Help with BF3 Micro-Stuttering

[Frizz]

I used to think it was GPU related but for me it wasn't, try turning off HyperThreading on your CPU and be amazed I can almost 100% guarantee you that it's where your problem is coming from games just aren't meant for HT.

 

[Darkleoco]

Hearing all these hyper-threading issues makes me glad even with my HT on I have no micro-stuttering....

 

[Frizz]

Hearing all these hyper-threading issues makes me glad even with my HT on I have no micro-stuttering....

People have different perspectives in regards to what stutter is, some notice it some don't. If you see your fraps fluctuate in BF3 it's undoubtedly the CPU and HT, it was for me and we have the same CPU. It's alot easier to notice when you have a GPU that can barely reach 60fps but since you got crossfire like the OP then there's little chance you'd notice the stuttering but its there.

 

[Darkleoco]

I am exceptionally picky about my graphics and I don't have any stuttering that I am aware of (might recheck later to be picky >.<), and my fraps is relatively steady usually unless I go from indoors to outdoors or go on the massive maps/64 man conquest.

 

[Frizz]

I am exceptionally picky about my graphics and I don't have any stuttering that I am aware of (might recheck later to be picky >.<), and my fraps is relatively steady usually unless I go from indoors to outdoors or go on the massive maps/64 man conquest.

relatively but not completely solid, I can say you shouldn't even be getting any dips at all with 2x 6950's whether you go outside or not it should just be completely solid 60fps.

 

[Anusha]

HTing off is the only solution. My friend runs a GTX580, and tried different setups with different cards with no real change. Once he turned HTing off, fixed. Who gives a shit if you paid extra for it? If it makes the game borderline unplayable, it's not worth having on...

True, but if it was only possible from pushing a button without going to bios every time you wanna turn it off or on.

 

[jonathan1107]

Ok guys FINALLY SOME GOD DANG results!

Alright, here are the results of my testing:

1. Single Card, V-Sync on, HT on (Max settings @ 1920x1080) = MICRO-Stutter (a tiny bit less noticeable than with 2x cards in CF but still very present and annoying... unbearable for Multiplayer purporses of course...)

2. Single Card, V-Sync off, HT on: Even less Micro-stutter, but still very annoying...

3. Single card, V-Sync On, HT OFF: NO Micro-stutter... or at least, the few there might be, my eyes have A VERY HARD time noticing it... and believe me, I Notice...

I have yet to try the same thing in CF, but I can Confirm it... Turning HT off takes away almost ALL of the micro-stutter...

My conclusion being this: Indeed dx11 titles require more bandwith... HT makes ur CPU spread the work load which is really good for multi-tasking... copying files and what not... But as for dx11 games, I believe a more RAW cpu ... being Focused on the game instead of trying to Run everything at the same time performs better...

Although, this might not be true for more recent CPUs with better mobos than mine...

Thx for all the help, I will be keeping HT off for this game until a fix comes out (if 1 does come out and fix this...)

Thx for all the input again :O)

 

[jonathan1107]

Hearing all these hyper-threading issues makes me glad even with my HT on I have no micro-stuttering....

I believe that is because your CPU is a far more recent .... and can achieve WAY higher bandwiths... btw

 

[Frizz]

Ok guys FINALLY SOME GOD DANG results!

Alright, here are the results of my testing:

1. Single Card, V-Sync on, HT on (Max settings @ 1920x1080) = MICRO-Stutter (a tiny bit less noticeable than with 2x cards in CF but still very present and annoying... unbearable for Multiplayer purporses of course...)

2. Single Card, V-Sync off, HT on: Even less Micro-stutter, but still very annoying...

3. Single card, V-Sync On, HT OFF: NO Micro-stutter... or at least, the few there might be, my eyes have A VERY HARD time noticing it... and believe me, I Notice...

I have yet to try the same thing in CF, but I can Confirm it... Turning HT off takes away almost ALL of the micro-stutter...

My conclusion being this: Indeed dx11 titles require more bandwith... HT makes ur CPU spread the work load which is really good for multi-tasking... copying files and what not... But as for dx11 games, I believe a more RAW cpu ... being Focused on the game instead of trying to Run everything at the same time performs better...

Although, this might not be true for more recent CPUs with better mobos than mine...

Thx for all the help, I will be keeping HT off for this game until a fix comes out (if 1 does come out and fix this...)

Thx for all the input again :O)

Glad you've fixed it mate, the difference in smoothness is jaw dropping

 

[jonathan1107]

indeed, the difference is JAW dropping... oh and @Darkleoco:

The micro-stuttering is easier to notice if you choose a INDOOR area of the game (try in the campaing)... stand in front of a 3d object... like a garbage can or something round...

Keep staring at it while you rotate around it... and if you have stuttering you will notice it there... You will see the object you'Re looking @ shake a little ... or at least your rotation won't feel 100% fluid if you do have stutter... it will feel a little jerky and chunky at times...

 

[Darkleoco]

relatively but not completely solid, I can say you shouldn't even be getting any dips at all with 2x 6950's whether you go outside or not it should just be completely solid 60fps.

I don't use v-sync lol I run at nearly constant 70-75 fps on ultra with no issues, the only time im at 60 is when I am in heavy firefights or on crowded servers with a lot happening at once (I never dip below 60 unless I do something stupid (ex demolish multiple vehicles at once))

If I ever get my work done I might get back on to check for any potentially minute micro-stuttering.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

you do realize you might not half to disable HT right?

just ctrl alt delete, go the BF3 exe and then choose select affinity,

set affinity to

0 2 4 6 for real cores
1 3 5 7 are the HT fake cores,

by forcing battlefield to use the cpus default 4 cores you shouldnt have any issues and can keep HT on, just a thought. granted it requires doing this every time you start the game, so every server change means do it again, wouldnt be so bad if dice didnt make the web browser the server browser but eitherway its another shitty option lolz

as for

x8x8 or x16x16 on the 6950s its a 1-3% performance difference not some 10-17% bullshit.

 

[Darkleoco]

you do realize you might not half to disable HT right?

just ctrl alt delete, go the BF3 exe and then choose select affinity,

set affinity to

0 2 4 6 for real cores
1 3 5 7 are the HT fake cores,

by forcing battlefield to use the cpus default 4 cores you shouldnt have any issues and can keep HT on, just a thought. granted it requires doing this every time you start the game, so every server change means do it again, wouldnt be so bad if dice didnt make the web browser the server browser but eitherway its another shitty option lolz

as for

x8x8 or x16x16 on the 6950s its a 1-3% performance difference not some 10-17% bullshit.

Is that what you do for your game or do you simply not have any micro stutter from HT?

 

[Frizz]

Is that what you do for your game or do you simply not have any micro stutter from HT?

He has a 2500k so I'm guessing he has no stutter whatsoever, but an awesome CPU he has .

 

[Darkleoco]

He has a 2500k so I'm guessing he has no stutter whatsoever, but an awesome CPU he has .

Damn theirs a sure sign I need sleep first time I have confused a 5 and a 6 before

Edit: Crazy you should put a BF3 sig up like everyone else

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

2500k dosent have HT,

im just saying you can FORCE any game or app to use certain CPU cores, you just have to set affinity, its what i do if im burning a DVD while gaming, ill set 1 core to Burn the other 3 are left to do whats needed,

just if memory servers me right, ODD cores are Intels real core and even cores are the HT cores

 

[jonathan1107]

I'll give it a shot

 

[jonathan1107]

for some reason, I'm having a hard time getting the game to start now, when I re-enable crossfire... I'm thinking today's installation of the 11.10 drivers are the culprit...

 

[jonathan1107]

Hey guys, I found this great app to fix the HT issues without having to turn on or off HT in the bios...

I know you can do this manually thru task manager... but this is EVEN better since it remembers your settings for each programs you use... That way, once you've configured bf3 to use cores 0,2,4 and 6, it stays that way... No need to back out of the game... Not a SINGLE time...

You can use it's context menu features and configure all yours apps...

The app is called CORE AFFINITY RESIDENT

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

well glad you found an APP that does exactly what i said to do, but made it easier,

looks like im a winner again lol altho only partially i had the right idea, just didnt know an app existed to do that. lolz

 

[cadaveca]

Having to set core affinity because of a poor system config is hardly winning, Crazy.

Turning off HT and setting core affinity is very much like forcing an 8-cylinder engien to run on 4 only, forced. Oh so very much NOT an elegant solution.


P55 was never meant to be a true high-performance platform. Expecting it to be..well...

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

so it works? and it means HT can stay ON for the apps that do use it like encoding, so its not elegent dave since when is anything we do these days elegent,

gaudy crossfire or sli bridges hardly elegent,

giant heatsinks the side of a small child are hardly elegent

broken software that we have to wait for patches to get proper support is hardly elegent lulz

point is core affinity works, dosent require compromising of performance in other apps, and heres the real kicker BF3 after 3 cores CPU core count dosent scale performance any further, so even if its 8 cylinder engine running on 4 its still more then fast enough.

Granted its not ideal, but then i never was a big fan of hyper threading or AMDs new approach either. so i have a 2500k for 2 reasons 1 not HT issues, 2 it was cheaper

and how would P55 enter into this?

not like x58 would be any different all the chips there use HT, and just as many people on that end have issues as well so kinda a moot point, i say screw it the OP should just go Sandybridge and call it a day

 

[cadaveca]

P55 is from 2009, and is quite outdated. It's replacement, P67, has been out for nearly a year. And it's not hte high performance platform either.

In 2009, DX11 didn't exist. Neither did DX11 VGAs. X58 isn't the answer either, which launched in 2008. It's just as dated.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

dave lets not get into semantics 2009 DX11 gpus did exist HD 5000 series it existed for all of 3-4 months lulz

x58 + 920 overclocked is still high end not extreme maybe but still high end, and granted memory bandwidth isnt as good, CPU wise a 920 overclocked will still compete favorable with 2500k for instance,

and this is about core affinity, software is buggy BF3 is buggy, do we really need to rehash what we all already know lol

 

[brandonwh64]

dave lets not get into semantics 2009 DX11 gpus did exist HD 5000 series it existed for all of 3-4 months lulz

x58 + 920 overclocked is still high end not extreme maybe but still high end, and granted memory bandwidth isnt as good, CPU wise a 920 overclocked will still compete favorable with 2500k for instance,

and this is about core affinity, software is buggy BF3 is buggy, do we really need to rehash what we all already know lol

Exactly, We are fighting the game not the hardware.