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Possible bottleneck?

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  • zisssou 25 Mar 2012 17:13:45 554 posts
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    I've recently upgrading my graphics card to a Radeon EAH6850 DirectCU, as I thought why not at £89. I'm noticing a bit of a framerate issue on The Witcher 2. I'm aware that The Witcher 2 is pretty intense and I have everything set to med 1280 x 1024.

    I currently have a Q6600, so I'm wondering whether there's a bottleneck issue? or maybe I need to adjust a few settings to get a sweet spot?
  • Dirtbox 25 Mar 2012 17:16:12 73,708 posts
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    How much ram? 32 or 64bit windows? 32 or 64 bit motherboard?

    That CPU is well on it's last legs really (gaming-wise), you'd need an i3 at the very minimum to take advantage of the graphics card. The same CPU struggles with a 5770, so it's never going to drive a 6850.

    Other than that, drivers are about all you can do. Also turn off ubersampling, antialiasing, MSAA/AA, etc. They do the framerate no favours.

    Edited by Dirtbox at 17:30:16 25-03-2012

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  • Aargh. 25 Mar 2012 17:16:23 11,178 posts
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    You might need to mention a few other specs for your PC.

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  • richardiox 25 Mar 2012 17:28:12 4,972 posts
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    With Witcher2 make sure you turn ubersampling OFF in the settings as that will cripple pretty much any PC.
    it's quite a CPU intensive game anyway.
  • zisssou 25 Mar 2012 17:32:44 554 posts
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    Windows 7 64-bit
    P5Q-PRO
    Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
    8GB RAM DDR PC2-6400
  • Dirtbox 25 Mar 2012 17:34:00 73,708 posts
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    I take it you've got the latest drivers?

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  • zisssou 25 Mar 2012 17:47:00 554 posts
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    Yep! I did uninstall all my drivers for my old graphics card and downloaded the latest. So I guess it could be what you say about my CPU struggling?

    I have ubersampling off btw. Also all the usual fps intensive things like vignette, wet surfaces rain effect, blur effects, depth of field gameplay/cutscenes, motion blur.
  • coastal 25 Mar 2012 17:50:18 5,344 posts
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    would cleaning & new thermal paste help? Can overheating cause performance drops or just BSOD?

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  • richardiox 25 Mar 2012 17:52:27 4,972 posts
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    Reckon it'll just be the CPU showing its age tbh.
  • zisssou 25 Mar 2012 17:58:25 554 posts
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    I just replaced my heatsink and cleaned all the old thermal paste off. Can't say I've noticed any overheating.
  • Dirtbox 25 Mar 2012 18:33:46 73,708 posts
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    Wouldn't make the blindest bit of difference, if it was overheating you'd just get a BSoD.

    Edited by Dirtbox at 18:34:01 25-03-2012

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  • Khanivor 25 Mar 2012 18:37:07 38,680 posts
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    The Gfx card could be your issue. The Witcher 2 is a vicious game and your card is a slightly tweaked 5840, as far as gaming is concerned. In other words you're using a bottom end mid range card which is pushing 5 years old.
  • Dirtbox 25 Mar 2012 18:39:11 73,708 posts
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    Haha, what? Firstly, there's no such thing as a 5840, secondly the 5850 is less than 3 years old. Thirdly, there's a lot more than a "slight tweak" between the two. And fourthly a 6850 can play the game just fine.

    Edited by Dirtbox at 18:58:36 25-03-2012

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  • Khanivor 25 Mar 2012 19:00:51 38,680 posts
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    Alright wrong on a couple details but check out Hexus' comparison of the 78,68
  • Dirtbox 25 Mar 2012 19:01:27 73,708 posts
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    When you say couple, you mean all, right?

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  • grey_matters 25 Mar 2012 19:07:40 3,072 posts
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    If the temps are ok, you can probably get that Q6600 up to 3.2GHz (by increasing the FSB frequency). Do it in stages, and keep an eye on the CPU temperature. There are loads of tutorials on how to overclock the Q6600, so read a few before doing anything.
  • Dirtbox 25 Mar 2012 19:09:08 73,708 posts
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    Yeah, I hesitate to recommend overclocking, but when it's against the wall it's time to dabble.

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  • Khanivor 25 Mar 2012 19:26:10 38,680 posts
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    Software suggestions for your problem
  • Dirtbox 25 Mar 2012 19:31:39 73,708 posts
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    I should point out that there are no software solutions there aside from "wait for the patch". Only "your CPU sucks" which is funny as it's better than the CPU the OP has.

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  • Dirtbox 25 Mar 2012 19:36:24 73,708 posts
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    fruit registers a new sock and continues being a worthless cock.

    Edited by Dirtbox at 20:47:03 25-03-2012

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  • Khanivor 25 Mar 2012 19:37:40 38,680 posts
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    Dirtbox wrote:
    I should point out that there are no software solutions there aside from "wait for the patch". Only "your CPU sucks" which is funny as it's better than the CPU the OP has.
    If by none you mean a few.

    Anyway, didn't post it for your review but to give the OP something else to chew on.
  • Dirtbox 25 Mar 2012 19:39:00 73,708 posts
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    So what was your excuse?

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  • zisssou 26 Mar 2012 08:02:57 554 posts
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    I might have a look into over clocking then. I guess if it all goes tits up, then it's a good excuse to buy a new cpu:D although my mobo needs an update too..
  • skuzzbag 26 Mar 2012 08:18:20 5,180 posts
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    You really need to post all the hardware in detail to be able to get decent suggestions. Use something like speccy from piriform to dump the PC specs.
  • Deleted user 26 March 2012 08:29:40
    Khanivor wrote:
    The Gfx card could be your issue. The Witcher 2 is a vicious game and your card is a slightly tweaked 5840, as far as gaming is concerned. In other words you're using a bottom end mid range card which is pushing 5 years old.
    The 6850 is less that two years old. Ignore the rest of this advice ^

    At the res the OP is running at and the fact the medium settings are being used the bottleneck is almost certainly the CPU. Overclock to 3Ghz if you can get it to that. Presumably the stock hsf is being used but still try the oc.
  • Tiger_Walts 26 Mar 2012 10:27:42 16,257 posts
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    I have Witcher 2 running on a Core2Duo (8200 OCed slightly) and a HD6870 (P5Q, Vista 32, 4GB PC2-6400). I had to disable a bunch of settings to get it running smooth at 1920x1080. On full settings I get a ton of input lag and framerates in the 10s.

    You don't really notice the difference at that resolution anyway. The majority of the game's artwork is good enough that prettifying it would be pointless. It's only in the areas that the art isn't so good that the bells and whistles would actually make a difference. Even plumping for the largest texture size is pointless, you rarely get the camera close enough to a surface.

    Rather than fiddle endlessly, I hit the auto-detect and then turned down the AA to 2x, dynamic shadows to the lowest while turning on/up the stuff that makes a bigger visual impact, like ambient occlusion, DOF, HDR, and texture quality. Runs from good to great framerates depending on the scene. Dynamic shadows are the real killer, it really seems to hammer the system bus when using a Radeon HD, nVidia cards are reportedly better with it.

    Edited by Tiger_Walts at 10:30:48 26-03-2012

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  • zisssou 26 Mar 2012 20:27:41 554 posts
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    Just thought I'd let you guys know that I appear to have fixed the issue. The stuttering or dodgy framerate was fixed by putting a few files I downloaded off another forum into the bin folder. It's really improved performance and I'm quite happy :D
  • Dirtbox 26 Mar 2012 20:28:29 73,708 posts
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    Care to share?

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