Borderlands 2 performance? with 7970m (Is this normal)

I currently have the Enduro performance drivers installed and am getting 30 FPS or lower in big open areas with/without lots of combat going on and well over 60 FPS in small corridors.

I play 1920x1080, everything off/low, except textures which is high. Utilization is at 50% according to MSI afterburner.

Sager np9150 3610qm

Is this expected, or can I do better somehow?

 

Nope this isn't normal ,we all play it max out with a 7970m.
What about your physx did u set it to low?

 

pretty sure you can max it out, and quite decent frames, an easy 60. just turn physics to low.

 

check that the 7970m is actually being used, I had some trouble initially setting it up where it was using the igpu instead of the 7970m even though I had it set to the 7970m in catalyst, can't remember how i fixed it unfortunately.

 

I made sure PhysX was low, I now changed everything else to high, and the FPS didn't take too big of a hit, maybe 1-2.

But I still get severe underutilization,40-50%
like if I look around in sanctuarys centre, or stand at southpaw entrance and look around, I get 30FPS.

I already reinstalled drivers, no change.
I have intel HD driver xxx.2875 (oct 23 or whenever it was) if that makes any difference.

 

try using the most recent beta or stocks, might be a problem with the perf driver...

 

check that powerplay is set to max performance plugged in.
I had similar GPU usage when i had it set to maximize battery life plugged in (needed to avoid BSODs on restart) and launching the game.

 

Sounds like vsync to me.

 

Which AMD drivers do you have installed. Get the latest Beta ones here AMD Catalyst and see if that helps. Since you mentioned you're getting under utilization, updating them will probably help.

 

Thanks for the help guys.
Fixed.... somewhat.

I reinstalled windows 8, and left it with the intel HD 2867 drivers it comes with. I installed stock amd drivers (no intel media package selected) and then enduro performance drivers directly over top.

My FPS now doesn't drop below 40, I get 40+ in sanctuary, utilization is at 70-80%. (Settings are at max). I went to southpaw entrance, and FPS is at 60+ looking around. Other games run better as well: I get well over 100 fps in bioshock, as opposed to 60 before.

But now my graphics card fan turns on periodically, when before it didn't. Even if I do Fn+1 to turn fan to max, and then turn it off, the fan turns on again in a couple of minutes. And yea I made sure nothing was set to High performance in catalyst.

And when I turn my computer on, the splash screen says "resume from hibernation" (and I shutdown my computer).

Also when I shutdown: windows logs off, the screen turns off, then fans turn off. but keyboard LED still stays on and there is a brief pause and then the fans kick up again for half a second before everything shuts down.

Definitely not the same behavior as before, but since I can game, I'm not too concerned.
Just wondering if its possible that I permanently scarred my computer with the multiple resets and BSODs trying to install and uninstall drivers.

 

The fan is bound to run more now that your GPU is not subject to under utilization. You can still try upgrading to the latest driver, and if you experience the under utilization again, feel free to roll back if you can't troubleshoot it.