7950 Crossfire Issue's With BF4 Help Needed

[Infamous2117]

Hi Guys

 

Im new here so i apologize in advanced if anybody else has solved my issue...

 

I am experiencing significant frame drops after playing a couple of games of bf4, i have my frames capped at 60 as my monitor doesnt display more than 60hz. For the first couple of game the lowest it will drop down to is about 53fps.

 

In game settings are all on ultra.

 

Usually by the third game or so (especially if its dawnbreaker, not sure why) my frames drastically drop down to 35-45 and back up. especially during heavy firefights, to the pint where its almost unplayable, for me anyway.

 

Initially i thought this was due to heat issues but i have a lot of fans and my cards dont go above 60c, Processor sits at late 30's. All 4 cores stay cool.

 

I am pretty stumped on this one as it only seems to happen in bf4.

 

My brother has is config file setup the same as mine with a single R9 280x and his simply does not drop below 60fps, i find this a little hard to swallow, seeing i have almost twice the power (you would think)

 

 

My rig.... (Relevant Info)

 

 

Mobo> MSI Z68MA-G45

Ram> Kingston Hyper X 8gb

Processor> I7 2600k 4.5ghz (Watercooled)

Gpu> Sapphire 7950 3gb w boost x2

Psu> Antec 850w High current gamer

 

Things i have tried/have enabled.

 

• Disabled ulps.
• Force constant voltage.
• Crossfire is definitley enabled (afterburner shows equal activity on both cards during gaming)
• Cards have equal clock speed etc
• Have unchecked enable overdrive in ccc
• Ram is running in dual channel

 

These are some of the solutions and tips i have come across scouring the net, and none of them have solved my problem.

 

 

Two things i have not tried..

 

• Not using mantle and going back to DX11 (Dont think it will make a dif)
• Switching off the boost switches on the cards (Again not sure it will matter)

Below is a video of my rig incase it is relevant, i hope this is enough info to solve my issue.

 

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

 

(Note i have since turned the psu upside down)

[flibberdipper]

Turn Crossfire off and see if it makes any difference.

[Jodomcfrodo]

How is your CPU that cool? My custom loop has my CPU at 50c during BF4...

[Infamous2117]

Turn Crossfire off and see if it makes any difference.

 

Did that, frames were sitting on about 45...much lower.

 

 

How is your CPU that cool? My custom loop has my CPU at 50c during BF4...

 

 

Its winter here, in summer goes over 50 no probs.

[flibberdipper]

Did that, frames were sitting on about 45...much lower.

 

 

 

 

Its winter here, in summer goes over 50 no probs.

I did read that Mantle could cause some frame drops. Go ahead and try DirectX. See if it makes a difference.

[Enderman]

Its winter here, in summer goes over 50 no probs.

Unless your PC is sitting outside at 5C ambient, there is no way that temp is correct.

Are you using a huge custom loop or something? What are you using to monitor temps?

[Infamous2117]

Unless your PC is sitting outside at 5C ambient, there is no way that temp is correct.

Are you using a huge custom loop or something? What are you using to monitor temps?

 

 

I have custom rainmeter widget that sits on my desktop and monitors the temps on all 4 cores.

 

Similar to this.

http://www.deviantart.com/art/Ultimate-System-Monitor-182665749

 

I have not seen it do above 40 in the last week or so because it is winter here.

 

You can see my water cooler in the video.

 

 

Not sure how this is relevant to my issue, the proccessor is definitley overlocked to 4.5ghz and even if it was at its stock 3.4ghz i dont see how this would be the cause of my problem.

[Enderman]

I have custom rainmeter widget that sits on my desktop and monitors the temps on all 4 cores.

 

Similar to this.

http://www.deviantart.com/art/Ultimate-System-Monitor-182665749

 

I have not seen it do above 40 in the last week or so because it is winter here.

 

You can see my water cooler in the video.

 

 

Not sure how this is relevant to my issue, the proccessor is definitley overlocked to 4.5ghz and even if it was at its stock 3.4ghz i dont see how this would be the cause of my problem.

Use a proper temperature monitoring tool like hwmonitor to monitor the temps. See if they are the same as the ones your widget reports.

[Infamous2117]

Use a proper temperature monitoring tool like hwmonitor to monitor the temps. See if they are the same as the ones your widget reports.

 

 

If your saying that my processor temps could be the cause of this happening, i highly doubt it...

 

Maybe if it was a crappy stock heatsink this could be the problem, but an i7 proccessor can withstand up to 90c or more if it has to...

 

I guarentee you its not getting anywhere close to that with that antec cpu kuhler (with dual fans on the rad)

 

I will try using hw monitor which i have before, but im almost certain the cpu temp is not the issue here...

[dragoon20005]

it may sound a bit dumb

 

have you try with another PSU?

 

i do know that PSU is plenty for dual GPUs

 

but no harm trying

[Enderman]

If your saying that my processor temps could be the cause of this happening, i highly doubt it...

 

Maybe if it was a crappy stock heatsink this could be the problem, but an i7 proccessor can withstand up to 90c or more if it has to...

 

I guarentee you its not getting anywhere close to that with that antec cpu kuhler (with dual fans on the rad)

 

I will try using hw monitor which i have before, but im almost certain the cpu temp is not the issue here...

No ik its not a CPU issue i just think theres something wrong with BF4 and 40C at load. Especially since BF4 uses a ton of CPU...

The problem is most likely crossfire. lots of issues with crossfire and sli running games.

[dragoon20005]

I will still think its the BF4 game not using your dual GPUs

 

try with Unigine and see if you get the expected fps

[Infamous2117]

No ik its not a CPU issue i just think theres something wrong with BF4 and 40C at load. Especially since BF4 uses a ton of CPU...

The problem is most likely crossfire. lots of issues with crossfire and sli running games.

 

 

I will still think its the BF4 game not using your dual GPUs

 

try with Unigine and see if you get the expected fps

 

 

These are both good points.

 

Every other game i have shows the crossfire logo in the top right when using any relevant 3d application to show that crossfire is working.

 

BF4 DOES NOT. However msi afterburner clearly shows that both cards are being used while i am playing...

 

You would think that after this long bf4 would be optimized for crossfire, there are plenty of youtube videos that show crossfire working fine on ultra...

 

The fact that crossfire works on about 70 percent of my steam library but not so well on bf4 leads me to believe that my issue is not hardware side.

 

I will try switching back to DX11 tonight and keep you posted...

 

Can anybody tell me if it is reccomended to switch off the boost switches on my cards when crossfiring? I know you are supposed to disable any overclocks on your card before crossfiring but is the stock boost switch likely to be the cause of my issue?

[Enderman]

These are both good points.

 

Every other game i have shows the crossfire logo in the top right when using any relevant 3d application to show that crossfire is working.

 

BF4 DOES NOT. However msi afterburner clearly shows that both cards are being used while i am playing...

 

You would think that after this long bf4 would be optimized for crossfire, there are plenty of youtube videos that show crossfire working fine on ultra...

 

The fact that crossfire works on about 70 percent of my steam library but not so well on bf4 leads me to believe that my issue is not hardware side.

 

I will try switching back to DX11 tonight and keep you posted...

 

Can anybody tell me if it is reccomended to switch off the boost switches on my cards when crossfiring? I know you are supposed to disable any overclocks on your card before crossfiring but is the stock boost switch likely to be the cause of my issue?

What driver version are you using? Have you tried different versions? Like switching to an older or newer one...

Hopefully the DX11 thing works for you. No idea about the boost...it might be an issue if your cardsa re running at different frequencies and overclocking differently. You could try turning that off and see if anything changes.

[Jodomcfrodo]

The CPU could be the issue because of throttling but I highly doubt it. Have you reinstalled bf4? Drivers? Does this happen on other games? I'm assuming that you second GPU us detected right?

[Infamous2117]

The CPU could be the issue because of throttling but I highly doubt it. Have you reinstalled bf4? Drivers? Does this happen on other games? I'm assuming that you second GPU us detected right?

 

 

Does not happen on other games...

 

Catalyst 14.7

 

Yes second gpu is detected 100 percent as mentioned earlier.

 

I will try clean install of bf4 if problem persists.

[dragoon20005]

yea reinstall the game

 

and also change to AMD 14.4 stable drivers

[Infamous2117]

So...

 

I got home and eveything went real slow....

 

Boot was horribly slow and when it did boot into windows the screen went from really dim to bright, i tried going into my bios and the mouse would barely move...

 

I took out my ssd and threw it in my brothers machine and it booted up absolutley fine, so it wasnt the SSD.

 

So then i did a complete wipe on the SSD and reinstalled windows, low and behold it was still slow as hell.

 

So i figured it was either the mobo or the processor....rather than paying for a new motherboard, which are pretty hard to find now to accomidate an i7-2600k, or having to get a new proccessor then finding out it was the mobo...

 

I just went out and bough a new ROG Maximus Ranger Mobo and an i5-4690k devils canyon CPU. Problem Solved.

 

But i will say that 1st boot on that board is painful you have to switch around the ram in different slots before it will even boot, but i got there eventually....

 

Now i have solid 60fps constantly and an updated mobo and cpu....

[dragoon20005]

So...

 

I got home and eveything went real slow....

 

Boot was horribly slow and when it did boot into windows the screen went from really dim to bright, i tried going into my bios and the mouse would barely move...

 

I took out my ssd and threw it in my brothers machine and it booted up absolutley fine, so it wasnt the SSD.

 

So then i did a complete wipe on the SSD and reinstalled windows, low and behold it was still slow as hell.

 

So i figured it was either the mobo or the processor....rather than paying for a new motherboard, which are pretty hard to find now to accomidate an i7-2600k, or having to get a new proccessor then finding out it was the mobo...

 

I just went out and bough a new ROG Maximus Ranger Mobo and an i5-4690k devils canyon CPU. Problem Solved.

 

But i will say that 1st boot on that board is painful you have to switch around the ram in different slots before it will even boot, but i got there eventually....

 

Now i have solid 60fps constantly and an updated mobo and cpu....

ah i see

 

well now you can retire the old CPU and mobo as a backup PC