Drivers & Software

poppyann · ‎09-07-2019

Has anyone else got bad 2D performance using a AMD graphics card I recently built a new computer using :-

1. msi meg x570 ace motherboard am4

2. AMD Ryzen 3900x cpu

3. 64 GB corsair 163301 vengeance lpx 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4 3200 RAM

4. Sabrent Rocket 4.0 2TB M.2 Pci4 M.2 ssd working drive

5. Addlink M.2 pci 3 2TB ssd back up drive

6. AMD Radeon RX5700 8MB Graphics card

I ran pass-mark benchmark software to see what I was getting compared to my old machine and everything came back great everything up in the high 90s except for the results on the 2D mark which had two of the results down at 26% why are the 2D results so bad I doubt my machine from 7 years ago has better 2D results than this card is it a known problem that I have or are AMD working on it having spent so much on a new machine to end up with some of the results in the middle 20% is not that good if i had bought a ready made machine and it was like this I would have returned it and demanded a refund.

pokester · ‎09-07-2019

I don't know what card you came from but both Nvidia and AMD dropped all hardware accelertion for 2D several generations ago as MS dropped support for GDI, which is what used to call directly to the 2D accleration in video cards. Windows 10 doesn't support GDI. All calls for GDI now are handled through DirectX by emulation. As always with emulation it is slower. But likely not so slow it is a noticeable issue. If you are running some antiquated software it could be an issue if it is not updated to modern standards. Yes synthetic benchmarks like the one you are running can show the difference but in reality if you are not seeing a problem in daily usage it isn't a problem, it's just the way they do 2D has changed. So likely no it is not a driver problem you are just seeing the results of a purposeful, intended change. If you are having an issue and this doesn't seem like what you are seeing you can talk to AMD support about it, but your observation has been brought up here time and time again when people run old software or benchmarks and notice the change. Regardless it can't be fixed as MS doesn't support GDI and the hardware doesn't accelerate 2D anymore. AMD Support: https://support.amd.com/en-us/contact/email-form

poppyann · ‎09-10-2019

Thanks for your reply at the moment I am not having a problem it was that I had just about finished building my new computer and when trying to find out if I have any problems I tend to use the PassMark benchmark software just to see if I have messed up matching components which I had as I first was using a 470 motherboard which only had PCI-e 3.0 and that was slowing down both the video card and my main hard drive which both need PCI-e 4.0 on PCI-e 3.0 the read test for the m.2 drive was just above 3000 MB/s whilst on the PCI-e 4.0 board I was getting just under 5000 MB/s also the 570 board used around 20% less power on the full bench mark the new computer was still in the 99th percentile even with the some of the 2d test being only 26% which was why I thought it must have been a problem with either the driver or the video card itself, I still think this is a problem even though people have accepted it as normal, I think it is time that AMD put a little more effort in to fixing the problem and not just sitting back and saying that the rest of the card works great so why are you complaining, with my results all being up in the 99th percentile which just says that it is in the top 1% of all computers but with the 2d score only being 26% means that 74% of all computers are better than mine which I think is not acceptable for a computer in the price range this one is.

The average 2d score for my video card is 757 whilst my 2d score is 249 so I think I must have a problem.

I just came across a article about a security problem and how manufacturers fixed it but in fixing it they slowed down everyone's computer to do it but as long as you have a relatively new CPU then the fix is built in and you don't need the fix in the software I just disabled the fix and straight away the 2d graphics benchmark went up to the 723 so with that I am happy.

Manufacturers should inform people about what they are doing when they send out updates and not just say security fix for xyz and not inform us as to how the fix may affect us.

pokester · ‎09-10-2019

I certainly agree that AMD is having issues with their new navi cards. The drivers have serious issues. However when it comes to 2D let me be clear the calls are handled by Direct X and processed on the CPU. It no longer has anything to do with the GPU, in the way that it used to. So no AMD can't fix it as there is no hardware support in the card you bought and has not been since the HD 4800 series. Nvidias last GPU's with 2D support I believe were pascal based. This was a change by Microsoft in there graphical subsystem in Windows. The GPU makers aren't going to continue to support a legacy standard in hardware that nobody but very few still use. I do hope that AMD gets there drives working to your satisfaction. I would however not look for the 2D numbers to improve much. If they do that will likely be do to a change from Microsoft with Direct X.

Good Luck!

hurricane51 · ‎07-07-2020

I have an AMD FirePro W2100 and watching any 1080p online video sends the utilization through the roof. I bought this card because it supported dual DisplayPort 4K outputs, but I didn't expect poor 2D performance. Just launching Chrome takes a big chunk.

I know running dual 4K monitors is demanding, but I've hesitated getting another card because most of the tests are focused on 3D performance, and I don't really know if those cards would improve the 2D side of things.

pokester · ‎07-07-2020

2D is processed on the CPU in Windows 10, not the GPU.

If you are having issue with video playback in Chrome try disabling hardware acceleration in Chrome. This has been an issue for a long time but making that change should help. Or try the video in Firefox.

hurricane51 · ‎07-07-2020

Then why do both Task Manager and HWMonitor report high GPU utilization on my AMD card?

pokester · ‎07-07-2020

You complained of 2 different things unless you think video playback is 2d. It is not. So disable hardware acceleration in Chrome for the video playback and hopefully that helps. And understand that 2d is processed on the CPU.

hurricane51 · ‎07-07-2020

OK, so watching video is not 2D. I disabled hardware acceleration a long time ago. So a graphics card that has increased 3D performance would help with video, right?

pokester · ‎07-08-2020

No it has to do with the hardware decompression built into the GPU. This has been a long standing bug in my opinion with Chrome and the AMD drivers. Can't say who is to blame or both. I only know I have no issue with any of my Green Team cards and video playback.