Cannot get an average FPS higher than 30 (6950HD 2GB & Phenom II 3

[machuidel]

My machine has the following specs:

 

CPU: Phenom II X6 1050T @ 3.5Ghz

GPU: Radeon 6950 2GB @ 880/1375

RAM: 4GB 1333 Corsair

MB: Asrock 890GX Extreme 3

OS: Windows 7 Pro x64

 

I am running Skyrim at 1080p and only get an average of 30 FPS with drops to around 20 FPS.

When watching the tree from the castle stairs in Whiterun the FPS is around 22.

 

Already tried the following without success:

 

- Running the latest 1.3 patch.

- Running the latest 11.11c ATI drivers.

- Running the 4GB launcher including the TESV.exe hack (so the ATI driver can detect the process)

- Using the INI tweaks at: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=283

- Using the default INI for High (which were automatically created by the Launcher).

- Reinstalling Skyrim, running vanilla without mods on High

- Defragmenting my disks (except SSD of course)

- Running with and without RadeonPro etc.

- Using the +fullproc parameter.

- Decreasing the shadow quality / distance.

- Using Gamebooster.

- Cleaning ATI drivers and reinstalling.

- Setting resolution to 720p.

- Disabling / enabling Vsync.

 

Whatever I do, the average FPS does not increase.

 

Also running Skyrim vanilla on High or modded (using STEP guide) makes no difference.

Running vanilla on High = 31 avg.

Running modded on Ultra using STEP guide, FXAA injector and many hires textures = 29 avg.

Making me think the GPU is not the bottleneck.

 

Some friends of mine have lower spec machines and can play their modded Skyrim without

any problems. Only difference that they have an NVidia GPU.

 

Any Ideas what might be causing the low FPS and how to improve it?

Edited December 9, 2011 by machuidel

[maboru]

Skyrim really doesn't play nice with modern CPUs. One thing I've found that helped me was this - http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=814

 

Play around with it and see what you can come up with while waiting for the next few patches which may or may not address modern computers with some code re-writes.

[AngelOfPassion]

I can try to help narrow it down since we have extremely similar systems (even though i'm pretty sure its the GPU and drivers)

 

I have

Phenom X6 clocked to 3.2 - I actually find that my games run a little better with it at stock GHZ because the sound and video load at separate times with an overclocked CPU in some cases.

I have a Radeon 6850 - it runs dX11 at 256bit. I run Skyrim on 1080p on ultra without vsync and I turn the shadows down to high. I get about 35-60fps. My GPU is OCed to 860mhz and 1100mhz

I have 8GB in corsair RAM but I don't see this making a difference

Is your motherboard made with an AMD chipset? if not it may explain why an AMD GPU isn't performing to its potential, a lot of people overlook this when looking at motherboards because it could be made for an AMD CPU but with a different chipset, mine is a Gigabyte 890FX-UD5

I am using Windows 7 x64 as well just as the Ultimate edition but I don't see this making a difference either.

 

I hope you are able to determine the cause.

 

My game performance increased dramatically after a couple mods that adjusted lighting in game. And the game looks so much better afterwards as well. I highly recommend trying both these mods together as they don't have the same effect separate.

 

1. FXAA (I see that you already have it but it looks a ton better when the second mod is added to it)

http://skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=131

 

2.Immersive Env. (this changes the FXAA settings and makes my game look amazing and run a little smoother, it may help in your case)

http://skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=823

 

If you back up your orig. FXAA files you can revert back to them if this doesn't help. Its worth a shot though...

 

Hope I was somewhat helpful...

Edited December 10, 2011 by AngelOfPassion

[Dan3345]

OP I have the exact same issue! It's not fun.. the launcher tells me I can play on ultra, but I generally get around 15 fps and I have the same system but with an x6 as the above post has. I am also about to get anther 6950 for my new crossfire system, and I will be pulling hairs out if I still get that low of fps then...

[machuidel]

I have a Phenom II X6 as well. The 1050T to be exact.

 

No modification I did to the INI files made any difference.

The only thing that helped a bit to increase my FPS was changing:

 

fLODFadeOutMultActors=6.0000

 

fLODFadeOutMultItems=4.5000

 

fLODFadeOutMultObjects=7.5000

 

fLODFadeOutMultSkyCell=1.0000

 

To:

 

fLODFadeOutMultActors=3.0000

fLODFadeOutMultItems=2.2500

fLODFadeOutMultObjects=3.7500

fLODFadeOutMultSkyCell=1.0000

 

But then all game objects just pop up in front of me.

 

I almost spent 4 full days (1 full weekend and many evenings) to get Skyrim to work on my machine.

Had enough of it and will just wait hoping this will be fixed in the future. Too much other things to do.

 

It is only that I cannot stand it when I hear my colleagues and friends talking with much lower spec

machines about the game and how good it is. I waited a long time for this game. That all makes me

want to fix the game to run smoothly once again. Crazy actually when you think about it :P

 

The Embryo / Creation engine is still an nice engine but the architecture is really showing its age.

Edited December 10, 2011 by machuidel

[machuidel]

I tried all of this but just cannot find the bottleneck.

 

Yesterday I used hwinfo64 to help me find the bottleneck.

When playing Skyrim None of my components are on full load, even when the FPS drops to 15.

 

See attached screenshot. The highest loads are when I was inside Markarth.

The load of my GPU does not get higher than 65%.

The load of my CPU does not get higher than 60%

 

Any idea where else the bottleneck could be?

[mclericp]

just asking, since u have ATI radeon, do u have powerplay enabled? W/o Powerplay, i get around 22-30 FPS like u. But after i turn it on, boom it goes 40+

 

Also, gamebooster aint gonna help u, so i suggest u turning it off and uninstall, since ur specs are too good for gamebooster

turn off all unwanted processes.

The fps reduction may be caused by excess heat.

Try lowering ur heat produced. Get a CPU and GPU temperature monitor such as HWmonitor. In my case, i see a huge FPS drop when my core temps go above 60 degreees celcius and GPU above 70, so u might wanna check on that.

 

Another thing, turn antialiasing and antistrophic off. It kills ur FPS a lot.

[nosisab]

Almost certainly you have vsync enabled, being in ultra may prevent your machine reaching the vertical refresh rate (what is probably 60 for your monitor) and so the FPS is halved so to synchronize with it.

 

Make sure you have the line

iPresentInterval=0

under the "[Display]" section at the Skyrim.ini found in Documents/My Games/Skyrim. If it is not there you should add it.

 

Another attempt is putting the Power Saving plan at "performance" from Windows Control Panel.

 

PS: More important than the FPS (provided it does not fall bellow 25) is the mouse/keyboard lag. If it is null or minimal you should have no problem to play. Skyrim is not a shooter, if the above line is missing, this may be the cause of those 30 and 20 FPS figures you are experimenting.

 

Edit: and of course make sure vsynch is not forced on at Catalyst.

Edited December 21, 2011 by nosisab

[machuidel]

I use the ATI tray to force the GPU clocks to stay on 880/1375. There is no throttling (Powerplay) going on.

Also all my CPU cores are on 3.5GHz, no turbo, Cool'N'Quit and C1E are turned off, and the Power Plan is set to perfomance.

 

Average temperatures when playing Skyrim:

GPU: 54 degrees (Sapphire Dual Fan)

CPU: 32 degrees (Using Corsair H70)

 

Also turning all fans on full does not help.

 

VSync is turned of as well. Using iPresentInterval=0 both in Skyrim.ini and in SkyrimPrefs.ini and also forced off in CCC.

When I turn Anti Aliasing off I only get an 3 FPS increase. From 15 fps to 19 fps in Markarth.

 

Forgot to add the screenshot in previous post. The highest load on the screenshot is when I was playing Skyrim in Markarth.

See attached file.

 

Note: On the screenshot my GPU clock was not forced to stay on 880/1375. But even when I do that the picture is the same. Will make another screenshot later to show.

Edited December 21, 2011 by machuidel

[machuidel]

Okay. I made an new screenshot. Watching from dragonreach into the village (direction of the tree).

 

Double checked all my settings and noticed iPresentInterval was still set to 1. Turning it off increased my FPS.

Now get a FPS of about 22. Before turning off vsync it was about 18.

 

Seems one of my cores is under full load now and became the new bottleneck.

Edited December 21, 2011 by machuidel