GTX 295 - Finally Greate FPS Success with 186.18 drivers

[thewusman 10]

Hi All,

I performed a clean install yesterday of Windows 7 RC64 bit and have finally, using the demo, managed to get ArmaII working as I'd like it on my GTX 295.

I have been plagued by low FPS (30 to 40) max for the past 2 weeks and seem to finally have cracked it:

I first used 182.50 drivers on a clean install, then upgraded to 186.18 after other games were giving issues with 182.50 and they did not want to downclock after leaving performance 3D modes.

The trick for me, as mentioned by someone else on this forum, was nHancer.

Using the latest version, I created an ArmaII profile, selecting SLI stereo and hybrid mode. It was enabling the hybrid mode that did it for me.

I game in 1680x1080 res on a Samsung 2232GW.

My menu FPS are 120 to 130fps.

My in game FPS are between 60 and 90, averaging somewhere near 70 on the first "trial by fire" mission.

System specs:

Windows 7 64 bit RC1

Nvidia 186.18 drivers

Gigabyte GTX 295 using Evga Precision tool @ 650 core/1400 shader/1180 memory

Asus Rampage II Extreme ROG m/b

Core i7 920 @ 3.7 with Thermalright Extreme 1366 cooler

G.Skill 128 Falcon SSD

6 Gigs Kingston HyperX T1 DDR3 1800mhz @ 1850mhz

All inside a Coolermaster Cosmos S with good airflow.

I'll try export and save my nHancer profile for others to use - it's definitely the implementation of the SLi mode on nHancer which did it for me.

Anyhow - hope this helps others.

Cheers

Wusman :)

Edited July 7, 2009 by thewusman

[bono_lv 10]

I wish something similar will ever happen with HD4870x2 also...

[Thunderbird 0]

Please could you submit the Log changes between the version 186.18 and 182.50.

This will be a first step to allow to understand what makes ArmA II FPS so low with such high-end GCs.

Cheers,

TB

[kklownboy 43]

I wish something similar will ever happen with HD4870x2 also...

What? i run quadfire,2x4870x2's. runs great. I have to use the -winxp flag though in vista64. With the 1.02.5 patch the game is running good.

Also the OP hasnt given his in game settings and his resolution. If no AA is set you will get highframes ect.

But all the H/W issues will get fixed overtime with new drivers and patches...

Edited July 7, 2009 by kklownboy

[bangtail 0]

Please could you submit the Log changes between the version 186.18 and 182.50.

This will be a first step to allow to understand what makes ArmA II FPS so low with such high-end GCs.

Cheers,

TB

It's great that they work for him but my findings were very different and not just in A2. The 185/186 drivers are awful as far as I am concerned and not just for A2.

I've tested this across 4 machines now with consistent results. It could be the newer builds of Win 7 as he is using a much earlier one than I am.

Eth

Edited July 7, 2009 by BangTail

[Ghillidude 10]

without your ingmae settings, your FPS means nothing tbh.

[nuggetz 0]

I suggested the nHancer option before and it was a profile that was killing me, or a lack of a good one. I wanted to try the 182.50's but was there a version for Win7 64? Once you get a working profile, export it with nHancer and save it in case it gets wiped out by a driver upgrade or whatnot. Once you have a good profile, you can test other driver versions at will.

[bangtail 0]

I suggested the nHancer option before and it was a profile that was killing me, or a lack of a good one. I wanted to try the 182.50's but was there a version for Win7 64? Once you get a working profile, export it with nHancer and save it in case it gets wiped out by a driver upgrade or whatnot. Once you have a good profile, you can test other driver versions at will.

I don't think they were officially released for Win 7 but they do say "Win 7 64 Bit" when you install them and they work perfectly.

Eth

[Breguinho 10]

What? i run quadfire,2x4870x2's. runs great. I have to use the -winxp flag though in vista64. With the 1.02.5 patch the game is running good.

Also the OP hasnt given his in game settings and his resolution. If no AA is set you will get highframes ect.

But all the H/W issues will get fixed overtime with new drivers and patches...

What's -winxp flag mate? I've been reading this for week's i don't know what the hell it is or how the I can do it.

[Cpt.Goose 10]

By nHancer are you referring to the program profile in the Nvidia Control panel ? or is nHancer a separate program?

[kklownboy 43]

separate program

[thewusman 10]

without your ingmae settings, your FPS means nothing tbh.

Use it, don't use it.

I've managed to get it up from 30 to 40 fps to the FPS mentioned above.

Settings consistently as per the image:

I'd call that something - you think ?

I take it you're referring to ingame settings, not ingmae settings.

[shataan 1]

Glad to hear the 295 is good for ARMA 2. That is my next vid card as well. Thx for the post!

[thewusman 10]

It's great that they work for him but my findings were very different and not just in A2. The 185/186 drivers are awful as far as I am concerned and not just for A2.

I've tested this across 4 machines now with consistent results. It could be the newer builds of Win 7 as he is using a much earlier one than I am.

Eth

The newer builds don't automatically mean better performance.

I played around with numerous beta's before settling on RC1. It's been very solid so far, no reason to try the others. Then again - no 2 machines are the same. Unless we've all got Macs.

RTM is about 2 weeks away.

[bangtail 0]

The newer builds don't automatically mean better performance.

I played around with numerous beta's before settling on RC1. It's been very solid so far, no reason to try the others. Then again - no 2 machines are the same. Unless we've all got Macs.

RTM is about 2 weeks away.

RTM candidates are already out with MS freely admitting that "not much" has changed since 7201.

I have no problems with Win 7 (with the exception of A2 and PRM). I'm happy to play A2 in XP64, it smokes.

Eth

[Baxalasse 10]

I'll try export and save my nHancer profile for others to use - it's definitely the implementation of the SLi mode on nHancer which did it for me.

How about that export? :)

[thewusman 10]

How about that export? :)

The new SLI profile patch from Nvidia works better than my nHancer profile :)

Have you tired it yet ?

[Baxalasse 10]

The new SLI profile patch from Nvidia works better than my nHancer profile :)

Have you tired it yet ?

Yeaa I did, but didn't notice any mayor performance. Was hoping for yours :)

On a side note: If you get incapacitated in the game, do you guys also get like shattered glass, instead of blured view? Running with the Evga patch this wasn't an issue.

[kklownboy 43]

I've managed to get it up from 30 to 40 fps to the FPS mentioned above.

I'd call that something - you think ?...

i would call that you have crawly-jaggies with tears at fast turns,(vsync off) and nice SP frames. good on the sli working for you. ;) try low PP and low AA, will look better IMHO. and 32bit HDR in the cfg.

[nzjono 10]

Use it, don't use it.

I've managed to get it up from 30 to 40 fps to the FPS mentioned above.

Settings consistently as per the image:

I'd call that something - you think ?

I take it you're referring to ingame settings, not ingmae settings.

I think most of us with GTX295's expect to be getting much better framerates than this at these low settings.

30 to 40 fps with most of your sliders at normal levels and this lower resolution is pretty poor performance. You have the same crappy performance that the rest of us have. Running at 1920 by 1200 with everything set on high and a view distance of 3000 should be par for the course and above 40fps for most of our new quad core machines running GTX295s.

Edited July 9, 2009 by nzjono

[maddogx 13]

@thewusman,

would you mind setting the following stuff to very high:

- Textures

- Video memory

- Anisotrophic filtering

- Shadows

With those settings, you'd pretty much have the same settings as me with my GTX285. I'd be interested to see the difference in FPS. :)

[wingtip 11]

I have the GTX280 (less than week old) and i cant even look left or right without it stopping, thinking, then displaying....

running well above their crap recommended specs, have to run things on low to make it smooth, medium its really not even playable...on a brand new 280... what bs bi....

cpu aint great but meets their recommended specs (4400 recommended), running amd 5200 2.6 dual core, vista enterprise 64bit, 4 gigs ram, and the GTX280 with 1 gig ram onboard... and the game is friggin unplayble other than on low settings with shadows off, AA off, post processing off...

next month im upgrading the cpu to a 3.2ghz and if it still stutters after that bi can go F*** themselves and their suggested specs...

[Amuro 10]

Yeaa I did, but didn't notice any mayor performance. Was hoping for yours :)

On a side note: If you get incapacitated in the game, do you guys also get like shattered glass, instead of blured view? Running with the Evga patch this wasn't an issue.

Just the blurred vision, only get shattered glass if died in a vehicle or chopper crash, etc.

[armafreak 10]

Hi all, I just recieved my rig, i7 920 (stock) Asus 285 TOP in SLI, Rampage 2 Extreme, 6gb Ram, Vista 64 SP1, 182.06 drivers. In campaign, all settings very high except AA disabled, 1900x1080 (24" Asus lcd)I'm recieving 40-50 fps (fraps). Armamark2 same settings second run 3200pts. (i will try it with binksters settings later)

I have SP2 and 186.18+sli patch ready to install but not sure whether to go for it or leave everything as it is. I have no mouse lag, no texture popping, no articles..

Does someone have similar rig with Vista SP2 and 186***** with inproved performance over what I have listed?

---------- Post added at 10:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:37 AM ----------

improved...

[Baxalasse 10]

Just the blurred vision, only get shattered glass if died in a vehicle or chopper crash, etc.

With "shattered glass" i meant like the whole screen goes mosaic'isch. have nothing to do with vehicle glass.