo, will that decrease the bottleneck alot?