AMD Radeon is plagued by uneven rendering times

So-called “micro-stuttering” or micro-delays is mainly a phenomenon that affects SLI and Crossfire configurations, but not only graphics cards are spared either. The technology site Techreport publishes a series of articles in which the Radeon HD 7950 is set against the Geforce GTX 660 Ti in a series of tests – and it is the red team that pulls the shortest straw.

To examine the whole thing, Techreport measures the time it takes for the graphics cards to render each frame. Larger variations in rendering times are experienced as microscopic delays or jerks in the image, which impairs the gaming experience. This phenomenon can also occur even though the frame rate is on the correct 60 FPS line.

Neither card performs poorly in this test—the 7950 averages 69 FPS, while the GTX 660 Ti averages 74 FPS—but frame delivery is generally uneven on the Radeon, punctuated by occasional hitches where frames take 60 milliseconds or more to arrive.

The result is that the graphics card from AMD shows significantly greater variations than Nvidia’s model, this in both Windows 7 and 8. To further support the controversial conclusion that Radeon provides a poorer gaming experience, the testers also capture the phenomenon on video (with varying degrees of success).

Side effects and aggressive optimizations

SweClocker’s graphics card tester Emil Björklund suspects that it may be about side effects of the aggressive optimizations in the latest versions of the drivers for the Radeon HD 7000 series, where a lot revolves around just frames per second.

What the big differences between AMD and Nvidia are due to is difficult to say, provided the results are correct. Our own tests show similar problems, but to a much lesser extent. This may indicate that the uneven numbers are not due to the graphics card itself but are side effects of the optimizations in the Catalyst 12.11 performance driver.

More tests of graphics cards where, among other things, the situation with rendering times and “micro-stuttering” are treated will appear on SweClockers at the beginning of next year.

The entire series of articles can be read at Techreport:

► Radeon HD 7950 vs. Geforce GTX 660 Ti revisited
► Does the Radeon HD 7950 stumble in Windows 8?
► GeForce versus Radeon captured on high-speed video