ATI 4890 HD on Windows 7 Professional 64 bit problem

Are you using ATI tray tools? If you are, disable it and see if that makes a difference.

What are you using to monitor CPU and GPU usage?


If you aren't already, use GPU-Z to monitor the card usage. GPU-Z is accurate, so if the GPU is not working outside, then you'll (we'll) know for certain that the card is not being utilised properly.

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/


If you still wish to disable powerplay, here's how to do it manually:
(credit to user F1aw1ess: https://www.sevenforums.com/members/f1aw1ess.html for the info)

F1aw1ess said:

Just in case anyone else has this problem, this is how to disable powerplay (although not tested yet)

For anyone with ATI cards here is how to properly set your card up to not use powerplay which causes stuttering and low performance.
go to the directory,
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data\ATI\ACE
Keep that directory open.
start up catalyst control center
hit the Overdrive tab
hit the paddle lock image to enable the overdrive settings
hit the profiles tab at top of page
select profiles manager from drop down list
name a profile in blank box (Custom Power is my chosen name)
under "this profile includes" section at bottom of page select the dot for "the following settings". In the tree make sure only ATI Overdrive checkbox is selected.
hit the save button
hit the Activate and close button at bottom of page
now go to your open directory
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data\ATI\ACE
You should see 5 new files in there in total.
One file is the same as you named your custom profile, right click it and select edit (my file is called Custom Power.xml)
The file will open in notepad where you can now change settings to nullify powerplay
Here are my new settings for example, I increased the core speed and voltage and applied a slight overclock to the 3dmodes in gpu and memory. I also increased the fan % to 100% from 41%.
Make your changes, close and save changes to the file. Rt click the file choose properties and change the file to read only. You are done.
<Profile>
<Caste name="Graphics">
<Groups>
<Group name="Overdrive5">
<Feature name="CoreClockTarget_0">
<Property name="Want_0" value="77600" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="80000" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="80000" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_0">
<Property name="Want_0" value="112600" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="120000" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="120000" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="CoreVoltageTarget_0">
<Property name="Want_0" value="1300" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="1300" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="1300" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="MemoryVoltageTarget_0">
<Property name="Want_0" value="0" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="0" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="0" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedProtocol_0">
<Property name="FanSpeedProtocolProperty" value="Percent" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedAlgorithm_0">
<Property name="FanSpeedAlgorithm" value="Automatic" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedRPMTarget_0">
<Property name="Want" value="0" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedPercentTarget_0">
<Property name="Want" value="100" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="CoreClockTarget_1">
<Property name="Want_0" value="77600" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="80000" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="80000" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_1">
<Property name="Want_0" value="112600" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="120000" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="120000" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="CoreVoltageTarget_1">
<Property name="Want_0" value="1300" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="1300" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="1300" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="MemoryVoltageTarget_1">
<Property name="Want_0" value="0" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="0" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="0" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedProtocol_1">
<Property name="FanSpeedProtocolProperty" value="Percent" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedAlgorithm_1">
<Property name="FanSpeedAlgorithm" value="Automatic" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedRPMTarget_1">
<Property name="Want" value="0" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedPercentTarget_1">
<Property name="Want" value="100" />
</Feature>
</Group>
</Groups>
<Adapter name="PCI_VEN_1002&amp;DEV_9501&amp;SUBSYS_E620174B&amp;REV_00_4&amp;16020E22&amp;0&amp;0008A">
<Aspect name="Overdrive5" />
</Adapter>
</Caste>
</Profile>

If you restart your computer, just make sure to open catalyst and ensure that your profile is activated. Simple once done.

Here are the results

You see some GPU activity but this was during loading times..
When i am actualy ingame the activity drops to 0

PS i used Task manager for the CPU and the CCC for the GPU

I will turn that powerplay off if its actually needed to solfe this issue

Thank you for your help so far i hope we can figuere this out
I already asked this on some GTA 4 Forum (GTAforums.com) and they told me to try different CCC drivers to i tested 9.1-9.9 showing no real differences (Now running 9.9 again)
Now they are telling me that my OS could be screwed up wich i doubt since i just installed it a week ago.

I tried running the game without the ATI update from microsoft and with the ATI update from microsoft both showing no differences in GPU ussage.

Again GPU only active when inside a house(interior)

EDIT tried that turning powerplay thing off and it didnt affected my FPS only clocked my GPU at 800-850MHZ

I'm sorry to say, that it's not a R* issue, so I doubt there aren't going to be any 'fixes'.

What are your normal 3D clock speeds? In that screenshot, it's at 600/975 which still points to a possible powerplay issue.

Also, it may be worthwhile manually increasing your fan speed using ATI overdrive within CCC