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Gaming Problem - Low Fps Cap on most Games

Tags:
  • Gaming
  • Low FPS
  • Components
  • Computers
  • Games
  • Hardware Problem
  • FPS
Last response: in Components
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July 27, 2014 11:36:51 AM

I have a really weird problem with my computer that I would like some help with. Its home-built, and meant for gaming. However, on quite a few games, from Minecraft to Battlefield 4, I get this fps cap at 11 fps. I've tried disabling vsync, but to no avail.
However, at random points, it can fix itself. It jumps from a cap at 11 to a cap at 120 or so. Additionally, sometimes, if I "optimize" the game in Nvidia Experience, it fixes it as well. For example, in Battlefield 4, I could be getting 11 fps at low settings, and after optimizing, it jumps up to 90 fps on Ultra settings. But, it seems to revert back to 11 after a reboot.
Any help is appreciated, even if it is just speculation.

System Specs :
i5-4670k @ 4.0ghz (watercooled)
Nvidia Geforce Gtx 760
16gb Ram
Msi z87 g45 motherboard
Windows 7

EDIT: (SOLUTION) I finally got it working 2 days ago, but within all the excitement, I forgot to let you know. It turned out to be one of the most simple things. I just did a clean boot, with nothing running besides the necessary stuff, and well it worked. I slowly started adding the remaining programs that I typically used every day, and now my computer feels completely knew. I have faster boot times, cleaner games, and just overall a better experience. Thank you for your assistance in helping me through this. Hope it helps!

More about : gaming problem low fps cap games

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July 27, 2014 11:43:01 AM

Make sure you've tried re-installing the drivers (using Driver Sweeper to clean out the old one) and rebooting. I'd imagine you've tried this, but you didn't mention it.
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July 27, 2014 11:55:24 AM

Have you watched your temps. CPU's and GPU's will throttle their clock speed if they start overheating this could be caused by them reaching to high of a temp. Say if your water pump isn't working right all the time.
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July 27, 2014 1:05:59 PM

caqde said:
Have you watched your temps. CPU's and GPU's will throttle their clock speed if they start overheating this could be caused by them reaching to high of a temp. Say if your water pump isn't working right all the time.


Totally, it's a great idea to check temps. If OP is new to this, HW Monitor is a great option. However, if the problem can be fixed on a game-by-game basis, the hardware can't be throttling the framerate. Say the pump is malfunctioning, a jump from 11 FPS to 90 FPS at a dangerous temperature of 80C would certainly cause an automatic shutdown.
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July 27, 2014 1:26:18 PM

The prime mediocre said:
caqde said:
Have you watched your temps. CPU's and GPU's will throttle their clock speed if they start overheating this could be caused by them reaching to high of a temp. Say if your water pump isn't working right all the time.


Totally, it's a great idea to check temps. If OP is new to this, HW Monitor is a great option. However, if the problem can be fixed on a game-by-game basis, the hardware can't be throttling the framerate. Say the pump is malfunctioning, a jump from 11 FPS to 90 FPS at a dangerous temperature of 80C would certainly cause an automatic shutdown.


The thing I'm thinking about though is that the OP said that the speed would randomly go up and then down. That is a bit strange and what I would see if the computer was overheating. Maybe not enough to cause an automatic shutdown but enough for the thermal throttling to kick in and keep it just below the shutdown temps.
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July 27, 2014 1:29:33 PM

Yeah i have checked drivers, and wiped the old ones as well, it has not helped. I just checked my temps. Idling, my cpu cores are at temperatures of 45C to 50C. My GPU is at about 37C. In Battlefield 4, my cpu core temps are at 50-62C, and gpu is at about 42C. Again, thanks for the replies!
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July 27, 2014 1:45:35 PM

shotiesp said:
Yeah i have checked drivers, and wiped the old ones as well, it has not helped. I just checked my temps. Idling, my cpu cores are at temperatures of 45C to 50C. My GPU is at about 37C. In Battlefield 4, my cpu core temps are at 50-62C, and gpu is at about 42C. Again, thanks for the replies!


Okay, there it is. Your GPU should be at 65-70C during heavy gameplay. The next step would be to start up MSI Afterburner/ EVGA Precision/ or a similar overclocking utility for more detailed info. During gameplay, watch: GPU utilization, clock speed, and, maybe most importantly, fan speed.

Again, I'd imagine you've already done this. This is just what I would do.

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July 27, 2014 1:52:03 PM

shotiesp said:
Yeah i have checked drivers, and wiped the old ones as well, it has not helped. I just checked my temps. Idling, my cpu cores are at temperatures of 45C to 50C. My GPU is at about 37C. In Battlefield 4, my cpu core temps are at 50-62C, and gpu is at about 42C. Again, thanks for the replies!


What is your CPU clock speeds when running Battlefield 4? Those idle temps are really high for your CPU.
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July 27, 2014 3:43:47 PM

My clock speeds playing battlefield are any between 50 to 80 percent depending on what im doing. Yeah, ive always thought i had a problem with my fans. They are moderately loud, even while idling (probably because the high cpu temps). Im out of the house right now, so i cant try afterburner right now. But ill let you know when i do.
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July 27, 2014 4:27:19 PM

You might want to check to see if your watercooler's cooling plate if firmly touching your CPU. If it isn't it won't cool correctly. Also can you tell us what watercooler you are using if possible (custom or named closed loop).
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July 27, 2014 5:04:36 PM

caqde said:
You might want to check to see if your watercooler's cooling plate if firmly touching your CPU. If it isn't it won't cool correctly. Also can you tell us what watercooler you are using if possible (custom or named closed loop).


Yeah im using a corsair h80i, if it does seem to be a cooling issue, i might just rebuild with better airflow, better fans, and a better liquid cooling system. I may need reccomendations
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July 27, 2014 5:21:30 PM

Since that is a corsair h80i make sure you have also run and installed the latest corsair link software on your system it will update the firmware on the pump. You can get it from the following link.

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=125350

But a properly working H80i should be more than able to adequately cool an i5-4670K.
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July 27, 2014 6:35:03 PM

The prime mediocre said:
shotiesp said:
Yeah i have checked drivers, and wiped the old ones as well, it has not helped. I just checked my temps. Idling, my cpu cores are at temperatures of 45C to 50C. My GPU is at about 37C. In Battlefield 4, my cpu core temps are at 50-62C, and gpu is at about 42C. Again, thanks for the replies!


Okay, there it is. Your GPU should be at 65-70C during heavy gameplay. The next step would be to start up MSI Afterburner/ EVGA Precision/ or a similar overclocking utility for more detailed info. During gameplay, watch: GPU utilization, clock speed, and, maybe most importantly, fan speed.

Again, I'd imagine you've already done this. This is just what I would do.


I ran msi afterburner while playing bf4, and my gpu usage was anywhere from 20ish to 60ish percent. The temperature ranged from 40C to 57C. Each cpu core usage was anywhere from 35 to 90 percent, depending on what i was doing. My cpu temps ranged from 50C to 67C ( I have my cpu temps capped at 70C. ) And as for fan speed, msi afterburner is telling me that fan speed is at 3%... I can physically see blur from moving, but something doesn't seem right there. Maybe i have something plugged in wrong or configured wrong.
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July 27, 2014 11:04:09 PM

shotiesp said:
The prime mediocre said:
shotiesp said:
Yeah i have checked drivers, and wiped the old ones as well, it has not helped. I just checked my temps. Idling, my cpu cores are at temperatures of 45C to 50C. My GPU is at about 37C. In Battlefield 4, my cpu core temps are at 50-62C, and gpu is at about 42C. Again, thanks for the replies!


Okay, there it is. Your GPU should be at 65-70C during heavy gameplay. The next step would be to start up MSI Afterburner/ EVGA Precision/ or a similar overclocking utility for more detailed info. During gameplay, watch: GPU utilization, clock speed, and, maybe most importantly, fan speed.

Again, I'd imagine you've already done this. This is just what I would do.


I ran msi afterburner while playing bf4, and my gpu usage was anywhere from 20ish to 60ish percent. The temperature ranged from 40C to 57C. Each cpu core usage was anywhere from 35 to 90 percent, depending on what i was doing. My cpu temps ranged from 50C to 67C ( I have my cpu temps capped at 70C. ) And as for fan speed, msi afterburner is telling me that fan speed is at 3%... I can physically see blur from moving, but something doesn't seem right there. Maybe i have something plugged in wrong or configured wrong.


You could try setting a custom curve.
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July 29, 2014 6:29:23 AM

How would you recommend that i do that? I haven't set a custom curve before.
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July 29, 2014 12:26:52 PM

shotiesp said:
How would you recommend that i do that? I haven't set a custom curve before.


In your overclocking utility, you can adjust points on a graph of speed over temperature. Start with the default speed (for example, 20%) at 30-40C, and make a gentle exponential slope up to about 50-60% at around 70C. The more extreme the temperatures, the more extremely your cooler should react.

I'm just curious to see if your problem will subside if you set explicit instructions for what the fan should be doing at all times. If it works, we know that the automatic fan setting on your GPU isn't working properly. If it doesn't, there could be a hardware problem with the fans. The thing that's still profoundly confusing is that you can temporarily fix this with software tweaks.

For the least amount of time and grief, I think you should swap in an old card (or remove the GPU and use integrated graphics) to be certain the problem lies there and not with the CPU. Then, you could confidently RMA your GTX 760.
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July 29, 2014 2:58:31 PM

The prime mediocre said:
shotiesp said:
How would you recommend that i do that? I haven't set a custom curve before.


In your overclocking utility, you can adjust points on a graph of speed over temperature. Start with the default speed (for example, 20%) at 30-40C, and make a gentle exponential slope up to about 50-60% at around 70C. The more extreme the temperatures, the more extremely your cooler should react.

I'm just curious to see if your problem will subside if you set explicit instructions for what the fan should be doing at all times. If it works, we know that the automatic fan setting on your GPU isn't working properly. If it doesn't, there could be a hardware problem with the fans. The thing that's still profoundly confusing is that you can temporarily fix this with software tweaks.

For the least amount of time and grief, I think you should swap in an old card (or remove the GPU and use integrated graphics) to be certain the problem lies there and not with the CPU. Then, you could confidently RMA your GTX 760.

Well i set a custom curve, and it didnt seem to do much. And additionally, i tried optimizing battlefield 4 again, as it reverts when I restart, and it had no effect on the terrible framerate. No matter what settings i run bf4 on, it will run at a consistent 11-13 frames. And as for swapping out with an old gpu, i don't have another to use, I could try integrated graphics, but could it run something like battlefield 4? Or should I use a less intensive game as a benchmark?
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July 29, 2014 3:31:22 PM

I just dont understand why my system apparently has the ability to run BF4 at high fps in Ultra, but it typically refuses to give me good framerates. And that frustrates me.
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July 29, 2014 4:17:49 PM

Well to try something use this -> http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/tmonitor.html

Have that running and recording while you play a game. It will tell you what your cpu frequency is over a period of time. It will create a logs folder with a csv file containing the logged data when you stop recording. Seems to be the only application I have found that logs clock speeds instead of cpu usage which are two entirely different things. You can have a cpu at 100% usage and still have it throttled to say 800mhz if it feels it is running to hot. Your 20-60% gpu usage in bf4 would usually relate to the CPU not adequately giving enough work to the GPU meaning the GPU is basically waiting for work most of the time.
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July 29, 2014 8:59:00 PM

caqde said:
Well to try something use this -> http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/tmonitor.html

Have that running and recording while you play a game. It will tell you what your cpu frequency is over a period of time. It will create a logs folder with a csv file containing the logged data when you stop recording. Seems to be the only application I have found that logs clock speeds instead of cpu usage which are two entirely different things. You can have a cpu at 100% usage and still have it throttled to say 800mhz if it feels it is running to hot. Your 20-60% gpu usage in bf4 would usually relate to the CPU not adequately giving enough work to the GPU meaning the GPU is basically waiting for work most of the time.

I can't seem to run multiple instances of the program. Unless I am doing something wrong, I can only see the frequency of core #0. I can log that if you would like, or maybe i could find something else.


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July 29, 2014 9:04:45 PM

Core 0 should be fine as most of the other cores should be around the same clockspeed. It would be nice if they updated that application.
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July 29, 2014 9:18:07 PM

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caqde said:
Core 0 should be fine as most of the other cores should be around the same clockspeed. It would be nice if they updated that application.

Well, i can get all 4 cores, I just wasnt realizing that i needed multiple instances are for multiple cpus, im recording right after this.
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July 29, 2014 10:21:28 PM

Interesting well your average Core speeds are 3.3Ghz, 2.5Ghz, 2.8Ghz, and 2.8Ghz according to that using the data from points 200-410 (removing 1-199 and 411 - 544 hopefully removing before and after shutting off the game) Usually you would expect all cores to average above 3.4Ghz in a game but yours isn't and each core should be active so it really shouldn't be dropping the clock speed below 3.4Ghz....
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July 29, 2014 10:35:33 PM

caqde said:
Interesting well your average Core speeds are 3.3Ghz, 2.5Ghz, 2.8Ghz, and 2.8Ghz according to that using the data from points 200-410 (removing 1-199 and 411 - 544 hopefully removing before and after shutting off the game) Usually you would expect all cores to average above 3.4Ghz in a game but yours isn't and each core should be active so it really shouldn't be dropping the clock speed below 3.4Ghz....


Should I try unparking my cores to see if that changes anything? Or what could be a possible fix here?
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July 29, 2014 10:45:03 PM

There are two reasons a CPU would drop below its full operating frequency Heat and Lack of work. If the it is the first one it will either start overheating or still drop the frequency to protect itself. If it is the second it should be fine although that doesn't look like it is the case.

If heat is the issue you could probably try using an application like IntelBurnTest -> http://www.techspot.com/downloads/4965-intelburntest.ht... . And watch the temps and clockspeed of your cpu while running it. It should fully load all cores and show you how your cpu is acting while under stress. Just remember to watch carefully as this is a lot worse than a game on your cpu. You could also run similar application for your GPU like Furmark to to stress and watch GPU temps.

These should help you find the issue and allow you to modify your systems cooling and quickly stress test your system.
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July 30, 2014 11:06:07 AM

caqde said:
There are two reasons a CPU would drop below its full operating frequency Heat and Lack of work. If the it is the first one it will either start overheating or still drop the frequency to protect itself. If it is the second it should be fine although that doesn't look like it is the case.

If heat is the issue you could probably try using an application like IntelBurnTest -> http://www.techspot.com/downloads/4965-intelburntest.ht... . And watch the temps and clockspeed of your cpu while running it. It should fully load all cores and show you how your cpu is acting while under stress. Just remember to watch carefully as this is a lot worse than a game on your cpu. You could also run similar application for your GPU like Furmark to to stress and watch GPU temps.

These should help you find the issue and allow you to modify your systems cooling and quickly stress test your system.


I ran both stress tests, and the cpu test ran all of the way through on standard mode, I have the ability to change it to High -> Maximum if you would like to see that too. Additionally, during the gpu, after 17000 frames I tried taking a screenshot, and it crashed, so I just took a gyazo before I closed it. Also, the gpu temperature climbed steadily to an 89C plateau, I am not sure about the cpu temps though.

cpu: http://gyazo.com/0d20ecd1055683c324e94a31a3a7a3bb
gpu: http://gyazo.com/2d2a7d2c419b3ef295761aadf0d8f8ef
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September 28, 2014 9:12:02 AM

I finally got it working 2 days ago, but within all the excitement, I forgot to let you know. It turned out to be one of the most simple things. I just did a clean boot, with nothing running besides the necessary stuff, and well it worked. I slowly started adding the remaining programs that I typically used every day, and now my computer feels completely knew. I have faster boot times, cleaner games, and just overall a better experience. Thank you for your assistance in helping me through this. Hope it helps!
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