Am I Missing Something?

Brandon Singer · May 4, 2013

First off, here's my specs:

AMD Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz
8GB RAM
GeForce 660 Ti

Shouldn't I be getting 60 fps constantly with no problems in most games? (even with shadows on?)

I've had problems in Guild Wars 2 (but I don't play it anymore so idc), but right now I'm playing Neverwinter (which seems to have "worse" graphics than GW2) and I'm having the same issues.

Barely ever getting 60 constant frames and I have to turn off shadows or I'm getting 30 and below.

Is there a better CPU than this Phenom? All the benchmark tests have shown the phenom to be winning from this site http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/102?vs=699

Someone please help me out here? Please don't troll me by saying "GO INTEL GG" cause I don't have the money to buy a new motherboard and etc...

Thanks in advance for those who help!

EDIT: A little more information, my CPU usually runs at 50-55C (and sometimes it goes to 60C but barely ever I don't see it usually going up here) when I'm playing games, even LoL. I don't think this is an issue but just including this as more information if it would help.

smorizio · May 4, 2013

Make sure your mb bios has all the bug fixes and your updated the mb chipset drivers. In nvidia control panel make sure it set to one monitor. The slider set to performance and energy savings is off. Run CPU z and see if your ram is running at it maxed rated speed.

Brandon Singer · May 4, 2013

smorizio :

I just went to the GIGABYTE download center and got all the new updates but they were just for audio drivers and usb, I should not have to go to my nvidia control panel and set everything to performance either that is the point of this thread. I should not have to lower all my settings and this and that, this computer should be running great without the cost of performance.

bigcyco1 · May 4, 2013

Run Afterburner and check your GPU usage. If you are running at 99% GPU usage in that particular game, then you have no bottleneck. If you are running at less than 99% GPU usage, particularly if its closer to 50% or less in that particular game, then you have a CPU bottleneck.

Brandon Singer · May 4, 2013

bigcyco1 :

I'm not extremely fluent with computers, so what happens if it is bottlenecked? Is there a fix? I'm getting afterburner right now and testing it asap

bigcyco1 · May 4, 2013

Brandon Singer :

You can try overclocking the cpu if you have a atermarket cpu cooler if that don't fix it you'll have to upgrade your cpu.

maxalge · May 4, 2013

Brandon Singer :

If you find your GPU is not getting utilized fully, and you see the CPU usage is near 100%, then you need to overclock the cpu.

Brandon Singer · May 4, 2013

bigcyco1 :

I actually just bought 2 more fans that I can put on the top of my case to exhaust the heat which will help (hopefully), but how much do you think I should overclock the cpu to since it's at 3.4GHz?

Brandon Singer · May 4, 2013

maxalge :

I just got the AMD System Monitor which I'm pretty certain at the top it says Details and then shows CPU with a % and shows the cores, so once I get Afterburner I will run the game and compare and see what is exactly going on.

bigcyco1 · May 4, 2013

Brandon Singer :

bigcyco1 :

I actually just bought 2 more fans that I can put on the top of my case to exhaust the heat which will help (hopefully), but how much do you think I should overclock the cpu to since it's at 3.4GHz?

You will need a aftermarket cpu cooler to do it and i would say 4.0GHZ if possible if not try 3.8GHZ

Brandon Singer · May 4, 2013

bigcyco1 :

Brandon Singer :

You will need a aftermarket cpu cooler to do it and i would say 4.0GHZ if possible if not try 3.8GHZ

What exactly do you mean by aftermarket? I just bought http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103022 for my http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811517015 case.

maxalge · May 4, 2013

Brandon Singer :

bigcyco1 :

What exactly do you mean by aftermarket? I just bought http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103022 for my http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811517015 case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

This is an aftermarket cpu cooler.

bigcyco1 · May 4, 2013

I mean something like this CPU Cooler:COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Brandon Singer · May 4, 2013

bigcyco1 :

Oh I'm an idiot, this is the cooler that goes on the CPU right? I know what I'm talking about sometimes and then other times I go full retard. Yeah I'll def grab that, the stock cooler is shit. Right now Neverwinter's servers are down (of course when I want to test it)

Right now I'm playing LoL and I maxed at all my settings and it's running particularly well right now surprisingly, but the gpu is only being used around 30% but the cpu is at 30% as well, this game doesn't require much though.

bigcyco1 · May 4, 2013

Brandon Singer :

bigcyco1 :

Oh I'm an idiot, this is the cooler that goes on the CPU right? I know what I'm talking about sometimes and then other times I go full retard. Yeah I'll def grab that, the stock cooler is shit. Right now Neverwinter's servers are down (of course when I want to test it)

Right now I'm playing LoL and I maxed at all my settings and it's running particularly well right now surprisingly, but the gpu is only being used around 30% but the cpu is at 30% as well, this game doesn't require much though.

:lol: no problem.Yes the cooler that goes on the CPU

Brandon Singer · May 4, 2013

I just ordered that cooler, so once I get that I should be able to overclock this CPU safely, my buddy knows how to overclock stuff so I'll have him help me do that because I don't wanna screw up this computer anymore than it might already be haha. I mean I know how to overclock it but I just want someone that knows what he is doing just in case.

I'm still gonna check to see if I'm getting bottlenecked because I'm curious to see what is going on over there. So if I am getting bottlenecked and I can safely get my CPU to 4GHz these problems should definitely go away correct?

bigcyco1 · May 4, 2013

Brandon Singer :

It should but i cannot guarantee it.

Brandon Singer · May 4, 2013

bigcyco1 :

Yeah I'm pretty certain with all this new cooling that it will be better than it was before at least. Thanks for the help guys, it will take a couple of days for these parts to come in but I'll update what happened when they do.

bigcyco1 · May 4, 2013

Brandon Singer :

bigcyco1 :

Yeah I'm pretty certain with all this new cooling that it will be better than it was before at least. Thanks for the help guys, it will take a couple of days for these parts to come in but I'll update what happened when they do.

No problem.Your welcome!Sounds good will hear from you then

Brandon Singer · May 4, 2013

bigcyco1 :

Brandon Singer :

No problem.Your welcome!Sounds good will hear from you then

Just another quick update, I tested Neverwinter, and I found the GPU got to about 70% usage (nothing higher, then again I was only playing for 10 minutes or so) and the CPU seemed to be at the same exact usage as well. I guess the best solution would be to overclock this sucker then.

bigcyco1 · May 4, 2013

Brandon Singer :

bigcyco1 :

Just another quick update, I tested Neverwinter, and I found the GPU got to about 70% usage (nothing higher, then again I was only playing for 10 minutes or so) and the CPU seemed to be at the same exact usage as well. I guess the best solution would be to overclock this sucker then.

Yes i think so.

Brandon Singer · May 4, 2013

hafijur :

How do I set the affinity, do I have to do with through program options I'm guessing?

Brandon Singer · May 4, 2013

hafijur :

Yeah so I found in the big city of Neverwinter where it's most laggy I'm running around 15-20fps and the GPU load is only around 30-35% and the CPU load is at 99%, I don't know what this really means though but I don't think it's right lol

maxalge · May 4, 2013

Brandon Singer :

It means the GPU is waiting on the CPU to catch up.

The CPU is full out 99% usage, while the GPU is basically idling at 35% = CPU bottleneck.

Overclocking the CPU will help you in these situations by increasing its ability to keep up with the GPU.

Which will equal to higher fps in those situations.

bigcyco1 · May 4, 2013

maxalge :

Brandon Singer :

It means the GPU is waiting on the CPU to catch up.

The CPU is full out 99% usage, while the GPU is basically idling at 35% = CPU bottleneck.

Overclocking the CPU will help you in these situations by increasing its ability to keep up with the GPU.

Which will equal to higher fps in those situations.

I agree

Am I Missing Something?

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