Crossfire Frame Drop

[Juliogol]

Hi guys!

 

Recentrly I bought an extra R9 280x and set up a Crossfire. Everithing is detected, but whenever I fire up Battlefield 4, I'm getting massive frame drops after 5 minutes of gameplay. When I disable Crossfire, everything works ok.

 

Checked the card tempratures, and they are around 60-70 degrees when full load.

 

My specs:

 

Core I5 2500k

Gigabyte Mother board GA-H67M-UD2H-B3

PSU Cooler Master 750w Silent Pro

12 Gb DDR 3 Ram.

 

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[GzeroD]

are both cards under load when you have crossfire on?

[Juliogol]

When I Alt+Tab and go to desktop I can see both working. Tried installing MSI Afterburner but couldn't get it to work...

[GzeroD]

What errors are you getting for afterburner (they might be the same things causing crossfire issues)

[Juliogol]

No error, I just can't get it to show on screen stats...

[Juliogol]

What errors are you getting for afterburner (they might be the same things causing crossfire issues)

I've managed to get MSI afterburner to show on screen statistics. Maybe the problem it's something on my CPU. When I disable Crossfire, and use only one GPU, CPU usage is aroud 80/90%... but if I enable Crossfire, then it's 95/100% and I get the poor FPS.... 

[SkulD]

I've managed to get MSI afterburner to show on screen statistics. Maybe the problem it's something on my CPU. When I disable Crossfire, and use only one GPU, CPU usage is aroud 80/90%... but if I enable Crossfire, then it's 95/100% and I get the poor FPS....

you have to manualy disable ULPS from the registry. im at work so i cant point you to a guide rigjt now, but check online its pretty easy to do, and it will fix your problem.

also download gpu-z if the second card says bus width (cant remember if it appeared exactly like that) to anithyng but 384, then its deffinitely the Ultra Low Power State not properly re activating your second gpu creating a bottleneck, i have the same crossfire set-up so i know .

[Juliogol]

you have to manualy disable ULPS from the registry. im at work so i cant point you to a guide rigjt now, but check online its pretty easy to do, and it will fix your problem.

also download gpu-z if the second card says bus width (cant remember if it appeared exactly like that) to anithyng but 384, then its deffinitely the Ultra Low Power State not properly re activating your second gpu creating a bottleneck, i have the same crossfire set-up so i know .

 

Thanks. Will try that and report back! You have same crossfire setup and also a core I5 2500k?

[hadesjoy72]

you have to manualy disable ULPS from the registry. im at work so i cant point you to a guide rigjt now, but check online its pretty easy to do, and it will fix your problem.

also download gpu-z if the second card says bus width (cant remember if it appeared exactly like that) to anithyng but 384, then its deffinitely the Ultra Low Power State not properly re activating your second gpu creating a bottleneck, i have the same crossfire set-up so i know .

I know...quoting a quote...ugghhh...SkuID is right...disable ULPS.  Every update for drivers will enable it again, so do it again when you update.  

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1904869/disable-ulps-amd-crossfire-setups.html

[Juliogol]

Just disabled it. Will report back! Thanks guys!!

[hadesjoy72]

Just disabled it. Will report back! Thanks guys!!

It will cause your second card to come to life and stay that way.....maybe a couple of cents more for the power company, but should eliminate that as a potential issue with crossfire.  Don't forget about GPU-Z.....my R9 270xs were acting up as well with it enabled...disabled..and BF4 plays great.....hope it helps you out..

[Juliogol]

Thanks a lot!! Will report back. Quick question, mi core i5 2500k should handle the r9 280x crossfire right? No bottelecking?

[hadesjoy72]

Thanks a lot!! Will report back. Quick question, mi core i5 2500k should handle the r9 280x crossfire right? No bottelecking?

Should not bottleneck...although no experience with the 2500k....best of luck and happy gaming

[SkulD]

Thanks. Will try that and report back! You have same crossfire setup and also a core I5 2500k?

I have a FX8350 @stock speeds, with 2 R9 280x, bf4 plays really nice.

I hope that you are gaming right now , if the problem persists let us know.

[Juliogol]

Thanks so much!! Couldn't try yet, but will update once I test it! What resolution you play? 1080p? Ultra settings? AA? Thanks again!

[SkulD]

Thanks so much!! Couldn't try yet, but will update once I test it! What resolution you play? 1080p? Ultra settings? AA? Thanks again!

everything on ultra (maxed everything), motion blur off my screen is a 2560x1080 ultra wide screen from asus.

cant remember avg fps but is over the 60fps

[Juliogol]

everything on ultra (maxed everything), motion blur off my screen is a 2560x1080 ultra wide screen from asus.

cant remember avg fps but is over the 60fps

 

Ok, reporting back.... I got mixed results... Disabled ULPS but I'm still not getting good FPS... MSI afterburner says my cores are at 90/100% almost all the time, and the Gpus usually arround 60-70%... sometimes gpus spike at 80/90% but usually they're around 50-70%... CPU Should not be bottlenecking.... Playing on high, no AA I am around 50-70 FPS... that can't be good for this setup. I play at 2560x1400 resolution.

 

[SkulD]

Ok, reporting back.... I got mixed results... Disabled ULPS but I'm still not getting good FPS... MSI afterburner says my cores are at 90/100% almost all the time, and the Gpus usually arround 60-70%... sometimes gpus spike at 80/90% but usually they're around 50-70%... CPU Should not be bottlenecking.... Playing on high, no AA I am around 50-70 FPS... that can't be good for this setup. I play at 2560x1400 resolution.

if cpu cores are hitting 100% while gpus are at 70% then i'd say that the cpu is holding you back.

in my case my 8 cores are around 70% load and so are my gpus (i had v-sync on when i did those tests)

[TechFan@ic]

Ok, reporting back.... I got mixed results... Disabled ULPS but I'm still not getting good FPS... MSI afterburner says my cores are at 90/100% almost all the time, and the Gpus usually arround 60-70%... sometimes gpus spike at 80/90% but usually they're around 50-70%... CPU Should not be bottlenecking.... Playing on high, no AA I am around 50-70 FPS... that can't be good for this setup. I play at 2560x1400 resolution.

 

If the issue is only with BF4 try running with DX11.

[Juliogol]

if cpu cores are hitting 100% while gpus are at 70% then i'd say that the cpu is holding you back.

in my case my 8 cores are around 70% load and so are my gpus (i had v-sync on when i did those tests)

 

I am suspecting the same thing.... 

If the issue is only with BF4 try running with DX11.

 

Isn´t DirectX 11 teh default one? Do I change it in-game?

[hadesjoy72]

I am suspecting the same thing.... 

 

Isn´t DirectX 11 teh default one? Do I change it in-game?

 

I am suspecting the same thing.... 

 

Isn´t DirectX 11 teh default one? Do I change it in-game?

Yes...change on settings menu between X11 and Mantle.....Mantle crashed on me the other day while gaming, went to X11 and no issues....they will hash these Mantle issues out next update (hopefully)...

[Juliogol]

Yes...change on settings menu between X11 and Mantle.....Mantle crashed on me the other day while gaming, went to X11 and no issues....they will hash these Mantle issues out next update (hopefully)...

Actually Mantle gives me a little boost in performance... But still cpu is peaking 95% - 100%.... Thought it wouldn't bottleneck... Just reinstalled Windows and still the same thing.

[hadesjoy72]

Actually Mantle gives me a little boost in performance... But still cpu is peaking 95% - 100%.... Thought it wouldn't bottleneck... Just reinstalled Windows and still the same thing.

Wow....not for nothing, try posting over at the CPU forum on this site.....some bright individual may be able to assist if they believe its cpu related.   If you are not overclocking your 2500k, and have the cooling/psu capacity for it...might want to try that as well.  I have linked an article from Toms below about your cpu....also Linus has really good guides on Youtube about overclocking.....good luck and hope you get it sorted out.....

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/265056-29-2600k-2500k-overclocking-guide

[SkulD]

Actually Mantle gives me a little boost in performance... But still cpu is peaking 95% - 100%.... Thought it wouldn't bottleneck... Just reinstalled Windows and still the same thing.

can you OC your cpu? if performance increase then its your cpu the problem.

by the way your main issue is random fps drops right? or do they follow a pattern of some sorts.

also increase virtual memory see if that helps, at first i couldnt even play bf4 because i had virtual memory off.

[Juliogol]

Thanks again guys! But it's definitively bottleneck what I have. Just tested with MSI afterburner and with only one GPU activated, CPU peaked at 75% usage. And GPU was at 99% almost all the time. Then, I activated crossfire and boom. Cpu usage went to the roof. 95-100% all the time and the GPUS were around 60-70%.

 

I think I cannot overclock the processor more because of a motherboard limitation. Now I have it at 3.30 mhz, but my Gigabyte Motherboard model (gigabyte ga-h67m-ud2h-b3) has a limited multiplier I'm afraid.