Skyrim AMD Optimization and Overclocking

[Masteroderus]

Hello all.

My rig is as described in the forum list. 8150(no oc), 3x 6950 2GB (unlocked to 6970 shaders, clocked 880/5200) and 1333mhz 2x4gig ripjaws that I have had working stable at over 2Ghz with my old am3 (can't remember model, got it to clock to 3.8ghz) with bclk overclocking my crosshair V. HDD is a WD Caviar black 7200rpm. PSU is 1200AX, plenty of juice (just enough cords )

Tower is a 500r with 4x120mm intakes, 1x230mm intake, and 1x120mm exhaust. 2 of the 120mm intakes are aftermarket scythe 100+ CFM intakes, the 230mm is a high static pressure spectre pro. The tower is dead silent when i turn off the scythe fans (or just turn them down), and as loud as my vacuum cleaner when i mine bitcoins (FULL POWER CAPTAIN! ). So I think I got proper airflow to OC with stock cooling a little bit.

I am running the upped texture pack. I had tweaked out skyrim with some online guides but am still only getting ~44 fps ave with a 22 min frame rate in whiterun, runnin from the yarl's place to the front gate (my personal benchmark). The 44 is suprisingly fluid, but it jitters a tiny tiny bit (microstutter?). I assume this is the 22 fps is causing this minor stutter as indoors there does not seem to be any microstutter.

I digress.

Is there any method(s) to
A: minimize micro stutter
B: Overclock something to get a sizable gain?


Also, with only 2GB video memory and 1080p resolution am I overreaching trying to run the enhanced texture pack?

I am probably upgrading to a h100(ver 2.0 thingy) this xmas to OC my 8150.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[great_big_abyss]

What resolution are you playing at?

[CMetaphor]

Overclock the CPU. Lots. An FX8150 on that board should hit 4.3-4.4Ghz easily, and more with some effort.

And go back to 2-card Xfire. The benefits of having the extra card are negligible compared to the overclocking headroom you'll gain by not having the middle card suffocating itself and the "top" card.

[Masteroderus]

Originally Posted by great_big_abyss

What resolution are you playing at?

1920x1080 single display

[Masteroderus]

Originally Posted by CMetaphor

Overclock the CPU. Lots. An FX8150 on that board should hit 4.3-4.4Ghz easily, and more with some effort.

And go back to 2-card Xfire. The benefits of having the extra card are negligible compared to the overclocking headroom you'll gain by not having the middle card suffocating itself and the "top" card.

I'll OC the CPU when I get sometime to upgrade the TIM to noctua NT-H1 (i got a couple of tubes layin around).

What about memory overclocking specifically? Does it help in Skyrim? If so, I can BCLK overclock and get my ram speeds a bit higher.

[WiseWilson]

Radeon Pro to minimize micro stutter

[SKYMTL]

The issue is likely the 3x CF setup. I've never actually come across a situation where three AMD cards played nice together. There has always been too much micro-stuttering.

[Masteroderus]

Originally Posted by WiseWilson

Radeon Pro to minimize micro stutter

Thanks for the info.

Was quite disturbing. Unless I am reading the interface wrong, only 2 of my cards are working when skyrim is on, and only one was on in bf3... which kinda surprises me as it's on ultra.

I have it set in the amd CCC to a 3 gpu crossfire X mode. All 3 gpu work fantastically when it comes time to mine and my miner program works all cards at almost 100% continuously, no problems.

Can someone point me in the right direction to getting my other 2 cards to turn on during bf3? Am i missing something blatant?

EDIT: It has to be just showing overall activity of the 3 card system as one bar. Skyrim showed two bars though (odd). I was getting 70-200 fps in metro on ultra settings, so I think @ least one other card was working, probably 2. I have msaax4 on now due to the WORKING driver!!

EDIT 2: Even though it shows 2 cards, not 3 working in skyrim, average fps is 55 with no AA and 51 with 8x aa (max game setting through software). Decent improvment just form having radeon pro installed

[Masteroderus]

I figured it out. My only problem was microstutter. Everything else was fine.

I ran the game in windowed mode and it killed the microstutter.

I heard crossfire doesn't work in windowed mode, but when I disabled CF in the CCC i STILL had microstutter.

I didn't physically pull the cards and try a single card.

Thanks for the input guys! That Radeon pro program is sweeeeeeeeeet.

[ccm001]

Originally Posted by Masteroderus

That Radeon pro program is sweeeeeeeeeet.

Is there now a profile for Skyrim? Or did you use the Fallout profile?