Bottleneck? Performance Drop...

[ecksile]

Hmmm...So I just got a 6970 ("Upgraded?" from a dying 3870x2) and I've noticed a significant drop in performance since the "Upgrade?". I've been messing with my system for roughly the last 3 days trying to boost performance, but nothing I do makes a difference...The games that have seemed to have benefited from this..lets just call it a "replacement"...are games like Metro2033 and Crysis which are extremely GPU intensive. Matter of fact those are the ONLY games I think I've noticed an increase in performance out of the 7 or so games I've tested, Which makes sense as this card should perform levels above my old card in GPU performance and those are GPU intense games, But older games mainly TES4/CSS/FO3 have lost performance.

 

Which lead me to the conclusion my CPU is bottlenecking this card...So in attempts to remove my bottleneck I have done some overclocking but there has been very little to no performance increase in these games since the overclock...So I'm stumped and I now ask for someones advice on the situation...I'm on a fresh install of Win7 Ultimate x64 but also have a fresh install of Win XP SP2 which I have juggling between the 2 for testing (mainly for incompatibilities with hardware monitoring software), All drivers are up to date including BIOS for MOBO. I have tested on all 3 drivers for this card (10.12, 11.1 and 11.1a Hotfix which I am currently using).

 

In Oblivion with HDR, 8xEQ AA and 16xAF (There is no noticeable performance increase or decrease with AA activated) @ 1440x900 everything else fully maxed w/ini tweaks for performance and eye candy. I am using Better Open Cities (All), UL, AVWD, QTP3 (unoptimized) Various LOD textures and Custom Skybox Textures and Natural Vegetation. I drop all the way down to 9 FPS in some areas mainly populated areas (IC Market District where I assume my CPU is being taxed). In the open I average around 25-40 or so FPS with dips to the low 20's pretty constant as well and interiors I average 200+. If I lower the texture sizes ill notice maybe a 1 FPS increase same as turning off all shadows...My 3870x2 would perform the same at the same settings but also with OBGE Motion Blur/Water Bubbles, Custom Water Textures and Alive Waters and Natural Wildlife.

 

Fallout 3 performs the same as with my old card with same settings...And CSS has seen a drop in FPS by around an average of 100+ all same settings.. Even with Overclock there isn't a noticeable difference (Overclock made a difference with 3870x2). I have run 3dmark05 (its the only thing I have benchmarks for from my previous card for comparison) and I have seen around a 20-30 FPS increase with the overclock. and a double or so in the CPU test part. BUT the catch is....compared to my old overclock @3.3Ghz w/3870x2 with my new overclock roughly 200mhz higher @ 3.5Ghz w/6970 I'm achieving roughly the same performance as with my old card...And still no improvement in actual games.

 

Here are my 2 BEST benches - http://3dmark.com/compare/3dm05/4872978/3dm05/5334205 (The score for 6970 test's FPS is kinda messed up so the large number is my CPU score and then the number in my CPU score is for the FPS ratings in order from top to bottom.)

 

My lowest w/ 3870x2 - http://3dmark.com/3dm05/4871833

 

My lowest w/ 6970 - http://3dmark.com/3dm05/5334111

 

Hopefully someone can help me here as I am stumped I have checked and tested everything except my PSU output as someone broke my MM screen but Bios shows a small consistent solid drop on full load. I'm pretty sure these are all within accepted limits..Here's my Power consumption...

 

+12V

Idle - 12.000v Flat (no Fluctuations at all)

Load - 11.938v Solid (Jumps up to 12.000v and then falls back to this)

 

+5V

Idle - 5.078v Flat (no Fluctuations at all)

Load - 5.058v Solid (Jumps up to 5.078v and then falls back to this)

 

+3.3V

Idle - 3.283v Solid

Load- 3.283v Solid (Doesn't move)

 

CPU Core (1.5v max)

1.353v

 

CPU I/O (+1.5V)

1.497v (Pretty Solid)

 

I have no overheating problems so I know its not that as my temps don't go above 55C on CPU and GPU at full load...I think that's everything so if anyone has any ideas please do tell as I'm all ears now.. or if there's anything I've missed please do tell...Ive done nothing but research for the last 3 days and have gotten nowhere but a few benchmark points..and a ****Load of restarting. xD

 

Thank you for you time take care.

 

-Wicked

 

 

------------------------------------------------------

My Win7 Score is..

 

CPU - 6.7

RAM - 6.7

GFX - 7.9

Game GFX - 7.9

Prime HDD - 5.9

 

Overall 5.9 Determined by lowest sub score...

-------------------------------------------------------

My system Specs are...

 

MOBO - Intel D975XBX2

CPU - Intel C2D E6700 @ 3.42Ghz (Stock clocks are 2.66 and I can still go higher...)

RAM - 4GB (2 1GBx2 Dual Channel) Corsair Dominator PC6400 @ 876Mhz (4:5 Ratio)

GPU - ATI/XFX Radeon 6970 (Replacing a 3870x2 with bad VRAM)

PSU - Corsair TX 750W

Edited February 3, 2011 by ecksile

[ecksile]

Forget it i'm gonna return the card and wait for LGA2011. Mods you can close this Thread. Here just for fun heres the bench (after taking out the 6970) comparison's with my 3870x2 on 6970 drivers and my processor underclocked =D

 

http://3dmark.com/compare/3dm05/5334205/3dm05/5334423

 

Final Comparison with proper 3870x2 Drivers (dont forget its got bad VRAM =D and the CPU is underclocked)

 

http://3dmark.com/compare/3dm05/5334205/3dm05/5334431

 

Soooo...after a 55$ restocking fee on refund I think im just gonna keep it xD So thread REOPENED! =D.

Edited February 4, 2011 by ecksile

[Erik005]

Yes your processor is a bottleneck.

 

I am also waiting for the socket 2011 platform to, although I don't know if it is worth it.

 

In the last generation the socket 1156 core i7s where better for gaming than the core i7-920/i7-930 witch cost about the same.

Edited February 4, 2011 by Erik005