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Large FPS decrease on new comp with Aero off?
I just recently put together a new computer, and I've been trying to set-up streaming with it, but I have something awkward that a few hours of myself searching brought no results.
I'm mainly going to be streaming Starcraft 2, but I stream other games I'm playing if I feel like it. A problem I run into, is when running xsplit and using the screen capture method, I have to have windows basic on. Otherwise the screen capture is choppy (I'm not sure why. The best answer I could find from searching was "It's a windows thing").
Now, you'd think putting my system into basic mode instead of Aero, I would have an increase, or no difference at all in performance... but for some reason, I have a large drop in fps, even if xsplit is closed. It drops just because it is in basic mode.
Here is an example. I'm playing Starcraft 2 with Aero theme on. I'm getting around 50-100 fps (depending on what is going on). I turn on windows basic mode, and in the same situations, I'm receiving ~35 or less fps. Usually less.
So, my main problem here, is if I want to stream games with xsplit, I need to have aero off. Otherwise the capture method lags (because "it's a windows thing" apparently). But, when Aero theme is off, my games drop pretty drastically in fps without any increase in GPU or CPU usage (So I'm not bottlenecking).
Can anyone at least explain why this is? I wouldn't be so bothered and frustrated at my situation, if I had answers. But after ~3 hours of searching, I still haven't found anything about my situation (Losing decent amount of FPS when not in windows Aero mode). I also figured I'd ask here since I don't really know any pure tech forums, and the people here have always been helpful.
Specs
Windows 7 Pro
AMD FX-8150 CPU
16 gigs DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance
AMD Radeon HD 6970 -2GB
Asus Sabertooth 990FX
Comments
I'd check your clock speeds and see if either your processor or video card are downclocking as if they were idle.
Does the same thing happen in other games, or is it peculiar to Starcraft 2?
From what I've gathered, it seems like nothing is downlocking itself when changing between basic and aero. The numbers all seem pretty consistent. The only thing I've noticed, is my GPU downlocks from 880 to 500 when I'm not running anything. In both basic and Aero mode. But Basic mode seems to do it when I alt tab, while in aero, it stays on unless the games are closed.
I tried it in Mass Effect 2 as well. With vsync on, I get a nice smooth 60fps while running around. But when I go into basic mode, I'm sitting around 40 or less FPS. (I had xsplit off, so I know it isn't xsplit doing something to hog resources, but rather the fact I'm in basic mode vs aero mode)
It just boggles my mind my it does this when in basic mode. Is there any other information I can give to possibly help?
Edit- I figure getting the xsplit screen recording to not stutter/lag when aero mode is on is beyond the scope of normal tech support and would have to be with the devs. But if I could figure out why I'm having such a large fps drop in windows basic for some reason, I would be forever grateful.
I was curious so I played around with this.
I have a 6970 with an older i7 920. I usually have Aero on (for no real reason), so I tried disabling it. I didn't notice any difference in a couple of different games.
I ran a Furmark benchmark.
Standard: 28FPS
Aero: 30FPS
So there was a slight different there when I really stressed it, and oddly enough, Aero was faster. But it was hardly as much of a difference as your seeing. I also noticed similar behavior with Alt-Tab. With Aero running, background applications would continue to run fully accelerated with no loss of performance while in the background. With Standard UI, alt-tabbing out of a game would reduce it's performance (from what I saw, throttled to 30fps, but that number could be a coincidence). I normally play games in Full Screen Windowed mode (rather than just Full Screen).
I would put the card back on stock clocks (most importantly the Power Control setting, which adjusts the PowerTune setpoint), it sounds like you may be hitting the PowerTune throttle.
I'll take a look around and look at stock speeds for my video card. I haven't personally overclocked the vid card, but I'm sure it's a bit overclocked from the manufacturer. I'll check around in the catalyst center and see what's up with that. Didn't think to look in there for anything, as I use MSI afterburner to keep an eye on gpu/fan speeds and temps.
Not 100% sure it was the cause of the fps drops, but it seems to have been lowered the gap a decent amount. I turned off the AMD Graphics Overdrive in the AMD Vision Engine Control Center, and it lowered the gap a bunch compared to how it was. So I'm guessing going into basic mode + the Auto Graphics Overdrive, didn't allow them to communitcate well or something. Not really sure. I didn't turn it on though, it was on by default, I just never checked around to turn it off. @_@