Bad hardware? Sound issue? Or both?

[MCSPantani]

Hi guys.

I've found out that i can play nba 2k15 smooth, with medium settings if i disable my sound card (nothing new).

But my question is: if i had a shitty hardware, i couldn't run it in medium settings, even with the sound disabled, right? if the game runs smooth with no sound is a sign that my hardware is, at least, good enough to play, right? I've tried everything and i'm gettin' more and more to the conclusion that this is a sound problem. And if so, howcome no one's talking about a patch to fix it?

Or am i wrong and it is, in fact, an hardware problem?

I have an AMD A8, 8Gb Ram; Radeon HD 7640G + 7670M.

Any ideias?

Thanks

[mindae]

Check on website canirunit.com look for 2k15

also
1)Update sound drivers maybe it causing problems
2)update video card drivers

[MCSPantani]

thanks for you support.

my drivers are updated. the site you told me says that i have the minimum requirements.

I know i dont have a top performance laptop, but it's good enough and i dont understand how the sound can destroy the gameplay this way.

I'm not an expert, but i've seen a lot....and never seen stuttering caused by game sound in a way that's impossible to solve. i even got a usb gaming headphones, with independent sound drivers and everything stayed the same...

Thanks

[mindae]

Try setting the audio output quality to 16-bit/48khz NOT anything 24-bit or 16-bit/44.1khz. If you set to 44.1khz your audio device will downsample to that since pretty much every modern audio solution natively renders 16-bit/48khz.

Next disable your GPU audio outputs. You can do this in the audio control panel or the device manager. Unless that is, you are using that GPU's audio solution (which I don't recommend).

Now check out the helper file in the same folder as the videosettings.cfg. There are some tweaks that can be made to reduce stuttering. Scroll down and look for supersampling and replace that number with 0, the stuttering should stop.

CONFIRM your desktop resolution is at 60Hz

Information i found googling, if it doesn't help , you have to wait for patch that fix sound issues

[MCSPantani]

Thanks again for your help.

I've tried everything from messin' around with videosettings.cfg, ingame video settings, amd catalyst, radeon pro, changin' output audio quality, game booster...

I have a laptop and the only aspect i can't quite confirm is the 60Hz thing...how can i say if thats the rate of my laptop monitor? The other thing is the GPU audio outputs...in the device manager i've disabled everything abou audio, except for what i'm using, wich is the drivers that came with my new gaming usb headphones that i bought, hoping that they would solve anything. is that it?

You have been great! thanks!

[mindae]

right click on dekstop > personalize > display > change display settings > Advanced settings > Monitor > 60hz should be set or if you have higher you can try it

[Patr1ck]

Did you have the stuttering before you got the USB headphones? Try disabling the USB headphones and see if that fixes the issue. I know, that's what you want to use to play the game with, but if there is a compatibility issue with the headphones, you need to find out.

Also, you have what is called "dual graphics" where the graphics included with the processor is used as well as the dedicated graphics card. Because your dedicated card is GDDR5, it doesn't provide any benefit with the DDR3 that your 7640G uses. If you can find an option on your computer to only use your dedicated video card, the 7670M, try that.

Also, why does everybody think that the soundcard is the problem? Disabling sound takes an extra load off the system as it doesn't have to synchronize the audio to the video. It has been reported that having audio and video on the same bus can possibly be the problem. And almost always, lowering the details and the resolution of the game seems to fix the issue.

[MCSPantani]

First of all, thanks for your help.

In fact, i bought the headphones in a desperate try to fix the stuttering i had since day 1. So, it's not the headphones

The dual graphics is something that crossed my mind, and i think that's possibility. I've tried to disable it in my device manager but the options were disable the 7670, or disable the dual 7640 + 7670. I'll try to figure it out.

About the sound...i still think that's the main issue, and i say this because i've tried to lower everything (1024x760, low on everything, disabled the crowd) and the stuttering was the same that the way i usually play, with 1280, medium texture, medium player, low crowd, high shader. Lowering didn't reduced stuttering. It was exactly the same.

But i'll keep tryin' and i'll follow your tips.

Thanks again

[ThePointForward]

AMD should have the option to force using specific gpu in their control center/catalyst (or whatever it is called).
You could also try setting your laptop power plan to "high performance" (windows control center > power options; it might be hidden under "show additional plans)
Windows trying to save consumption might be the issue.

Though as PDub noted it just might be the bus (especially if the usb sound card does the same thing).

[MCSPantani]

Thanks man!

As far as i could see, the catalyst control center only allows for me to disable "dual graphics" leaving only the apu, and not the gpu (at least is what appears in the picture). I've seen some forums about disabeling the apu in amd, and leavin the gpu enabled, but i'm affraid it's impossible. Some said it's possible in the BIOS but i'm not sure that's a good ideia.

I've disabled the dual graphics and told my graphics card to use high performance (my laptop is always on high performance) in the game, but still got the stuttering. What bothers me the most is the fact that with everything lowered i get the same amount of stutter than in medium, or whatever.

I'm sorry for my ignorance, but i didn't quite get it when you guys mentioned the "bus"...

Thanks

[ThePointForward]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_%28computing%29

It's possible that your laptop just is bottlenecked by it's bus.

Have you tried running some other demanding games on the laptop? None of them had similar issues?

[MCSPantani]

Stuttering is the first time/game.

I also have pes2015 and pro cycling manager 2014 (this one is very demanding) and i run both smooth. PES with maximum settings, and PCM with medium/high settings, and no stuttering whatsoever. If i get gready and put PCM everything in max it will run slow, but no stuttering...

I still think that my money was well spent in 2k15...the game is great, besides my stupid coach and my brainless point guard in my career Other than that the game is great, but i'm not a big fan of a "silent" hoops game...

I'm hoping that someday i'll find a solution, because there are several guys that experienced the stuttering, used the disable sound card solution, and after that managed to find another solution, and now they are playing the game with sound and stutter free. I've tried everything they wrote... changing sound output quality, borderless windowed mode, radeon pro, game booster, messin' aroud videoconfig.cfg...you name it...but nothing seems to work, or even change a bit...

Thanks man!

[MCSPantani]

I'm affraid that my shitty motherboard doesn't allow me to disable the apu only. And i believe that would improve something. I know that i can disable dual graphics in catalyst, but i don't know if that's the same.

Last night i've tested the fps ingame and it was NEVER above 30...it was like if it was blocked at 30...

[Patr1ck]

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=376562

Switching GPU can be done in ccc at any time simply force "power saving" for iGPU or "high performnace" for dGPU.

Try that?

[MCSPantani]

Newbie here

I can choose energy save or maximum performance... but i have no ideia if that's on iGpu or dGpu. I don't know the diference between them nor how to choose each of them in ccc for energy save or max performance...

Thanks!

[Patr1ck]

Well that's what the quote was for. Maximum performance should force the use of your dedicated card.

[MCSPantani]

Ok, thanks.

The thing is...i've tried that and the most demanding games i've tried before, run a lot smoother in power saving mode (e.g. pro cycling manager 2014).

I don't know why...maybe because these games don't like dual graphics and crossfire...

either way, i'll keep tryin' and hopefully i'll find a solution between tweekin' in ccc and videosettings.cfg...

thanks a lot for your support!

[MCSPantani]

Update: when i select high performance for nba 2k15 in ccc the game crashes every time. I can play for 30/40 seconds and then crash to desktop, saying that the vídeo crashed and recovered successfuly...and it does the exact same thing with pro cycling manager 2014. The only way i can play pcm i by choosing power save. Same with 2k15...but have to take the stuttering or disable the sound card. Can't find a solution

[ThePointForward]

I can play for 30/40 seconds and then crash to desktop, saying that the vídeo crashed and recovered successfuly...and it does the exact same thing with pro cycling manager 2014.

Please check the GPU temperature when you do that. Seen that, was caused by overheating.

[Patr1ck]

That's a major issue. You need to contact your laptop manufacturer about that one.

[MCSPantani]

Thanks again guys!

I believe so...i'll email ccc suporte and see what they'll say...

The temperature is ok. I'm always on top of it, and i use "fanned base" or whatever that is in english (a suporte for laptop with 2 refreshing thingys)

[MCSPantani]

Well...several hours of googling the sh€*# out of radeon dual graphics issues, and i came to the conclusion that it's definetly a dual graphics problem/incompatibility with this year's nba 2k.
I've tried everything! And the problem is something between my dual (fu€&$%¥) graphics machine and 2k15.
Mt machine scored 6.3 on "Windows benchmark" thing in graphics performance...6.3 is pretty ok! And i can't run de damn thing!!!
Yesterday i tried running it in my son's laptop, wich is ok, but scores only 5 in graphics, according to Windows...and 2k15 runned flawless. FLAWLESS! My son's laptop has only 4gb RAM (i have 8), and an inferior processor...but has no dual "sh¥£". And runs 2k15 like crazy,in medium settings...

...about to give up...unless it's possible to phisically deactivate one of the graphic cards

[mindae]

try go to device manager > display adapters > disable one of the cards if it shows two

[MCSPantani]

Thanks!
Yes, it shows two cards...the 7670m (dGpu) and the dual graphics (7640g + 7670m).

Either way, i'm screwed, because they both disable the dGpu and 2k15 won't even start.

2k14 was smooth, but 2k15 probably has something that won't "talk" with my graphics shoot me...