Better PC gets worse performance. (FPS)

[evox91 1]

So ive been playing DayZ for about 2 months now, and ive only just started venturing into Cherno in order to help people out, but its almost impossible for me to go near the city due to the fact that my framerate drops down to about 5-10 FPS. I have always had poor FPS (20-30) while running around in the wilderness, but this is getting unbearable, and it makes sniping impossible. My girlfriend just got DayZ as well, and when i looked over at her screen, i was amazed to see her getting 60-70 FPS while running around, and keeping at least 30 FPS while in Cherno, this is baffling for me due to the fact that her computer is not as powerful compared to my own. When i looked over our settings to make sure i didnt have something turned on that she didnt, i saw that all of our settings were the exact same. Ive been searching for a couple weeks now trying to figure this out, but i simply cant. The tech stuff starts now.

-----My Rig-----

CPU: Intel Core i5-650 Clarkdale 3.2GHz LGA 1156 73W

RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

PSU: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V

MoBo: ASUS P7P55D-E LX LGA 1156 Intel P55

GPU: HIS H467QR1GH Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3

-----Her Rig-----

CPU: AMD Athlon X2 245

RAM: 4GB (4 x 1GB) DDR2 (cant find more specs, too old and mixed sticks)

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V

MoBo: ECS BLACK SERIES A780GM-A

GPU: HIS H467QR1GH Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3

Typically while playing in Cherno, my FPS will be 5-10, and when i look at my GPU and CPU monitors, the CPU load is around 70%, and the GPU load is only at a measly 30%. Her CPU and GPU Loads are around 80% and 100% respectivly, and she maintains 30 FPS. Both computers have the exact same AMD Drivers, the same DayZ update, and the same Arma 2 beta patch, and i cant figure out what could be causing my GPU to not be loaded correctly, causing my FPS to plummet. My case has much better ventilation, and my components are all very cool, so im fairly sure its not some sort of overheating problem, especially as the FPS isnt higher when my computer first boots up. Its not a bad graphics card, as i have swapped both of ours to rule out that possibility, i have uninstalled and reinstalled my graphics drivers, and cleaned off every bit of dust from my components with compressed air. This isnt actually the only game where her computer outperforms mine, but this is the only game where it is this bad, so i think its a combination of problems with DayZ, and my computer itself. I start via Six Launcher with extra parameters set to: -nosplash -cpucount=2 -exThreads=1. I have also modified the ArmA2Free and ArmA2OA config files with:

GPU_MaxFramesAhead=1;

GPU_DetectedFramesAhead=1;

Any tips or suggestions would help guys, im dying over here.

Edited July 26, 2012 by Evictus

[burno111 1]

Not a big computer person, So don't know if this will help, But I have don't have enough memory in my computer which causes it to act slow in game. But only at some areas. Also might want to check Temp of Video card, and change the Video memory or what ever it is in the options to low.

[Vipeax 318]

I'd start by changing exThreads=1 to 7.

[evox91 1]

i have plenty of memory (both RAM and HDD space) and my CPU runs at around 50*c, while my GPU runs around 32*c. I have tinkered with the video memory settings and found that it works best just leaving it at default. Thanks for the ideas though.

[evox91 1]

ill try switching that to 7, but i would think its a tad excessive as with the 2 cores, as i only have 4 threads. ill post an update as to what happens

[Vipeax 318]

the exThreads parameter doesn't define that it is allowed to use 7 threads ;).

[evox91 1]

tried it out, no significant change, CPU load was 50% GPU load was 40%. Was getting about 10 FPS whish is pretty normal for cherno :/

Edited July 26, 2012 by Evictus

[Vipeax 318]

What do you get in singleplayer environments?

[evox91 1]

havent looked at my GPU and CPU loads, but i get an easy 80-100 FPS in singleplayer

went back and tried singleplayer again, i was surprised to see myself only getting about 15-25 FPS (it was Takistan? not very familiar with ArmA outside of DayZ) there were a lot of buildings like you might see in cherno, but at least everything was smooth. GPU load was at 100% which i was happy to see, and CPU was around 70%.

Edited July 26, 2012 by Evictus

[Vipeax 318]

And are you actually on the same server and location as your gf?

[evox91 1]

same exact place, on top of the tall factory building in the smack dead center of cherno, looking right at eachother. I dont think it could be a server problem, as everyone else on the server gets normal FPS.

[Abruz 12]

I played on a laptop card, a 5650, which is seemingly just a bit worse than yours and maintained 30-ish frames on low settings.

Are you on low settings? Have you checked your game settings/reso are the same as hers when testing FPS?

The graphics cards aren't exactly spectacular, if you were to upgrade I'm sure you'd get a better experience.

@the guy who said put video memory on low - have you tried "default"?

Edited July 27, 2012 by Abruzzi

[evox91 1]

neither of us are on low settings, we have the same monitor, same reso, same settings for everything, and she maintains a pretty constant 30-40fps in the middle of cherno, while i get 5-15. Since we both have the same graphics card, and hers runs perfectly, i dont think that is the source of the issue im having. I can only wonder if it has something to do with my CPU or PSU really, ive heard that not having sufficient power can really jack things up, but i would think that my 550W would pack enough of a punch to take care of everything, esp since my GFs rig is only on a 450W and works fine.

i just tried setting everything to low, got about 3 fps on average more, but GPU is still idling at 25-30%

Edited July 27, 2012 by Evictus

[grayclay 0]

I'm having very similiar problems to you, and the generic response seems to be its a computer issue.

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/43674-on-again-off-again-fps-lag-cant-figure-out-why/

I have a hard time believing my computer, which can run triple A games, including Arma 2 and CO, at all max graphics with 60+ fps, is chugging along too hard for DayZ.

The only times I've noticed any increase in framerate, outside of the standard 5 I'm getting, has been:

-Brand new server session on a freshly restarted server

-First 5 minutes of a sparse few rounds

-Pure night time server

In these I was getting massively improved FPS.

I have updated video card drivers, updated clients, done all the cfg tweaks, nothing helps, not even when I'm playing the game on the lowest settings available. I'm thinking there is either a memory leak or some sort of hard drive use overload.

[m1lkm8n 61]

Search armaholic in yahoo. I think it is armaholic.com but not 100% sure.

Anyway they have great tips on how to optimize arma 2.

Most likely it may be you maxprerendered frames set to high.

Check it out.

[j5dude 1]

I've been having the same exact problem as you. I've pretty much tried all I could to fix this and I still have no big changes. I can't aim steady enough to shoot people because I get about 5-15fps in cities like Cherno or Electro. I can run Skyrim and Crysis on all max graphics with 60 fps + but this game seems to be hard on my computer. Someone please help!

[Abruz 12]

If you have a feeling the PSU might be faulty, try plugging your girlfriend's one into your computer? Mix and match, see if it increases any performance or shows you the faulty part.

[evox91 1]

i just reformated my computer and im going to try to run dayz with almost nothing else on my computer to make sure its not a software problem, but if that doesnt work, i guess i'll plug in my girlfriends PSU then, but before i do that, could it potentially mess up my system because its not as powerful? i just dont want to mess up my parts by using an underpowered PSU.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Evictus

[kristoferen 10]

I'm sorry if this is daft, but so far nobody suggest this:

Use the -winxp switch as a launch parameter.

[evox91 1]

huh, havent tried that, this is the first ive read about that parameter. If my problem isnt fixed by the reformat, ill add that to the other parameters, thanks for bringing that up. ill post an update on the performance as soon as its done installing via Steam.

[evox91 1]

after formatting and adding -winxp to the parameters, i did notice a mild FPS increase, although i think that has do do with the server being a night server. Still testing, will update as i learn more

[evox91 1]

nothing i do seems to improve my performance. getting extremely frustrated with this whole thing. i followed a few guides and used RAMdisk to set up a lightning fast virtual harddrive to run the DayZ mod off of, i can run it just fine so i know i did it correctly, but i still get the same FPS as i did beforehand. last thing to do is swap PSUs with my girlfriends computer, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Ill post and update with the effects of that as soon as i can.

[optionism 28]

Heh, I read this entire thread, and I realize, that I get more FPS than a powerfully faster and updated pc than of my laptop, which can't even run ArmA II on minimal settings, but I happen to be running smooth in Day Z.

[tinit 54]

how do you find out yur FPS in Dayz

[kristoferen 10]

Use a program like MSI Afterburner or FRAPS or something. (Note that these MAY give you a SLIGHT to MODERATE performance hit while running, so use with a grain of salt and only while testing and not all the time)

Did the -winxp switch increase your GPU load at all? It brought mine from 40% to 99%.

Have you tried playing with the -exThreads=1 value? (ie, disabling or setting to 2).

Do you have the same driver version on both PC's? You say you do, but are you suuuure? (wishful thinking here that its a simple overlooked issue ;p)

Is DirectX updated? (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35)

Does the high-FPS PC have any different settings in the ATI Control Center? (ie, forced vsync, AA, AF, etc)