I have an ATI Radeon 5650 1Gb
6GB of Ram
i7 720 qm 1.6ghz turboboosted to 2.4ghz
Windows 7 home basic

When I play campaign (on lowest possible settings (even resolution)) I achieve an average of about 60-70fps. When I play multiplayer I still achieve from 40-60 fps, but for some reason it constantly drops to 1fps and then back up again. Anyone tell me why?

It's your vram maxing out and putting stuff onto your RAM, best with 2gb card for this game, at least SP, MP uses a little over 1gb but yeah with a low res that you're using maybe it's something else.
I'm currently loking at this card >
http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-radeon-hd-7970-lightning-review/

I hear AMD Radeon HD 7850 is pretty good for it's price/performance ratio. And it's OC friendly if you need it in the future. But it'll do just fine with stock clocks for 2 years.
Crysis 2: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7870-review-benchmark,3148-9.html
BF3: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7870-review-benchmark,3148-6.html

It's your vram maxing out and putting stuff onto your RAM, best with 2gb card for this game, at least SP, MP uses a little over 1gb but yeah with a low res that you're using maybe it's something else.
I'm currently loking at this card >
http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-radeon-hd-7970-lightning-review/
Can't be. I have a 5870 1GB. I have never had this issue. But if it is VRAM that's maxing out, which is unlikely, I suggest OP turn off his Aero if he runs Windows 7 as well as any movies paused OR running in the background.

It's your vram maxing out and putting stuff onto your RAM, best with 2gb card for this game, at least SP, MP uses a little over 1gb but yeah with a low res that you're using maybe it's something else.
I'm currently loking at this card >
http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-radeon-hd-7970-lightning-review/
Can't be. I have a 5870 1GB. I have never had this issue. But if it is VRAM that's maxing out, which is unlikely, I suggest OP turn off his Aero if he runs Windows 7 as well as any movies paused OR running in the background.


I agree with farmboy;) I have a 1 gig card (8800GT Palit). No issues what so ever.

The i7 720QM is a mobile CPU, so he is probably playing on a laptop (Mobility HD 5650). Could this be a problem with overheating? I'd use HWMonitor and have a look at max temperatures after having this problem.

Anyway, if he only has issues in MP, it seems unlikely the problem is GPU-based...

Lemme say this,
Right now nvidia are failing badly, unfortunately.
They made a wrong decision with the 600 series 'gpu auto boost' - a noob friendly feature (like bf3) , also the 600 series have stuttering problems right now that'll be fixed 'soon'.
So last week i just for lolz gave the 7000 series AMD cards a look over and right now at least they're the ones to beat, if nvidia sort the stuttering well fine they'll probably reign again - somewhat but the gpu auto boost is pants, the amd 7000 series is pure horsepower, controlled by the user and not by a noob feature.
Quote from TechPowerUp site:
'..doing hardcoe overclocking with the GTX 680 is boring, limited and complex.'
The 7970 windforce and the MSI Lightning are tops.( beating stock 680s in many games)
*End Rant