"new" PC performing poorly.

eedijs · Aug 17, 2013

Hello, so I got this PC from my brother and I find that it is performing poorly in alot of games (poor fps, blue screens etc.) and I want to know if the motherboard is causing this, because it is VERY cheap.

Here's my system:

CPU: Amd FX-4100 Quad Core 3.6 Ghz
RAM: 8 GB
GPU: GTX 560 Ti
Motherboard: Asrock N68-VS3 FX

guggi4 · Aug 17, 2013

asrock normally arent that bad, maybe just reformat your harddrive and reinstall windows+drivers, maybe he fu*ked up something.

MC_K7 · Aug 17, 2013

Yeah exactly what I was going to suggest. Most probably a software or drivers problem. I would reformat and reinstall Windows from scratch. You can flash the BIOS, and also make sure you get latest drivers for all components.

eedijs · Aug 17, 2013

He reinstalled and cleaned up this PC using Advanced System Optimizer. I do have the latest drivers, but I'm still getting bad performance

jk_ventolero · Aug 17, 2013

What are your average FPS in games?

Make sure you have the latest drivers installed.

Onus · Aug 17, 2013

The board may be healthy, but it's ancient tech with an obsolete nVidia chipset on it, and a more modern socket tacked onto it. It only does 1000MT/s vs. 2600 (or higher) MT/s for modern boards, so the CPU and all ports and attached devices communicate more slowly than they would on a 900-series chipset board.

eedijs · Aug 17, 2013

jk_ventolero :

On Battlefield 3 it feels like 30 fps because I can see it stuttering (just like a low fps would), same with Far Cry 3 and other games. I have the latest drivers.

pietbeier · Aug 17, 2013

unstable or insufficient power supply maybe

MC_K7 · Aug 17, 2013

eedijs :

This sentence is kind of contradictory. If he really did reinstall, and by that I expect he formatted the drive and did a clean Windows install, then you don't need to clean it again with a tool like "Advanced System Optimizer". I really don't like these kinds of tools that supposedly improve your PC's performance. My experience with them is that most of the time they will do more harm than good.

So my recommendation would be to reinstall the OS again (clean install with format) and then install all latest drivers. And DO NOT install any tools to optimize performance. See how it performs with games after.

Since it's an old board, I was also wondering if you checked for a BIOS update? This would also be important to do if there's a newer version available.

Onus · Aug 17, 2013

What is the brand and model (not just wattage) of the PSU?

eedijs · Aug 18, 2013

Onus :

I have an OCZ CXS500W PSU - is it any good? I just want to know what's wrong with this computer. I might reinstall it, but not sure if that would fix anything at all.

Onus · Aug 18, 2013

That OCZ should be sufficient.
I think your performance issues are because it is fundamentally not a performance PC. The motherboard is slower old tech as I explained before, the FX-4100 is the slowest of the Bulldozer CPUs, which we discovered did not live up to AMD's hype at all, and the video card is now midrange for gaming (between the GTX650Ti and GTX650Ti Boost Edition). The BSODs may be unrelated. For that, if the reload doesn't help, test your RAM.
Other than possible defective hardware, this doesn't mean you got a bad PC (you didn't provide the price you paid), but you might need to adjust your expectations for it.

eedijs · Aug 18, 2013

Onus :

I'm pretty disappointed because my previous pc ran the games better and it had amd phenom ii x4 2.6ghz, gtx 260 oc version and 8gb ram. The motherboard on that one was an MSI 770-C45

MC_K7 · Aug 18, 2013

eedijs :

Yes you kind of "downgraded" (or just changed for something very similar at best) because the Phenom-II X4 is still a good gaming CPU today. As others mentioned, the FX-4100 is one of the weakest in the FX line-up (FX-6300 or FX-8350 are much better for gaming). And on top of that your motherboard has old chipset that might hold back its potential.

Onus · Aug 18, 2013

Yes, I'd call that a downgrade, although the MSI motherboard may have been lower quality (many of them have weak VRMs that will pop under load if overclocked). This spreadsheet doesn't have that specific board, but look at the raft of issues with all of the inexpensive MSI boards: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AgN1D79Joo7tdE9xMUFlMEVWeFhuckJEVF9aMmtpUFE&gid=0

eedijs · Aug 18, 2013

Oh well, and I thought that this PC would be better... I could've just bought a new cpu and gpu for it to be much better. Live and learn I guess.

I will post again when I reinstall and see how it goes then, but do I have to reinstall and format both of my HDD's or just the one that has OS on it, as always?

Onus · Aug 18, 2013

Just the one with the OS. You might disconnect the other one until you've done your testing.

"new" PC performing poorly.

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