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  1. #1

    FFXI + Catalyst 10.2 = performance drop?

    Hi everyone!

    Before sending a letter to ATI/AMD, I tought I'll write about my problem here to see if anyone else are experiencing the same problem as me with the latest Catalyst 10.2 driver.

    My system specs:
    OS: windows 7 64bit
    CPU: Core i7 3,3 GHz (TurboBoost always off)
    GPU: Radeon HD5780
    MEM: 6GB DDR3 1600 MHz
    Windower 3.42 (1280x768, bg 2048x2048, 16:10)

    Yesterday, when i upgraded my Catalyst drivers from 9.10 to 10.2, i experienced a weird FFXI world lag or stuttering. While my character movements felt normal and the Windower reported always the framerate at 29.4, the objects that I was walking by in Altepa desert felt to me very stuttering. It was hard to "eyeball" the exact framerate on these world objects, but after so many years of playing FFXI it didnt feel normal and it couldn't be higher than 10 - 15 fps.

    Since I just had upgraded the Catalyst drivers to 10.2, I immediately suspected they were the cause. I started investigating my system to see if anything else could be wrong. But i couldn't really find anything useful. What I did notice thought, was the fact that CPU usage were almost 0% when moving around in the game. Also, both CPU and GPU temperatures were lower than what they usually are. It was like the game didn't use any resources at all. Normally the CPU temp would be around 36 C and GPU 65 C while playing FFXI, but with version 10.2, they were 33 and 55 respectively. Because FFXI uses only one core, its usually easy to see which one is doing the work when no other apps are running, but with the 10.2, the CPU usage was so low that I wasn't even able to see from the Task Manager which core is doing the work while I was running. (I'm sorry, I did take a screenshot, but I don't have rights to post URL's to pictures on this forum).

    After hours of playing, testing and several restarts, I decided to roll the Catalyst drivers back to 9.10 to see if things get back to normal. And guess what? Things did get back to normal. There is no world stuttering, objects pass by smooth and CPU/CPU temperatures were back to where they used to be. It's also easy to see which core is doing the work when the game is running.

    Normally, the lower CPU usage would be a good thing. But not when it also lowers the gaming performance. It is possible that some kind of power saving feature kicks in with FFXI, but I didnt find any way to configure it in the Catalyst Control Center. All other settings are set to "Use application settings".

    I wonder if anyone else with similar system are experiencing those problems with Catalyst version 10.2? Also, could there be any way to fix it without downgrading the Catalyst to 9.10. I would hate to be stuck with old drivers forever.

    PS. I also tested Bad Company 2 and DiRT2 with both Catalyst versions, but I didn't see any difference between the drivers and they both handled the games very smooth.

  2. #2
    New Merits
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    210
    BG Level
    4
    FFXI Server
    Bahamut
    WoW Realm
    Cho'gall

    i basically have the same build as you, how would I check what version driver of catalyst im running?

  3. #3
    My Little Ixion
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    8,069
    BG Level
    8
    FFXIV Character
    Olorin Bustyoas
    FFXIV Server
    Sargatanas
    FFXI Server
    Ramuh

    Quote Originally Posted by Reeno View Post
    i basically have the same build as you, how would I check what version driver of catalyst im running?
    Catalyst versions are named on the year & month of release.. so if you updated it in Feb you would have Version 10.2 build ###

  4. #4
    And they're spectacular!
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    610
    BG Level
    5
    FFXIV Character
    Mitzy Mystfire
    FFXIV Server
    Gilgamesh
    FFXI Server
    Titan

    I have a similar problem with the 10.2 drivers with Aion. I upgraded to 10.2 from 9.12, after which Aion was capping at 30 fps with v-sync on. With 9.12, it was capping at 60 fps with v-sync on. After tinkering around with things for awhile on 10.2 and not being able to get above the 30 fps cap, I decided to go back to 9.12, and enjoy 60 fps goodness. Any ideas?

    Here are my specs:

    OS: XP SP3
    CPU: E8400
    GPU: Radeon 5850
    RAM: 2x 2GB DDR2 800
    PSU: Corsair 520HX
    MOBO: Gigabyte GA-EP35-D3SL

  5. #5
    Melee Summoner
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    34
    BG Level
    1
    FFXI Server
    Ragnarok

    Quote Originally Posted by Olo401 View Post
    Catalyst versions are named on the year & month of release.. so if you updated it in Feb you would have Version 10.2 build ###
    Wow. Really? Well, that would be a big help in diagnosing problems now wouldn't it? Man... I *really* find the time to work on my PC.

  6. #6
    Drunken Red Mage
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    2,907
    BG Level
    7
    FFXIV Character
    Auspice Lasserott
    FFXIV Server
    Hyperion
    FFXI Server
    Cerberus

    Sadly the newer Catalyst drivers are complete shit for XI. With Windows 7 the best luck I've had is with the 9.7 drivers but I still get weird texture glitches like the back of my RDM chapeau likes to flick up and down like a tongue for no reason. O_o

  7. #7
    The Wang
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Posts
    1,345
    BG Level
    6
    FFXIV Character
    Furt Wangler
    FFXIV Server
    Coeurl
    FFXI Server
    Sylph

    I just got a 5770, 10.2 drivers out of the box gave me horizontal shearing issues for any fps, never tried ffxi. went to 9.idk and im better now, no ffxi probs

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