M18x and Crysis 3 Performance Thread

Using 311.48 which came with the system. I was unable to update to the newest 780m drivers through Nvidia. Not sure why.

 

What do you mean "haves all nvidia cards" ???

 

I think he meant "cut in half," in regards to performance.

 

Well then I guess I will adjust that setting which will increase my frames a nice bit On another note, I just got Sleeping Dogs on the Steam sale. I don't find the game that gorgeous for the hardware needed to run it but I guess that is console porting for ya. I think it's going to be a very fun game though. Just got done downloading the High-Res Tex pack so I am going to spend some time with that game.

 

You might want to experiment with other forms of AA to get the best performance yes, or tweaking those settings that have a large performance impact for little visual difference.

 

Just use FXAA and you'll be fine.

There was a big old explanation on why MSAA was doing that to nvidia cards while AMD cards got better frame rates.(Meaning they got more fps using this than not using it - Back a few years ago.)

 

does anyone play with it online? I know it says not to, but i cant be the only one to want to do it.

 

The best settings for 680m sli for me is with TXAA set to medium. If I use FXAA the game runs over 50 fps, with TXAA fps drop a bit, but that can be fixed with a +100 core +200 men oc, and the game looks just incredible.

 

Im having VERY mixed results. Noticed that with vsync gpu load is around 45 and without around 90. For another odd reason when i first got the system i was playing on high because anything else would have an occasional dropout (bad and worse) n thats a no no in mplayer. Ultra was just horrible, but now it seems much better. Not sure what happened, same driver. May be turning down shadows and shaders but oddly before when everything was turned down it still buggled.

 

I can get a smooth run, no fps drops without Maldo mod just setting the CPU to 4.2ghz and GPUs at 1006 or 1020 core and 2100 memory. All maxed out + MSAA 2x.

 

I really don't understand how the mod works, but supposedly Crytek's anitcheat will detect the mod or modification to files and kick ya. Possibly with a ban to your origin account.

Do you think it would even show on opponents kill cams....cause all these kids need is another reason for random vote kicks....lol.

I play online every night still....even with all the bugs in this game. Ive logged almost 300 hours...geez what a nerd.

 

the game is great online. It gets super frustrating though.

 

Absolutely maxed out (8xMSAA) Crysis 3 brings even a overclocked GTX780 (note; not Mobile version) down a peg or two at 1080p. We are talking ~45FPS average and minimums in the high 30's. Playable but not ideal.

Funnily enough the same card can run it at 3600x1920 "High" settings & SMAAx1with an average framerate of 50fps.

The MSAA option seems to kill performance for bugger all visual benefit when actually gaming (probably looks better in screenshots though).

On a side note, does anyone have any idea how Crysis 3 will run on a M18x with a i7 2920XM / HD6990m CFX config? I assume similar to GTX580mSLI? High settings at ~50fps average possible?

 

Yes, Crysis 3 maxed out using anything above FXAA will bring most GPUs (desktop and mobile alike) to their knees. Johnksss already pointed out that AA and nvidia don't gel well together, while it benefits AMD cards. If I max it out my 2x 780m SLI overclocked at 950 (vbios modded) still don't give a smooth experience. The game looks overall laggy and in certain scenes it drops at around 29-35fps. Even with Maldo mod option 6 (lowest) I still see stutter when running around. In order to free the game from lags and stutters I have to lower settings down quite a bit--mostly Objects and Shadows.

However, 2x 680 SLI overlocked +262core and +400memory +CPU at 4.2 (no Maldo) give a better experience: all maxed out +FXAA or MSAA 2x vsync on (hate screen tearing, I always keep it on) I only see few fps drops and it's overall smooth and enjoyable gaming. Crysis franchise is CPU bound and benefits from higher CPU clocks, no matter if it's played with a "muscle-card."

 

During the first 20 minutes of the game (how far I have made it before BSOD/CTD) I was seeing 45+ FPS at +200 core/+400 memory @ 1.0V 680M SLI with the highest settings and 4xMSAA (47k GPU Vantage, see sig)

BUT, even increasing Flex Voltage from 8 where every other game in existence is stable to 14 still results in BSOD. After updating my driver from 314.21 to the latest beta I am no longer getting BSOD but now CTD. I have since given up with this game; I got it on sale for $20. and to be honest, eye candy aside I have more fun playing Natural Selection 2, Starcraft 2, Planetside 2, Skyrim and Metro Last Light, all of which, again, are stable Flex Voltage at 8.

Any suggestions to eliminating the BSOD/CTD other than raising Flex Voltage to 25 are welcome.

 

I feel you man. I have tried in so many ways and like you, in order to increase CPU clocks and not getting driver crashes or BOSD, had to set Flex at 25. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, Crysis benefits from higher CPU clocks. I have seen great smoothness with 680m vbios mod stock clocks at 758 and CPU at 4.3/4.4. That speaks volumes of how CPU bound this game actually is.

 

Correction: 1xMSAA.

Yes I agree that Crysis 3 is extremely CPU dependent, this fact was the first thing that came to mind when I was reading complaints above from those with 780M SLI seeing 30-40 FPS. What CPU and what clockspeed?

Unfortunately, just increasing Flex Voltage from 8 to 12-14 results in +5 C across all 4 cores. I actually had flex at 25 when I was experimenting with multipliers of 45,45,45,44 and the temps were +10 C avg. It was the main reason I dialed back the multi's to 45,45,44,43, so that I could get away with lower Flex Voltage.

 

It's a good tip, thanks for sharing. I will try those CPU settings myself with the M18 and see if I can finally dial back Flex to around 10 or 15.

 

So many complaints about cpu bound....If running an unlocked bios then just disable HT and move on with this. Or drop down to using only 4 threads or even two threads. Adjust where needed. Come on now, less complaining and more experimenting outside of the box.

PS: There is not one game that does not have some form of micro-stuttering/stuttering/screen tearing or skipping. Not 1!
Mine sweeper and solitary don't count.

 

We are not just complaining, but discussing and sharing. If one has yet to find optimal settings and is not happy, there's nothing wrong if they share and agree with some criticism

P.S. HT already disabled. Now trying vulcan's setting to see if I can decrease Flex a bit.

 

It's complaining. Why? Because in the beginning I was doing the same thing.

You computer will run fine if temps are in the mid 80's on cpu and that goes for gpu's as well. As much as we would like to believe these laptops will out run current desktop setups of the highest quality, they will not. So it's best to improvise.
These are the same arguments people have all over the place and with far lessor spec setups. And trying the same tweaks and what not's as we do here with the same exact results.

And as you have seen. I played it while running at 2.0 ghz. Was it a bit lower on fps? Sure. Was it playable? Sure as heck was. If i play the game at basic settings does it still micro-stutter? Yes it does. And that goes for every single game out.
So best to find a happy medium.

PS
Reason being....your temps will change with the room your playing in and the temps of that room.

 

I don't argue that we need certainly need to find a happy medium--can't have perfection and demand these mobile gaming platforms to perform as well as gaming desktops do. However, and I have already shared this in this thread earlier on, I am already able to play Crysis 3 maxed out on ultra +FXAA +flare +medium blur with the M18x r2 > 680m SLI at 1006 core, 2500 memory and CPU at 4.2/4.3. Do I see CPU temps around 80/85? Yes I do, but the GPUs stay around 65/70 with hwinfo fan profile. Does is stutter? with such settings very little, and the overall gaming experience is fairly smooth; smoother than what I have been able to come up with the AW18, 2x 780m SLI at 950mhz and CPU as we all know still at stock clocks. All of this is not complaining, but realizing through a shared experience that this game is more CPU bound than others. It was an assessment that only motivates us to keep tweaking and find that compromise you talk about. I politely disagree with your argument that we are just complaining

P.S. I have tried the Maldo mod many times and I always got mixed results with it. It seems to work a bit better with the 780m sli. However, this mod has only made things worse with the M18x. If I load the mod I don't have a smooth gameplay I mentioned above anymore, and it stutters all over (with all 3 on-the-fly settings). To so many this mod has worked wonders. Sadly, I can't say the same. we're all too aware that every GPU and machine is a story in itself.

P.S. 2 I'm well aware that the temperature in the environment affects the machine's temps as well. Reason I keep the room cool (65/70F), keep the laptop elevated and use a laptop cooler. I never complained about high temps in itself. I'd just like to achieve similar performance in game with a decreased Flex, if possible. Otherwise, my M18x has always made me a quite happy gamer

 

We are politely entitled to our own opinions.

 

I politely agree with you on this one

 

rotflmao!
Thats why we get along!!!

 

Cheers on that!

There you go, this would solve your micro-stutter at basic... or make it worse

 

You could be right! haha

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...elieve-ive-found-optimum-oc-3920-680-sli.html

 

For those still getting BSOD and CTD no matter what I eliminated the BSOD completely and CTD about 90% (still get an occasional CTD) simply by turning down "shadows" and "shading" under "advanced graphics" to "high" from "very high". I am also seeing 55+ FPS nearly everywhere, usually 60. All other settings are set to their very highest: 1920x1080, anisotropic filtering: 16x, 1xsmaa.

Having been able to finally put the game through its paces I have to say that it is an excellent single player campaign, I was unable to tear myself away from it for 7-8 hours yesterday.

One problem I am seeing is very high CPU temps., usually a few cores are at 100 C after a multi-hour session. I am going to experiment with reducing the current long time limit. I can't reduce the Flex Voltage any lower than 8. Already using fan control, 4200 RPM constant. Elevated. IC Diamond thermal compound.

Man I really wish I had liquid cooling.

 

Those are indeed some very high temps. I am not sure about Ivy Bridge and the OC you are running and what are typical temps. I know on stock Haswell I am finding the CPUs hardly being stressed. Maybe Crysis 3 is a CPU dependent game whereas I thought it was heavily GPU dependent. Could it be time for a repaste or is it merely your OC settings? I wouldn't want to be running a multihour game at 100 temps as that's approaching the thermal max before throttling. I think it's 100 or 110. I'm surprised you didn't see/notice any throttling. Either way, be careful!

 

Crysis 3 definitely gives the CPU a work out too. I run at 4 ghz with the Maldo mod or 4.3ghz without it. Temps often go into early 90's for short periods.

 

Yup, we have already stated that a few times in this thread: Crysis 3 benefits considerably from higher CPU clocks. (I'm bracing myself for jonhksss's possible reminder that we are whining, what can I say? Sometimes I show masochistic tendencies ).

Today I gave the game another spin with both rigs. As of now, Crysis 3 runs definitely better with the 680m sli at 1006 and CPU at 4.3 no maldo than with the 780 at 940 at CPU lev 3 bios OC and maldo. I also tried playing with the same settings (all very high, but shading and shadows set to medium +fxaa +16x +medium mot blur). The M18x keeps a nice 55/85 or 55/60 vsync on with no lag. The AW18 swings between 45 and 60 with visible stutter. I am aware that as soon as we have an unlocked bios we will be able to increase the AW18's performance in those games that are more CPU bound like this one. However, this confirms once again, if we ever needed it, that the M18x unlocked and modded is an absolute beast of computer. It is absolute eye candy seeing Crysis 3 running so smoothly in that machine.

 

With the current settings: 45,44,44,43 Flex VID:8, Pri Plane 1300, MSR Lock and BD PROCHOT disabled, I typically don't see temperatures above the mid 80's, occasionally in the low 90's. This is with games that have been considered to be CPU dependent, Skyrim with an ENB, Grand Theft Auto 4, and other games not so CPU dependent but nevertheless: Metro Last Light, Planetside 2, Natural Selection 2 et al.

I have reduced the long duration power limit from 56 seconds to 42 via BIOS and will continue to monitor.

Wish I could afford a wicked water-cooled desktop set-up.

 

Wow those are some crazy high temps. And yes, I wish AW would hurry up and implement that Asetek patent in a laptop. My desktop 3770k/680 SLI water cooled rig is cool as a cucumber after long gaming sessions, and I didn't even spend too terribly much on my WC set up. Never seen my CPU core temps above the low 70s, and it takes quite a bit of effort to get them there. GPU's rarely go above 60C, and start to get close to 70C after hours of Metro LL with the settings maxed, PhysX on and SSAA at 2x. Wasn't a huge fan of Crysis 3's campaign though. Excellent visuals, but I didn't think the gameplay matched. The nanosuit really just makes everything too easy, even with the difficulty maxed.

 

Laptop CPU's are typically comfortable running higher temps than desktops though.
I agree, Crysis 3 is great eye candy but doesn't really do it for me.

 

Yeah a watercooled desktop monster is certainly on my mind. I think reducing long duration limit from 56 to 42 might have helped, if only a little, I "only" saw temps in the mid 90's across all 4 cores yesterday, as opposed to 2 or 3 cores over 100 C. Might have to dial back the multipliers, something like 43,43,42,41.

I tend to agree that having the cloaking ability makes it a little too easy to maneuver around enemies. Good thing is you aren't completely invisible, and they can see you within a meter or two. I have the difficulty set to "Post-Human Warrior", one setting down from "Insanely Hard" and find that it is just perfect. If you are discovered you can only take a few rounds before you go down, and taking out an entire squad, even with "armor" activated, can prove challenging.

I wan't to say that I am sick of Crysis, and that single-player campaigns against AI are outmoded now that the FPS genre has MMO and RTS variants (Planetside 2, Natural Selection 2) let alone multi-player modes in the same game, but I was glued to the screen from the opening level all the way to the completion of the third level that culminates with the destruction of a hydro-dam and what follows (don't want to spoil anything). I really enjoy playing this game, and it isn't only the graphics, it has a really interesting storyline, especially if you actually read the data that you find ("Prophet" is merging with the hybrid Ceph and human technology machine-like nano-suit, that is constantly evolving itself, and losing his humanity in the process, becoming "the ghost in the machine". "Prophet" is also experiencing Psi like phenomena and having telepathic/psychic experiences, which are integral to Ceph technology, all of which, including the nano-suit, exhibit low level sentience) interesting characters that are beautifully rendered (the best facial animations I have seen so far, "very high res textures") and there are quite a few funny moments as well. Combat is fun, the new weapons are awesome (Typhoon, Ceph weapons etc.) the explosions are amazing, the environments are destructible, enemies rag-doll realistically, sparks and other physics related effects behave realistically (PhysX?).

The game unfolds in a manner that feels right and intuitive, like the level where you have to sprint through deep grass while being bombarded by a missile array on top of the dome, there is some instruction before this but you just know that you have to run for cover, but the entire game is like this, the level design is superb, the whole package really makes you feel as though you are in a movie, especially with the superb cinematic sequences (an early one with Psycho and a train-car full of fuel is really amazing) it is truly surreal.

I have to say that this game is even better than Metro Last Light, as much as I enjoy that game.

If I had to rate this game I would give it a 9 out of 10 and I haven't even tried the multi-player.

This is definitely a worthy sequel. Best $20 I have ever spent.

 

I seem to be getting some intermittent downclocking of my gpus as of the last couple days. In game i get periodic fps drop spikes, and i alt tab to check msi afterburner. It looks like my cards downclock, and their usage drops from 99% to like 3-5%. Also, the cards downclock from 758, to like 135mhz at the core. Its weird because I've only seen this start happening a couple days ago. I have both cards modded to svl7 vbios.

I'm at a loss as to why they would start downclocking themselves... Also, temps are fine with max at 74 deg C. Thanks guys.

 

Yup. That will happen unless you turn on K-boost, which will keep both GPUs locked at whatever frequency you set them. Disable SLI, open voltage on EVGA PrecisionX and increase the voltage. Apply it cor both GPUs. Enable SLI again. Set your overclock and you'll never experience downclocking anymore. The following is my post about my happy experience with k-boost that you can find it HERE

 

thanks for the fix radix. why do you need to over volt?

 

An overvolted vBIOS allows more stability under higher clocks--it's my personal choice that I want to be able to overclock my 680m SLI depending on the task and don't have to worry about the voltage not being able to stand those clocks. k-boost will allow you to cap whatever voltage you may be using and frequencies. So, I locked it at 758 (slv7 stock clocks) and in game I never see clocks going down to 640 or 135 like before I did so. If I chose a higher clock, thanks to k-boost activated, I'm able to sustain it throughout the game without worrying about drops. Kinda handy ain't it?

 

Yea that's great. I'm wondering how come this downclocking just started happening, like literally the last 2 days, and I haven't changed anything. Anyhow, thanks for the help

 

Well, it always happened to me. I was sure that just using a modded vBIOS would stop that from happening but it didn't. That's why finally one day I had enough and decided to give k-boost a try and it was a game-changer solution. I highly recommend using it to all that flashed their GPUs with slv7 vBIOS. I'm also using k-boost with the 780m SLI now. And you are welcome

 

What driver are you using? Some of the latest drivers do some odd things for me. I think all of the folks complaining that drivers were messing up their GPUs might have prompted NVIDIA to introduce some unusual behavior intended to reduce temps and eliminate opportunities for people to make the same kinds of complaints and accusations. I have noticed that shortly after that rash of complaints began, my 680M SLI does not seem to pound out the insane framerates quite as easily when running the newest drivers. This is an assumption on my part. It might just be a coincidence.

Overall, I find that 314.22 WHQL overclock better, games better in most circumstances, and behaves better than any of the 320 series drivers.

 

After the driver fiasco we've seen not too long ago, having Nvidia playing it safe actually makes sense, Mr Fox. Are you using the 314.22 WHQL in your Alienware18 too? If so, have you noticed any substantial difference in performance between the 314.22 and other drivers?

 

I was until a couple of days ago. I am tinkering with 326.41 right now, but may go back to the WHQL. I have to mod the INF for the 780M so it will install, but I still find 314.22 WHQL works better and is more stable even though the driver was released before 780M was launched.

 

Thanks. I will give it a spin.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

I will also give 314.22 a try.

 

Wait are you saying that you can adjust the voltage with this program? Nevertheless I am very interested in this program and will be trying it out shortly. Currently I am using MSI Afterburner, but if I occasionally have to reboot, like I did recently, MSI Afterburner doesn't open automatically even though I have it in the "Start-up" folder, which I believe is due to either and incompatibility with AVG Anti-Virus or something was inadvertently deleted from the registry either with AVG PC Tune-Up or CCleaner. Problem is, I was oblivious to the fact and the performance and temperatures I have been seeing recently, at least of the past day or two, were with factory GPU clocks.

After applying the usual GPU clocks that I can get away with in every other game in existence at 1.0V (+200 core/ +400 memory) I am now experiencing frequent CTD all over again but now believe that the culprit may be inadequate GPU voltage (as the increased GPU clocks would be the only variable that changed from previous stable state and now).

Reading your settings, I also increased MSAA from x1 to x2, so this may be another potential source of the CTD but I still betting on inadequate voltage.

I am also seeing higher GPU temperatures now that I am positive I am running higher clocks, a good bit of which could be attributed to increasing MSAA from x1 to x2: 77 C primary and 71 C secondary.

I am hopeful that I can increase the voltage with this program.

It would be nice if we were to be able to use SLV7's vbios for 780M with adjustable voltage ability.

Another question, I have read your other post pertaining to EVG Precision, can't the same thing be accomplished setting the GPU usage from "adaptive" to "prefer maximum performance" in the Nvidia Control Panel?

 

Yes, you can push and lock the GPU voltage if flashed slv7 vBIOS.

I also believe that your CTDs may be caused by lack of enough voltage needed to sustain higher clocks. Under heavy loads the GPU use increases, like in the case of increasing AA in Crysis and that might trigger the driver to crash. I highly advise you to give k-boost a try and see the difference.

Changes in the nvidia control panel may allow you similar outcome, BUT I believe now it would keep consistent clocks only with older drivers, considering the fact that last GeForce driver seem to tune it down performance a bit in order to keep cards from frying. k-boost will allow you to prevent the driver from downclocking the cards-- you are in control. Give it a try and post your findings.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

I felt that this was indeed the case with 326.41, at least in that all of the ENB's in Skyrim would not work with any of the 320 series drivers, but the enb series original author has since updated his latest to work with the latest drivers. Also, now that I am using the latest, 320.58, I haven't experienced a PhysX related crash like I usually do on any driver in Planetside 2, at least after playing for an hour or so (no crash just stopped playing) which is much better than previous, where one could expect a crash in less than 10 minutes.

Not sure of the throttling difference but the fact that PhysX is working in Planetside 2, plus all of the optimization improvements in other games including Metro Last Light and Tomb Raider really make the newer 320 drivers attractive.

Can anyone confirm whether or no EVGA PrecisionX allows you to adjust/increase voltage beyond the limit beyond what is in vbios, say for example, higher than 1.0 V with SLV7's 1.0V vbios?