ATi HD 4870 X2 problem - awful performance

[atiuser 10]

I wonder if anyone could give me some suggestions to remedy these performance issues im having. Im getting extremely low fps, averaging in the region of 10 - 15 fps on high details, if i put all details on the lowest settings i am still on averaging 20 - 25fps. I am only running at 1280 x 768 res. My cpu is a Q9650 running at stock 3GHz and my video card is a 4870 x2 again running at stock speeds.

These kind of frame rates seem way way to low for these specs. Ive tried the latest catalyst drivers and the previous release with no improvment. Ive pretty much tried everything ive read on the forums, catalyst AI on & Off, renaming exe to various other games, FEAR, Crysis & Bioshock all to no avail.

Can anyone give me any suggestions at all?? The game is pretty much unplayable as it stands now

[Sinistercr0c 0]

I have the same issue (tho a much inferior CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3800 x2 OC'd @ 2.5Ghz) and a Powercolor 4870x2. Similar framerates.

IF you are running vista then try putting -winxp at the end of the target field in the properties of the arma2 shortcut. -nosplash also stops the needless loading of the BIS splashscreens.

Other than this try setting filrate to 100%

texture detail - high

vid memory - very high

anisotropic filter - high

terrain detail - low

object detail - low

shadows - normal

Postprocessing - disabled

Its about the best compromise I've found and nets me approx 20/25 FPS which is livable

I've tried GPUZ to check GPU core temps and see if both cards are working in xfire but not yet convinced they are....temp on first GPU seems very low @ 48 compared to 2nd GPU @ 60+....

this is what the -winxp handle is supposed to achieve (i.e xfire support) , but personally I thinks its b*ll**ks as the GPU temps say otherwise.

Other than waiting for BIS or ATI/AMD to formally support crossfire in game I think we're goosed....:(

[atiuser 10]

Thanks for that sinister, I i forgot to mention i had tried the -winxp and while the crossfire logo appears, there is no apparant performance improvment. I note what your saying about BIS or ATI fixing the problem, but i have seen posts from people here running 4870 X2's and getting average framerates in the 40's and 50's so it would appear that we can remedy the problem ourselves if we could only figure out what the problem is.

[Hendrik7777 10]

i have same problem

i think you can vote here...

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=75362

and hope that BI make something!!!

[madeineano 15]

hi there,

Im running a Radeon 4970x2 and the performance is fine. even on very high.

I don't mean that as if I'm gloating ,but maybe the fault with something else or maybe something conflicting?

I run:

Q6600 overclocked to 3.2

4gbs of geil ultra

Radeon 4870x2 : Drivers 9.5. I always have vertical refresh disabled in CCC.

Running on XP pro preformce edition

If your running Vista x64.

Arma 1 (for me) had loads of issues with vista x64. Crashes,lagging,not being able to use my sound card,ram needing to be restricted to 3gbs.Going back to XP fixed all the faults.

I'm thinking Arma/Arma2 and vista x64 are not good friends.(In individual cases)

Hopefully someone with much more knowledge that me can help u guys out Because it should be fine on your card.

Edited June 22, 2009 by madeineano

[kklownboy 43]

running CFX (quadfire) 2X 4870x2's and its working good.

I use 9.6, crysis.exe, -winxp, CatAI is ON, App preference.

I do not use ATItools or tray, tweakers. are you running at 200%fill?

To see is to see the frames go up, use Fraps(there is still a free version .9)if i run one gpu of four i get 15fps at intro, if i use all four; 60 to 100(vysnc) with 200%fill and all on VH @16/12 rez. To test. and a 3.3 or 3.8oc cpu.

And on Vista64 . runs fine on Vista64 except the flag is used... ohwell for now...

[159th_Viper 10]

My Specs:

E8500 @ 4.2 GHz

Kingston 4GB RAM

Asus 4870x2

Velociraptor 300GB

1920 x1200 on a 24" Monitor

Vista 64 bit Ultimate

3D Res: 2400x1500

Terrain Detail: Low

Objects Detail: Normal

Texture Detail: High

AA: High

Vis Distance: 2114

Average FPS on the Single-Player Missions seems to be between 15 to 40, with it dropping down to the 15 mark pretty regularly dependant on the situation.

Dropping the 3D Res down any further and the Graphics are Bloody Awful, ie Blurry as Hell.........as it stands the Jaggies are really killing me at full Res. Anything less is also a no-go on the 24" Monitor.

So yeah - as it stands, not very happy with the performance. Installed on XP too, with little difference apart from added graphical artifacts when attempting to run on above settings, so reverted to Vista.

Can only hope that performance optimization is a priority in future patches.

[kklownboy 43]

@159th_Viper

you are running with the -winxp flag and a rename?

Yeah 19/12 is a highish rez with any 3D%...

[twisted 128]

man, i get 40-58FPS most of the time and only have a 4870 with 512MB. am thinking of getting another as they are getting cheaper. maybe your CPU is the prob?

[Sinistercr0c 0]

Sorry to sound like a doubting Thomas, but it all seems a little subjective IMO. I would have expected fraps to show reasonable framerates on this type of card anyway (and/or a single 4870 1Gb).

Can anyone actually confirm using GPUZ that their 2nd GPU core temp runs similar to the first and show an average framerate a decent amount above 25 FPS via fraps, because if not I'd be tempted to suggest your just getting one core's worth of grafix power, and just assuming the second core is working. (as per Twisted's post above)

I'll try to post screenies etc. (I also have a G15 keyboard so will try to get a digital camera shot of the fraps graph.

If people could do the same?

[159th_Viper 10]

@159th_Viper

you are running with the -winxp flag and a rename?...

Would you please explain how to. At my Age it's mandatory that PC's and I do not get along very well :)

.....maybe your CPU is the prob?

I sincerely hope not @ 4.2 GHz..............Is it not maybe the High Resolution?

I see people commenting on high FPS with attendant 'lower' res, ie lower than my default 19x12 and wonder if that is the reason.

[atiuser 10]

Just to respond to a point raised earlier, my cpu is Q9650, i really see how that cant be a bottle neck in this case. Ive read posts, even in this thread of people with slow CPUs getting performance in the 40 - 50 fps region with the 4870 x2. It is clearly either some setting problem, game or driver that just needs to be figured out.

[159th_Viper 10]

........Can anyone actually confirm using GPUZ that their 2nd GPU core temp runs similar to the first and show an average framerate a decent amount above 25 FPS via fraps, because if not I'd be tempted to suggest your just getting one core's worth of grafix power, and just assuming the second core is working......

Ran a SP mission and hit Alt-Tab and then ran GPUZ - Results as follows:

:confused:

[HitmanFF 6]

Ran a SP mission and hit Alt-Tab and then ran GPUZ - Results as follows:

You need to tick 'Continue refreshing this screen...', since GPU-Zwill stop updating the graph otherwise.

[twisted 128]

I sincerely hope not @ 4.2 GHz..............Is it not maybe the High Resolution?

I see people commenting on high FPS with attendant 'lower' res, ie lower than my default 19x12 and wonder if that is the reason.

was talking to the thread starter as he had not revealed his specs.

but on what you said, it seems many people playing at that res have problems. i play at 1680x1050. everything at normal. view distance 1600. No AA. fillrate same as my resolution. also adaptive anitalising and 'AI' settings in ATI catalyst set to off.

edit - grief man turn 3D Res: 2400x1500 down. that's very high and probably the biggest resaon for the slowdown. that's massive (plus AA on) especially if your default res is 19x12.

Edited June 22, 2009 by twisted

[Sinistercr0c 0]

@159th - I get very similar results @ 1440 x 900 (tho for some reason I can't post 'em up). I agree with twisted tho, with fillrate set up above 100% your pushing the single GPU hard. I assume you meant Aniso Filtering (AF) is set Highnot Anti Alaising) (AA)? as AA is disabled by default (unless your changing your arma2.cfg file?) in which case you really are pushing that single GPU to the max.

I suspect thats why your memio and dispio temps are so high....mine are disp - 63, mem 74....

[[kh]jman 49]

@ Sinistercr0c. My 3870 X2 is using both GPU's. Try installing ATI Tray Tools and use that instead of ATI's bundled Catalyst Control Centre.

Have a look at the top left of this screenshot for GPU activity info (everything on very high, post process disabled, aa disabled).

I run -winxp flag and rename my Arma2.exe to Fear.exe

Hope it helps.

Edited June 22, 2009 by [KH]Jman

[napalm002 10]

C2D E8500, 4Go DDR2 PC8500, HD4870X2 with Vista 64 and I haven't any problems with the game. I put the setting to high for all setting without shadow and Post traitment. And I play 1920 * 1200 * 32 with filtrate 100%.

It's playable 30 fps...but when I arrive in a big town like in south it's difficult, lot of saccade, but playable. :)

[rowdied 44]

Hey guys,

I just insatlled my 4870X2 on Sunday and spent the better part of today fiddling with it.

I got crossfire to run by turning AI to high and flip queue to 3 and now get more than 40 -70fps in editor mode, 140+fps looking at the sky.

Before that, I tried all kinds of stuff like renaming the exe to crysis1&2, farcry1&2, fear etc... but settled on arma2 because I couldn't see a difference with fear or the others.

For me AI has to be high or crossfire doesn't work. Flipping through the other options had little effect. I tested to see if both GPU's were active with GPU-Z 3.4 (free from guru3d) and both posted a 99% activity rate. Before, 1 was at 99 and the other was at 14%.

One GPU does seem to heat 25-30% more than the other.

I'll post pics asap.

Edited June 23, 2009 by rowdied
spelling and pics