GTX 295 and Microstuttering

[Bee_Dee_3_Dee]

I apologize if it needs be in the screenshot section. Should moderators feel necessary to move it, please do. But given the topic on MS of 295, I think it's more relevant to post here rather than in the screenshot section. My point: no MS with Crysis franchise, Mirror's Edge, L4D, CoD5, Assassin's Creed, GTA4, FC2, TR:Underworld, Dead Space, RA3, Gears of War. Everything maxed out except in Crysis. Not only did I not see any MS, fps is hands down astonishing. If you are reluctant about getting one of these beasts b/c of MS, worry not.


Glad to hear it......I couldnt agree more.

Me Glad too. :D I luv all those games. And sooooo Glad that I'm trading up to the GTX295 and NOT the GTX285. (lee) My GTX295 will be here in a week.
:captnkill: :captnkill: (nana2) (nana2) :beer: :beer: :super: :super: :smoking: :smoking:

[mailman2]

And I can't imagine that after all the complaining everyone did about the POS 9800X2, that nVidia did not cringe endlessly, and as a result they would not repeat releasing another POS MSing Sandwiched Card. :)


...and why not? They did it with the 7950GX2 and 9800GX2. They've fooled me twice now. Those were the WORST cards I've ever owned.

[Remmy1]

Ya, it would be interesting to hear what Nvidia truly thinks about the SLI Microstutter problem. It would be reassuring to hear them admit there was a problem and it has been fixed whether through the driver updates or some hardware modification allowing the two GPUs to better work together.

It's just concerning that it has been reported with every dual GPU card on the market from the 4870 X2s to the 295. It sounds like it may be better but that type of chit drives me crazy if I even notice it at all. And my SLI setup was disappointing to say the least.

[Bee_Dee_3_Dee]

And I can't imagine that after all the complaining everyone did about the POS 9800X2, that nVidia did not cringe endlessly, and as a result they would not repeat releasing another POS MSing Sandwiched Card. :)
...and why not? They did it with the 7950GX2 and 9800GX2. They've fooled me twice now. Those were the WORST cards I've ever owned.

They got me with the 9800X2 so I'm jumping aboard the SS FOOLS SHIP and getting an GTX295! :nana:

But I think the difference is the 2X448 Bit Memory Bus! Just think of how poor the 9800X2 was without a proper SLI Driver config. IT WAS WORSE THAN AN 8800!!! (NVIDIA!) :bash:

Added with MS, that got me the most pissed-off of all. :rw:

So I'm ready to sink, but my Life Jacket is made up of the following and I trust it:

I'm positive that all the criticizing on the NVNews forums about the 9800GX2 influenced nVidia in regards to making a better GTX295. Combining all the criticizing, with a 2X448 Bit Memory Bus, plus all the reviews I've read on the nVNews Forums this month, I believe has resulted in one kick ass card.

Heads woulda shoulda rolled and maybe did with the 9800X2 and 7850X2. But if the GTX295 suck(s)ed, ppl at nVidia really really really know it this time! (lee) I hope us ppl that bought the 7950GX2 and 9800GX2 were just Guinea Pigs. :D And for me the 8800GTX was like the beginning of a mission to another planet. The 9800X2 and 7850X2 were just disasters that come hand in hand with any grandiose endeavor. :thumbsup:

[pureoption]

Hi,

I was about to order 2*GTX295's to run on quad then stumbled on this as I didn't know whether it was myth or fact.

See it for yourself:
Around 2 minutes 45 seconds on micro stutter.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CHPtbDz7xgE

Single GTX 295 is much less noticable but in SLI its probability increases dratically.
Guess I'm going with tri GTX 285 instead.

Thanks All.

Pureoption

[m3dude]

yep, its also quite noticeable at 1:03 during the entire far cry 2 scene. its pretty obvious to me that its an issue but all the mini marketers here claim you need superman vision to notice it :rolleyes: . that or they have magic computers sprinkled with fairy dust that somehow dont suffer from this issue.

[methimpikehoses]

Won't most cards stutter at that resolution and graphics setting though? I mean, I assume that the 295 is going to be going through those scenes much smoother than a GTX 285 would.

[-=DVS=-]

Hi,

I was about to order 2*GTX295's to run on quad then stumbled on this as I didn't know whether it was myth or fact.

See it for yourself:
Around 2 minutes 45 seconds on micro stutter.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CHPtbDz7xgE

Single GTX 295 is much less noticable but in SLI its probability increases dratically.
Guess I'm going with tri GTX 285 instead.

Thanks All.

Pureoption

If quad SLI stutters tri SLI not gonna be any different imho, as for vantage its stutters with single core also depending on scene i would not call it microstutter, id say its poor engine considering its not even a game but slideshow , as for FarCry 2 i don't get stuttering with single 295 or 280, don't have quad to test....
But there is alot of confusion going on any kind of stutter =! microstutter ;)

[pureoption]

I think it's to do with 2GPUs on one card (GTX295) x2 (Quad) causes much more micro stutter rather than 3x285 single GPU card on tri sli or just a single GTX 295. I asked another guy whom did both setup and tested on you tube as well the guy on my last post(different source):

(The 2nd guy also confirmed GTX295 micro stutter)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QN4Vb8E5er8

(No micro on tri sli GTX285 but suggests if not overclocking and using stock then just go for 3xGTX280 rather than 3xGTX285)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xKoFh_wZExc

So I asked the 2nd guy:
"
- pureoption
Nice one mate! Did you get any micro stutter on the tri GTX285 setup cos you mentioned GTX295 quad was unplable due to M-stutter?
- R3APERvsTYETREE (reply)
No microstutter on the tri setup its just an issue with the 295 quad sli hardware
"

Thanks all.

Pureoption

[-=DVS=-]

pureoption is a bot , replied 1 second after i posted :o

[methimpikehoses]

reported

[pureoption]

Man. I really really wanted 2xGTX295 (Quad) looks like I'll go for 3xGTX285's instead.

I know that guy said 3xGTX280 should be best option but I offset the energy saving from the smaller GPU on the 285 compared to 280 plus better temps will offset the cost difference.

Thanks All.

Pureoption

[ChrisRay]

Man. I really really wanted 2xGTX295 (Quad) looks like I'll go for 3xGTX285's instead.

I know that guy said 3xGTX280 should be best option but I offset the energy saving from the smaller GPU on the 285 compared to 280 plus better temps will offset the cost difference.

Thanks All.

Pureoption

3 GTX 285's are not any less prone to inter-frame delay errors than Quad 295's are. They both use AFR for performance enhancement. However neither of which suffer to such a degree that you should be overly worried.

I think it's to do with 2GPUs on one card (GTX295) x2 (Quad) causes much more micro stutter rather than 3x285 single GPU card on tri sli or just a single GTX 295. I asked another guy whom did both setup and tested on you tube as well the guy on my last post(different source):p

Absolutely not. The more GPUS you have. The faster your AFR will be. The only difference is theres a slight increase in latency per GPU.

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=1910525&postcount=49

[pureoption]

Maybe I just risk it and go for 2xGTX295 and if I get micro stutter, then just phase cool it using the Xpressar RCB400 Series on the GPUs. Overclock the bad boys till MS disappear.:cool:

http://www.xpressar.com/news/09-0119.html

Besides air cooling days are limited and I can't be bother with water cooling so phase cooling seem like a good investment.

Thanks All.

Pureoption

[ChrisRay]

Your cooling or tempatures won't change anything. I'm just saying that 3 285's is not gonna offer a substancial difference in performance or frame times than 2 295's. And you'll get the SLIAA benefits of 4 GPUs.

[Remmy1]

Looks like I just sold my second 260, so now I'm in the market. GTX 285 or 295 Hmmm. I wish this MS wasn't an issue but it seems the beast is rearing its head with the 295 at least in some reports. Maybe I'll just run my old 7800 GT until the 300 series comes out. But that would suck.

[Bee_Dee_3_Dee]

no, it's not. I've been driven nuts by the 7950GX2 and 9800GX2 from Micro stutter. It exists and for those sensitive to it, it ruins any gaming experience.

There's no need to FEAR!
________________________________________
(http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/evga-geforce-gtx295_5.html)
Conclusion

Summing everything up, we can say that Nvidia has come up not with just a competitive dual-core graphics cards, but with the best-in-class solution which is far superior to its AMD counterpart in performance in modern games as well as in other consumer properties such as power consumption, noisiness and heat dissipation. Nvidia’s programmers did a good job, too. It is the first time in our tests that a multi-GPU card from Nvidia is actually free from any compatibility and performance problems, being superior to the Radeon HD 4870 X2 in this respect, too.

________________________________________

(pimp):clap2::jumping: :jammin: :beer::super::thumbsup: :tongue2::cool3::cool3::cool3:(salute)

________________________________________

PS
And only one of these 20+ reviews even brought up the subject of Micro Stuttering:
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=1911367#post1911367

[CAUTION]

Well I can't speak for anyone but for myself, and I see no MSing period. I have played UT3, Counter Strike Source, NBA 2K9, GTA4, GRID, and CRYSIS. And I run TWO 30inch monitors with no problems. I just think that dual GPU's have had such a bad rep in the past, that no one is giving the GTX295 a chance. And what is even more crazy, is that people are complaining that don't even own one. This makes no sense at all. Only thing that I have a problem with is heat issues, these things can really get hot at full load. But for what it is worth I am extremely satisfied with my purchase.

[HYBRID]

Well I can't speak for anyone but for myself, and I see no MSing period. I have played UT3, Counter Strike Source, NBA 2K9, GTA4, GRID, and CRYSIS. And I run TWO 30inch monitors with no problems. I just think that dual GPU's have had such a bad rep in the past, that no one is giving the GTX295 a chance. And what is even more crazy, is that people are complaining that don't even own one. This makes no sense at all. Only thing that I have a problem with is heat issues, these things can really get hot at full load. But for what it is worth I am extremely satisfied with my purchase.

Bingo!

[Rummy]

Yeah I don't see any micro-stuttering on mine either and I have played Crysis, Warhead, TF2, and COD W@W. Games run really smooth.

[Blacklash]

I've run; WiC, Lost Planet, FC2, Crysis All Very High, Age of Conan, Oblivion, Oblivion: The Shivering Isles, Tomb Raider Underworld, GRID, Jericho, and Assassin's Creed. I play 1920x with filtering active and crank titles details setting to their max.

The only game I noticed any pausing with was FC2 using AA and that happens on single card as well. The way I fixed that was setting AA in game then enabled "enhance" in the nVidia CP for 8-16x CSAA. I am unsure why that smooths out AA performance and it does.

I can not feel the any difference in smoothness of play between a single card or SLi or Tri-SLi. As my sig indicates, I'm using mixed GTX 260 SLi, or that is two 216 cards and one 192SP card.

A lot of folks moan about MS when their hard drive is likely the culprit. Especially in MMOs. Often these are people with 512Mb cards playing at 1920x using 2Gb system ram or much less with AA active.

System restore use to cause crazy MS under XP and I haven't tried it under Vista. As did Creative sound drivers and I'm talking three years ago. They may have tightened up their game.

People that want smooth gaming performance in today's demanding games at a decent resolution ought to:

1. Keep their paging file on a hard disk other than the one with their OS and applications if possible.
2. Disable system restore and other windows services you may not be using.
3. Disable anti virus while gaming. Norton is notorious for lagging MMOs.
4. Move to a 64 bit OS and 4Gb ram.
5. Buy a card with greater than 512Mb ram if you play at a higher res than 1280x, particularly if you like using AA. Games are only getting more demanding. Not less.
6. SLi has overhead. Use a CPU that isn't ancient or slow to support it. An old CPU I'd find acceptable would be an E6600 @ 3.0GHz. Q6600s are now 190usd and will do 3.0GHz all day and night on stock voltage.
7. Delete old temporary files off your computer and regularly scan for tracking cookings and spyware.
8. If your hard drive is ancient you may want to update that. WD has a lot of decent low price solid performing drives.

If you want to try SLi buy a card from a place that allows you to return it. If you aren't happy do just that.

Chris makes great points about people often complaining about their video card performance when other things in their system may be the culprit instead. Also most games are developed and coded for the console. Some are poorly ported to the PC and won't perform well on any computer, or that is when you enable details beyond what a console might use or use something beyond its typical res.

It is true if you don't give a flip about filtering in your games you may play at a much higher res than you might with AA active on a 512Mb card.

[ChrisRay]

Lack of video/System memory can even be attributed to hard drive trashing/reads. Since anything thats being shared between system/GPU memory. May cause system memory to use Windows "virtual" memory. Causing more hard drive usage than normal. But ya... it really can be a number of multiple issues. I would not be surprised if 9800GX2 would occasionally suffer from all 3 dependent on the system in use.

[Remmy1]

Ended up going with a GTX 285 SC. Can't wait to try it out and who knows maybe I'll step up to a 295 when the time comes, if the 300 series isn't out yet.

[Thoreau]

Well, solving a problem isn't possible with people who can't replicate it. No offense, but looking at many of the GTX 295 benchmarks on youtube you can clearly see the microstutter problem. Whether you crank your card up to max resolution to expose the problem is another issue.

Outside of the realm of your personal experiences I see few GTX 295 cards being sold on the internet now. They have been effectively yanked by newegg. Set as discontinued. Apparently, there aren't enough people out there that haven't seen the issue to make it profitable.

Can an Nvidia representative comment on this? Is it a design flaw, and if so when will it be corrected. The market has already corrected for it. I'm hoping that the issue will be acknowledged and corrected on Nvidia's part.

While the frame rates are excellent with the 295, that doesn't mean squat if it's flapping all over the place. I am concerned with this because I am in the market. And the problems are:

A. Microstutter
B. Heat
C. Mysteriously pulled/no availability after it was once available
D. No Nvidia acknowledgment on the issues above

That's it. While I appreciate that some folks don't have issues at this game on that resolution, that isn't good enough. When coughing up a grand, it better work as well or better than a $100 card. Don't take this as a personal affront on your coolness or lack thereof. That isn't what this is about. It's an investment, and if it's broke I need to know how it's going to be resolved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHPtbDz7xgE

[Chevyman03]

I just wanted to chime in as I have a gtx 295 and have no MS problems. I have played alot of the newer games and have no complaints.