Poor Diablo III performance?

I just googled vertical sync and D3 does have it. I believe this is my "problem" (but its really not a problem). It just made me think something was wrong with my system. My GPU's were only running around 30% and I couldn't figure out why I was only getting 60 FPS. This explains it.

Thanks for the info!

 

I had a look yesterday on mine : I get 119 FPS with all options max and 7970M CFX (at normal power plan). I guess you should get the same with the 6990m's.

 

Dumb question, is there anyway to get the System Monitor to show while D3 is playing in full screen and not in window mode? Currently I have to hit alt tab to see that both GPU's are being used. I tried clicking the "Always on top" check box...

If i use window mode I can see the System Monitor but when in window mode, it only seems to use one GPU...

 

At maximum settings for everything, I'm seeing consistently over 100 FPS and have not seen any stuttering. For a new game release, it's actually pretty smooth.

 

Which utility are u running for those data on your top left screen?

 

I've got question, maybe someone here has tried it out... I know that your stash and your gold is persistant across characters, but what about crafting? If I have a level 4 blacksmith on one character, will he be level 4 across all my characters? It would kinda make sense if that were the case, and kind of cool, too, because then I can just craft sets for my noob chars, stick 'em in the stash and have great gear at low levels...

 

Hi there... you can find the information for setting this up in this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...mperatures-game-benchmark-screen-display.html

 

Yes, crafting and jewellery are account-based, just like gold and stash.
Means that re-rolls can use crafting like your main, so you don't need to craft through your main.

 

Ya i am getting frames when all maxed out between 30-50 depending on the area, and when im in a fight it jumps down to like 10 then right back up then back down then back up.... it fluctuates so much.

 

Steve, I saw your other post about the fan on one GPU not running. Do you suppose the fluctuation you are experiencing might be throttling from overheating? 7970M CF should easily sustain 100+ FPS, with a few random dips no lower than 50-60 FPS. My 580M SLI setup performs that well, and it's not as powerful as your 7970M CF. This might just be inadequate drivers for new hardware, but the possibility of throttling in connection with the fan thing made me think it might be more than a driver issue.

 

I agree, there must be some other issues, 'cause my 7970M CF shows consistently 115+ FPS with "normal" power plan and default (factory) driver and settings.

 

i get Flat 100FPS with my m18x.. with stock drivers is it normal or lower than supposed to?

 

Looks normal to me. You don't use FPS limits (at the graphic options panel in D3), do you ?

 

i'll check this when i get home tonight.. didn't realize that there's an option to limit FPS on games.

 

Im going to post a video to youtube and then post the link so you can see how its running....which is terrible

 

Never seen that before either. But D3 has two limits : one used when the game is active, and one used when it's in the background.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzWC97S-KcI&feature=youtu.be

There u go

is wrong with this

And still during this only one GPU was pumping out air, the other was pretty stationary and not pumping out air at all

 

updated video

That is actual gameplay, it wasnt a mess up in the recording

 

The video above reminds me of D3 day one, with constant server lags....

I mean, it's lagging like this all the time ?

 

for the most part when fighting stuff..... its on max settings which really arent that strenuous... i mean i can run metro 2033 at max crysis 2 at max but not Diablo 3????

 

Lol i just got off the phone with Alienware..... They have a fix.... but its not covered under my warranty ( the advanced warranty ) and it there would be a charge for the fix... Dell

 

What fix would that be?

 

lol they wouldnt tell me, they just said it would cost me and that they do have a fix.... and i wasnt going to pay for it

 

Incredible !

 

I get the same, running at 60 fps (v-sync) normally then suddenly shooting down to 8-12. Particularly annoying on inferno butcher.

 

I wouldn't pay Dell an extra dime for support. They rarely get it right the first time -- I'm starting to learn that.

 

I am not really clear on what you were needing fixed that would be covered or not covered by the warranty. If the problem you are experiencing is due to sloppy game developer workmanship, I don't blame them for not providing free tech support for a software product.

If it is a problem relating to AMD's drivers not being ready with support for the new hardware, then I doubt they have a real fix and you would most likely end up wasting time and/or money on support that doesn't result in a fix.

 

Exactly! With my 6990M CF setup I get 150FPS in D3, but terrible tearing. With vsync on it is very smooth at 60FPS, BUT I still get the occasional pop and stutter when server usage is high on Blizzard's side. All of my friends I play with with their many high end rigs get this.

 

Spoiler

My cards under only D3 load, fps gets choppy and fans won't spin past 30%? Tried the AMD OverDrive thing, but it doesn't work with intel CPU's apparently?

 

Ive been playing Diablo 3 for over an hour now

Alienware Mx18 R2 Diablo 3 - YouTube
^ the kind of performance im now getting after using radeon pro with the Fear 2 profile

and stayed below 53 C

 

Yay! Nice, Steve. Did you try the tweaks I suggested?

 

you got that right.. i had the diablo fps limits checked... unchecked it and now runs an ave of 160-180 fps

 

Why do people not use Virtual SYNC? it limits your fps to your screen refresh rate. 6o FPS for most of us. Anything beyond 60 fps is faster than your screen goes, essentially making your GPU run harder/hotter for no reason.

Or am I missing something? (I'm not expert and could very well be).

 

Yes, indeed. I am using vertical sync too. No need to see 80 or 150 FPS...

 

Some of us like seeing the FPS... it just feels good even if it's overkill, LOL. But, agree that it is not necessary for good times with the games.

 

Dual 6990M's or 7970M's is already overkill for D3.. I think human eye can't recognize a difference between 60FPS and 150FPS... So that's just digits

 

While you're technically correct, that doesn't really change the fact that the higher FPS are satisfying to those that like seeing them. It's more about power and performance than what the eye can detect in graphic quality.

Unfettered by vsynch, the FPS separates adequate, from powerful, from very powerful GPUs. For some users, there is more to it than simply meeting the definition of "playable" framerates.

 

Well i dont mind to see 200 FPS in games too but doesn't it creates a nonsense load to GPU's?

 

Some people may disagree, or simply have other reasons, but the reason I'm buying a M18x isn't because I want to have the biggest stick, it's because I want my stick to whack real good when other sticks are breaking.

Ok that was a caveman analogy and absolutely horrible but it's worth a laugh, no more to the point, if your computer is caning a game at 200fps, then in 4-5 years time, you'll be running high end games comfortably still, that's why I want a M18x, too often I see computers that are for the short term, people who fork out money into an Alienware do it for the long term.

 

No, I do not think so. The load is basically the same. Clock speeds and temps are the same... v-snych doesn't lessen performance or load, it just manages what you see on your display for the most part. It can help make sporadic framerates more consistent and it can improve the image quality of what you see.

 

In a game like Skyrim which has an engine that over-renders (I think I phrased that right, but someone correct if I am wrong). A frame limiter actually smooths out the FPS considerably where vsync fails to do so. This is well documented on this game in many threads throughout the internets. I also have personally found if you have Crossfire enabled on a game that supports Crossfire and also enable vsync you usually get very smooth experience even though the framerate is capped to your refresh. In Diablo 3 with Crossfire enabled and no vsync I get a whopping 151 FPS, but visually it still is not completely smooth regardless of the tearing which also adds to the mess. If I enable vsync with Crossfire I get a very smooth visual FPS experience. It's not all in the number. I am not an engineer so I cannot explain the details, but I see what I see and my eyes don't lie to me. Wow, that was bad.

 

I think you did a fine job of explaining that in language everyone can understand. Frame limiters and v-synch have a place and purpose and without them some games would be a terrible mess. Using them does not reduce stress on the GPUs, but it does provide a stable experience, nice visuals and smooth frame rate if everything is working as it should be.

 

Guys I really need help.

I just got a new laptop Alienware M18x with2 560M SLI
running diablo 3 even at lowest setting lags a lot, choppy --- even worse than my 7 year old PC with 8800 GT.

I have updated to the latest Nvidia driver. Anyone know why? I have tried to enable and diable SLI with no result. Please help and thanks.

cyberchick

 

Hey,

I saw your post over in the Diablo 3 forums as well. Are you using the latest NVidia drivers version 301.42? I have heard some people are having better luck with the prior version of that driver with Diablo 3. Whatever you do don't rely on Dell's video drivers. Also make sure you have the latest video BIOS for your card directly from Dell:

Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

P.S. - Check what your current video BIOS is with the GPU-Z util as you may already have the latest video BIOS:

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2137/TechPowerUp_GPU-Z_v0.6.2.html

-end

 

Hello cyberchick, and welcome to NBR and the Alienware Community. Perhaps your SLI bridge cable was dislodged in transit. If so, it would be like the third or fourth member of the forum that has run into the CF or SLI bridge cable not being connected on a new M18x. GTO_PAO11 just had a tech dispatched to his home to re-connect his CF cable. The good news is, whether is was incompetence by the person that assembled it, or rough handling in transit, that is a very easy fix. It's only a matter of removing the keyboard for access and re-connecting it. A large percentage of new owners are doing that anyway to upgrade their RAM with more affordable aftermarket memory modules.

 

Hi Mr. Fox.
Read your above post and is this true, that on the M18x-R2 the RAM needs to be exchanged from above (by removing the keybord) instead of from below which was and is very easy.

 

Hi Nathan. The M18x has a total of four memory slots. Two of them are accessible by removing nothing more than the bottom cover. The other two are on the top side of the motherboard, directly underneath the keyboard.

If your M18x has empty slots under the keyboard, you don't need to access them to upgrade the memory unless you want to have 4 memory modules. If you have all four slots filled with DDR3-1600 and want to upgrade to faster memory, you'll need to remove the DDR3-1600 or the new RAM will run at the slower speed.

 

That being said... More memory is usually better than faster memory. You won't notice a drastic difference with faster memory.

 

Thank you for your help.

I have tried all sort of BOIS upgrade flash (and was successfully flashed for BOTH of the Nvidia 560M at the DOS looking like screen)...

The Nvidia manager program also works well - indicating that the cards exist in the computer.

Does that mean I do not have the cable issue then (I am guessing that if the cable is not connected, it would not even work with the flash and the Nvdia control program would not allow me to switch SLI and non SLI either; Just my guess).

I really like this laptop but I am to the point already pick the whole thing back inside the dell box and is about to mail it back today... which is sad since based on this experience, I would probably never buy another Alienware.... It is sad to see that Diablo 3 runs at 15 FPS (playable) on my 7 year old non gaming laptop (DELL XPS M1530 with Nvdia 8400M GS) and the game runs at less than 1 FPS on the new Alienware laptop of 2012.



Cyberchick

 

thank you for your help.

I have upgraded to the latest driver and also flashed the BIOS (burn the file to CD and boot from CD) for both cards (it flashed twice on the DOS screen).

The Nvdia program recognize both cards and I could adjust the setting to SLI, non SLI, and quality, etc.

It is really sad to see the game runs at 60 FPS on my 7 year old DELL XPS desktop with 8800 GT, and it is still playable 15 FPS on my 6-7 year old DELL XPS m1530 laptop with 8400M GS ---- and not able to even run at 1 FPS on the Alienware M18x with 2 560M SLI.

I am packing it in the box and probably will never buy an alienware ever again --- even though I really love how it looks with all the lights and the large screen.

I do not know...