Help with BF3 Micro-Stuttering

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

ahem q6600 no stuttering again, gdam the game only uses upto four cores effectively already jebus, check it!, hence wtf get 2x processors

what ever is causing it a cpu upgrade plus mobo may or may not fix it but just imagine spending that extra doe only to have the same thing anyway, i could not put up with the moanin

 

[erocker]

and I know you perosnally have like NONE of the issues

I very rarely get the greenish/yellowish flash once in a while. So that's one issue I guess.

 

[brandonwh64]

I had greenish flashes with 11.8 but with the new 11.10 cap 4. NO ISSUES

 

[Irony]

What is CAP 4?

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

Catalyst Application Profile 11.9 CAP 4

essentially crossfire and game profiles that work with drivers as far back as 11.2 to let you play new games better but without always needing a fresh new driver, altho a fresh driver is usually recommended it does mean that

you can get xfire support in new games when they release and its a 5mb download vs 150mb and total reinstall of drivers.

 

[jonathan1107]

2 more questions to help diagnose my problem:

1. What's the diff between 11.10 and 11.10 whql?

2. What's a good way to diagnose faulty RAM? (it's the only thing I haven't tested yet...) I have 2 sticks of 4gb... do I test while both are in place... or 1 at a time? My RAM is as recent as the rig (10 months old...) Is it possible that the RAM could be causing the Stuttering?

(if possible, lemme know asap pls)

 

[erocker]

What's the diff between 11.10 and 11.10 whql?

In regards to BF3 you should be using 11.10 whql and Catalyst Application Profile 11.9 /4
WHQL basically means they are digitally signed by Microsoft. They are the proper driver, while the "non-whql" 11.10 are beta drivers that may or may not be different.

The two downloads you need are on this page: http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx

I would highly suggest you do a nice, clean uninstall before adding the new drivers. Please follow this guide here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52502

Do this and let us know the results. If the problem persists we'll get into your RAM.

 

[Irony]

Oh, okay.

Hey, could anyone take a look at my thread, its called '6770 causing crashes w/ catalyst 11.10, was fine with 11.9' for lack of a better description. I'm having issues with my card and have only had one reply...

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

Ya nothing diff between 11.10 Preview 3 and the official 11.10 WHQL. Like erocker said the latter just means it has passed Microsoft testing which is pretty irrelevant to us and especially concerning to GPU drivers. The only reason they are all these different versions of 11.10 floating around is that they rushed out various "previews" for Rage and BF3 issues and performance improvements.

Hey dude did you make use of the perfoverlayvisible graph in your testing? I would like to have a general discussion about it and CPU performance. Dunno if this is the right thread (though it's original intent has been addressed) but didn't really go anywhere in the Clubhouse.

 

[erocker]

Oh, okay.

Hey, could anyone take a look at my thread, its called '6770 causing crashes w/ catalyst 11.10, was fine with 11.9' for lack of a better description. I'm having issues with my card and have only had one reply...

Check out my post above yours. Follow those directions.

 

[jonathan1107]

I used the perfoverleyvisible 1 thingy... and my CPU is always a little bit below my GPU bar...

Both bars SPIKE like CRAZY when I switch back to my original OC (4ghz, HT on and RAM @ 2000mhz 9 11 9 27)...

It's more steady when HT off @ 3.6ghz and ram at 1600mhz 9 9 9 24...

 

[erocker]

In regards to BF3 you should be using 11.10 whql and Catalyst Application Profile 11.9 /4
WHQL basically means they are digitally signed by Microsoft. They are the proper driver, while the "non-whql" 11.10 are beta drivers that may or may not be different.

The two downloads you need are on this page: http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx

I would highly suggest you do a nice, clean uninstall before adding the new drivers. Please follow this guide here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52502

Do this and let us know the results. If the problem persists we'll get into your RAM.

I used the perfoverleyvisible 1 thingy... and my CPU is always a little bit below my GPU bar...

Both bars SPIKE like CRAZY when I switch back to my original OC (4ghz, HT on and RAM @ 2000mhz 9 11 9 27)...

It's more steady when HT off @ 3.6ghz and ram at 1600mhz 9 9 9 24...

I'm pretty sure you already mentioned this. Have you tried what I listed above?

 

[jonathan1107]

OK, I did the clean uninstall and install the new drivers ... (didn't fix the problem)

A while back I couldn't start BF3 and I changed my res to 1926 x 1076 (or something like it...) which fixed the game not wanting to start problem for me...

Now, I fell on this very interesting forum post about stuttering... lemme know what you guys think:

http://www.overclock.net/pc-games/1159588-battlefield-3-technical-question-boggle-your.html

 

[erocker]

I really have no idea anymore.

 

[jonathan1107]

did you read my link?

 

[cadaveca]

You shouldn't ahve to do ANYTHING. It should just work. I did read the link. Can I have my 5 minutes back now please?

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

dude buy a whole new rig sell all your current stuff thats how you fix this.

 

[Irony]

Check out my post above yours. Follow those directions.

I did that just now. Uninstalled ATI Catalyst, and AMD overdrive. Deleted everything pertaining to ATI in my registry, Then emptied the recycle bin. Did everything except driversweeper. Then I installed 11.10, and at the end of installation, it went black and then restarted. Now catalyst doesn't open, because it doesn't exist I guess...Should I do it again?

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

yea you should have run driversweeper see what happens when you dont follow all directions

 

[erocker]

Did everything except driversweeper.

I followed the guide myself last week and I used driversweeper. I suppose you should try using driversweeper. If all else fails, use drivers that work. It's a common misconception that you need to use the latest driver released which is simply not true.

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

All right what about you guys with SB chips? Where is the CPU bar in relation to the GPU bar? My results similar to OPs but my graph fairly linear unless lots of action on screen.

Everybody keeps saying it's "all GPU" but I'm not so sure, at least in MP.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

my 2500k at stock pegs around 80% max load when playing BF3 thats with Opera 8 tabs open / IE 9 2 tabs open along with Origin, Steam, Digsby all open

over clocked I peg around 70% with all the above open so yea not all that bad really. and frame rate between limiting the game to 3 cores from 4 dosent change anything and dropping to 2 cores shows a performance drop when stock but overclocked its minimal

 

[Nitro-Max]

No issues here plays smooth great fps. with my current hardware. Ive never seen the need to upgrade my Q6600 setup only thing ive ever updated was the graphics,. Im currently only running one card for battlefield 3 though as i was told before hand that theirs issues with crossfire. So havent got around to trying both yet. No need really.

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

my 2500k at stock pegs around 80% max load when playing BF3 thats with Opera 8 tabs open / IE 9 2 tabs open along with Origin, Steam, Digsby all open

over clocked I peg around 70% with all the above open so yea not all that bad really. and frame rate between limiting the game to 3 cores from 4 dosent change anything and dropping to 2 cores shows a performance drop when stock but overclocked its minimal

Cool but Im wondering specifically what that in-game graph shows. My "CPU line" is well below my GPU and the numbers show a min of like 3-5 compared to 40 for the GPU. Wasn't expecting that though at this point I can't be exactly sure what I'm looking at.

 

[jonathan1107]

HALLELUJAH !!!!! I found the fix to my micro-stuttering problem and FOR GOOD!

You know that link I posted (sorry about wasting 5 of your minutes cadaveca... but that link contained the 1 solution that worked)...

- Turning HT off didn't fix the micro-stuttering for me
- Playing with the drivers didn't cut it...
- Re-installing the game didn't fix it
- special "in-game" console commands didn't fix it
- Bringing my cards back to original bios didn't fix it

But the link I posted earlier, is the Flipping solution for me: This guy is basically saying that V-sync takes away screen tearing, but causes input lag... which can be reduced by turning on "triple buffering"... but still, often times turning triple buff. on doesn't fix it either...

He was suggesting that capping the FPS to 59 instead of 60 could take away a major part of the input lag (I read his explanation but I still don't understand how he came by that revelation or how that is supposed to work out)...

So.... Desperate that I was, I went ahead and installed "bandicam" which basically is a better version of FRAPS... Bandicam allowed me to cap the FPS to 59... At first, the game wouldn't start with that particular FPS lock... but I found a special option in Bandicam which allows you to turn on the FPS cap while in-game (which allowed me to start the game without crashing...)

And locking the FPS @ 59 fixed the whole fn problem for me! (with v-sync on, HT on, ALL settings maxed)

Thank God, I've been wanting to find this solution for months now... I bet you it works on other dx11 titles which were causing lag for me ;O)

P.S.
- Link for bandicam: http://www.bandicam.com/
- Link to the solution that worked for me: http://www.overclock.net/pc-games/11...ggle-your.html