Frame rate stuck at 59

[vafiii]

I'm running an ATI 5870 GC with an AMD phenom II processor, 8GB hard drive and 1 TB of memory, certainly enough to run AH with all bells and whistles. The problem is I still get some stuttering and I've noticed no matter what adjustments I make to the game, reduced resolution, textures, shadows, etc., my frame rate stays at 59. Anyone have any ideas what my problem is?

[NormH3]

Stuttering is usually caused by violent changes in framerate. 59 is certainly a respectible framerate for AH. There may be a process on your computer that robs you of cpu cycles now and again.

[Citabria]

you have a screen refresh of 60hz so if your showing 59 its because you have vsync enabled.

anything beyond 59/60fps will not show up as anything but screen tearing because your lcd screen can only display up to 60fps.

my lcd reads as 59-60fps too so i would suspect you are seeing this for the same reason

[katanaso]

I'm assuming you're running Windows 7, correct?  It's a known issue with the refresh rate rounding down to 59Hz in Windows 7 whereas it used to round up to 60Hz in Windows XP on the same monitor.  You can search Google for this.

Anyways, there have been many complaints about the little stutters you're seeing, especially people with ATI cards.  Some were related to Triple Buffering and not hitting the 60Hz refresh rate, so you could use a program like D3DOverrider with an ATI card, or create a custom 60.01Hz refresh rate with an Nvidia card.

Now, with that said, I found that on my system, my little stutters (not microstutters, like found with Crossfired cards) were being caused by the polling agents of various software.  I use MSI Overdrive to overlock my card, and once I disabled the temperature and fan sensors in that, the stutters disappeared.

I also had to stop running Open Hardware Monitor, as it monitors the vid card fan speed and temperature.

So, see if you're running anything that is polling the vid card's temperature and fan sensors, and if you can, disable the polling.

[Skuzzy]

ATI's Catalyst Control Center will also cause stutters.

[TequilaChaser]

I'm assuming you're running Windows 7, correct?  It's a known issue with the refresh rate rounding down to 59Hz in Windows 7 whereas it used to round up to 60Hz in Windows XP on the same monitor.  You can search Google for this.

mir, is this something that is specific to the ATI 5870 series and Windows 7?


I have an older 3870, and I actually had an increase from 70 fps with vsync enabled in WinXP Pro 32 bit, to 75 fps w/ vsync enabled in Windows 7 Ult. 64 bit.........

as per HTC(or Skuzzy's recommendations) I do not use ATI's Catalyst Control Center....... I just have the Driver for my videocard loaded.......

I have used Tray Tools in the past......... but just using all the AA sliders and settings in the game for graphics have been enough to satisfy my desires...........

[katanaso]

mir, is this something that is specific to the ATI 5870 series and Windows 7?


I have an older 3870, and I actually had an increase from 70 fps with vsync enabled in WinXP Pro 32 bit, to 75 fps w/ vsync enabled in Windows 7 Ult. 64 bit.........

as per HTC(or Skuzzy's recommendations) I do not use ATI's Catalyst Control Center....... I just have the Driver for my videocard loaded.......

I have used Tray Tools in the past......... but just using all the AA sliders and settings in the game for graphics have been enough to satisfy my desires...........

TC, it's an issue specific to Windows 7 and how it sees the monitor refresh rates.  Since they're not actually 60Hz, something like 59.94Hz, Windows 7 is rounding it down.  I should add that this is specific to the LCD monitors with 60Hz refresh rates, not CRT displays or monitors with higher refresh rates.

Type this search in Google, "windows 7, 59hz", and look at the results.  It's well documented.

I use an ATI 5850, and this is the card where I solved the problem.  Skuzzy was the one who pointed me in the right direction in thinking about the monitoring/sensors causing stutters.  However, I had this issue with both a single 4870 and Crossfired 4870's.