ATI 5970 Micro Stuttering?

Hi,

I was seriously considering buying the ATI 5970, when I was reading reviews and one review mentioned that it suffered from micro stuttering.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...the-fastest-DirectX-11-graphics-card/Reviews/

What exactly is micro stuttering? Will it affect gameplay? Is it better to just buy the ATI 5870?

 

If you check our threads below, I think this has to do with certain driver settings for the 5x series in general. I have a fix that worked for me (forced vsync + no bluetooth mouse) but I think it's specific to certain hardware configs.

In terms of what it is - it's almost like everything is a little jittery.

 

have they not fixed this issue yet ?

 

All dual GPU setups suffer from 'microstuttering' to some degree. Whether or not you notice it is a different matter. If you are sensitive to things like this then I recommend sticking with a single GPU like the 5870.

 

I notice no micro stuttering and I've owned a 3870+3850 setup, 4870/4890 setup and now two 5770s. In that time I've had the 4870 and 4890 on their own also I saw absolutely 0 difference, and I think in large part this "Micro stuttering" is a made up tale. Maybe it happens, but it doesn't have to do with dual GPU solutions. More likely it is a misinterpretation of another issue or some kind of driver incompatibility.

 

Stuttering, is not a problem for ATI cards today....

 

Thats not what they would have you believe!

 

it was when i had a 4870 512

 

Yes, there is microstutter on every dual gpu configuration brand (Does not matter)

Still some notice it some aint.

 

This is true to some extent - many people mistake HDD lag for microstuttering. Microstuttering is when the game is running at a fluid FPS but still appears to skip frames. I have seen this phenomenon myself - but it is easy to miss unless you're looking for it.

 

Allot of that , is also from your monitor.... Ghosting, etc.... monitors speed , etc.... many factors.. right down to imagination can point to what people call Microstuttering

 

if i remember correctly, microstutter can also be due to the method of crossfire rendering. ie for split frame rendering where half the frame is rendered per gpu, if one gpu lags or outperforms the other, then a microstutter may occur.

or for alternate frame rendering, if one gpu is slower than the other, it may not have created the alternate frame quick enough.

most of these though are reasons why its recommended to crossfire with same card same company same oc. or if your computer is fast enough to exceed 60fps (per card-ish) and you run vsync, you can generally avoid the issue of one card rendering faster/slower than the other as both cards will just render the set amount of frames, no more, no less.

however, these are only a few reasons, there are many others as Datagg3 has mentioned.

 

It do exist, it actually forced me to go from GTX295 to GTX285, because some games (there was clearly some that were more effected than others) like Lord of the Rings Online had these strange tearing and kind of "lightning" effect going across the screen when I jumped and moved the camera fast, after disabling one of the GPU's this strange effect disappeared instantly.

That's why I ended up with a GTX285 instead, why this strange effect occurredI really don't know, but it happened in quite a few games, seemed pretty random expect for Lord of the Rings Online which was the worst game of them all.


Might have been the drivers, might have been some hardware issue.. I don't know, but annoying it sure was!

But I'm sure things like that improves with every new generation, and after all AMD / ATI have more experience with these dual-gpu solutions than nVIDIA.

 

Well thanks for the help everyone, I'm going to go with the 5870. It has all the performance I need and I could always buy another if I need more. Now I know about micro stuttering I am sure I will subconsciously try to notice it and it will annoy the hell out of me.

 

And this is the problem with this Microstuttering nonsense.

It exists in so few cases, if any, but it stops people from getting what they truly want because they're so afraid of it.

As I've said..I've owned no less than three crossfire setups across many platforms...0 microstutter.

 

I've run multi gpu setup since the 3dfx Voodoo 2 SLi days and I never experience any microstutter in a noticeable form.

 

Hey. I've had a GTX 295 for about 7 months. I've been wondering why it seems to be running at about 30fps for fractions of a second, when Far Cry 2's in-game FPS counter says 59.8fps. It had been bugging me for months so I overclocked my i7 920 to 4.2ghz, then my 295 with EVGA voltage tuner to 1100MV's and then pushed my card to 700/1509/1200 which has been stable for months and has significantly increased my FPS but still the, what I self claimed to be 'flickering'........ Also, before the GTX 295, I had a 4870X2, which was also producing the flicker, so I sold it and upgraded but still the flicker. It became so annoying in some cases that I'd spend most of my gaming time screwing with configs and finding custom .cfg's etc etc to get rid of it but it's never gone away. So, I've done a bunch of research into the 5890 and came across the term 'microstuttering', whilst on my search for a solution and upgrade. So, I disabled SLI, put in Far Cry 2 and not only did my FPS stay at 60 (with vsync and 60hz monitor) but the microstuttering disappeared. NICE! Finally can finish this game, although 5 hours in it's pretty dull but still...........

So from what I've learnt over the past months, microstuttering is definitely an issue with the 5890/5870CFX believe it or not. It's disappointing cos GTX 480 SLI/5890 sounds so freaking good but lately, if it's anything to go by, the other half of my GTX 295 is getting pretty cold. fingers crossed for a stutter free SLI/crossfire card/s.

 

5890..???


ive experienced 0 microstutter with the 5900, early driver revisions saw a little non fps related stuttering but its been gone since 10.1

its really not a problem, i speak to loads of owners & none of those see it either...

earlier dual GPU solutions suffered badly (the GX2 was terrible), but its all but gone now..

 

No microstutter here or 4870trifire. I remember having some with my 8800gt sli, but maybe it was some driver related.

 

ok, sounds promising. For anyone with the infamous microstuttering with Far Cry 2, try gfx_maxfps 62. (depending on monitor refresh rate, make it about 2fps over the refresh rate of your screen). I had it at gfx_maxfps 60, which allowed it to drop just below 60fps, which caused the microstutter. Probably old news but it was a break through for me tonight. SLI working pretty well now in FC2. Cheers.