FPS and flickering issue with ATI crossfire

[tsayyote]

Hey guys, I've always had this problem and I'm hoping it's just a setting that I don't have right. I know some people have had luck with increasing their fps with sli and a few have not but I haven't seen any testimonials with crossfire. I see no change in fps with or without ATI crossfire enabled. Most of the time in the yards I average 14-15fps but I have the graphics settings on their highest with 8x/8x AA/AF. I reduced them a little bit and saw a 1 fps increase so I may play around with these settings later.

My main issue is that when I have crossfire enabled, my entire screen has a noticeable flicker to it only in the game. I used Fraps to capture video with and without crossfire but the fraps video didn't show the flicker so it leads me to believe it is between my monitor and video card (vsync related?) I used my cell phone to try to capture the flickering. Obviously there is a bit of pixelation because of phone video.

Here is without crossfire, everything normal:
http://s29.photobucket.com/user/tsayyot ... 9.mp4.html

Here is with crossfire enabled. In the video it is most noticeable on the center 2 windshields of the loco. The flickering seen on the windshields is basically what my whole screen does except it is more prominent in darker areas vs lighted areas (i.e. the blue sky):
http://s29.photobucket.com/user/tsayyot ... 9.mp4.html

Anyone run into issues like this or could it just be my computer configuration? I have the latest ati drivers.
These are my settings in the ati control panel:





My computer specs:
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T (oc'd to 3.9ghz)
Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H
8gb Corsair Vengeance ddr3-1866
2x XFX Radeon HD 5770
Kinston HyperX 128GB SSD
Antec 650watt P/S
Windows 7 w/paging file disabled

Many thanks!!

[GaryG]

Just a wild guess.

Video cards a couple generations old and probably using PCI-X version 1.0 speeds for data movement, I'm wondering if it's just too much data transfer for the 1.0 bus speeds...

Not certain with crossfire if the system uses both cards for video ram, if so, that bottlenecks the PCI bus even more. I realize the crossfire cable lets the cards talk to each other without using the bus but if the PCI-X bus is writing data to both cards at PCI-X 1 transfer rates that might account for what you're seeing.

GaryG

[Ericmopar]

This sim wasn't optimized for dual cards either, even then it tends to run a little better on Nvidia than AMD.
That being said, I hope someone with more AMD experience pipes up.

[fraserm]

Hi, Chase. I run 2 Gigabyte HD6950s with 1 GB each in CrossfireX config. My system specs are in my sig below. I do not see the flickering you show in the second video. My framerates vary wildly based on scenery density and the amount and detail level of rolling stock in the immeidate area. On most routes I can achieve 30 - 60 FPS without much trouble. If I arrive at a very busy yard though my FPS may drop to 14, sometimes less. I use FRAPS, not the built-in counter (Shift-Z).
I'm writing this on my laptop, not my desktop with the Crossfire units. In general I'm very satisfied with the realistic appearance of the graphics in Crossfire. I can post a representative video later when I'm at the desktop. I'll also post a screenie of my desktop's ATI settings.
Curious as to why you have paging file disabled. Does it relate to the fact you use an SSD?
I'll write a new post in this topic when I can get to the machine.
Hope this helps!
Marc

[tsayyote]

Thanks for the input, guys!

Marc, it seems to me then that I may have a software or a setting issue (hopefully not a hardware conflict) that I will have to sort out. If you have your graphic settings available, I would like to see how they compare to mine. As for the paging file, I had a dedicated 7200rpm spinner as my paging file as to lengthen the life of the ssd, but decided to disable it and strictly use the physical memory. I ran a scenario while monitoring my memory and never saw anything above 45% usage. By doing that I noticed that the random stuttering when loading the next batch of scenery practically disappeared.

[fraserm]

Chase - here are my ATI settings:

3D Application Settings.jpg

Here is a link to a short video showing a view comparable to yours:
http://youtu.be/39QhvkGBPQA
I show no flicker, and colors are very true. FRAPS shows 44 - 53 FPS depending on where I rotate the camera to. This is on Cajon Pass route. I'm using an older HP 2035 20" LCD monitor that has a native resolution of 1600x1200. I've had real good results with this monitor. It's hooked into one of the DVI-D outputs of one of the HD 6950s using a DVI-to-VGA adapter.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions about my rig.
Best,
Marc
P.S. - sorry this took so long to post...

[tsayyote]

Hey Marc! Thanks a bunch for all of that! I adjusted a few things in the control center based on your screenshot and adjusted my resolution from 1366x768 up to 1600x900 in the sim just to see if there was a difference. It may have made it a little worse now. Here is what it looks like now from the plow http://s29.photobucket.com/user/tsayyot ... 9.mp4.html

I think what I may do this weekend is pull both cards out and swap them in the pci-e slots to see if it is a video card issue.

Is your video from fraps? When I did recorded from fraps it didn't show the flickering. I had to use my cell phone to capture it on screen. That's whats leading me to believe it is a hardware/display issue. Hopefully I can get it fixed soon. Thanks again!!

[fraserm]

Chase - yes, I used FRAPS to record that vid, but there was no visible flickering when I recorded it. I looked at your system specs again and I notice that you have a 650W PS. With 2 Radeon cards is it possible that the power is marginal for that? Those cards work pretty hard with Crossfire on. You also say that when you up the resolution it got worse. I have a 1050W PS on mine. I'm wondering if the flickering you're seeing is a result of strain on the PS. Not sure, just something to think about.
AMD calls for a minimum 600W for 2 cards in Crossfire, and Tom's Hardware site says your CPU takes 229W at load. Here's the chart from Tom's:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-phenom-ii-x6-1090t-890fx,2613-13.html
Swapping card slots is an interesting idea to try. I'd do that first as it doesn't involve any added cost. I would at least consider a new higher-wattage PSU, though. Post your results from that as well.
Hope you get this all ironed out.
Best,
Marc

[tsayyote]

Good thought on the P/S. I didn't think about that because anytime I've had a power issue it results in a bsod. Cash isn't an issue so I may just pick one up today and swap that in while I'm troubleshooting the pci-e slots.

[tsayyote]

Update:

Turns out I had an Antec 750 power supply, but I yanked it out for a 900 watt. Put new thermal paste on the 5770's and went for a test run. Still flickered. At this point, I've had enough. I went out yesterday and got an Evga GTX 770 FTW 4gb for $400. Obviously since I'm on a single gpu now, the flickering is gone. Issue is that in my test spot on Stevens Pass, I am still getting 14fps in the yard on my gtx 770 which is what the 5770 got (removed all old amd drivers and used the newest nvidia driver). What the heck?? I did notice while playing with the settings in TS that the 'Shadow Quality' seemed to have the biggest impact on fps (around 15-20 fps decrease). With everything on the lowest/off setting i averaged mid 50's fps.

Do my fps sound OK in relation to the settings on their highest w/ AA & AF also max (these settings are all within TS2014, haven't adjusted them in nvidia control panel)? Or could I still have a conflict somewhere? I just can't see TS2014 getting these kind of fps when games like COD and BF4 don't see these numbers.

BTW, the scenario on Stevens Pass is Wenatchee Local Part 1 with the gp38

[arizonachris]

I think 14 fps is about right on Stevens with a single GPU card. I get the same with my GTX670 2Gb card. And, actually, until I got this new R331 (331.82) WHQL driver, I was struggling at 4 fps in some areas on Stevens.

That micro stutter you were seeing with Crossfire is a known issue with any SLI or Xfire setups.

Down in the Geek Speak section is a Topic by Ericmopar about how TS2014 still brings a GTX780 to it's knees. Interesting read. You might take a look at what his settings are, but don't expect a whole lot more fps with this sim.

[tsayyote]

Good to know! I'll take a look at that thread. I have the latest driver but I opted to not install the newest beta driver (R331). I will try that too and see if it makes a difference.

[Ericmopar]

Yeah.
I have most of my settings on Med, except for scenery quality "High" and shadows "High".
I am getting some spectacular viewing now.
I set AA to FXAA+2X2SSAA and I still maintain V-Sync (60fps) most of the time even on Donner.
Some scenarios are broken in a graphical sense. On Sherman Hill, Arrival of the Thunderheads will halve the GPU loading and give a person very low fps no matter what.
I can't think of it off-hand but I ran into a Union Pacific SD70ACe scenario like that last night. Same thing, the scenario actually won't let the GPU run %100 for some reason.
You can go to the same exact spots in Quick Drive or a Free Roam and get fantastic fps.
It took me quite awhile to realize that a scenario, could actually to that to your graphics.
I also try to not clear the Blueprint Cache unless necessary. That too can mess with a persons graphics on a route, until you run it a couple of times.

This sim and Nvidia CP sometimes don't take new settings right away either. Sometimes you have to play a couple runs, restart the PC the next morning etc, and then the settings seem to stabilize.
It's kinda like a new Windows install. You ever notice Windows seems to "learn" and adjust the first few days?

Happy Holidays, Eric.

[tsayyote]

So I've ran into another issue now. Got my new gtx 770 4gb card in on the latest non-beta driver and a fresh install of windows 7. I seem to be capped at 14/15 fps practically everywhere. Highest I saw was 30/31 when I look at the sky. With my old ati 5770 I was getting 50/60 fps when not looking at a populated area. Not sure whats going on, but I ran MSI Afterburner in the background and after a minute in the game I noticed that gpu usage is roughly 9%. CPU core 0 is near maxed out. Somethings not right with a setting. Anyone have a clue?

[tsayyote]

Ok so I panicked too soon. I did some tweaking in the bios with my cpu clocking and turned vsync to adaptive. I'm back in business now. On the Stevens pass scenario that I was getting 14/15 fps all around is now 25-50 except in the yard I was getting 16fps. I changed shadow quality from the highest setting down to "high" and that bumped me up to 25 fps in the yard.

The gpu usage of 9% is fixed also. I turned up the AA/FXAA settings to max and ran up the gpu to 99%. So I just need to find the sweet spot!