Is my Problem a bottleneck? Will Overclocking my AMD Phenom II X4 955 help with bottleneck?

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Anthony1025

Anthony1025

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My Rig
Motherboard : ASRock M3A770DE
CPU : AMD Phenom II X4 955e @ 3200MHz (Revision: RB-C3)
Memory : 8gbs of DDR3 RAM
Video Card : GTX 560(Non ti version,not Overclocked) (332.21 drivers)
Case : Master Cooler 310

When I'm playing games such as Battlefield 3, Far Cry 3, or any other intensive cpu game, I notice that when my cpu usage hits 90-100%, my framerate drops maybe 10-20 frames. When the usage goes back down to about 50-70%, my frames return to their normal rate. Also, my GTX 560 usage is fairly low, so I'm assuming that my ol' Phenom is bottlenecking me.

This weekend I planned on going down to a local computer store and picking up a Cooler Master TX3 and overclocking my cpu. Would doing so reduce those framerate drops when my the cpu usage hits max? If so, would overclocking increase performance while gaming?
 
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lazyboy947

lazyboy947

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wat settings and resolution? The stock x4 should handle the non ti 560 without a problem, it seems like a bottleneck which overclocking would help and the tx3 and that board are best for the cost to get a small oc as the board isnt best to overclock on but should get to 3.6ish.

My friend runs a x4 945 with a gtx 480 which is a little slower than a 570 which prob puts it near the 560, and at the stock 3.0ghz it has a slight bottleneck and with up to 3.2ghz ur x4 speeds it performs just fine. Try lowering ur settings, my friend plays bf3 at high to maintain fps and lag and he also is running a ddr2 board with 4gb
 
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Anthony1025

Anthony1025

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I play on a 19' Inch Dell 1440x900 monitor at 75hz. Regarding the settings, the drops happen on all settings. For example, I can Battlefield 3 on Low settings and achieve 75 fps, but at certain times when my cpu hits 90-100% usage, my fps will drop 10-20 frames and it feels awful. Once the usage drops, my frames return to normal.

There's also something else that happens. Whenever my framerate drops below my monitors refresh rate, it feels nearly unplayable. Another example, let's say I'm playing at 75 fps and my framerate barely drops to 71, the difference in smoothness is ridiculous. Even though it only drop maybe 3 or 4 frames, it feels like it dropped 30 or more.

I've re-installed video drivers.
My CPU temps run between 52C-56C while gaming. My GTX 560 runs at 55C while gaming, so it's not overheating
I've defragged my hard-drive
I've ran CCleaner
I've changed NVidia Control Panel settings
I've used V-Sync, and Adaptive V-Sync
Use Razer Gambooster

It seems to happen no matter what I did, so I assumed that maybe my CPU was bottlenecking me. It's not completely intolerable, but it would be nice if the gameplay was more fluid.
 
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Tree_Hugger

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I actually used to have this exact setup, 955 + 560 non ti. I definitely saw an improvement when I OCd my 955 to 3.8ghz with a cooler master hyper 212+. I got pretty smooth frames on High at 1080p. However, as mentioned already, your board might no be the best for OCing. My 560 was OCed as well (it was an evga card at reference clocks and i just set it to the same settings as evga's super OC version of the 560 with no problems).

I'd definitely try OCing your 955 as much as you can, just make sure you have good cooling
 
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lazyboy947

lazyboy947

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Yeah there wouldnt be a cpu bottleneck on low settings as even tho bf3 can be cpu intense the gpu surely wouldnt need to work hard to keep a steady framerate, is the monitors refresh rate stock 75hz? and have u tried not using any v sync? Pretty sure the gpu and cpu should be able to handle 1440x900 resolution gaming with a good steady fps and smoothness. Temps on the cpu seem good for stock cooling under load, the tx3 will help lower that without a OC but temps shouldnt be an issue.

Did this lag and stuff start with new drivers? or is this a fresh install of windows or did u just recently update ur gpu drivers?
 
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Anthony1025

Anthony1025

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Well, to be completely honest, I'm pretty clueless when it comes to OCing. The place that I'm picking up the Cooler Master TX3 from, can also overclock, so I planned on letting them do it for me.

So my motherboard will be limiting how high I can OC my cpu? Is my motherboard low-end or something?
 
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Tree_Hugger

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Yeah. Not exactly low-end, but a budget board at least. I think you should get a decent OC out of it though
 
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Anthony1025

Anthony1025

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Just jumped into a quick low ping server to try it out. On low settings my CPU stayed at about 85-95% usage and my GPU hovered around 60% usage. My monitor just automatically defaults to 75hz. In the Nvidia control panel I have an option to go to 60hz, but everything looks blurry when I select it. It's been happening before I update my drivers today. Maybe it could be previous drivers left behind messing up my performance. Usually when I update my drivers I just select do a clean install and the install passes, so I'm not sure.

The thing is, when I was playing my computer was kinda of struggling to keep a constant 60 fps, on low. I would stay at around 75 fps, then drop to 60 and like I said earlier, it felt awful. As if I was actually playing at 20 or 30 fps. Then, it would go back up to 75 fps, then down to 50 or so and that felt terrible as well.
 
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