terrible frame rates since updating AMD drivers to 12.8

[Al.Neri]

I don't know what these drivers have done, but there are certain games that suffer from diabolical frame rates since I installed them. the games I have discovered the problem on so far are FSX & F1 2011. before updating, I could get good frame rates on both of them (usually a minimum of 55-58fps). after installing, I struggle to get half of what I was getting before. as soon as I tried to play them and realised how bad it was, I immediately did a full uninstall using dricer sweeper and ccleaner to finish off.

it didn't fix the problem though when I went back to the previous drivers, the bad frame rates were still evident. I did the same again and went back to the drivers before the ones I was originally using, but still, no fix.

as a last resort, I did a system restore to the day before I installed the latest driver, and was annoyed to discover that even this didn't fix it.

could there be another reason why I am suddenly experiencing such poor frame rates?

 

[iBushay]

have you checked other components are all working correctly?

 

[Al.Neri]

they seem to be, it's only affecting some games. it's almost like the crossfire issues I used to experience before AMD addressed them a few driver releases ago.

 

[NilSatis]

Bit strange mate, I run these drivers, albeit the 12.8 preview ones. Havent updated to the official ones yet; but the preview ones, which will essentially be the same run fine. I have f1 2011. Get great fps on that; so not too sure it is the drivers. If it is only affecting some games then maybe something else is involved. I am updating right now to the official ones, will post back if there is anything dodgy about them on mine. I run a 6950 2gb with shaders unlocked.

Did you just use the download now option from the driver update popup? If so then it will have overwritten your old drivers. I would still always recommend deleting everything AMD wise manually, then rebooting and installing the new drivers. The driver update reminder that pops up doesnt seem to let you download and install later unless you go via the main site for some reason. To be honest I have found the latest 12.8 preview driver really good performance wise, although I am sure there will be some bugs somewhere. What card have you got? If it is an older card sometimes the latest drivers will not help too much. For me I should think there is little benefit fromt he latest drivers, running a 6 series card; these drivers are now all about performance increases on the 7 series cards... Still, if you have followed the steps you mentioned then I would say it isnt the driver. Like you I would always try the latest one to see if there is any performance increase just in case!

Potential things at fault could be psu, gpu itself, certain malware, etc. you need to run some tests on other demanding games to see whether they will affect it in the same way. Having said that I am about to try the latest official 12.8 drivers so will let you know.....

 

[Al.Neri]

no, I fully uninstalled the drivers manually before installing the new ones. it's purely down to habit that I do it that way. my card is an AMD HD5970.

 

[Dayve]

Does anybody else only ever update video card drivers when they have a problem with a game? When I first started PC gaming with an actual purpose-built gaming PC I used to check for updates once a week and update if there was one available. I found it causing more problems than it solved. So now I just update when I have an actual problem and in the last 5 years have probably updated once...

Give my way a try. Might save yourself a lot of aggro.

 

[NilSatis]

Does anybody else only ever update video card drivers when they have a problem with a game? When I first started PC gaming with an actual purpose-built gaming PC I used to check for updates once a week and update if there was one available. I found it causing more problems than it solved. So now I just update when I have an actual problem and in the last 5 years have probably updated once...

Give my way a try. Might save yourself a lot of aggro.

Well just to say that I have installed the latest 12.8 official driver after removing all of the old one, and it seems to be just fine for me. I played some Prey, F1 2011, and some Mafia 2 and seems ok. Bit weird..... if a system restore/using older drivers didnt help then there must be something else running in the background affecting the performance of the card or something might be on its way out.

Dayve; although you are right in one sense that most of the time gains are minimal; as technology advances (and a little like with games these days), they are released with software not quite ready for the product itself. If you are still running on the original drivers on that 6970, i.e. 11.* series drivers, you will find the later ones offer far better performance than those you are using, or at least with some games I have found this. The newer ones also have the added bonus of things like mouse cursor lag in the bottom right corner not there anymore (if you ever had that problem) aswell as sometimes up to 20% (or more) performance gains on some games from the original drivers. It definitely is worth updating when you have a later card as they squeeze more performance out of it via the software aswell as include profiles for all the latest games that streamlines performance even more. They really have improved their drivers no end, AMD. This of course doesnt help Al. Neri. In his case with a slightly older card; I would maybe stop updating at a driver that performs ok, rather than keep updating; as there may be little support in terms of improvements for the older card. In a few more issues, I will stop updating mine most probably unless there are specified gains for the 6* series cards still.

Most other pc components I would most certainly go with your suggestion....unless you have a problem with something, don't bother updating; but with the gpu drivers I would certainly update when you can. Its very easy, no need to worry when doing it; and all the drivers since I got this card have been great. Aside from the first couple giving me a bit of mouse lag in Windows desktop; the later ones are great. Simply go to the AMD website, stick in the details, remove all AMD/ATI software traces from pc, reboot, check again everything has gone, and install the new ones. IF you have a problem for whatever reason simply download the last driver and reinstall that. I keep the old driver installer .exes on an external hd drive just so i can quickly revert back if anything is dodgy. They have been so good I have given up doing that everytime now.

 

[Al.Neri]

are there any tests that can be done to try to figure out if the card is on its way out?

 

[NilSatis]

Id stick it through a few runs on Unigine Heaven or something similar that will stress the card. 3d Mark or something like that would also work. Slap on the highest graphics settings you can, and see what happens. Check the frame rates compared to other people with that card, and if they are a lot lower then there is a problem; if the test crashes then there is also a problem, but could be ram or something else still. Check the temps of the card while this is going on and see what they look like. Has the pc been cleaned or anything else changed recently?

Im not sure if it might be worth pointing out I had a piece of malware recently that went straight through Microsoft Security essentials as it also included a .dll file that circumvented the protection; and that would cause me issues in games; bumping up cpu usage to the max, on a 4.6ghz 2500k. Nasty! Found it using another malware program, but got it via a download of vlc media player. Was a bit disturbing as off their main site, but I guess any of these sites can be hijacked. I made sure I let them know! It also stopped my browsers working completely. I had to download another browser and try to install that and it was only when that started playing up too I realised something wasnt right.

Normally when a card goes you will see artifacting or crashes rather than a loss of fps but sometimes that happens first. If it only happens in some games that is really weird. Unless it is only those that stress it enough. Could it be your psu? You will have to go through things testing them until you find the culprit.

 

[Al.Neri]

unigine didn't bring anything untoward up, seemed to run the same frame rates as it did the first time I ran it when I first got my pc. I don't know what else it could be, though I am suspecting crossfire problems. crossfire was eventually fixed during a previous CAP release, but even installing those didn't solve it

 

[NilSatis]

Thats odd if no problems show up during unigine; although at least in essence it suggests there is nothing physically wrong with your set up. Its a pretty demanding test so if fps is the same as when you first got it you can assume nothing hardware wise has gone wrong. I would strongly suggest it is the game in f1 2011's case. Apart from it being the best f1 game we have on the pc (in some ways) it has/had its fair share of issues with one thing and another. This thread might help you though mate, although as usual it results in what most internet gpu discussions result in. No conclusive answer, but maybe there is some help. I would suggest turning xfire off via an external bit of software is a good idea if you find it possible. I didnt even know you could do this on a 5970. Anyway, might not be the answer, but worth a read anyway. You are not the only one with these issues, although why they went away and have come back suggests the driver.
Guru 3d thread
Incidently I just fitted a 7970 black edition into my rig today and seems to work great on the 11.8 drivers on everything so far. Now I just need to find someone to sell an unlocked 6950 2gb to; which has been a brilliant card for me. Why can I not help updating technology for no good reason?!
As for FSX; I have no idea as have never played it. I have the gold edition right here but have never installed. Another thing is to scour your computer for old AMD/ATI folders with app profiles in; and get rid of them and check in control manager that there are multiple app profiles still installed. They dont play well together I dont think. The latest one is all that is needed. Good luck mate. Let us know what you find out?

 

[Al.Neri]

already tried disabling crossfire in CCC for F1 2011, but it didn't help. I even tried radeon pro in the hope that it might be the old issue, but even running that, it's still struggling to get to 30fps.