Where's the bottle neck?

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T_Gamer

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Jul 10, 2014
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I built a gaming PC for my son. The specs follow:

Storage: 2 x 500Gb 5400RPM hard drives

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 750K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($79.49 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI A78M-E45 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($33.60 @ Adorama)
Memory: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($46.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Dual-X Video Card ($284.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Apevia X-HERMES-GN ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($345.81 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit) ($92.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($134.99 @ Newegg)

We started with a GeForce GT610 and graphics were just OK. We upgraded to an MSI Radeon R7 260X and they were "good". My son basically plays Minecraft with some textures and mods. He tried shaders but that took fps down to 15 or so.

So, we upgraded to the R9 280X thinking the system would rock at minimum 60fps with setting maxed. Sadly, he tweaks setting down a bit and is still at 35-45fps with shaders on. Granted, he can run default at 120-150fps.

Any advice? This isn't Battlefield 4 or Cyrsys. Why the bottle neck?
 
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pierrerock

pierrerock

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No you can only crossfire the very same video card. you can only combine two R9 280x or two R7 260X. They won't work in crossfire.

Minecraft is pretty CPU intensive. So it's normal that with a AMD Athlon X4 750K you get bottleneck. Unfortunately, the X4 760K is pretty much the best CPU you can fit on your Motherboard which is a FM2 board.

You could maybe try to overclock the CPU if you have a good motherboard with an aftermarket cooler. With this CPU you can hope for a 10-15% performance boost.

a Good price/performance cooler : Cooler master 212 EVO.
 
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pierrerock

pierrerock

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You board is good enough to overclock. you could try to overclock it with stock cooler at first to see how much you can get.

I am not a pro at overclocking. I only know the basics. You should start a thread to get help overclocking a X4 750k

but i can tell you will need prime95 to test your overclock : http://www.mersenne.org/download/
The website is safe don't worry about it's poor design. this light stress testing software is very common.

also you will need to monitor your temperature. HWmonitor : http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/hwmonitor/1.25.zip

Use the temperature of the CPU under the Motherboard because This software has some problem reading AMD CPU temp sensor. So you will use your motherboard socket temp sensor instead.

 
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TheJourneyman

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In what configuration are those ram sticks seated in the motherboard? I would be interested as to how they are being recognized in the system and at what datarate they are actually running at. With mixed sticks of mixed size, brand, speed, and latency there is good chance that they are not running in dual channel/DDR. An easy test would be to remove the two smaller, slower ram sticks and run the system(Making sure that the two remaining sticks are in the appropriate ram slots on the motherboard to run in dual channel/DDR.)
 
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T_Gamer

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Thanks for the RAM tip. I will try that. The exact RAM is not as posted above b/c the case was closed when I posted. I know that it is 2 x 2GB Crucial 1600. The other two are 2 x 1GB. Not sure the mfg or the speed but I think it is slower. I will take them out and have a look see. Is there free software that could be used to find RAM details?
 
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pierrerock

pierrerock

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If Ram work in Dual channel, it double the memory bandwidth (theoretically), Place your two identical Ram stick in the same colour slots. They are dual channel slots. The two crucial in the blue slots and the two other in the black slots.

This will allow dual Channelling. To see if your computer is running in dual Channel, Use CPU-Z in the memory tab it will tell if dual or single channel.
http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.70-en.zip
 
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T_Gamer

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Any insights from this? No memory info in the Mem tab...



CPU-Z

Binaries
CPU-Z version 1.70.0.x64

Processors
Number of processors 1
Number of threads 4

APICs
Processor 0
-- Core 0
-- Thread 0 0
-- Core 1
-- Thread 0 1
-- Core 2
-- Thread 0 2
-- Core 3
-- Thread 0 3

Timers
Perf timer 14.318 MHz
Sys timer 1.000 KHz


Processors Information
Processor 1 ID = 0
Number of cores 4 (max 4)
Number of threads 4 (max 4)
Name AMD Athlon X4 750K
Codename Trinity
Specification AMD Athlon(tm) X4 750K Quad Core Processor
Package Socket FM2 (904)
CPUID F.0.1
Extended CPUID 15.10
Core Stepping TN-A1
Technology 32 nm
Core Speed 4121.3 MHz
Stock frequency 30 MHz
Instructions sets MMX (+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, SSE4A, x86-64, AMD-V, AES, AVX, XOP, FMA3, FMA4
L1 Data cache 4 x 16 KBytes, 4-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 2 x 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 2 x 2048 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes
# of P-States 8
P-State FID 0x73F - VID 0x7F - IDD 0 (0.31x - 0.000 V)
P-State FID 0x73F - VID 0x7F - IDD 0 (0.31x - 0.000 V)
P-State FID 0x73F - VID 0x7F - IDD 0 (0.31x - 0.000 V)
P-State FID 0x73F - VID 0x7F - IDD 0 (0.31x - 0.000 V)
P-State FID 0x73F - VID 0x7F - IDD 0 (0.31x - 0.000 V)
P-State FID 0x73F - VID 0x7F - IDD 0 (0.31x - 0.000 V)
P-State FID 0x73F - VID 0x7F - IDD 0 (0.31x - 0.000 V)
P-State FID 0x73F - VID 0x7F - IDD 0 (0.31x - 0.000 V)

PStateReg 0xFFFFFFFF-0xFFFFFFFF
PStateReg 0xFFFFFFFF-0xFFFFFFFF
PStateReg 0xFFFFFFFF-0xFFFFFFFF
PStateReg 0xFFFFFFFF-0xFFFFFFFF
PStateReg 0xFFFFFFFF-0xFFFFFFFF
PStateReg 0xFFFFFFFF-0xFFFFFFFF
PStateReg 0xFFFFFFFF-0xFFFFFFFF
PStateReg 0xFFFFFFFF-0xFFFFFFFF

Package Type 0x2
Model 00
String 1 0x0
String 2 0x0
Page 0x0
Max turbo ratio 0.62x



Memory SPD

Monitoring
Mainboard Model A78M-E45 (MS-7721) (0x000003E7 - 0xD2734720)

LPCIO
Hardware Monitors

DMI
DMI BIOS
vendor American Megatrends Inc.
version V25.0
date 11/21/2013
ROM size 8192 KB

DMI System Information
manufacturer MSI
product MS-7721
version 5.0
serial To be filled by O.E.M.
UUID {00000000-0000-0000-0000-448A5B2D9394}
SKU To be filled by O.E.M.
family To be filled by O.E.M.

DMI Baseboard
vendor MSI
model A78M-E45 (MS-7721)
revision 5.0
serial To be filled by O.E.M.

DMI System Enclosure
manufacturer To Be Filled By O.E.M.
chassis type Desktop
chassis serial To Be Filled By O.E.M.

DMI Port Connector
designation J1A1 (internal)
designation PS2Mouse (external)
port type Mouse Port
connector PS/2

DMI Port Connector
designation J1A1 (internal)
designation Keyboard (external)
port type Keyboard Port
connector PS/2

DMI Port Connector
designation J2A1 (internal)
designation TV Out (external)
connector Mini Centronics Type-14

DMI Port Connector
designation J2A2A (internal)
designation COM A (external)
port type Serial Port 16550A
connector DB-9 male

DMI Port Connector
designation J2A2B (internal)
designation Video (external)
port type Video Port
connector DB-15 female

DMI Port Connector
designation J3A1 (internal)
designation USB1 (external)
port type USB
connector Access Bus (USB)

DMI Port Connector
designation J9A1 - TPM HDR (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J9C1 - PCIE DOCKING CONN (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J2B3 - CPU FAN (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J6C2 - EXT HDMI (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J3C1 - GMCH FAN (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J1D1 - ITP (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J9E2 - MDC INTPSR (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J9E4 - MDC INTPSR (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J9E3 - LPC HOT DOCKING (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J9E1 - SCAN MATRIX (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J9G1 - LPC SIDE BAND (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J8F1 - UNIFIED (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J6F1 - LVDS (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J2F1 - LAI FAN (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J2G1 - GFX VID (internal)

DMI Port Connector
designation J1G6 - AC JACK (internal)

DMI Extension Slot
designation J6B2
type A5
populated yes

DMI Extension Slot
designation J6B1
type A5
populated yes

DMI Extension Slot
designation J6D1
type A5
populated yes

DMI Extension Slot
designation J7B1
type A5
populated yes

DMI Extension Slot
designation J8B4
type A5
populated yes

DMI Extension Slot
designation J8D1
type A5
populated yes

DMI Extension Slot
designation J8B3
type PCI
width 32 bits
populated yes

DMI OEM Strings
string[0] To Be Filled By O.E.M.

DMI Physical Memory Array
location Motherboard
usage System Memory
correction Multi-bit ECC
max capacity 6144 MBytes
max# of devices 4

DMI Memory Device
designation DIMM 0
format DIMM
type unknown
total width 64 bits
data width 64 bits
size 2048 MBytes

DMI Memory Device
designation DIMM 1
format DIMM
type unknown
total width 64 bits
data width 64 bits
size 1024 MBytes

DMI Memory Device
designation DIMM 0
format DIMM
type unknown
total width 64 bits
data width 64 bits
size 2048 MBytes

DMI Memory Device
designation DIMM 1
format DIMM
type unknown
total width 64 bits
data width 64 bits
size 1024 MBytes

DMI Processor
manufacturer AuthenticAMD
model AMD Athlon(tm) X4 750K Quad Core Processor
clock speed 3900.0 MHz
FSB speed 100.0 MHz
multiplier 39.0x


Graphics
Number of adapters 0

Graphic APIs

Display Adapters
Win32_VideoController AdapterRAM = 0xC0000000 (3221225472)
Win32_VideoController DriverVersion = 14.100.0.0
Win32_VideoController DriverDate = 04/17/2014

Software
Windows Version Microsoft Windows 8 (6.2) 64-bit (Build 9200)
DirectX Version 11.0

 
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