Pretty random “Waiting for GPU”

SwatinemSwatinem Join Date: 2012-10-29 Member: 164362Members
in Technical Support
So I’ve read a few threads here that talk about performance and stuff.
Basically the saying is: when you have a high “waiting for gpu” you need to buy a new one.
Well I have a i5 760 and a Radeon 5770 with 8G and Win7 x64.
The system is perfectly capable to run Max Payne 3 in full HD with decent quality settings and BF3 and whatnot.

And it runs NS2 just fine... *sometimes*.

I can get smooth 30-60 fps on 24player servers and maps spammed full of buildings.
But then the other day, I’m suddenly stuck with 15-25 fps and stutters on an empty server without any structures whatsoever.

I have found NO correlation to what *map* the server is running.
I have found NO correlation to *how many players* are on the server.
I have found NO correlation to what *ping* I have.

So I can join a server, enjoy a nice game with smooth ~40fps, then restart the game, reconnect to the same server and I’m suddenly stuck with 15 fps and it is unplayable.
I have absolutely NO IDEA why this happens.

So here are some profile captures:
<a href="http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/578971142909034771/5A560B1839DFF95292E3882130F2810F2D905726/" target="_blank">http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/578971...F2810F2D905726/</a> <- smooth 50 fps on a 24 player server, low or no gpu wait at all
<a href="http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/578971142909123297/60896E5D7CE8127755B7B37750DD904D315D5B4A/" target="_blank">http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/57897114...DD904D315D5B4A/</a> <- 20 fps and stutters on a 3 player server, 10-30 ms gpu wait

Running 1920x1080 in *borderless window* mode.
I have a dual monitor setup with a second 1280x1024 monitor on the side.
Textures on max, everything else off/low, no vsync.
I have a few apps running in the background, Mumble, Nightly with Youtube, LoL Launcher, etc...
But then again, I have them running all the time in the background and I can get smooth 50fps even under those conditions.

Is there a way to save the profiles to disk so you can digg through them more easily or is there something else I can do to analyze this problem?
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Comments

  • SwatinemSwatinem Join Date: 2012-10-29 Member: 164362Members
    Here is another analysis I’ve done:
    <a href="http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/578971142909963138/B1B10EB90759A82F30963D99B9F8EE7F38E0C7AC/" target="_blank">http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/578971...F8EE7F38E0C7AC/</a> <- 40 fps in the main menu, NEVER below 16ms wait time, stutters

    Then:
    * exit the game
    * suspend to ram
    * wakeup
    * restart the game

    Then a game with decent 50+ fps on *the same server* and *the same map* as before.

    After the game, i got 60fps in main menu and the rendering does not even appear in the profile:
    <a href="http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/578971142910520570/D21894B5EA8DE8C9823657007B83580A7DC95DA3/" target="_blank">http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/578971...83580A7DC95DA3/</a>
    Also i managed to capture that strange main menu stutter: GUI...
    But then again, this stutter is not noticeable when the game runs smooth, but is when the game does not run smooth.

    Soooooo....
    In conclusion I guess there is some kind of synchronization issue.
    For some unknown reason, the game sometimes just waits for 1 vblank (16ms) and runs with low fps and stutters, unplayable.
    Next time i start the game, this issue does not happen (for whatever reason) and I can actually enjoy playing with decent and stable fps.

    Any ideas what is going on? Any way I can help to diagnose the problem?
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  • SwatinemSwatinem Join Date: 2012-10-29 Member: 164362Members
    I’ve also tried using fullscreen mode instead of borderless window mode, which has no effect.
    Enabling vsync (double buffering) moves the time spent into a different function (not WaitForBufferedFrames) but the frame time and the stutters remain.

    Basically a suspend&resume cycle can randomly trigger this effect. So it might as well be some driver or windows issue. But then again, NS2 is the only game that suffers from this issue. Everything else just runs fine...
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  • WilsonWilson Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 72867Members
    edited October 2012
    Only thing I can think of is update drivers and check your GPU temp when you have low fps. You could also try turning down your resolution and see if you still notice it at lower res.
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  • SwatinemSwatinem Join Date: 2012-10-29 Member: 164362Members
    Updated the drivers, set resolution to 1600x900 (still borderless window) and I got the same problem...
    Closed Firefox, suspend&resume, start game and I can play with smooth 50fps, and now with the smaller resolution I can also enable all the graphical features apart from SSOA. Game look awesome, and runs fine; if I don’t hit this strange bug that is.

    I don’t have enough evidence to support that Firefox or Flash has anything to do with it, I will investigate further...
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  • SwatinemSwatinem Join Date: 2012-10-29 Member: 164362Members
    Now with the final, I’ve resumed my system from hibernate/sleep 3 times and haven’t hit the bug since, also with firefox and flash running in the background. I will get back to you if I hit this again.
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  • SwatinemSwatinem Join Date: 2012-10-29 Member: 164362Members
    I know now for sure that the problem is the flash player. When I have a plugin-container process running, frames are horrible, once i kill that process, game runs fine, no restarts needed.
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