HELP!! Horrible fps; amd 7970; benchmarked 8500+

Hope someone can help me out, I'm about at wits end! I have a decent rig, and when running the benchmark at 1920x1080 on max settings I get a score of 8579, but when I'm in game in town I'm getting 8-10 fps, and in the field 20-40 fps - NOTHING like what my benchmark score had me hoping for.

I'm running an i7/960@3.2GHz, amd 7970, 12g ram, SSD, etc. Latest catalyst 13.8 beta2 drivers. What i don't get, is how can I get such a great benchmark score, and then eat complete sh!t in game?!?! I'm about to throw in the towel and go play something else, because it's not fun walking around town at 8fps...

Help!

-------------------- benchmark results: ---------------------
FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Benchmark (Character Creation)
Tested on:9/2/2013 2:33:06 AM
Score:8579
Average Framerate:83.660
Performance:Extremely High
-Easily capable of running the game on the highest settings.

Screen Size: 1920x1080
Screen Mode: Full Screen
Graphics Presets: Maximum
General
-Enable HDR rendering and improve overall graphic quality. : Enabled
-Disable rendering of objects when not visible. (Occlusion Culling) : Disabled
-Use low-detail models on distant objects. (LOD) : Disabled
-Cache LOD data only when necessary. (LOD Streaming) : Disabled
-Real-time Reflections : High
-Edge Smoothing (Anti-aliasing) : FXAA
-Transparent Lighting Quality : High
-Grass Quality : High
Shadows
-Self : Display
-Other NPCs : Display
Shadow Quality
-Use low-detail models on shadows. (LOD) : Disabled
-Shadow Resolution : High - 2048p
-Shadow Cascading : Best
-Shadow Softening : Strong
Texture Detail
-Texture Filtering : Anisotropic
-Anisotropic Filtering : x16
Movement Physics
-Self : Full
-Other NPCs : Full
Effects
-Naturally darken the edges of the screen. (Limb Darkening) : Enabled
-Blur the graphics around an object in motion. (Radial Blur) : Enabled
-Screen Space Ambient Occlusion : Strong
-Glare : Normal
Cinematic Cutscenes
-Enable depth of field. : Enabled

System:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130708-1532)
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz
12279.113MB
AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series(VRAM 4095 MB) 8.17.0010.1236

Benchmark results do not provide any guarantee FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn will run on your system.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Website http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com
(C) 2010-2013 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.

Ok I5 OC to 4+ I have Nv680 and AMD 7970. Been playing all day and on Dell 2560x1400 and AMD 7970. Everytime I open the sysconfig it shows 50+ all the time. Everything maxed out just no Fxaa.. I could not tell the diff on this monitor. So see if something in the background is doing something..

This is Win 8

Oh man, I got banchmark score 8022 on 1920x1080 max setting. That score means nothing. I'm pretty sure you need a way better score to run this game with max setting.
I'm currently running on Desktop High setting. In town it would pull the fps to 30.

Overclocking to 1100/1600, where I normally play other games gives me an 11,000+ score ... no difference in the actual game. So frustrating.

--------- oc'd ---------
FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Benchmark (Character Creation)
Tested on:9/2/2013 2:56:55 AM
Score:11311
Average Framerate:102.254
Performance:Extremely High
-Easily capable of running the game on the highest settings.

Screen Size: 1920x1080
Screen Mode: Full Screen
Graphics Presets: Maximum
General
-Enable HDR rendering and improve overall graphic quality. : Enabled
-Disable rendering of objects when not visible. (Occlusion Culling) : Disabled
-Use low-detail models on distant objects. (LOD) : Disabled
-Cache LOD data only when necessary. (LOD Streaming) : Disabled
-Real-time Reflections : High
-Edge Smoothing (Anti-aliasing) : FXAA
-Transparent Lighting Quality : High
-Grass Quality : High
Shadows
-Self : Display
-Other NPCs : Display
Shadow Quality
-Use low-detail models on shadows. (LOD) : Disabled
-Shadow Resolution : High - 2048pw
-Shadow Cascading : Best
-Shadow Softening : Strong
Texture Detail
-Texture Filtering : Anisotropic
-Anisotropic Filtering : x16
Movement Physics
-Self : Full
-Other NPCs : Full
Effects
-Naturally darken the edges of the screen. (Limb Darkening) : Enabled
-Blur the graphics around an object in motion. (Radial Blur) : Enabled
-Screen Space Ambient Occlusion : Strong
-Glare : Normal
Cinematic Cutscenes
-Enable depth of field. : Enabled

System:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130708-1532)
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz
12279.113MB
AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series(VRAM 4095 MB) 8.17.0010.1236

Benchmark results do not provide any guarantee FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn will run on your system.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Website http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com
(C) 2010-2013 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.

Tweet
http://sqex.to/ffxiv_bench_na #FFXIV Score:11311 1920x1080 Maximum Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series

Try opening your task manager and leaving it open in the background.

#1:Are you forcing anything in CCC? Trying to force AA or AF on my card made it seem to stutter.
#2: Did you try to go back to 13.4, some report a improvement with 13.8v2 but I didn't see any difference and it made more problems on my system else where. Think it was more aimed for older cards and CF set up's.
#3:With a 7970 you shouldn't have to dumb down the settings but it's worth a try. Try AA x8 over X16, try to drop shadow res to 1024, also try to disable radial blur. It wont make much of a difference that you notice but you might see improvements.

Check #1 > Try #3 if no luck. Try #2 > #3.
Then report back.

Thanks Stalkster, alas I've tried all of that already. Only thing that helps is going to standard (desktop) and then I get a modest fps improvement, but then the game looks like crap compared to max settings... sigh.

1 - nothing forced, all app settings
2 - 13.8 is actually an improvement from 13.4, seems smoother and less stuttering; I tried the beta hoping it would improve over 13.4, but no dice in terms of fps.
3 - I'll keep playing around with settings, but with every other game I just set it to max and start playing, never had to tweak before.

One thing i noticed, it seems when I first log in I get good fps for a min or two, but then it just starts going to hell. Hope AMD keeps working on the drivers, because I love their cards and have no problems with other games.

-----------
Sykie - I'm not cpu limited, all cores never over 70%. That said, when I run the benchmark, my gpu fans speed up a bit but temp still good. In game, the gpu usage stays low and the fans never speed up. Temp never above 50'. I wonder if the damn game is even using my cards right, the benchmark sure is and looks amazing.

I have seemingly the same problem as you, and simply having task manager open in the background doubles my average FPS. xD

I am running crossfire with two AMD cards and got my benchmark score of around 12,000. I am getting 36 FPS... This is just really odd lol.

Check this sh!t out - 7fps at night in Aleport, max settings. This is really driving me nuts.

http://s21.postimg.org/pi84v11hz/7fps.jpg

Same exact scene, every setting OFF or lowest it can go ... whopping 22 fps. I give up.

http://s21.postimg.org/kvb9kqswn/22fps.jpg

I think its the game and how it interacts with our graphics cards... I mean hell I have crossfire and I get the same FPS you are getting my friend. I have no idea what is going on here.

Bump ... help!

I did read that CrossFire isn't really supported. I don't have the luxury of having SLI or CrossFire, only envy :-(

I call bull***t. You never logged in!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Studybreak

Same exact scene, every setting OFF or lowest it can go ... whopping 22 fps. I give up.

http://s21.postimg.org/kvb9kqswn/22fps.jpg

---

Well then it's something up with your machine because I've got a 7950 and it never drops below 25fps even in intensive 30+ player FATE's.

It has its moments where I can dip from 60fps to 40fps and below depending on where the camera is panned but it should NEVER go so low as 7fps ESPECIALLY on a 7970, check your system.

I have an ATI 5870 w/ 1GB of RAM. I use driver version 8.753 (7/6/2010). I don't have CCC or any of that garbage installed. And I haven't had any performance issues. If I run it at 2560x1440 and on Max settings I still get 20-30FPS usually. My guess is that you have something set wrong some where.

Remove CCC. That would be the first thing to do.

For reference here are some benchmark results...

Quote:

---

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Benchmark (Character Creation)

Tested on:8/14/2013 2:11:33 AM
Score:10065
Average Framerate:90.702
Performance:Extremely High
Screen Size: 1280x720
Screen Mode: Full Screen
Graphics Presets: Maximum

Tested on:8/14/2013 2:06:06 AM
Score:7891
Average Framerate:68.509
Performance:Extremely High
Screen Size: 1600x900
Screen Mode: Full Screen
Graphics Presets: Maximum

Tested on:8/14/2013 1:44:05 AM
Score:6410
Average Framerate:53.468
Performance:Very High
Screen Size: 1920x1080
Screen Mode: Full Screen
Graphics Presets: Maximum

Tested on:8/14/2013 1:59:25 AM
Score:4186
Average Framerate:34.572
Performance:High
Screen Size: 2560x1440
Screen Mode: Full Screen
Graphics Presets: Maximum

--

System:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130318-1533)
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5650 @ 2.67GHz
32755.566MB
ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series(VRAM 4070 MB) 8.17.0010.1036

---

Just stating a possibility here, but I assume it's already the case. Do you play in fullscreen mode (not the boundary less window one)? I'm pretty sure you already tested, but thought about mentioning it just in case.

the lowest fps i have seen in fates with 50+ people arround is 300 fps... The game is quite demanding....

Then again The system im playing on is overkill for the game..

dual Intel x5650 xenon processors
46 gb ddr 3 memory
quad evga titans
restitution 2560 x 1080

there is times where i have seen it tho tank into 1 fps seems to be something with the client normally a restart fixes it .

If you have crossfire/SLI, turn it off. It's basically not supported.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JamieLee

the lowest fps i have seen in fates with 50+ people arround is 300 fps... The game is quite demanding....

Then again The system im playing on is overkill for the game..

dual Intel x5650 xenon processors
46 gb ddr 3 memory
quad evga titans
restitution 2560 x 1080

there is times where i have seen it tho tank into 1 fps seems to be something with the client normally a restart fixes it .

---

that system is overkill for any game out right now and will continue to be for probably 2 years. total cost is like what? 15,000?

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Benchmark (Character Creation)
Tested on:9/2/2013 4:03:26 PM
Score:11093
Average Framerate:99.983
Performance:Extremely High
-Easily capable of running the game on the highest settings.
System:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100618-1621)
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz
16267.531MB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680(VRAM 3722 MB) 9.18.0013.2049

Maybe the game doesnt like ati cards or something.

I was running the game during beta on a 5850 with a core 2 duo E8400 and it ran beautifully.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Laraul

Remove CCC. That would be the first thing to do.

---

Agreed, I have always installed only the base video driver, never had any use for CCC personally. Customize your AMD driver install and select only what is absolutely needed.

Its the Aetheryte... that thing will drop your fps a lot. I run a 660Ti over clocked 3GB. I get 100+ Frames. If I look at that crystal I drop to 20-30 FPS. If I look away, back up to 70+ in town.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LtSwiggles

that system is overkill for any game out right now and will continue to be for probably 2 years. total cost is like what? 15,000?

---

ya it was 5100 for the 4 titans another 600 for the mb about 1200 for both 1800 watt power supplies list goes on.. Money wasn't the issue lol.. Needed the rig for more then just gameing.... Its good for 3d video rendering..

Try checking your CPU temprature (CPU not GPU). If its high you probably have to put again your thermic paste on the cpu.
The CPU is probably bottleneckig, or the cpu cooler is malfunctioning. Might be that, i hope it solves your problem.

Whoa I think that's it, just installed HWMonitor and looks like my cpu is running a lil too hot ... like 90-degrees yikes! Off to radio shack - man if that's the solution ur the bomb man, thanks!

Also, noob question here - what kind of maint do I need to do on my watercooler? Is there anything that needs to be done annually or anything?

Alot has been said already and I assume you might have already tried one of these but oh well.

- Set FF process as priority in task manager
- Unpark all CPU cores (you said not cpu limited but just gonna throw this out there)
- Check your graphics card (Take it out, back in, test again)

When did this happen, because you did level up alot. Did you play all those levels with 8 fps? What did you change in your setup, or were you playing on a different computer also?

Ah I see you already got an answer. But how does it get so hot in your rig since there is no OC and already almost reach the TJ Max. How is the temperature on your cards and the room you are in? Any cooler info?

It's a 3.2 o/c to 3.8, worked great in the past no problems so I'm hoping it's just old paste that I'm about to replace. It's a watercooled system, never really tinkered w/ it. Card temp is perfect, never over 50deg or so even o/c to 1100/1600. It's only in town it drops to 7-8fps, out an about it's 20-30, but still not that fun compared to playing other MMOs in the past. I have to say I haven't played a good MMO in a few months, mainly COD/BF3, but no fps probs there.

Anyway, about to pop the hood and get this new paste in there. Hope it works, will post an update.

Well let's see if that did the trick. Old paste was dry and caked, got it off w/ some alcohol and applied a hopefully sufficient coat of new paste. Cores now running in the 60-70s during benchmarking, ran beautifully, let's see if I can get past 1017 and try it out in-game.

Updated benchmark:
--------------------------------
FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Benchmark (Character Creation)
Tested on:9/2/2013 7:24:09 PM
Score:11864
Average Framerate:105.227
Performance:Extremely High
-Easily capable of running the game on the highest settings.

Screen Size: 1920x1080
Screen Mode: Full Screen
Graphics Presets: Maximum
General
-Enable HDR rendering and improve overall graphic quality. : Enabled
-Disable rendering of objects when not visible. (Occlusion Culling) : Disabled
-Use low-detail models on distant objects. (LOD) : Disabled
-Cache LOD data only when necessary. (LOD Streaming) : Disabled
-Real-time Reflections : High
-Edge Smoothing (Anti-aliasing) : FXAA
-Transparent Lighting Quality : High
-Grass Quality : High
Shadows
-Self : Display
-Other NPCs : Display
Shadow Quality
-Use low-detail models on shadows. (LOD) : Disabled
-Shadow Resolution : High - 2048p
-Shadow Cascading : Best
-Shadow Softening : Strong
Texture Detail
-Texture Filtering : Anisotropic
-Anisotropic Filtering : x16
Movement Physics
-Self : Full
-Other NPCs : Full
Effects
-Naturally darken the edges of the screen. (Limb Darkening) : Enabled
-Blur the graphics around an object in motion. (Radial Blur) : Enabled
-Screen Space Ambient Occlusion : Strong
-Glare : Normal
Cinematic Cutscenes
-Enable depth of field. : Enabled

System:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130708-1532)
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz
12279.113MB
AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series(VRAM 4095 MB) 8.17.0010.1236

Benchmark results do not provide any guarantee FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn will run on your system.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Website http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com
(C) 2010-2013 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.

Tweet
http://sqex.to/ffxiv_bench_na #FFXIV Score:11864 1920x1080 Maximum Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series

Good luck, hopefully that works for you.
If not two other things to check out.
- First, turn off Crossfire. I've seen a number of threads dealing with bad performance that was linked to people trying to use SLI and Crossfire and it causing problems.
- Second, make sure that FF14 is set to use your actual graphics cards and that it is not defaulting to your built-in graphics processor (example Intel-HD). Trying to run a game on that can also cause CPU overheating.

PROBLEM SOLVED!

Thanks everyone, especially Beliel, turns out it was my CPU overheating. Replaced the thermal paste, then noticed one of the fans mounted to the water cooler radiator was broken, so replaced that. Turned down my overclocking a bit too, to 3.5GHz. Ran IntelBurnTest and temps now down to 75deg on high load, pretty happy with that. In game, everything perfectly smooth everywhere at 60fps limited, even in town looking at the aetherite crystals. Tmax on my CPU now after playing for an hour was just 65deg, max temp on my GPU 64deg.

Reran the benchmark too and guess what, even turning down my CPU overclocking a bit, still getting over 11,500 on max settings at 1920x1080.

Lessons learned:
1. Even if your CPU isn't working at 100% on the task manager, still should check core temps!
2. Thermal paste needs to be replaced!
3. Check your whole cooling system - had to make two trips to radio shack to get paste and then a new fan
4. AMD 7970 is an amazing card!! Overclocked to 1100/1600, run stable and cool, 60fps everywhere including in town now.
5. AMD Catalyst 13.8 beta2 drivers work and looks to have fixed the crossfire problem. Running my dual-GPU 7970 in fullscreen mode with max settings and great fps.

Thanks again everyone for all your help, game looks beautiful and hopefully they'll fix this damn 1017 error w/ the next maint.

Best,
Study

No problem, glad i could help. :)