Crossfire/SLI or dual GPU Card Arrowhead Issue (4870x2, 5970 etc).

[Joseph Archer 10]

The thread comparing performance of the game between Arma2 and Arrowhead seems to be swamped with discussion about the performance issue with Arrowhead and more than one GPU.

I'v seen a few posters with 2 GPU's describing that Arma2 is running great but Arrowhead is stuttering and dropping frame rate. The renaming of the Arrowhead .exe and V-sync disabling etc have been attempted unamously without improvement. Can BIS provide any support/encouragement? Anyone else with this issue please also post.

Edited June 29, 2010 by o0Jedi0o

[sethos 2]

Would be nice with some official feedback, though I'd like to add the problem also seems to be very closely tied in with the Core i7 users, as 90% of the users having major stuttering and micro-freeze problems have a CPU in this class.

Do we really have to go back to square one, performance wise every time?

[rcjsniper 0]

Same here I7 920 @3.8 and sli 480 gtx's have average framerate in that bench normally around 55 ish all at mostly very high settings, i renamed my exe to arma2 which helped with the cards utilization percentages but thiers a hickup with this ever so often frame drop and stuttering.

Just to update i set my render frames ahead from 3 to 0 and that actually seemed to smooth things out alittle, still needs work though awesome game, love how they have elcans on the scars love that sight although they need to have the switchable magnification on it like in real life. mk-17 scar is the bomb:yay:

[Joseph Archer 10]

Try running the 1.50 - 1.52 patch and setting AA to low or disabled, (even if you have 1.52 from sprocket - it's a newer version).

http://www.armaholic.com/list.php?c=arma2_oa_files_patches_official

I changed that and catalyst drivers to 10.4

Run the patch with the vanilla file names for the arma2.exe and arma2OA.exe files to have it install ok. I also changed my arma2.exe file name to arma1.exe and arma2OA to arma2.exe, after the update, as per previous advice about driver recognition.

Not sure which of the above helped, but it's certainly running better on the very high settings with AA disabled or low with a 5970. High AA setting reverts the game to low frame rates again. I suspect it was the patch update rather than the driver rollback that helped. But I'll try some combinations another time.

Edited June 30, 2010 by o0Jedi0o

[5133p39 16]

Where do i set the "render frames ahead" on the ATI 5970 ?

I can't find it anywhere in the CCC.

Anyway, i did some testing, and found slightly interesting fact:

I ran the benchmark mission 10 times with 75Hz refreshrate, and then again 10 times with 60Hz refreshrate, and i got smoother game (higher minimum FPS) with 60Hz refresh rate instead of 75Hz.

The difference is very little, but maybe for some of you the difference between various refresh rates can be more significant - maybe its worth a try.

Settings i used for the test:

Visibility: 5018

Texture detail: Very high

Video memory: Default

Anisotropic filtering: Very high

Antialiasing: High

Both resolutions: 1280x1024

Terrain detail: Normal

Objects detail: High

Shadow detail: Very high

Postprocess effects: Disabled

My HW config:

Intel Core i5-750 @2.67GHz

MSI P55-GD65

4GB RAM

ATI HD 5970

Windows 7 64bit

10 results for 75Hz:

42, 46, 43, 43, 47, 42, 42, 45, 46, 42 => avg. 43.8 FPS; min 42 FPS

10 results for 60Hz:

44, 45, 44, 44, 44, 43, 45, 44, 45, 43 => avg. 44.1 FPS; min 43 FPS

Yeah, i know it's a really small difference, but it is a difference.

[Joseph Archer 10]

I'll make a community tracker report this evening unless someone else has. Anyone tried my suggesstion?

Thanks Sethos for your post. Can anyone who dosn't have a i7 with a dual GPU or crossfire/Sli rig comment re arrowhead performance vs arma2?

Edited June 30, 2010 by o0Jedi0o

[5133p39 16]

I downloaded ATI Catalystâ„¢ 10.6 Profiles Update and renamed "arma2OA.exe" to "arma2.exe",

and from now on i can see the "ATI Crossfire X" logo when i run it as "arma2.exe".

BUT, there was only very slight imporvement in FPS.

I ran another 10 benchmarks (same settings as last time) with these results:

47, 47, 45, 47, 48, 46, 49, 44, 49, 45 => avg. 46.7 FPS; min. 44 FPS

So, maybe the game EXE needs to be specially optimized, AND/OR my processor is too weak (Intel Core i5-750).

Anyway - if your game wont run in Crossfire, make sure you downloaded and installed the last profiles (and also rename/copy the game EXE).

Edited June 30, 2010 by 5133p39

[minimalaco 30]

Hello, I finish proving my copy of arrowhead, and I am with the surprise that runs bad, it does not run well as it arma 2. runs to pulls, is not possible to be played, the game feels heavy and fps raises and lowers without knowing so that: S.

Arma 2 it game to full without problems, even recording with fraps, and now with patch 1,07, the game practically is a pen as it runs, but I cannot say the same of OA: (

i7 920 2.66ghz

crossfire xfx ati 4890

6 gb ram 1600 mhz

win7 64 bits.

drivers catalyst 10.4

OA VERSION 1.52

Regards.

[SkyDice 10]

Hi all, first post etc etc. :)

Similar issues with both games: Arma2 runs badly with both cards, lots of stutter etc, but with one card it's massively improved. I get 60 FPS on the benchmark regardless of whether I have one or two cards active.

With OA, running two cards I get FPS of 28ish on the benchmark and truly terrible performance, even on normal settings (stuttering, poor draw, texture pop in etc). With one card, FPS increases to high 50's on benchmark and runs like a dream.

System:

O'clocked Core i5's at 3.7gig (ish), 2 x Radeon 5770, 4gig Corsair DDR3. ATI Cat drivers @ 10.4

Don't get this issue in any other game, would be nice if OA could utilise multiple GPU's successfully... but is this only an issue with ATI cards? Btw OA is Steam version, but A2 is on-disc.

[Joseph Archer 10]

Just tried do download 10.6 cataylst drivers to try the arma2 profile but 10.5 is the latest now on the AMD driver page, (link below). I feel like I'm going round in circles.

http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx

Anyone had any joy with the 1.52 - 1.52 hotfix idea?

---------- Post added at 07:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:42 PM ----------

Just turned my mipmap detail level in ATI cataylst software from high quality to performance and its working a treat at very high settings on a single player mission. 45-60fps on the Hike in the Hills Mission with smooth game play as in arma2.

So, not isolated which the 'fix' for me was out of;

1. Updating from sprocket version 1.52 to 1.52.71816. (With the original names for armed assault 2 and operation arrowhead as the .exe files - see no. 3).

http://www.armaholic.com/list.php?c=...tches_official

2. 10.7 to 10.4 catalyst drivers, (uninstall 10.7's from control panel add/remove programmes first).

3. Renaming the arma2OA.exe file to arma2.exe (have to change the original arma2.exe file as well).

4. Changing mipmap detail to performance in catalyst

5. Install the 10.6 profiles update, (above).

:bounce3:

i7@4ghz/5970/1600x1200

Edited July 1, 2010 by o0Jedi0o

[5133p39 16]

How can i update to 1.52.71816 ?

My version from Sprocket is 1.52.71612 and when i try to run the only update to 1.52 i could find, it says something about my ArmA 2 version is newer (1.07).

How did you people managed to update OA to 1.52.71816 ???

[Amuro 10]

Yeah stutters like hell with two cards; I'm gonna try single GPU mode.

Edited July 1, 2010 by Amuro

[liquidpinky 11]

Was initialy poor due to lack of SLi support but renaming to ARMA2.exe and using that profile the SLi works fine and performance is now more than satisfactory.

All the settings I am using are higher than what I would have used for A2, probably mostly down to the scenery.

Using the latest OA build and most current NVIDIA drivers.

I have reduced the card memory setting to high though, was having some problems reminiscent of A2 during some MP games last night and that seemed to solve it.

[Joseph Archer 10]

just try running the patch a few times 5133, make sure you have the orginal file names for the .exe files first. I had the same reports when I tried. But in the end it installed.

I did also try installing the ATI profiles suggested earlier, but I thought it hadn't intalled as no profiles came up in Catalyst profile manager, could have been the fix though. I'll add it to the list!

Edit, the profile wouldnt come up in catalyst its normal; see quote below.

I don't see anything under CCC - Profiles? Did it fail?

Catalyst Application Profiles are Driver profile updates, not user profiles. You won't see anything under CCC - Profiles that you don't create

Edited July 1, 2010 by o0Jedi0o

[IndeedPete 1038]

Sorry, i'm a bit confused by all the posts here. Does Crossfire now work properly? And if not, what should i do exactly? I have two 5770 in CF but only one is used by Operation Arrowhead...

[bangtail 0]

Yeah stutters like hell with two cards; I'm gonna try single GPU mode.

As I posted in another thread, 258.69 has an OA profile and I'm not having any stuttering issues.

Edited July 1, 2010 by BangTail

[Syonco 10]

Sorry, i'm a bit confused by all the posts here. Does Crossfire now work properly? And if not, what should i do exactly? I have two 5770 in CF but only one is used by Operation Arrowhead...

Same here *confused*

I've just ordered my new PC featuring x2 5970's in Crossfire alongside with an i7-960

My upgrade was done with ArmA2 in mind. And if it doesn't work like it's supposed to i'll cry and emorage! :P

[bangtail 0]

I was never happy with CF in A2. I had 2 x 5870 and a 5970 but I have sold them all off in favour of Nvidia.

ATI make fine cards but when it comes to multi GPU, I have to say that I am much happier with SLI than I have ever been with CF (and that isnt limited to ArmA 2).

Edited July 1, 2010 by BangTail

[Chill xl 10]

I have used Crossfire to great succes in Arma2. My crossfire system is based on 2 cards with 3 gpu's, a 4870 + 4850x2 and a oc-ed i7 920 @3.6ghz.

The game runs on very high settings and a resolution of 2234*1436 (133%), only shadow is on high, pp on low and no AA and i get 60fps in almost every situation, it hardly ever dips below the 60.

At the moment i seem to have a driver probem as i have not been able to run OA with crossfire, but nor does A2 run crossfire at the moment for me. Hope to solve this tonight with a fresh driver install (from 10.5 to 10.6).

For me crossfire makes a massive difference as to running just 1 single gpu, especially when going for the big resolutions...

[IndeedPete 1038]

@Chill xl: Can you give us feedback? I'd try myself but i just moved back to 10.5 because i had some issues with 10.6. (Crossfire didn't work in any of my games... :rolleyes:)

[5133p39 16]

just try running the patch a few times 5133, make sure you have the orginal file names for the .exe files first. I had the same reports when I tried. But in the end it installed.

Ooops, thanks, i am sure i had the EXE renamed at that time. Will try it again when i get home.

ANYWAY, i did some more tests with the Crossfire "working", but there is absolutely no performance increase!

I see the Crossfire logo overlay, so it should be active, i also checked the temperature of both GPUs and it looks like they are both used

(as both are having 60-70'C, while without the Crossfire active only the 1st GPU is hot, and the other one is at approx. 40'C).

So i don't get it, could somebody explain this to me, please?

Is my processor so bad to be such a huge bottleneck?

Intel Core i5-750

Radeon HD 5970 (Asus EAH5970​/G​/2DIS​/2GD5)

4GB RAM

Windows 7 64bit

Edited July 1, 2010 by 5133p39

[SkyDice 10]

Now getting some truly horrendous light gradients at sunup/sunset. It's terrible! No idea what to do about it though :(

[5133p39 16]

maybe try changing the HDRPrecision parameter in the config?

valid values are 8, 16 (i think), and 32

[Richey79 10]

4870x2 here, using Cat 10.5.

After renaming the .exe to 'Arma2.exe' and setting Cat AI to 'high', I was still left with lots of artifacts and stutters, even though the second gpu was being used.

Setting antialiasing to 'normal' or higher and setting 3D res to more than 100% seemed to help smooth things out. Setting VD a bit higher than you would for Chernarus also helps. The lack of clutter in the new maps seems to leave a graphics processing 'vacuum' which the cpu likes to be filled.

Using ATI Tray Tools, flip queue 3 seemed best for a nice smooth experience.

From what I've seen performance-wise, I don't think the .exe is able to thread texture loading yet, even though A2 .exe has been able to do so recently. For a really smooth ride, try setting textures to low combined with graphics memory to default (for ATI users at least) and object detail to normal or higher, if you can put up with horrid looking trees. I'm fairly confident Bis will be able to fix this for quad core users relatively quickly, since they already did so for the Arma2 .exe.

[MuthaF 10]

Q9550, 4870x2, CAT10.4 + 10.6 profiles, ArmA2OA latest patch from homepage:

- trick is to rename Arma2OA.exe to arma2.exe, otherwise CF wont work - confirmed

- DONT use -winxp parameter on win7!!! Although you will get both GPU usage, u wont get any FPS increase + horrible mouse stutter in menu

- also, CPU runs pretty much under 50% for me, GPUs at about 90-98%

- that said, framerate at beginning of benchmark 01 went from 20FPS to 30FPS aprox. so it makes apr. 50% performance increase

- sound number samples doesnt matter FPS-wise: if you have anything better than VIA onboard s**t - well, actually i presume; tested with SB Audigy2

that said, i run at 1920*1200@100% + normal AA, most stuff at high/very high, distance cca 2300

also most modern cards get BETTER FPS with SHADOWS HIGH or VERY HIGH !!!!

Presumemably, normal(meaning low) shadows drawing doesnt use advanced 3D HW features in modern cards...

---------- Post added at 07:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:13 PM ----------

+ setting commandline with below helped to get another FPS boost

-maxMem=2047 -cpuCount=4 -exThreads=7