6870 Went from 60fps to 22fps

[Ravenas]

Even when cpu is set to max speed game play is horrible frame rates.

 

[ChristTheGreat]

-have you tried other games? Have you tried new drivers?
-Does your SC2 has been updated to Hots?
-It could be a game update. Check out also f or AA settings..
-Can you try the card on another system?

 

[silkstone]

System restore back to a time you were getting good frames.

 

[SK-1]

6870 cant handle SC2 on ultra anymore....

WTF? must be maddening...

 

[Aquinus]

Working now. I repeated the same process. Frames are still low. 6870 cant handle SC2 on ultra anymore....

That's impossible because one of my 6870 handles SC2 at Ultra with 2x AA on my rig without CFX enabled, crossfire lets me do as high as 8x without dropping belong 60 FPS. Keep in mind that SC2 is single-threaded (for the most part,) so IPC and clock speed plays a huge role in SC2 which is another small reason why I went with Intel. More often than not it will hold ~45-60 FPS and a little 1Ghz overclock on the core can usually make up for it without crossfire.

Are you sure you're not doing something out of the ordinary like forcing 8x AA or using the edge-detect AA filter?

If I were you, I would monitor your GPU usage in SC2 and let us know if the GPU isn't running at 100%, because that's the case it's almost a sure fire sign that your CPU is bottlenecking the game. Keep in mind that it won't ever use 100% of your CPU resources across all of your cores. You'll be lucky to see more than 1 core (total) being used. A good example is that I never see my CPU usage go above 16% in the task manager with my i7 and it will still bottleneck on the CPU in some cases, so please confirm this for us because I bet it is exactly what is going on.

Edit: Zambezi chips are also not known for their single-threaded IPC, so that's a consideration. Is overclocking an option? AHHH! I just noticed you're running 1333Mhz memory, I would put something faster in there because I can imagine 1333 becoming a bottleneck much like how my DDR2-800 did on my Phenom II 940 rig with SC2. It's a guess though. I would have put at least 1600 memory in it if not 1866.

 

[Kaynar]

Have you checked windows power options? Maybe the "power saving" mode has been activated by some mistake or bug and it throttles your PC. I know its a desktop but still it could happen...

 

[Aquinus]

Have you checked windows power options? Maybe the "power saving" mode has been activated by some mistake or bug and it throttles your PC. I know its a desktop but still it could happen...

I recommend reading the thread as I've already asked about this and he already responded:

Make sure your power settings are set to balanced or performance. SC2 is very CPU dependent and if the cpu isn't ramping up or boost isn't kicking in, it might impact performance. My 6870s work plenty well on SC2 with the 13.5 beta drivers.

Even when cpu is set to max speed game play is horrible frame rates.

 

[Agility]

Task-Manager --> Start-up --> Disable Piranha.exe

Its the cause of constant GPU loading issue at start and comes directly from Dota 2 itself. Hope this helps.

 

[Ravenas]

That's impossible because one of my 6870 handles SC2 at Ultra with 2x AA on my rig without CFX enabled, crossfire lets me do as high as 8x without dropping belong 60 FPS. Keep in mind that SC2 is single-threaded (for the most part,) so IPC and clock speed plays a huge role in SC2 which is another small reason why I went with Intel. More often than not it will hold ~45-60 FPS and a little 1Ghz overclock on the core can usually make up for it without crossfire.

Are you sure you're not doing something out of the ordinary like forcing 8x AA or using the edge-detect AA filter?

If I were you, I would monitor your GPU usage in SC2 and let us know if the GPU isn't running at 100%, because that's the case it's almost a sure fire sign that your CPU is bottlenecking the game. Keep in mind that it won't ever use 100% of your CPU resources across all of your cores. You'll be lucky to see more than 1 core (total) being used. A good example is that I never see my CPU usage go above 16% in the task manager with my i7 and it will still bottleneck on the CPU in some cases, so please confirm this for us because I bet it is exactly what is going on.

Edit: Zambezi chips are also not known for their single-threaded IPC, so that's a consideration. Is overclocking an option? AHHH! I just noticed you're running 1333Mhz memory, I would put something faster in there because I can imagine 1333 becoming a bottleneck much like how my DDR2-800 did on my Phenom II 940 rig with SC2. It's a guess though. I would have put at least 1600 memory in it if not 1866.

I'm not forcing anything. I have the most up to date drivers. Frames are low in all games. The CPU and ram have been very fast. I think it is the GPU. Wish I had another 6870 just for testing.

 

[Ravenas]

Task-Manager --> Start-up --> Disable Piranha.exe

Its the cause of constant GPU loading issue at start and comes directly from Dota 2 itself. Hope this helps.

Good heads up. However, this problem occurs even before playing DOTA 2. Pirhana.exe isn't present.

 

[Ravenas]

Here is a picture of my GPUz. The max shows maximum what is should be. But I did average instead and this is what I got.

Should be 900mhz and 1050mhz respectively. My CPU is running fine at 4.2ghz...

Running SC2 on ultra setting at maximum resolution.

 

[Aquinus]

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/13/04/28/bz7.png

Here is a picture of my GPUz. The max shows maximum what is should be. But I did average instead and this is what I got.

Should be 900mhz and 1050mhz respectively. My CPU is running fine at 4.2ghz...

Running SC2 on ultra setting at maximum resolution.

Yes, except your GPU load looks like it's barely breaking 50%. You're being bottlenecked by your CPU or memory.

 

[Ravenas]

Yes, except your GPU load looks like it's barely breaking 50%. You're being bottlenecked by your CPU or memory.

Its just weird because I've been running this setup for 1.5 years and it just starts this. I wonder which one it is...

 

[erocker]

Try running other programs/stress tests on your GPU and see what kinds of loads/temps you're getting. It's possible it may just be going bad and you did mention this kind of started happening after you think your card overheated.

I know SC2 can be a CPU hog at times. Is the poor performance constant, or does it come and go? If it's constant I'd definitely side with the GPU being the culprit.

 

[Ravenas]

Try running other programs/stress tests on your GPU and see what kinds of loads/temps you're getting. It's possible it may just be going bad and you did mention this kind of started happening after you think your card overheated.

I know SC2 can be a CPU hog at times. Is the poor performance constant, or does it come and go? If it's constant I'd definitely side with the GPU being the culprit.

Its the same game to game. I just have a gut feelings its the GPU.

 

[Aquinus]

Its the same game to game. I just have a gut feelings its the GPU.

...it's not running hot though and it's not even getting fully loaded. You wouldn't happen to have v-sync enabled, would you?

Also, when you're playing SC2, is your usage at or over 25%? If it is, you're CPU limited.

 

[Mindweaver]

...it's not running hot though and it's not even getting fully loaded. You wouldn't happen to have v-sync enabled, would you?

Also, when you're playing SC2, is your usage at or over 25%? If it is, you're CPU limited.

Wut? You went from telling someone in this thread to read what you posted to not reading what the OP posted?... It's Monday so I'm going to cut you some slack.. lol He said he was getting 60 fps and it dropped.. So, tell me why would it be a CPU limit again?

 

[Ravenas]

Wut? You went from telling someone in this thread to read what you posted to not reading what the OP posted?... It's Monday so I'm going to cut you some slack.. lol He said he was getting 60 fps and it dropped.. So, tell me why would it be a CPU limit again?

I have another 6870 that I am able to get a hold of. I'm going to try it and that will end all of this discussion.

 

[Mindweaver]

I have another 6870 that I am able to get a hold of. I'm going to try it and that will end all of this discussion.

I hope you find good news, but I think your trouble started when your cards fan wasn't going over 30%. The only thing is it's odd your not seeing artifacts from where it overheated. Good luck

 

[Ravenas]

I hope you find good news, but I think your trouble started when your cards fan wasn't going over 30%. The only thing is it's odd your not seeing artifacts from where it overheated. Good luck

Where would I see the artifacts?

 

[DayKnight]

On the screen. Where else?.

I stopped reading at 30% fan speed part. Good job.

Give a good reason as to why you did that?. Case is pretty strong against you for attempted murder. Stay frosty.

 

[Ravenas]

On the screen. Where else?.

I stopped reading at 30% fan speed part. Good job.

Give a good reason as to why you did that?. Case is pretty strong against you for attempted murder. Stay frosty.

I was speaking in terms of GPUz. I ran the card at low fan speed due to outrageous noise level.

 

[TheGuruStud]

That's impossible because one of my 6870 handles SC2 at Ultra with 2x AA on my rig without CFX enabled, crossfire lets me do as high as 8x without dropping belong 60 FPS. Keep in mind that SC2 is single-threaded (for the most part,) so IPC and clock speed plays a huge role in SC2 which is another small reason why I went with Intel. More often than not it will hold ~45-60 FPS and a little 1Ghz overclock on the core can usually make up for it without crossfire.

SC2 has SEVERE performance issues starting several months ago with patches and it has gotten MUCH worse over time.

Case in point: I can longer play SC2 smoothly. It drops frames like crazy for no reason (fps is still high). Google reveals it's a massive problem. Check my hardware, it's not exactly low end

I had an old pirated version from release installed that ran like butter. I bought the game and reinstalled (completely clean with all updates obviously) and performance was/is atrocious. I edited the config and gained some back, but it's nowhere close to butter.

 

[DayKnight]

Thumbs up. That is just hilarious.

GPUz doesn't show artifacts. Get Afterburner and use it's scanning tool. I dont use Afterburner so not much experience. Stopped using it a long time ago.

 

[Ravenas]

SC2 has SEVERE performance issues starting several months ago with patches and it has gotten MUCH worse over time.

Case in point: I can longer play SC2 smoothly. It drops frames like crazy for no reason (fps is still high). Google reveals it's a massive problem. Check my hardware, it's not exactly low end

I had an old pirated version from release installed that ran like butter. I bought the game and reinstalled (completely clean with all updates obviously) and performance was/is atrocious. I edited the config and gained some back, but it's nowhere close to butter.

Like has been said in this thread, it is all games, not just SC2.