Anyone else notice this with Crossfire?
Don't know about Origin, try disabling it's overlay if you can, but low GPU usage can happen even on Nvidia. There's a guy with three 680s in SLI that was getting 50% or less GPU usage on each card. Then he tried using a tool called Timer Resolution, and his FPS jumped from 70 to 90.
Timer Resolution is a small app that uses about 2MB RAM and speeds up the latency between the CPU and GPU, which is especially useful in multi GPU setups. The CPU calculates the rendering data per frame then sends it to the GPU for it to be rendered. This app merely expedites the speed at which the CPU sends each set of frame data to the GPU.
I think Timer Resolution was mentioned in this or another thread. Whether it helps or not depends on your system setup. On my single GPU rig with i7 950 @ 3.2GHz, 7970 @ 1000/1450, and 6GB RAM @ CAS 7, it added maybe only 1-2 frames (yes, I now have the game), or roughly 47 FPS ave to 48 or 49. My desktop CPU to GPU latency was showing as 15.6ms, and in game at 10ms. The tool lowered the latency to a max of 5ms.
I've noticed a much greater difference by just studying the cvar list and coming up with some of my own performance tweaks. I was getting only 35 FPS average at first, and now roughly 45-50 average. I use max settings @ 1080p with FXAA and no VSync and motion blur. The only slight visual difference after the tweaks is distant grass isn't blowing in the wind, but why it would even do that in a domed city doesn't make much sense anyway, and you have to look close to even notice it.
Here's the tweaks I use. These can all be placed in an autoexec.cfg file you make (via renaming a text file) and place in your Crysis 3 directory. I got the cvar list
here. TweakGuides.com will soon have a guide that will probably be more detailed though.
g_radialBlur=Off
e_GsmCache=On
r_TessellationTriangleSize=16
e_MergedMeshesInstanceDist=4
e_MergedMeshesViewDistRatio=4
r_TexturesStreamPoolSize=1024
r_ssao=SSAO
r_HDRBloomRatio=1.0
r_DepthOfField=Off
r_SilhouettePOM=Off
r_WaterTessellationHW=Off
As for the game, meh, lackluster linear shooter no better than 7.5/10 IMO. Granted they brought in some interesting new Ceph, but they're still basing the more challenging combat scenarios on the God mode-like suit, they made Psycho a pudgy, dysfunctional whiner, the CELL are still clueless AI wise, the Ceph foot troops often rummage about near you without attacking due to apparent limited AI pathing, there's too much repetitious navigating through ruined buildings, and even the wide open areas have to be navigated pretty much on a linear path. They tried to make it epic and cinematic but it fails on so many levels. Even had they gone over the top the other direction with Psycho and used Jason Statham's likeness, voice, and innovative martial arts style, at least it would have been more interesting. I've played through this about 1.5 times, but it's Dead Space 3 that get's most of my attention lately, despite having played through it at least 7 times. My fave recent games are Max Payne 3 and Far Cry 3, but nothing I've played lately has more replay value than Dead Space 3.