Confusion - Good CPU and Graphics card but still low fps?

shaney_96 · May 8, 2014

So I bought a second hand gaming PC (I accept this is risky), and it just doesn't seem to perform the way it should be, the specification is as follows:
CPU - AMD FX-6100
GPU - AMD Radeon HD 7900 series (7950 XFX)
RAM - DDR3 16GB
Motherboard - MSI 760GM-P23(FC) (MS-7641)

I can run most games, but the FPS drops significantly sometimes without any explanation, I can run games like bioshock infinite, but only on around medium settings at around 20-40 fps. Also, I run League of Legends on low graphics and it still drops to around 9 fps sometimes, even when there is nothing running in the background. I've done a bit of research and the motherboard is rather cheap, but I didn't think the motherboard effected fps to such a large extent? Do I need to purchase a new motherboard? Or maybe a new GPU, CPU and motherboard? I just don't see how that's necessary when my GPU and CPU are pretty high performing?

logainofhades · May 8, 2014

FX 6100 is not a very good CPU. The 7950 is an excellent GPU though. LoL isn't exactly a demanding title, though. You should be maxing that thing out. Are your drivers up to date? Also, you monitor is connected to the video card and not the video port on the motherboard, correct?

bignastyid · May 8, 2014

The fx x1xx series are notoriously poor gaming cpus. Any game that requires a decent cpu is going to struggle. I'd upgrade it to a fx 6300.

shaney_96 · May 8, 2014

Thanks for the almost instant replies, I really appreciate that. I think my drivers are out of date (I'm reminded every time I boot up my pc by this program, but it makes me pay for some crap), I honestly don't know about how to update my drivers. My monitor is connected to my GPU yes. Is my motherboard a problem by any chance? It is literally about £30 and probably a couple of years old like the other components. I'm considering purchasing an intel processor though, as I'm unsure about AMD's (friends say not to trust them, or are they incorrect in saying this).

Rationale · May 8, 2014

You can trust AMD CPUs just as well as Intel, they're durable. AMD CPUs tend to perform worse in games, hence the lower cost, but there's not a significant risk of them breaking or anything.

Did the person you bought the PC from restore Windows to factory defaults and wipe everything before he sold it to you? If he didn't, then you should. Use a program to find your Windows key first though, in case you need it.

The motherboard is probably not the issue. I have an old motherboard that would cost around $50, or £30, and it doesn't really affect performance. The motherboard mostly holds all the other stuff, it doesn't generally affect performance on its own unless it's dying. And if it was dying, you'd be getting blue screens and random reboots.

Drivers can be updated by going to the site of the company that made your GPU and CPU (AMD, in both cases), and you should be able to download the driver installers from there.

Your CPU should be running somewhat better than that. It's about the same performance as my CPU, and I keep 30-60 fps in everything (most things on ultra, the newest games on high) with a weaker video card than yours.

shaney_96 · May 8, 2014

I don't think it's the drivers, I've checked them and there aren't really any problems. The person I bought this off did wipe the system before selling it me yes. So what would solution be? I mean, is it worth considering upgrading the processor? If so, which one should I get? Is it worth switching to intel and upgrading the motherboard as well? I'm just wondering if the motherboard isn't allowing for the GPU to perform the best it can?

logainofhades · May 8, 2014

Go to AMD and make sure you have the latest. There is a chance you have the one from Windows update and that one always = fail.

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

Rationale · May 8, 2014

shaney_96 :

Your motherboard isn't bad enough to hold back your GPU or CPU. I've checked the specs and it's fine. Not great obviously, but it fills the requirements with a 760 chipset, PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot, and 1333mhz max RAM. There's nothing startlingly bad about it.

What resolution is your monitor?

shaney_96 · May 8, 2014

I've given up with the drivers, thanks for the link but I'd already been on that page and downloaded the 'auto-detect drivers' program. I keep getting an error stating 'Could not connect to the server: could not parse error'. So I think I'll leave that until another day. Apart from the drivers, back to my last question about whether or not it's worth upgrading my components in my system? In particular my cpu?

Rationale · May 8, 2014

shaney_96 :

You could replace your CPU+mobo. Even a new dual core i3 would beat it by a bit. But I kind of doubt it would help, since with performance as low as yours it has to be some kind of bug or failing hardware or drivers or something. The FX-6100 isn't supposed to run that badly.

What's your power supply unit?

shaney_96 · May 8, 2014

My PSU is an Antec 520watt Continuous Power. Not sure if the problem is due to the age of some of the components (I bought it second hand therefore I have no knowledge of the age of any of the components).

shaney_96 · May 9, 2014

So I just ran far cry 3 on ultra to test this out. I had a steady 30-40fps, but it kept dropping down to around 9-14 fps quite regularly (at least a few times a minute). I brought up task manager and my CPU usage was around 60% constantly, not sure if this is any help at all, but this is what I gathered from testing.

logainofhades · May 9, 2014

Don't use the auto detect. It rarely works right. Here is the link for 64 bit Win 7/8/8.1
http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows%207%20-%2064

And in case, for some odd reason, you have 32 bit windows.

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows%207%20-%2032

shaney_96 · May 9, 2014

Thanks for all the responses, and I have that software already logain, but it doesn't allow me update my drivers, it just states different pieces of information and settings I can tweak, but nothing about drivers. Sorry if I'm being awkward, it's just I wanna know what's up with my rig. As I said, I can run Far Cry 3 on ultra, but it constantly spikes. Funnily enough, still have these spikes on LoL when it's on like medium, is this due to my CPU? I feel the problem may be my CPU, it is probably a couple of years old and may be wearing out? Again, thanks for all your responses

shaney_96 · May 11, 2014

Just ran Battlefield 3. Thing is, I can run it fine, but it just spikes so much, just like all other games, I checked CPU usage through task manager, and it's always around 80%-90% when running battlefield, surely this has to be the problem I've been facing?

Rationale · May 11, 2014

shaney_96 :

No, not necessarily. My CPU hits 90-100% in some games, and usually it just results in a lower framerate (like a constant 30 fps), but not spikes. That kind of unstable performance is normally associated with running out of VRAM (pretty much impossible on your card), overheating, or driver issues.

Godloki · May 13, 2014

shaney_96 :

Sounds like you might have some malware on your computer if something is telling you to update the drivers and pay them. Go to bleepingcomputer.com download RKill let that run and finish and then download malware bytes and run that and see what it says. Also check your programs list and look for anything that looks suspicious.

Confusion - Good CPU and Graphics card but still low fps?

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