F1 2010 seems to have crossfire issues?

Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
edited July 2011 in Hardware
Good people of Icrontic.

I just started playing Codemasters F1 2010 last night and I decided to do some benchmarking runs with the built in tool. I run a pair of Radeon 6850's in Crossfire, I have 8GB of DDR3, a Phenom II X6, and I've even installed the game to a fast Sandforce based SSD.

I'm getting the same framerates with Crossfire enabled as I do with it off, only about 35 FPS average with high settings (not ultra) 1920X1080 and AA turned off. I'm really disappointed in the performance. I tried to re install the most recent drivers, but that rendered the same result.

Anyone else have issues with this game? All the benchmarks would have me think I should be able to crank everything even some AA and get it to run 60 fps solid with this rig. Any suggestions?

Thanks all.

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    This game should get close to perfect scaling. Something is wrong with your setup.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    I'll pull the cards out, clean the drivers and re install everything, maybe I'll even replace the crossfire bridge for kicks and see where I end up. I'll report back, but all indications are that crossfire scaling for this title should be very good.

    You don't think its possible the 1055t at 2.8 Ghz could be bottlenecking at 1920X1080 do ya? Not that significant right, I'm only pulling down 35 FPS.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    No, the CPU isn't an issue.

    Just use driversweeper from phyxion.net, and make sure to run it in safe mode AFTER you uninstall the driver from the device manager in regular mode. Also be sure to grab Catalyst 11.6b for lolz.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Thrax wrote:
    No, the CPU isn't an issue.

    Just use driversweeper from phyxion.net, and make sure to run it in safe mode AFTER you uninstall the driver from the device manager in regular mode. Also be sure to grab Catalyst 11.6b for lolz.

    Cool, will do.

    Let me ask a potentially dumb question, but there is so much conflicting info online.

    Is there any issue installing the drivers with both cards and the bridge pre installed on the board? I've read some suggest installing the primarily then adding the card? Also, the bridge is bi directional right? Does not matter which end plugs to what card?

    Thanks again.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Any rumor about waiting to install the second card (and anything that sounds like that) is just superstitious hocus pocus from people who got lucky and did the right thing (or fixed whatever problem) around the same time they did something unnecessary with their cards.

    And to confirm, the bridge is indeed 100% bi-directional.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    For the life of me, I can't seem to fix this issue. I re installed the cards, swapped crossfire bridges, totally cleaned the drivers, re installed them, re tested, did not work, cleaned again, installed an earlier driver, still no dice. I re validated the steam files, everything fine there, defraged steam cache, all good.

    I checked and ran various graphics settings too, and even at a lowly 1280X720 with Ultra low details no AA, Vsync obviously off, I hit 40 FPS average, just a few frames above top settings, which was around 35. Something is clearly amiss.

    I have also verified each card works alone so I don't think there is a hardware error, other games seem to scale fine, its something about F1 and how it is set up.

    Let me ask, would it matter where my pagefile is? I have it unloaded to the spindle disk, do you think there is any value in having the pagefile on the SSD where the game is loaded?

    I'm grabbing at straws here. This game just is not scaling for some reason.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    I turn my page file off, and it doesn't make a lick of difference.

    As for CF scaling, we can see 2x5870 doing 90+ FPS @ 2560x1600.

    I don't know. Make sure you have the latest CAP update.
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Thrax wrote:
    I don't know. Make sure you have the latest CAP update.

    that was what I came here to say. Everything else seems ruled out at this point. You did make sure to clear all settings/etc on reinstall of drivers, right?
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Tushon wrote:
    that was what I came here to say. Everything else seems ruled out at this point. You did make sure to clear all settings/etc on reinstall of drivers, right?

    Yes, I re installed everything.

    The CAP update, I just run it and the driver does the rest right? Nothing fancy to do after installing it?

    Thanks,
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    I'm actually starting to wonder if there is something going on with my power supply. It's a true power 750, but its a split rail design, I wonder if I'm choking the 2nd card somehow? I have also been having intermittent crashes, and its a fresh windows install. I'm starting to wonder if I need to buy a big fat single rail PSU and try it.

    Has anyone ever seen a power supply choke a crossfire config in a way where it was impacting performance without actually crashing the machine mid test? If so, heck, I've been meaning to swap to a fat single rail supply anyway, I may just go ahead and get one and give it a try.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    The CAP update deposits an XML file with game-specific settings, which are auto-loaded by the driver. Seamless activation, nothing required from you once it's installed.

    //edit: things to try

    1. Verify x16/x16 in CPUz
    2. Verify both GPUs run with something like furmark, and check with GPU-Z.
    3. Swap the slots the cards are in.
    4. Try the other crossfire tab (if applicable)
    5. Bench each card separately
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Here's the most recent CAP: http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/crossfirex-app-profiles.aspx
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    What the AMD guy said. If your PSU isn't putting out appropriate power on a rail and the x6/8 connectors are actually split, then you could definitely run into an issue with underpower. 2 will verify that.
  • RootWyrmRootWyrm Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Cliff_Forster wrote:
    I'm actually starting to wonder if there is something going on with my power supply. It's a true power 750, but its a split rail design, I wonder if I'm choking the 2nd card somehow? I have also been having intermittent crashes, and its a fresh windows install. I'm starting to wonder if I need to buy a big fat single rail PSU and try it.

    Has anyone ever seen a power supply choke a crossfire config in a way where it was impacting performance without actually crashing the machine mid test? If so, heck, I've been meaning to swap to a fat single rail supply anyway, I may just go ahead and get one and give it a try.

    750W is enough for your setup. For reference, my HD695^H70 OHGODSITBURNS(TM) plus i7 950 equals "must set PowerTune to -10%" with a 5 year old Corsair HX620. Your setup? Estimates at around 460-500W; 750W should be plenty. If by TruePower you mean Antec, then you're around 50-70% loading which means LOTS of overhead. JG got it up to 768W in CL2, AKA, it's not the power supply. Even worst case scenario, you've still got a ton of overhead.

    Definitely need moar data.
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    RootWyrm wrote:
    For reference, my HD695^H70 OHGODSITBURNS(TM)

    lol, I don't why people say the reference 6950s run hot...

    41C idle, 56C load. 40% fan speed. And I have two of them in a case.




    of course I do have a $250, 90 degree motherboard professional case... :tongue:
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Cliff, wouldn't hurt to try a new PSU, single rail and all. But I doubt that is the problem here
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    I also do not believe the PSU has anything to do with this issue.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    I've troubleshoot this every way possible. When I remove a 2nd card, I actually perform better in this game. I've clean installed, re installing the drivers and profiles, no dice. Seriously, something just seems wrong here. I've checked my power for proper rail distribution, I don't think its a power issue. I turned off cool and quiet in the driver and put a light overclock on the CPU while turning off core boost, I wanted all six of those locked in to eliminate the possibility that the CPU throttleing was doing something negative, that did not help.

    So, I have a 1055t 8GB of RAM and a pair of 6850's and no matter what I do, I can't get this thing to run past 35 fps or so running the benchmark tool. Its driving me nuts, making me think I might have deeper issues. I suppose I could just delete the game files and completely re install the game just to be certain.

    If you look on the codemasters forums, loads of people have framerate issues in both Crossfire and SLI configurations. It does not look like Codemasters spends allot of time checking their forums, little in the way of help there.

    I'm just straight baffled. I'm considering just selling my 6850's to get a single 6970 at this point, I've spent so much time trying to troubleshoot this, it may be more headache to run dual cards than its worth to me. I've had really good scaling in other games, but I can't for the life of me understand what's ammis here. Maybe I'll delete the game, re download and hope a fresh game install nets a positive result.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Do both cards show a load in GPU-Z when you run an app like Furmark?
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Thrax wrote:
    Do both cards show a load in GPU-Z when you run an app like Furmark?

    Running it as I type this. Both GPU's show 99% utilization, in fact, its showing a third?? You don't think the onboard GPU is causing trouble?? Maybe I'm missing something in the BIOS to disable it?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    If both are showing activity, then CrossFire is alive and well on your system. And, yes, if possible, you'll want to make sure any IGP is disabled in the BIOS. Barring that, a BIOS setting to prefer PEG will do.

    This is definitely some sort or software issue, likely with the game itself.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    I'm sorry, prefer PEG? I'm not sure I follow that.

    I've done some reading, there is a config file, but it dumps itself in my documents on the C/Drive, and its technically configurable, but when I got to make changes the game just overwrites it when I start it up again. It's a shame, I'm a huge fan of Codemasters racing titles, and you know, performance holds without dipping below 30 fps, so its totally playable, it's not like its a huge disaster or anything, but for guys like us, its just bothersome, it makes me feel like I'm missing something and I need desperately to figure it out or I will go NUTS!

    Does this mean I'm obsessive?? LOL.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    PEG = PCI Express Graphics.
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Just means you're a techie like the rest of us. When I was trying to get folding working on my server, the AMD onboard graphics was messing up the video card's use and killing WUs. Thrax's suggestion making sure onboard is disabled should be pretty standard fair for anyone use addon graphics cards.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Gentlemen,

    I appreciate all the help. After throwing the kitchen sink at it, I've succeeded in making things worse, LOL. Seriously, the benchmark just freezes now, so.....

    I'm gonna go with the ole fix all tonight, format and re-install everything! Whooo Hoooo!!!

    Honestly though, I think I know where I may be experiencing some issues, I think I did a hack job at laying out my partitions and I got a little too fancy for my own good. Gonna take it back to formula tonight.

    I'm pretty confident its not hardware, and from everything I read, I don't think its a crossfire scaling issue, I think its a case of the user making things a little more complicated than they need be.

    So, next time I spend more than a dozen or so man hours trying to troubleshoot something, just say, re-install dummy head!
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Well, the clean install did nothing other than fuel my fury further. Upon further examination and digging, there is a specific bug pertaining to AMD six core CPU's. I'm researching ways to alter the game config file so I can rectify this.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Try limiting the game to 4 cores with msconfig.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Thrax wrote:
    Try limiting the game to 4 cores with msconfig.

    My framerate shot up 50% by disableing two cores! :confused:

    Thanks for the help man, that stupid little thing was driving me nuts, I just had to get to the bottom of it. Obviously some sloppy code from the developer.
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