Yesterday's SteamVR update seems to have fixed the last microjudders

[rich_hard1]

Gamer101, could you crank it up to x2 SS for me and post your average FPS approaching a planetary settlement please?

Need to check to see if it's just the GPU Computational data affecting frames. You have the same CPU as me. Thanks.

 

[gamer101]

Shall do, although, every planet seems a bit different. Some require more grunt than others.

My system again.....

4790K Stock. Gigabyte Gaming Extreme 980ti (1430mHz)
16 GB CL9 2400 RAM
Gigabyte Z97 HD3 MB
Runtime 8.0 with SteamVR beta 1445878235

Select "Ultra" graphics. Disable AA, AO, Blur and Bloom off.
Leave everything else untouched

===================================================
Results: Using the Rift DK2

Location: Toli Medeta System / Toli Medeta 2a / Jenkinson Vista.

Approaching Jenkinson Vista, 17.5k up, just out of SuperCruise/Orbital Mode and throttled back

Using an external CPU/GPU monitor app with ED fps display (ctrl F)....

SS2.0 = 35FPs - GPU 99% - CPU 28%
SS1.5 = 52FPs - GPU 98% - CPU 36%
SS1.0 = 75FPs - GPU 88% - CPU 43%

The relationship between GPU and CPU is interesting.

 

[rich_hard1]

Thankyou!

I'm curious, why are you using an early SteamVR beta?
it looks like the increase in FPS is negligible, definately a mix of bottleneck at 1080p resolution of the DK2 and optimization issues with the Elite Planetary Engine. You'll be pleased with CV1 performance with your Ti

Think I'll wait for Pascal, thanks dude.

 

[gamer101]

Ah, thanks for your question. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I choose 'ultra' from the graphic presets, and then turn off AA, AO, Blur and Bloom, and turn on SS1.5.

With beta 1445878235, I get consistent smooth performance with essentially no micro stutters.

As has been discussed elsewhere, with each beta release, performance seems to drop slightly. I read somewhere that someone said he used to get good results with a GTX680 with the early betas.

It seems that the later betas have added code which results in slightly more overhead, in which case I begin to experience the occasional micro stutter (as tho I'm right at the edge of performance before I have to start reducing the HMD quality or something else). Fairly rare, but it sometimes catches my eye in stations and asteroid fields.) This suggests that I am right at the edge of performance (despite only seeing about 60% GPU and 40% CPU load on an external meter.)

When I say micro stutters, I mean little instantaneous 1 or 2 frame glitches when panning your head around and something happens in the background, like a new ship loads, or I bring up the menus etc.


If I was to reduce the settings slightly, I would not see a difference between the two betas, but I'm reluctant to give up that last bit of oomf !.

The difference that I see between 235 and the latest build is that the latter has better support for the OR HUD (in 235 some of the numbers just aren't there or are wrong). I know there are other changes, but they are not immediately visible. I have never had the 75Hz issue (I run triple screens in surround, so no 16:9 displays), and as I say above, the only meaningful impact on me is a slightly slower performance which pushes me closer to the edge where I might have to peg back a setting.

Hence, I wish to stay with 235. I am certain I will have to bite the bullet when my CV1 arrives as I will surely need the latest drivers.

If ED goes OR native (and we get full OR performance), that will mitigate the issue. But now, I am just grateful that I have found a combination which allows me to get back into silky smooth ED VR again.

re: Pascal: Pascal (and possibly the need for a new motherboard to take full advantage) is the subject of a future purchase, but I want the best I can do for the time being ;-)

 

[rich_hard1]

Have you tried the latest SteamVR beta release? I've had the best xperience in elite so far using it with SS at 2x.

 

[Digs]

Have you tried the latest SteamVR beta release? I've had the best xperience in elite so far using it with SS at 2x.

That's odd, i'm using it and get the odd crash as well as lots of stutter on low settings ss x1 in big stations. and using a GTX 970. Do you run a Titan sli setup?

 

[gamer101]

Hello rich_hard1.

It looks like you have a Crossfire Radeon setup, so it's hard to make direct comparisons, but I just tested the latest version 145561049 with my 980ti, and I still get the occasional micro stutter, but generally it feels a little better behaved than version 5979.

In my case, selecting SS2.0 works fine in space, but sees the framerate drop to exactly 50hz in stations. It seems that if I can't make 75hz, then it "locks" to 50hz.

Much easier on the eye (no nausea) than earlier versions which saw the framerate fluctuate all over the place, but still not desirable.

It looks like the dev team is implementing some anti-nausea tweaks.

I have returned to my trusty v 235 tho, as this still gives me the best micro-stutter free performance at 75hz everywhere except landable planets at my current settings.

In your case, running at SS2x. Does this give you a consistent 75fps in all circumstances? Are you running at Ultra settings? or have you dropped some settings to compensate for the SS2x.

 

[rich_hard1]

Everything's maxed out. I just turn off Blur, AA and Ambient Occlusion. Mine also locks to 50hz in heavy areas. Think it must be a SteamVR issue, let's hope they fix it. I've bought a 980ti to compare. I've heard good things about them, can't hurt to try it out.

 

[Mazhurg]

Everything's maxed out. I just turn off Blur, AA and Ambient Occlusion. Mine also locks to 50hz in heavy areas. Think it must be a SteamVR issue, let's hope they fix it. I've bought a 980ti to compare. I've heard good things about them, can't hurt to try it out.

Os and drivers? On Win 10, with Crimsons 16.1.1 user made custom Xfire profiles are currently not working, and the option to force crossfire (global) has been removed. And I know that there is no AMD crossfire profile available.

So, in the end, while AMD (and FD) ended up fixing the SC bug, there is a performance hit, especially on planets.

 

[rich_hard1]

Windows 10, 16.1.1, no user profile, just as is. FD didn't fix anything here, SteamVR fixed an issue a few patches ago which Improved rift performance. Nobody mentioned any XFire profiles?

 

[Mazhurg]

Windows 10, 16.1.1, no user profile, just as is. FD didn't fix anything here, SteamVR fixed an issue a few patches ago which Improved rift performance. Nobody mentioned any XFire profiles?

No, however - notwithstanding the SC issue - I had good performance with everything just about maxed on my pairs of 290's. Since 16.1 I have to tone everything down to maintain an acceptable FR, especially on surfaces.

Hopefully AMD restores/fixes the custom user profiles in the next iteration.

 

[rich_hard1]

Try my settings, play for a while with x2 SS, don't move your head too much on planets. �� although it does drop considerably it's tolerable.

 

[gamer101]

Everything's maxed out. I just turn off Blur, AA and Ambient Occlusion. Mine also locks to 50hz in heavy areas. Think it must be a SteamVR issue, let's hope they fix it. I've bought a 980ti to compare. I've heard good things about them, can't hurt to try it out.

It looks like you and I have similar settings, however I run SS1.5 rather than SS2.0 to guarantee 75fps everywhere except planet surfaces.

I feel that the 50hz lock is intentional and not a bug, as it seems to eliminate nausea caused by erratic FPS in heavy areas.

 

[rich_hard1]

I feel that the 50hz lock is intentional and not a bug, as it seems to eliminate nausea caused by erratic FPS in heavy areas.

You just might be right on that one. Do you think i'll see any difference between my R9-295x2 and the 980ti ? (I'll have both running together for a while)

 

[gamer101]

I have seen conflicting test results, so I cant predict for sure.

It seems that you are already getting good performance with the ability to run SS2.0 and I see from your signature that you have 2 x R9s which equals 4 GPUs.

I have a factory overclocked 980ti and I still prefer SS1.5 to guarantee 75 fps, so in the case of your setup and ED, I can't predict whether you will see an improvement (especially if you are running your R9s in Crossfire mode) in which case I'd expect the single 980ti to be a lot slower.

But how everything translates to ED in VR mode I can only guess.

Let me know what you find when you make your own comparisons.

 

[rich_hard1]

Received my 980ti today, took out both R9's, tested Elite immediately.

To be honest the 2x SS with NVidia is still quite fuzzy compared to AMD. So comparatively 'looks' wise, the AMD is a lot sharper and is a 'true' definition of 2x SS.

Onto Performance, NVidia is way better! Literally everywhere I go it's 75fps locked, AMD seems to lock at 50hz in 'every' busy area including relatively unbusy Larger Stations., NVidia just doesn't!

Now, onto planetary performance, Both cards have problems approaching planetary settlements, AMD drops quite a lot compared to NVidia. So much so it's quite hard to control basic settings on your flight panels. Again NVidia handles it really well, despite dropping lower than 55fps on a few rockier planets it still maintains a smoother experience. Then there is SRV, there simply is no comparison, with AMD going as low as 5fps in places, NVidia still manages to maintain it all above 50fps with no apparent judder compared to AMD's.
Overall though the whole experience with NVidia's 980ti is simply astounding, it manages so much more, so smoothly. I realize AMD do have some additional optimising with SteamVR, but at the moment, my R9 card that cost around 1k simply gets trashed by a beautifully elegant 980ti.
Gamer101, I need to thankyou for your input, it's been great to hear your thoughts, it swayed me and quite frankly I'll never look back!

On a sad note though, 4K performance with two R9-295x2's is excellent and I'll be sad to let that experience go. Oh and look on EBay over the coming days I'll be selling both at a fraction of the cost!