Question XFX 6950XT performance - power usage declines.

[hatless560]

Partial solution found and has been added to the bottom of this post. If anyone has any other information that may help it would still be greatly appreciated.

I recently installed an XFX 6950XT into my rig and I'm having some substantial performance problems, even at 1080P. When I initially launch a game it performs fine, and when the gameplay starts it works great. However in every game I've tried after around 30 seconds the power draw drops, typically to sub 150 watts. After that happens the draw will slowly decline over time to around idle levels, sub 75 watts. Performance of course continues to degrade. When I stress test the card it can draw the entire 305 watts for the duration of the test, with no dips in draw. The problem only seems to happen in games. I've tried using the DDU and re-installing the driver (twice) and using the DDU and re-installing an older version of the driver. Neither of these have made any difference. I have also re-seated the card and ensure that both 8 pin power connects are firmly and correctly attached.

If anyone has any idea how to fix this I would grealy appreciate it.

Hardware
CPU AMD Ryzen 7 2700x
Mobo Asus X570-pro
PSU Corsair hx1050 (1000 watt) Gold
GPU XFX 6950XT
32GB DDR4 1200MHz


EDIT
Partial solution

I decided to stay awake and try the DXnavi fix and can report that it is at least partially successful and seems to indicate that this is a driver issue around DX 11. With DXnavi disabled for DX11 only I see significant performance uplift in games that previous had problems. Power draw no longer slowly declines to idle levels while playing the game. Framerate remains consistent and no longer declines with power draw to below playable framerates.

That being said it is not a complete solution. Performance remains less than expected of the hardware, with utilization capping out around 40% with a power draw of 150-180 watts. This contines even when not CPU bound.

 

[Order 66]

DDR4 at 1200 mhz? Potential CPU bottleneck with the 2700x.

 

[hatless560]

DDR4 at 1200 mhz? Potential CPU bottleneck with the 2700x.

CPU utilization will tpyically be sub 50% when this happens, with the temperature usually around 55-60 degress. For some older or lower intentsity titles I've tried it with CPU util can be sub 20% will the gpu refuses to draw more than 75 watts. My previous GPU was a GTX 1080 and I never had any problems.

I'm aware the RAM is slow, it's on my list to upgrade, but it doesn't make sense at the cause. If it was slow ram speed I would expect a slow, but consistent frame rate and power draw, not the continous decline that I do see. After about 30 minutes of running framerate will be sub 20.

 

[hatless560]

Small update, I found some very clearly CPU limited games in my library and the problem doesn't seem to happen with them. CPU utilization in the range of 80+% but the GPU will draw as much power as it needs to maintain a consisten frame rate. The sudden drop and slow decline don't seem to happen in them.

 

[Wetles89]

Installer the vard yesterday and having issues aswell. Loaded up hell let loose in 1440p Max setting and the card refuses to go beyond 50-60%. Only getting 60-75 fps. Should be alot higher.

 

[hatless560]

I found some posts on reddit that suggest it may be a DX11 issue with the drivers. After checking all of the games I've had the problem in have been DX11. No DX12 games have had an issue. The problem does not happen with all DX 11 games, only some. I saw several people say that disabling DXnavi helped, but I won't be able to try that today. I'll test is out hopefully sometime tomorrow.

 

[hatless560]

Installer the vard yesterday and having issues aswell. Loaded up hell let loose in 1440p Max setting and the card refuses to go beyond 50-60%. Only getting 60-75 fps. Should be alot higher.

I don't have that game, but based on some quick googling it looks like it's possible to run it in either DX11 or DX12. Can you check which one you are running it in and if it's 11 try it in 12?

 

[hatless560]

I decided to stay awake and try the DXnavi fix and can report that it is at least partially successful and seems to indicate that this is a driver issue around DX 11. With DXnavi disabled for DX11 only I see significant performance uplift in games that previous had problems. Power draw no longer slowly declines to idle levels while playing the game. Framerate remains consistent and no longer declines with power draw to below playable framerates.

That being said it is not a complete solution. Performance remains less than expected of the hardware, with utilization capping out around 40% with a power draw of 150-180 watts. This contines even when not CPU bound.

 

[Wetles89]

I don't have that game, but based on some quick googling it looks like it's possible to run it in either DX11 or DX12. Can you check which one you are running it in and if it's 11 try it in 12?

I decided to stay awake and try the DXnavi fix and can report that it is at least partially successful and seems to indicate that this is a driver issue around DX 11. With DXnavi disabled for DX11 only I see significant performance uplift in games that previous had problems. Power draw no longer slowly declines to idle levels while playing the game. Framerate remains consistent and no longer declines with power draw to below playable framerates.

That being said it is not a complete solution. Performance remains less than expected of the hardware, with utilization capping out around 40% with a power draw of 150-180 watts. This contines even when not CPU bound.

I found a dirext12 lunch config to put into the steam launcher, and that improved performance alot. I went form 60-75 to 120-140ish, or more maybe, cant remember atm. Still felt a bit laggy? despite the huge increase. I have ordered a ram replacement as my kit wont boot at EXPO 6000. Picking them up later, maybe it will help the overall performance