IGX configuration and video stutters

[oivind]

I bought my Gigbayte GA-880GA-UD3H system in January 2011, specifically for the purpose of 3D rendering.

Compared to my previous system, it was a huge leap ahead; however I have been struggling with video stutters on particular movies.

As the problem only surfaces for particular videos, it took me a few months to identify the stuttering as a problem related to the computer. Searching for the cause I’ve gone through a bunch of various drivers, adjusting their settings in various ways. I also tried writing to ATI support as well as making use of their forum: It got me nowhere.

One particular animated movie, which includes a lot of panning and tilting, is causing very bad stuttering when being played from my computer. However, the very  same video played nicely on far less powerful systems — including the integrated GPU on our 40 inch widescreen, playing it directly from its USB slot.

Up until yesterday I really had no solution for the problem, but last night I came across a YouTube video from a Radeon 4870 card owner which also suffered from stutters. The user had identified that the GPU clock speeds were running at different values, increasing and decreasing automatically. His fix was to install Radeon bios editor as well as ATI win flash, setting fixed values, as oppsed to leaving it in the auto configuration.

Here is the link for that video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDZKTU397MQ

Neither of the tools mentioned in the video was compatible with my rig, but then it dawned on me that I might be able to set these values in the bios. Entering the bios, I found the IGX configuration settings in which the VGA core clock was set to auto. Setting it to a fixed value instantly improved the video playback of several videos which all included a lot of panning and tilting, previously resulting in serious stuttering.

I have two questions:

1.   There is no question that video playback improved (far less stuttering) when I set a fixed core clock value. What is the optimal clock setting for my system? In the bios it can be set from 0 – 2000.  
2.   Why isn’t Gigabyte informing the customer properly about such a serious problem? After all, the GA-880GA-UD3H system has 3D imprinted on top of the cooling unit of the motherboard. Because of the stutter issues, I’ve had great difficulties evaluating my work.

I would be grateful for any feedback from users who have similar experiences or others that could shine some more light on this rather important issue.

My system specs: **************************************************************************************************************

Windows:               Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1
Internet Explorer:     9.0.8112.16421
Memory (RAM):          7678 MB
CPU Info:              AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1090T Processor
CPU Speed:             3214.0 MHz
Sound Card:            Speakers (2- SB 5.1 VX)
Display Adapters:      ATI Radeon HD 4250 | ATI Radeon HD 4250 | RDPDD Chained DD | RDP Encoder Mirror Driver | RDP Reflector Display Driver
Monitors:              2x; Generic PnP Monitor | Generic Non-PnP Monitor |
Screen Resolution:     1680 X 1050 - 32 bit
Network:               Network Present
Network Adapters:      Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
CD / DVD Drives:       D: TSSTcorpCDDVDW SH-S223C
Ports:                 COM1 NOT Present
Mouse:                 3 Button Wheel Mouse Present
Hard Disks:            C:  465.7GB | E:  232.9GB | G:  186.3GB
Hard Disks - Free:     C:  15.9GB | E:  73.6GB | G:  2.6GB
USB Controllers:       7 host controllers.
Firewire (1394):       Not Detected
Manufacturer:          Award Software International, Inc.
Product Make:          GA-880GA-UD3H
AC Power Status:       OnLine
BIOS Info:             AT/AT COMPATIBLE | 11/24/10 | GBT    - 42302e31
Time Zone:             SE Asia Standard Time
Battery:               No Battery
Motherboard:           Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-880GA-UD3H

[MarkJohnson]

what program are you using to play videos?  Maybe try a different one.  I use VLC from VideoLan:
http://www.videolan.org/

What program do you encode your videos?

What speed did you set you IGX? Stock is 500.

What video driver are you using?

What programs do you have on your computer?  Bring up task manager and how many processes does it say are running?  I think 30 is the default on a fresh install.

I see you're using win 7 pro which omits a lot of media stuff.

Question 1.  500MHz is stock value.  Optimal is AUTO.

Question 2. There is nothing to report.  This is a software issue or operator errors.  My 4250 ran fine when I had it.  Although manually setting BIOS settings without knowing what you're doing can kill your computer.

How old is this system anyway?  Windows may be bogged down from spyware, bloatware, and malware in general.  Not to mention each program installed can put a small load on the system that can add up quickly.

Luck
-=Mark=-

[oivind]

what program are you using to play videos?  Maybe try a different one.  I use VLC from VideoLan:
http://www.videolan.org/

What program do you encode your videos?

What speed did you set you IGX? Stock is 500.

What video driver are you using?

What programs do you have on your computer?  Bring up task manager and how many processes does it say are running?  I think 30 is the default on a fresh install.

I see you're using win 7 pro which omits a lot of media stuff.

Question 1.  500MHz is stock value.  Optimal is AUTO.

Question 2. There is nothing to report.  This is a software issue or operator errors.  My 4250 ran fine when I had it.  Although manually setting BIOS settings without knowing what you're doing can kill your computer.

How old is this system anyway?  Windows may be bogged down from spyware, bloatware, and malware in general.  Not to mention each program installed can put a small load on the system that can add up quickly.

Luck
-=Mark=-

I appreciate your feedback. However, as I wrote in my initial post - the «problem videos» are playing normally on other, older and far less powerful systems: I therefore rule out the possibility of this being related to encoding. That said I use Adobe media encoder, mainly encoding into .H264 (mp4) format. I also use .flv quite a bit.

The video causing the most stutter is running at a total bitrate of 3948 kbps, while another video of 4708 kbps has no stuttering at all. Both are encoded in .H264.

When turning off IGX auto settings, it was defaulted to 560, hence I tried 660, 760, and 860. All of those settings appear to work better than auto. Anything above that will make my rig go BSOD.

One way I can conclude there has been an improvement, is by looking at panning scenes (horisontal camera movements) of several movies: No matter what settings I used before, the picture would always stutter. After turning off the IGX auto setting these kind of scenes now has dramatically less or no stuttering at all.

Again, I appreciate your answer although it really doesn't explain any of my questions. I am still in search of a qualified answer as I need my system to be stutter-free at all times.

[MarkJohnson]

what program are you using to play videos?  Maybe try a different one.  I use VLC from VideoLan:
http://www.videolan.org/

What program do you encode your videos?

What speed did you set you IGX? Stock is 500.

What video driver are you using?

What programs do you have on your computer?  Bring up task manager and how many processes does it say are running?  I think 30 is the default on a fresh install.

I see you're using win 7 pro which omits a lot of media stuff.

Question 1.  500MHz is stock value.  Optimal is AUTO.

Question 2. There is nothing to report.  This is a software issue or operator errors.  My 4250 ran fine when I had it.  Although manually setting BIOS settings without knowing what you're doing can kill your computer.

How old is this system anyway?  Windows may be bogged down from spyware, bloatware, and malware in general.  Not to mention each program installed can put a small load on the system that can add up quickly.

Luck
-=Mark=-

I appreciate your feedback. However, as I wrote in my initial post - the «problem videos» are playing normally on other, older and far less powerful systems: I therefore rule out the possibility of this being related to encoding. That said I use Adobe media encoder, mainly encoding into .H264 (mp4) format. I also use .flv quite a bit.

The video causing the most stutter is running at a total bitrate of 3948 kbps, while another video of 4708 kbps has no stuttering at all. Both are encoded in .H264.

When turning off IGX auto settings, it was defaulted to 560, hence I tried 660, 760, and 860. All of those settings appear to work better than auto. Anything above that will make my rig go BSOD.

One way I can conclude there has been an improvement, is by looking at panning scenes (horisontal camera movements) of several movies: No matter what settings I used before, the picture would always stutter. After turning off the IGX auto setting these kind of scenes now has dramatically less or no stuttering at all.

Again, I appreciate your answer although it really doesn't explain any of my questions. I am still in search of a qualified answer as I need my system to be stutter-free at all times.

Bottom line, if you can't be bothered to properly answer all of the questions asked, then I can't be of much help other than just giving you random guesses.

Did you even try VLC?  It is well supported video player.  Probably the best FREE player available.  This should eliminate any codex issues.  In other words, if it plays properly then you need codex installed for your player.  (Which you never addressed is being used)

ATI uses AVIVO for video playback.  You may need the AVIVO player from ATI or a player that is compatible with AVIVO.  I belive VLC is compatible.  Not sure if Adobe is compatible if that is your player.

I recommend keeping you graphics speeds at AUTO.  overclocking can hurt your system.  Overstress can cause weird issues and errors.

Here is a description of your graphics chip specs.
http://www.amd.com/us/products/notebook/platforms/home/amd-m880g/Pages/m880g-chipset.aspx

I'm assuming the mobile cjipset is the same as the desktop, as the desktop doesn't go into this much detail.

-=Mark=-

[oivind]

what program are you using to play videos?  Maybe try a different one.  I use VLC from VideoLan:
http://www.videolan.org/

What program do you encode your videos?

What speed did you set you IGX? Stock is 500.

What video driver are you using?

What programs do you have on your computer?  Bring up task manager and how many processes does it say are running?  I think 30 is the default on a fresh install.

I see you're using win 7 pro which omits a lot of media stuff.

Question 1.  500MHz is stock value.  Optimal is AUTO.

Question 2. There is nothing to report.  This is a software issue or operator errors.  My 4250 ran fine when I had it.  Although manually setting BIOS settings without knowing what you're doing can kill your computer.

How old is this system anyway?  Windows may be bogged down from spyware, bloatware, and malware in general.  Not to mention each program installed can put a small load on the system that can add up quickly.

Luck
-=Mark=-

I appreciate your feedback. However, as I wrote in my initial post - the «problem videos» are playing normally on other, older and far less powerful systems: I therefore rule out the possibility of this being related to encoding. That said I use Adobe media encoder, mainly encoding into .H264 (mp4) format. I also use .flv quite a bit.

The video causing the most stutter is running at a total bitrate of 3948 kbps, while another video of 4708 kbps has no stuttering at all. Both are encoded in .H264.

When turning off IGX auto settings, it was defaulted to 560, hence I tried 660, 760, and 860. All of those settings appear to work better than auto. Anything above that will make my rig go BSOD.

One way I can conclude there has been an improvement, is by looking at panning scenes (horisontal camera movements) of several movies: No matter what settings I used before, the picture would always stutter. After turning off the IGX auto setting these kind of scenes now has dramatically less or no stuttering at all.

Again, I appreciate your answer although it really doesn't explain any of my questions. I am still in search of a qualified answer as I need my system to be stutter-free at all times.

Bottom line, if you can't be bothered to properly answer all of the questions asked, then I can't be of much help other than just giving you random guesses.

Did you even try VLC?  It is well supported video player.  Probably the best FREE player available.  This should eliminate any codex issues.  In other words, if it plays properly then you need codex installed for your player.  (Which you never addressed is being used)

ATI uses AVIVO for video playback.  You may need the AVIVO player from ATI or a player that is compatible with AVIVO.  I belive VLC is compatible.  Not sure if Adobe is compatible if that is your player.

I recommend keeping you graphics speeds at AUTO.  overclocking can hurt your system.  Overstress can cause weird issues and errors.

Here is a description of your graphics chip specs.
http://www.amd.com/us/products/notebook/platforms/home/amd-m880g/Pages/m880g-chipset.aspx

I'm assuming the mobile cjipset is the same as the desktop, as the desktop doesn't go into this much detail.

-=Mark=-

Display driver is Catalyst 12.3.

For whatever reason I was able to solve the problem of serious stuttering by changing the clock speed settings from "auto" to a manual value. Hence, I have already concluded that I found a fix - at least one that contributes reducing the main problem.

My questions are really about the inner workings of this feature, trying to get someone to explain why stutter was significantly reduced when changing that spesific setting.

[MarkJohnson]

Display driver is Catalyst 12.3.

You might be better off at 12.1.  Newer ones have been buggy.

For whatever reason I was able to solve the problem of serious stuttering by changing the clock speed settings from "auto" to a manual value. Hence, I have already concluded that I found a fix - at least one that contributes reducing the main problem.

Nothing is fixed.  You've just put a dangerous band-aid on a sticky situation.

My questions are really about the inner workings of this feature, trying to get someone to explain why stutter was significantly reduced when changing that specific setting.

Ah, you finally asked the question.  Would have been nice if that was in the first post.

That setting is the clock speed of your graphics chip.  The higher the setting the faster it runs.  It becomes dangerous when setting past stock speeds.  It stresses the chip, and slowly wears it out or can make it out of sync with the rest of the system and give random errors.  If set too high it can actually fry the chip.

It's best to leave that setting on auto amd troubleshoot the system to see what's wrong.  Your chip should be able to run videos with ease and stock speeds.

If you want to continue to trouble shoot the issue test at auto settings and download VLC to see how the video plays.

Luck
-=Mark=-

[MarkJohnson]

Ah ha, I googled you and found your issues on the creative cow forums.
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/2/1010813

You forgot to mention you were streaming your videos over the network with flash player.   This is your whole problem!

Adobe has issues with ATI with their flash player.  Try using the 12.1 driver and you should be fine.  12.2 through 12.4 always gave me issues with flash player.

Make sure to use Phyxion's Driver Sweeper to remove drivers before installing new ones as your old config files may get picked up and you continue to has issues.  Follow instructions carefully.

http://phyxion.net/item/driver-sweeper.html

-=Mark=-
ps, how could you leave such clear posts at creative cow forums, but such encrypted ones here?

[oivind]

Ah ha, I googled you and found your issues on the creative cow forums.
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/2/1010813

You forgot to mention you were streaming your videos over the network with flash player.   This is your whole problem!

Adobe has issues with ATI with their flash player.  Try using the 12.1 driver and you should be fine.  12.2 through 12.4 always gave me issues with flash player.

Make sure to use Phyxion's Driver Sweeper to remove drivers before installing new ones as your old config files may get picked up and you continue to has issues.  Follow instructions carefully.

http://phyxion.net/item/driver-sweeper.html

-=Mark=-
ps, how could you leave such clear posts at creative cow forums, but such encrypted ones here?

If only everything was as easy as you suggest: It isn't only flash videos that are stuttering on my system. It has more to do with movment in the picture (panning and tiliting) than it has to do with encryption. Before I adjusted the clock speed from auto to a fixed setting I had stuttering regardless of it being a .flv or .mp4 video. Now there is no stuttering for .mp4 and very little to the .flv-videos.

I'm pretty confident I had the same issues with the 12.1 drivers.

However, since you very kind taking your time to help me out, I am willing to play along: I will uninstall and install 12.1 drivers in accordance with your instructions. Then I will reset the GPU clock to "auto". You should however, expect to see a new post coming up in an hour, confirming that your suggestions didn't work out.  

In the meantime, you could watch the YouTube-video on this issue, which I posted above. I am *not* the only one struggling with this, and neither the only one having good results adjusting the GPU clock settings in bios.

I'll report back soon.

[MarkJohnson]

Yes, I already know about the powerplay issue the guy in the video was trying to bypass(I owned a 3870x2 & 4870x2 with the issue).  though he had no idea why or what he was doing.  PowerPlay is just a power saving feature designed to clock down your GPU on light loads.  What happens is it throttles down at a semi-high load.  Overclocking the GPU by even 1MHz will cause powerplay to disable.

Now I read your other threads and it says you were buffering (not stuttering) on your video and not playing, unless the video was local on your network.  Buffer was only happening from a remote location through internet access.  Is this correct?

also, the video problems and your are most like;y unrelated.  Unless you can see your GPU throttling down while it is playing.  This issue was fixed long ago.  If you notice this video was made 2009.

Your problem spounds like codex issues as it sounds like it is maxing out your processor.

Try downloading GPU-Z or MSI Afterburner (afterburner needs installing, GPU-Z doesn't).  either of these will show you the load on your GPU and show the speeds and if they change.

Afterburner
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

GPU-Z
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/

-=Mark=-

[oivind]

Yes, I already know about the powerplay issue the guy in the video was trying to bypass(I owned a 3870x2 & 4870x2 with the issue).  though he had no idea why or what he was doing.  PowerPlay is just a power saving feature designed to clock down your GPU on light loads.  What happens is it throttles down at a semi-high load.  Overclocking the GPU by even 1MHz will cause powerplay to disable.

Now I read your other threads and it says you were buffering (not stuttering) on your video and not playing, unless the video was local on your network.  Buffer was only happening from a remote location through internet access.  Is this correct?

also, the video problems and your are most like;y unrelated.  Unless you can see your GPU throttling down while it is playing.  This issue was fixed long ago.  If you notice this video was made 2009.

Your problem spounds like codex issues as it sounds like it is maxing out your processor.

Try downloading GPU-Z or MSI Afterburner (afterburner needs installing, GPU-Z doesn't).  either of these will show you the load on your GPU and show the speeds and if they change.

Afterburner
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

GPU-Z
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/

-=Mark=-

Thank you for those links.

Now, onto the report from applying your settings. Here is what I did:

1. Uninstalled Catalyst 12.3 drivers
2. Ran driver sweeper
3. Reset bios to default settings (no overclocking)
4. Installed Catalyst 12.1

Result: The stuttering issues were back again.

However, restarting the computer, accessing the IGX configuration and setting a manual gpu clock speed once again eliminated the stuttering. So, the method works with 12.1 as well as with 12.3 drivers.

I had a feeling this would be the result, but I do thank you for your feedback. Hopefully you have learned something from this as well.

Cheers.

[MarkJohnson]

After reading your other post more I see you encoded parts of your video to 30fps.  I seen in the review of your chipset that it runs 25ish fps in 1080p.  I also notice mine is a 880GX and mine runs at 700MHz.  a bit faster than yours.  maybe that's why I see no issues.  140MHz make a big difference.  Plus I have 1600MHz RAM in my machine.  Not sure the speed of your RAM.

Here's the article:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/05/24/amd-880g-graphics-performance-review/7

What were your results with VLC?

[oivind]

After reading your other post more I see you encoded parts of your video to 30fps.  I seen in the review of your chipset that it runs 25ish fps in 1080p.  I also notice mine is a 880GX and mine runs at 700MHz.  a bit faster than yours.  maybe that's why I see no issues.  140MHz make a big difference.  Plus I have 1600MHz RAM in my machine.  Not sure the speed of your RAM.

Here's the article:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/05/24/amd-880g-graphics-performance-review/7

What were your results with VLC?

I hardly use anything but VLC player, which I also used to compare the results of the various settings.

The verdict is: Without setting the GPU clock manually in bios, the video will stutter in VLC.

Thank you.

[johnbash]

That is a very good description, It is helpful for me to troubleshoot my own graphical problems.