Disappointing Frame Rates (FPS)

[Pillendreher]

I've upgraded my 6850 1 GB VRAM to a R9 380 4 GB VRAM, but the performance gain isn't nearly as big as I hoped. I noticed gigantic macro stuttering after installing the card, so I "stripped down the game" to find the culprit.

 

I've started with the Vanilla Game+HighResDLC. With everything set to ultra and VSync off, I'm getting 41/81/60,3 fps during the first minute of the intro (with my FX-8320@stock). This just seems off based on these Skyrim Benchmark results:

 

https://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php/artikel/hardware/grafikkarten/35903-drei-modelle-der-radeon-r9-380-im-test.html?start=9

https://www.pcgameshardware.de/AMD-Radeon-Grafikkarte-255597/Specials/Radeon-R9-390X-Test-1162303/

 

The card itself is working fine since I'm getting results via the Heaven Engine benchmarks that match those by other R9 380 owners.

The FX-8320 is working at 3,7 GHz (Turbo) at 1,4V. My fps dropped even further while running the CPU at 3,7 GHz (No Turbo, OC via BIOS) at 1,35V (solid 13% drop even though the clock speed is the same). - How is that possible?

 

Before I start tackling the stutter issue again - is that kind of performance normal? I mean we're talking about a 4 year old game with no mods whatsoever barely hitting 60 fps. My fps near Whiterun aren't better mind you.

[winflakes]

I think you should expect 40-60 fps in exteriors with a modded Skyrim. Don't waste too many hours trying to make it run smoothly at 60 fps, turn off the fps counter and start playing ;)

That's the thing Pretendeavor, I fully expect to be in the 40-60 range once i start installing mods. Up till now the only mods I have installed are the bug fixes. I haven't added anything to increase the graphical load from the base game. I won't run the FPS counter when I actually play, but to be experiencing those drops without adding any real mods means something is wrong.

 

I just did the coc whiterun run and averaged 41.0175. 

 

Anyone have any ideas why my systems seems to be self-capping at 40 FPS?

[TechAngel85]

What are your vsync settings in Inspector? Also check to make sure the frame rate limiter isn't running.

[winflakes]

Vertical Sync Smooth AFR behavior - Off

Vertical Sync Tear Control - Standard

Vertical Sync - Use the 3d Application Setting

 

I hadn't heard of the frame rate limiter, but after a quick google search it says that should be in the "common" section. I don't have it there, so I assume it isn't running.

 

On a separate question, I was going into my ini file to do some edits for 2.G and it looks like i may have something wrong. I made the edits to the actual ini files because i didn't know that MO did that. When I click the ini editor in MO, none of my changes are showing in that file. I copy pasted over it yesterday, but today those edits are gone. So is MO using the ini file in the skyrim folder, or whatever this ini file is that pulls up?

[Greg]

Mod Organizer uses the Skyrim.ini and SkyrimPrefs.ini files stored in the ModOrganizer\Profiles\[profile] folder. Also note that mods can also provide tweaks (or override) settings in plugin.ini files (where plugin is the same name as the esm or esp file).

 

The INI files in the Skyrim folder are used only when you run Skyrim Launcher to set the resolution and graphics quality. In other words, these are the base defaults settings that are copied to your user profile folder (usually C:\Users\[username]\Documents\My Games\Skyrim).

[winflakes]

Gotcha. Thanks Greg. Looks like I need to go through everything thus far and make any ini tweaks inside MO.

[TechAngel85]

Do you have Enboost installed? If so, make sure you check your vsync and limiter settings in the enblocal.ini, as well. Also, what is your screen resolution?

[winflakes]

Yes I do have ENBoost. 

 

Vsync:

EnableVSync=true

VSyncSkipNumFrames=0

 

Limiter:

WaitBusyRenderer=false

EnableFPSLimit=false

FPSLimit=10.0

 

My gut is telling me that it can't be anything with a limiter, because it goes above 40FPS often. It just holds steady at 40FPS longer than what i would deem just an FPS dip due to randomness.

 

Monitor is 1920 X 1080 at 120 Hertz refresh rate.

[TechAngel85]

Ah, turn off all vsync (driver, game, enb) and set the limiter in enblocal.ini to 59.9. That should fix it. Let me know of it does.

[winflakes]

Thanks Tech. I won't be home to test until Wednesday, but I will do that for sure. Quick question about the limiter, would the number it is set to even matter if it is toggled off?

[TechAngel85]

No, it won't be used at all if it's turned off. Best bet is the hertz of your monitor is what's causing the issue. Turning off all vsyncs and limiting the frame rate should allow the game to run as fast as it can without going over 60fps, which causes havok issues.

[winflakes]

Looks like that was my issue. I turned off vsync in the enblocal.ini and set the limiter to 59.0 (even though it is still off) and my frames started at 83 and went up and averaged 132 for the first 19 seconds... until i had to close the game due to the card spinning like a top. I'll turn on the limiter and set it to 65 and see how that does.

[winflakes]

Turning off all vsyncs and limiting the frame rate should allow the game to run as fast as it can without going over 60fps, which causes havok issues.

This fixed my Framerate drop issue. Thanks so much Tech. My average Framerate for 2.H was 59.92 with a low of 53. Thats after adding a dozen or so non-step mods, like Immersive armors and weapons.

 

The issue with the spinning cart was due to a bug in Immersive armors that i needed to download a fix for and works fine now.

 

Thanks for your help Tech!

[Hackfield]

Ah, turn off all vsync (driver, game, enb) and set the limiter in enblocal.ini to 59.9. That should fix it. Let me know of it does.

Hi Tech, wanted to ask you, what's the benefit of setting ENB's fps limiter instead of nvidia's? Because for me, the ENB limiter often gets turned off in certain places (for example when I look at Farengar's room in Dragonsreach, the limiter suddenly gets turned off and my fps goes to the sky) while with nvidia's fps limiter this doesn't happen.

[TechAngel85]

None and I would normally recommend Nvidia's. I said to use ENB limiter because Winflakes said the limiter wasn't an option when looking in Inspector.

[Hackfield]

None and I would normally recommend Nvidia's. I said to use ENB limiter because Winflakes said the limiter wasn't an option when looking in Inspector.

Oh, I've missed that part. Thanks, I was worried that nvidia's fps limiter could conflict with enb or something like that.

 

BTW, Inspector recommends setting it at 58fps (because of the input lag), is this ok? Did you find any problems setting the limit at 60fps?