OK, What's Killing My Framerate

[DSQ]

I'm just trying to understand some framerate issues and see if I am doing anything wrong or need to change some settings.

My PC is thus:

• CPU 5600G
• MOBO B550
• Ram 32G DDR4 3200 CL16-18-18
• RX 6600 XT 8GB
• Monitor 1920 x 1080 75hz
• SSD Hard drive

My aim is to have settings as high as possible while locking to my 75hz monitor refresh rate at 1920 x 1080 resolution.

For ACC I can get 75fps with all settings maxed at ultra or whatever the top is with full grids, day or night, all tracks.

Rfactor 2, not event close.

For example Assent TT circuit, Formula 2 2012 cars 30 on grid, fps drops to 48 and crossing the pit straight and only gets to 75fps when the field spreads out.

A bunch of stuff is turned off too, like post processing, shadows on mid, road reflections off, environment reflections mid, MSAA only on 4X.

I would expect since I run such a low resolution I would be able to hit 75fps with most stuff turned up, even though my GPU is no rocket ship it should have it covered since it can run ACC which is newer and arguably better looking all maxed out at that res..

Confusing thing is: CPU utilization is at 5% and GPU utilisation never gets above 40%, VRAM is at around 4gb, card can take 8.

Is there something I am missing? Why is my GPU and CPU totally underutilized but frames are dipping?

I tried locking the GPU at near max clock speed and that did nothing. Dropping to 20 cars on grid did nothing. I can't identify the bottleneck.

 

[tbaac]

Does 48 fps make it difficult to drive? Not sure what fps I have but 48 fps seems okay me.

 

[Manfredk2]

Assen is the track with the worst performance

 

[davehenrie]

rFactor2 has a lot more going on than just graphics. Their physics engine runs at a much higher rate than most simulators. Their tire file has a huge number of contact points when many have as little as 3 to 5.
However your system does not appear to be stressed by the numbers you posted. I would suggest first using default cars & tracks to test your fps/cpu/gpu usage. Sebring, when it was introduced was one of the most demanding tracks in regard to fps. They even included a stripped down version for users with less than cutting edge equipment.
Also rF2 is rarely static. With my 6700 XT & Intel Core 9 12900kf I average around 140fps but that will dip down even into the 90's when certain conditions come into play.
To get the most out of rF2's fps, never race at dawn, dusk or night. Never race in the rain. Unfortunately those conditions are some of the most enjoyable.
You can look up a bunch of edits to the player.json file that will improve fps, things like limiting the number of visible cars & headlights. You can turn off soft particles and rain and limit smoke.
Try using Portland for a benchmark track. It has all the latest S397 graphic updates but is not a large track compared to some of the laser scanned DLC.

 

[DSQ]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Yes I have noticed now that Assen is really heavy for some reason, I tried another track and was able to stay locked on 75hz no problem.

48fps is OK, it's just when it jumps up and down it can be distracting.

I will test Sebring and see how that goes.

I will try some more of the player.json edits to see what luck I can get there.

I wonder if there is a way to limit rearview frames or detail/resolution. I worked out how to reduce the rear view draw distance which also helps.

 

[Durge Driven]

Always had great fps in rF2 far better then the rest that's for sure and certain.
If rF2 performance is bad why is it never mentioned in VR threads ?

Biggest performance issue for me is some underlying process or whatever.
I have all stock content, DLC apart from Karts and a big part of workshop installed.
"Installed" folder is 190+GB so fairly big but nowhere near biggest.

It's like it is reading everything over and over rather then getting a bit faster after first instance.
Activating series (rfmods) in game the bigger the slower.
De-activating rfmods in mod manager big ones ( say 10+ car models 30+ tracks) very slow.

Lagging coming out of sessions is worst, disabling replays makes no difference.

Track loading seems to have gone backwards a little bit, it got much better now not so much.

Good thing I use Historic more, both stock content and workshop load fast probably faster then any other sim. Coming out of long sessions is however just as slow again with replays disabled makes no sense to me.

 

[Manfredk2]

48fps is OK, it's just when it jumps up and down it can be distracting.

on my system (12700K and NV 3090) i have a drop of massive 90 fps at Assen between the "worst" and the "best" part of the track. Red Bull Ring 1.3 from the same modder is also bad in terms of performance.

If you want to see really really bad performnace than try Tommy78 TCR mod at Assen.

 

[passenger]

If ACC runs with high FPS, rFactor 2 should too... The GPU is not used even at 50%
as said, this may be the problem, also the CPU, which normally takes care of
the AI of cars meaning the more cars the most CPU usage needed... so if both
GPU and CPU were used at their best or close, the FPS performance should be
much higher. Some problem there if the hardware is underutilized.

Weird and interesting stuff... Please AMD owners, report what is your experience
with this RX 6600 XT card and some other AMD cards.

 

[davehenrie]

If ACC runs with high FPS, rFactor 2 should too... The GPU is not used even at 50%
as said, this may be the problem, also the CPU, which normally takes care of
the AI of cars meaning the more cars the most CPU usage needed... so if both
GPU and CPU were used at their best or close, the FPS performance should be
much higher. Some problem there if the hardware is underutilized.

Weird and interesting stuff... Please AMD owners, report what is your experience
with this RX 6600 XT card and some other AMD cards.

well, last night ONLINE at the full 12hr Sebring with no other cars connected, I was getting over 220fps consistently. XT 6700. (it is much lower with lots of AI or online opponents tho) I haven't done ACC enough, but I think I recall getting slightly better fps in rF2 than ACC so there is certainly the possibility you have something kludging up the works.

 

[passenger]

Maybe the drivers? Could try latest, if not already, or try older ones. I read many
times that AMD drivers are not well optimized, or there could be some bug in
them with this title.

What about official tracks like Laguna Seca, Daytona, Bahrain International Circuit... tested with high settings and reflections. Some mods certainly are not very well
optimized, so not a good test.

 

[davehenrie]

with AMD, you HAVE to use an older driver. v22.5.1. Anything newer and you run the risk of lockups (while driving) or CTD. (at 100% track loading)

 

[DSQ]

with AMD, you HAVE to use an older driver. v22.5.1. Anything newer and you run the risk of lockups (while driving) or CTD. (at 100% track loading)

Oh man do I get a lot of CTD at 100% track loading!!!! Get it all the time, super annoying. Miss half of qualifying on LFM trying to get the track to load. I was having to load in spectator mode, then quit back out and then enter in driver mode.

I didn't realize it was a common thing on AMD drivers.

I'm first going to try to clear the cbash/shaders folder. And if no luck try a driver rollback.

 

[ozziecoops]

Rf2 is very CPU dependent, advice get the best you can get and the latest. checkout the VR Thread in discord they are all mentioning it, also use open XR for better fps with VR.
rf2 single screen best results for fps

 

[DSQ]

Ok, So I tested last night at Sebring with GTE cars (30 including myself). Back of the grid 20 cars visible much better frames than at Assen, maxing at my refresh of 75fps everywhere except for the first few laps across the S/F straight (dropping to between 50-60). So definitely there are some track much more optimised than others, but that is still with a bunch of stuff turned off. About 30 to 50fps at night time.

In general daytime racing is pretty good, I just can't turn up as much details as I want.

In the end though there is the over riding issue that the GPU is not working anywhere near it's potential and when fps tanks to 30-40fps, the GPU utilization is between 15% and 40% so there is something else going on with my pc and Rfactor 2 that I can't really work out. I don't use VR or multi screens so at my humble resolution of 1080p I'm still confused why the GPU doesn't push more frames when it can sit rock solid on 75fps with ACC full grid at night with almost all details maxed. I have not seen my CPU go above 10% utilisation playing Rf2.

I'm going to try and roll back the AMD drivers to 22.5.1 and see if that does any good. I'll report back on any results. If all else fails I'll start hunting for a Nvidia equivalent (or slightly better) to my 6600XT.

 

[davehenrie]

I'm going to try and roll back the AMD drivers to 22.5.1 and see if that does any good. I'll report back on any results. If all else fails I'll start hunting for a Nvidia equivalent (or slightly better) to my 6600XT.

v22.5.1 probably will NOT improve your fps, it will just stop any crashes while loading tracks at 100% and/or lockups if you do get a track to load. I suggest using an App called DDU to remove your current drivers.(in safe mode is the recommended method)
Remember, AMD video cards seem to have abandoned DX11 several generations ago. They focus on DX12 & (I've forgotten the name: Vulcan or some such) Doesn't mean DX11 won't work with AMD, just not a priority any longer.
You can look at this site to see if your GPU or CPU is holding back your system.

https://pc-builds.com/bottleneck-calculator/

 

[passenger]

If you have those poor CPU and GPU utilization it's impossible to have good FPS.
Something is blocking them, maybe some settings or external process.

 

[Kenneth Jurmann]

It sounds a bit like you are not on 3.0 x16 or higher on the pci-e lane of your graphicscard.

Might be worth checking. Sometimes a mainboard has to throttle the speed when other stuff is connected to pcie like ssd's n stuff.

Rf2 is one of the very few games out there to benefit from fast bus speeds and bandwidth...

https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/massive-fps-gains-in-rf2-using-pci-e-3-0-x16-with-higher-end-cards.45758/

 

[DSQ]

It sounds a bit like you are not on 3.0 x16 or higher on the pci-e lane of your graphicscard.

Might be worth checking. Sometimes a mainboard has to throttle the speed when other stuff is connected to pcie like ssd's n stuff.

Rf2 is one of the very few games out there to benefit from fast bus speeds and bandwidth...

https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/massive-fps-gains-in-rf2-using-pci-e-3-0-x16-with-higher-end-cards.45758/

Thanks for the suggestion Kenneth, just to be clear are you talking about the ports to plug the card into on the motherboard or a setting that I need to make within the computer. In terms of installation location, I have the GPU plugged into a PCIE 4.0 x 16 slot so I'm assuming that will do the trick.

 

[davehenrie]

Thanks for the suggestion Kenneth, just to be clear are you talking about the ports to plug the card into on the motherboard or a setting that I need to make within the computer. In terms of installation location, I have the GPU plugged into a PCIE 4.0 x 16 slot so I'm assuming that will do the trick.

There is a small app called CPU-Z (used to be CPUID I thought) that will identify your hardware including on the mainboard tab, a line that details which bus your system is using.

 

[DSQ]

This is what the mainboard page shows. GPU on the PCI-E 4.0 slot link width is x8 (max available is x16 but the 6600xt maxes out at 8 is my understanding).

I think I'll just have to live with it, my daytime performance is pretty good.