HD7970 capped at 60FPS, not VSYNC

[Meatloaf]

I've been fighting this issue for quite some time now and can't seem to figure out what is capping my FPS at 60. It doesn't matter what game I'm playing, it is capped at 60FPS no matter what. League of Legends, Mechwarrior Online, Arma 2, Hitman Absolution, etc. VSync is set to always off in CCC and it is turned off in all games. Heat isn't an issue and nothing ever seems to reach 100% CPU or GPU usage. All drivers are up to date WHQL versions and I have had the same issue with multiple reinstalls of Win7 x64.

Anyone have any ideas? I know something isn't right as I've got a friend with a similar system using a Radeon HD 7950 and was watching his FPS frequently climb above 60 in the same games. What am I missing?



System specs for reference:

Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD
Intel Core i7 3770k @ stock clocks
16GB (4x4GB) Kingston HyperX PC3-12800
Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 @ stock clocks
OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD as boot, other platter drives for storage
Samsung 24" @ 1920x1200

[Phusius]

You might have something auto-start up like EVGA Precision from a past video card which has a target frame locker on it.

[Meatloaf]

Negative. Never had anything but this AMD card installed and official Catalyst drivers with it, not even beta drivers.

[razaron]

Is triple buffering on? If so, turn it off.

[Meatloaf]

Tried both on and off. Neither setting makes a difference.

[Phusius]

Do you have anything like Sapphire Trixx or Msi Afterburner installed? That's all I can think of that would do that...

[Meatloaf]

Nope

[Grnfinger]

nevermind

[natr0n]

Well as odd as it seems you shouldn't really worry about it.

try a new set of drivers perhaps.

[jboydgolfer]

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloa...l-utility.aspx

I would try this AMD driver uninstall utility, Just To be sure there is NO CAP profile that has V-sync Set in it, without You knowing.

[Grnfinger]

Originally Posted by jboydgolfer

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloa...l-utility.aspx

I would try this AMD driver uninstall utility, Just To be sure there is NO CAP profile that has V-sync Set in it, without You knowing.

That was my thinking but ...just seems strange it's capped at 60 and not a vsync issue

[jboydgolfer]

Originally Posted by Grnfinger

That was my thinking but ...just seems strange it's capped at 60 and not a vsync issue

Yeah I read that You said it was NOT a V-sync issue, BUT I ran the un-installer on my 7970 system, and Realized that there was like 6 driver's on it. And My reasoning for mentioning it was, SOME people download NOT only the AMD driver's BUT also the CAP profiles as well, and SOME of these have V-sync enabled. If that's NOT the case, then oh-well, but I thought it was worth mentioning is all.

[Meatloaf]

Originally Posted by jboydgolfer

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloa...l-utility.aspx

I would try this AMD driver uninstall utility, Just To be sure there is NO CAP profile that has V-sync Set in it, without You knowing.

Just tried and reinstalled 13.1 WHQL drivers to no avail. Still capped at 60FPS. Have also removed the monitor driver as well with no success.

[drdeathx]

If your refresh rate on your monitor is 60FPS anything higher ain't gonna make no difference. You do have Vsync on. That is the only way the frames would cap at 60 my friend.

[AthlonX2]

Originally Posted by drdeathx

If your refresh rate on your monitor is 60FPS anything higher ain't gonna make no difference. You do have Vsync on. That is the only way the frames would cap at 60 my friend.

I think you mean Hz.

[Meatloaf]

Originally Posted by drdeathx

If your refresh rate on your monitor is 60FPS anything higher ain't gonna make no difference. You do have Vsync on. That is the only way the frames would cap at 60 my friend.

Originally Posted by AthlonX2

I think you mean Hz.

Thank you for correcting him. I've been a computer hardware and A/V enthusiast for the better part of 15 years and write hardware reviews for a major website. I'm well aware of what my monitor is capable of, refresh rates, the limitations involved and what will/will not make a difference. I'm here looking for a solution to my problem, not a lecture on what I will/will not notice.

I know I'm not going to see any difference, but I want to know what kind of FPS I'm seeing in specific games. More specifically, I want to know WHY things are locked at 60FPS. It most certainly is NOT VSync as it is disabled in all my games and within the CCC. If it was, I wouldn't see varying FPS when it dips down below 60. I would see it lock down to 30 until it climbs back up to 60.

[drdeathx]

Originally Posted by AthlonX2

I think you mean Hz.

Originally Posted by Meatloaf

Thank you for correcting him. I've been a computer hardware and A/V enthusiast for the better part of 15 years and write hardware reviews for a major website. I'm well aware of what my monitor is capable of, refresh rates, the limitations involved and what will/will not make a difference. I'm here looking for a solution to my problem, not a lecture on what I will/will not notice.

I know I'm not going to see any difference, but I want to know what kind of FPS I'm seeing in specific games. More specifically, I want to know WHY things are locked at 60FPS. It most certainly is NOT VSync as it is disabled in all my games and within the CCC. If it was, I wouldn't see varying FPS when it dips down below 60. I would see it lock down to 30 until it climbs back up to 60.

Same thing:

Refresh rate

The refresh rate (most commonly the "vertical refresh rate", "vertical scan rate" for CRTs) is the number of times in a second that a display hardware draws the data. This is distinct from the measure of frame rate in that the refresh rate includes the repeated drawing of identical frames, while frame rate measures how often a video source can feed an entire frame of new data to a display.

I am not giving you a lecture but if your monitor "refresh rate" is stuck on 60FPS, Vsync is locked on. There is nothing else that could lock it.

If I remember correctly, althoug CCC shows Vsync off, there is another part of it that has a refresh rate.... look further into CCC. I am at work so I cannot check.

Do your games have a VSync setting that locks it?

[Meatloaf]

I'm not locked, I'm capped. There is a difference. VSync would not let me display at 51FPS, 52FPS, 53FPS, etc when my frame rate drops below 60FPS. If I would drop below 30 and had VSync enabled, it would drop my FPS down to 30 until it could return back to 60FPS in order to prevent screen tearing. In fact, I can enable VSync and see just that happen.

It almost seems to be some sort of thermal/power management but AFAIK, it is all disabled.

[drdeathx]

Originally Posted by Meatloaf

Thank you for correcting him. I've been a computer hardware and A/V enthusiast for the better part of 15 years and write hardware reviews for a major website. I'm well aware of what my monitor is capable of, refresh rates, the limitations involved and what will/will not make a difference. I'm here looking for a solution to my problem, not a lecture on what I will/will not notice.

I know I'm not going to see any difference, but I want to know what kind of FPS I'm seeing in specific games. More specifically, I want to know WHY things are locked at 60FPS. It most certainly is NOT VSync as it is disabled in all my games and within the CCC. If it was, I wouldn't see varying FPS when it dips down below 60. I would see it lock down to 30 until it climbs back up to 60.

Originally Posted by Meatloaf

I'm not locked, I'm capped. There is a difference. VSync would not let me display at 51FPS, 52FPS, 53FPS, etc when my frame rate drops below 60FPS. If I would drop below 30 and had VSync enabled, it would drop my FPS down to 30 until it could return back to 60FPS in order to prevent screen tearing. In fact, I can enable VSync and see just that happen.

It almost seems to be some sort of thermal/power management but AFAIK, it is all disabled.

VSync will let you display under 60FPS............ Will not go higher. I have never seen thermal issues lock the frame rate..... Just sayin. Wish I could help ya...

[Meatloaf]

Vsync will let you display under 60FPS, this is true... however not entirely. It will limit you to 60, 30, 20, 15.... which is why most people hate it as there is a massive drop between 60FPS and 30FPS very noticeable. The exception is the new nvidia stuff.

[Mr.EVIL]

1

[Outback Bronze]

Id say its the monitor or tv your using. I sometimes have this same weird issue. I bought a new 60" lcd tv for my htpc and ive got a lp7850 in there and for sum weird reason crysis would cap at 24fps. This never happened on my old tv so i must have a compatiblity issue there somewhere. Did it happen with your old video card? If your got a spare monitor or tv try that and see what happens.

[Frag Maniac]

VSync isn't limited to specific frame rates like 60, 30, etc. I often times get a varying amount between 55 and 60 with VSync on.

And btw, many have said the AMD Cleanup Utility doesn't in fact uninstall the AMD CAP profiles. They are separately installed files you need to manually remove via Programs and Features.

I get the feeling this has to be something software related. I don't see how a GPU itself could limit you to 60 FPS.

[Conflict0s]

What are you using to view your frame rate?

[X4K4]

Originally Posted by Meatloaf

I've been fighting this issue for quite some time now and can't seem to figure out what is capping my FPS at 60. It doesn't matter what game I'm playing, it is capped at 60FPS no matter what. League of Legends, Mechwarrior Online, Arma 2, Hitman Absolution, etc. VSync is set to always off in CCC and it is turned off in all games. Heat isn't an issue and nothing ever seems to reach 100% CPU or GPU usage. All drivers are up to date WHQL versions and I have had the same issue with multiple reinstalls of Win7 x64.

Anyone have any ideas? I know something isn't right as I've got a friend with a similar system using a Radeon HD 7950 and was watching his FPS frequently climb above 60 in the same games. What am I missing?



System specs for reference:

Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD
Intel Core i7 3770k @ stock clocks
16GB (4x4GB) Kingston HyperX PC3-12800
Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 @ stock clocks
OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD as boot, other platter drives for storage
Samsung 24" @ 1920x1200

i got an HD 4870 at 1920x1080 playing at 130-230 fps and average 144 at lol, LOL (all max out) not that u can see an diferences above 60 but are big numbers :P
as regarding LoL go ingame and change the video settings remove vsync and put the frames at benchmark that should do the trick