Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question
Solved

FPS Drop in ALL Games!

Tags:
  • Games
  • Systems
  • FPS
Last response: in Systems
Share
October 6, 2014 2:11:14 PM

I noticed this a couple of months ago and it has been annoying me ever since. In most if not all of my games I get FPS drops every minute or so, for example FIFA 15 (in a game) 120fps average then goes down to 30-50fps now this shouldn't be a problem at 50fps but due to the fact that it goes from high to low it stutters the game and lags it.

This happens in pretty much all my games, and when I record with any recorder during the times when these fps drops occur my fps goes to 20fps as I record at 60fps.

Specs:

AMD FX 8350
XFX R9 280x
8GB RAM
Hyper 212 evo cooler

Temps when gaming:

CPU goes to around 60 degrees average
GPU goes to around 65-70 degrees average

Is my computer overheating, these temps should be fine from what I've seen around.

I don't really want to defrag my hard drive though as I've got a bunch of games which always annoy me to download as it is so time consuming to do so.

More about : fps drop games

October 6, 2014 2:17:26 PM

It could be thermal throttling, do you have thermal paste on your cpu?
m
0
l
October 6, 2014 2:19:21 PM

What motherboard are you using?
m
0
l
Related resources
October 6, 2014 2:31:40 PM

Peak temps around the time it is happening please. 'around 60' could be getting to the edge for an FX.

Ignore the comment regarding whether you have thermal paste, if you had no paste then it would throttle much more quickly than that.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 9:42:27 AM

Updated the drivers and get a better average frame rate (using fraps to see framerate), in FIFA 15 average frame rate was 160 in a game and this dropped to between 90 and 100 on cinematics such as replays etc. Started recording with fraps and after a couple seconds lag started fps went from 60 (recording fps) to 20 fps, so stopped recording and it was on 40-50fps then went up to 160 again, then throughout game it varied from 160fps to lag spikes bringing it down to 30-50fps. During these lag spikes I was on task manager and my CPU usage was going to 99-100% which it shouldn't and when these ended it went back down to 20-40% usuage which is fine under gaming.

Any suggestions now? I am now almost certain it is a CPU problem but not sure any answers are appreciated.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 10:03:13 AM

Scratch what I said before just played another game closed it all down used Dxtory instead to watch fps didn't record and still going down to 20,30,40 and 50 fps and the CPU usage goes to 60-100% not 99-100%.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 10:58:45 AM

and precise temps please.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 12:19:30 PM

Max it has got to is 65 degrees and that is what it was before I upgraded my CPU cooler to the hyper 212 evo, it may just need new thermal paste on it as I am not the best at that stuff. Average temp when gaming 50 degrees - 65 degrees and for the gpu it is between 60 degrees and 70 degrees.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 12:32:19 PM

GPU temp is fine. I really need to know MAX temp of the cpu, not average, not a range, the Max. The reason for this is is that I'm seeing reports indicating that max core (not CPU) temp for an Fx8350 is 62C, at which point it'll start throttling, but AMD doesn't say anything officially on this. Therefore you are very close to, and probably beyond this limit, hence the symptoms you are seeing. If you have the ability to show actual cpu clockspeed (live on a second screen perhaps, or recording it on a trace) then you'll see whether it is throttling .
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 12:38:53 PM

The max it gets is 65 degrees or thats what i've seen when gaming. 60-65 i'll do a test now
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 1:02:04 PM

see if you can monitor cpu core speed too. i think you might be throttling.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 1:19:54 PM

I just did a run with coretemp and hwmonitor on FIFA 15 it was lagging as if it was on 20fps but was showing 60fps until I closed a program down which had installed with coretemp by accident, then it went to over 100fps but went down to 40fps every once in a while. The max temperature I got was 64 degrees.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 1:27:59 PM

What was the cpu frequency at during the slow downs?
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 1:29:34 PM

Can you manually adjust the fanspeed to max and see if it improves?
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 1:32:16 PM

I don't know how to check the cpu frequency or how to manually adjust fanspeed to max. Tommorow I am going to give everything a clean get rid of dust and then see if I have my thermal paste lying around and add a new layer onto my cpu and see if that helps.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 1:37:54 PM

You should beable to edit fan speeds in your bios.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 1:38:38 PM

You can use CPU-Z to check the freq.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 1:39:49 PM

less is better than more for thermal paste.
adjust speed in bios or use speedfan, or a utility from your mobo manufacturer.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 1:40:44 PM

bignastyid said:
You can use CPU-Z to check the freq.


^ this + use windowed mode for gamin so you can see it, or a second screen.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 1:43:12 PM

i'll download prime95 and do a test under full load and use CPU-Z to see frequency
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 1:49:09 PM

3991 mhz is the core speed thats frequency right? This is whilst doing stress test with Prime95 and that said no errors or warnings for 3 minutes and so on.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 1:54:19 PM

3991 is the correct core speed. do it for 20mins. it'll take a long time to warm a 212 up.
what is make and model of psu?
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 1:55:44 PM

Corsair 750W Builder series cxm or something
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 1:58:39 PM

running blend test now as someone recommended it so might get different results.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 2:13:04 PM

Ran for 15 minutes so far and started off same around 3991 mhz then went to 4090 mhz for a second and then to 3991 mhz again but every now and then it drops to 1396 mhz for a second or 2 and then goes up to 3991 mhz again. Guessing that means its throttling? Also temps max was 52 degrees.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 2:15:47 PM

Also just stopped the test and it is on 1396 mhz frequency the most now with literally no load and then this shoots up to 2050 mhz then 4090 mhz and then to 1396 mhz , it does all of this in a couple of seconds.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 2:29:37 PM

Yep, that's thermal throttling. Does your mobo have utilities to control fan speed?

But first
- the fan is working yes?
- the fan is pushing air through from the front to the back of the case?
- Is the heatsink warm?
- do you have fans pulling air into the front of the case and exhausting out of the back/top

I'm asking this as poor thermal contact would lead to a lot higher temps (maybe +10-15), and so it is unlikely to be a bad fit (if the HS is warm then the contact is generally ok), but it could be that you are starving the 212 of air to work with which would lead to poorly performing 212 (maybe+5-10).

How much thermal paste did you use? a thin smear is sufficient, too much and it makes it worse. The 212 is very good but you have a high TDP to get rid of, 125W, so it needs air to work with etc. A more aggressive fan speed can help.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 11:12:06 PM

I only have one fan at the front of the case bringing air in and thats cold at the front, over the top above hyper 212 evo its colder now will do all that tonight.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 11:41:14 PM

Turn on V-sync so that you will have 60FPS stable.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 11:42:06 PM

It still does it then Iamlegend
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 11:45:06 PM

Turn V-sync on and run Fraps while gaming. See if have FPS drops from 55~60 that will be considered acceptable, but if you drop from 40~60 FPS you will need to decrease your settings.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 11:49:04 PM

Not my settings, it runs the games at over 100fps normally just when lag hits they go down to anywhere from 20-60fps which causes stuttery lag
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 11:53:53 PM

Yes, because V-sync is off. The excess FPS (100~120 FPS) is a waste if it cannot be maintain. By turning on the V-sync it will limit your FPS into 60 but you will have a smooth gameplay.
m
0
l
October 7, 2014 11:56:02 PM

I will try this but I have a feeling it will do the same.
m
0
l
October 8, 2014 12:02:49 AM

Nah, it will not. Again you don`t need those 120FPS when it goes down dramatically. Settle into 60 FPS with smooth gameplay.
m
0
l
October 8, 2014 12:14:11 AM

i'll try I am also going to clean out any dust inside my computer and see if I can find thermal paste and re apply it onto CPU after cleaning the other bit off.
m
0
l
October 8, 2014 10:01:11 AM

Turned on VSync and got a solid 60fps in borderlands 2 max settings and went down to 50fps in scene changers which I believe is what happens anyway. CPU stayed on 3990 to over 4000 all the time so thats good but when I record at 60fps I only get 40-50fps and that starts stuttering lag which is annoying.
m
0
l
October 8, 2014 10:58:56 AM

FIFA 15 test with limit to 60fps first game was alright but second started stuttering lag and during corners, goal kicks and free kicks fps goes down to 30fps or 20fps which is quite laggy.
m
0
l
October 8, 2014 12:31:02 PM

May of fixed it switched to high performance power plan average temp is 53 degrees has gone to 63 degrees but all cores on 4090.21mhz frequency
m
0
l
October 8, 2014 2:14:06 PM

Nope went up to 68 degrees and in FIFA started to lag a little every 5 minutes or so not as much but still.
m
0
l

Best solution

October 8, 2014 4:18:58 PM

If you are recording don`t expect to have the best gaming performance. Especially when using FRAPS. If you wanted to have the best gaming performance while recording get an external video recording card.

FRAPS takes a lot of storage and it consumes lot of CPU load which will cause your system to slow down while gaming.
Share
October 9, 2014 12:17:15 AM

I understand , saw these statements about fraps before but it was fine recording and gaming before why would thermal throttling just come on randomly? Also noticed it after I installed the Hyper 212 evo after a few weecs
m
0
l
October 9, 2014 4:33:17 AM

You could alternatively try Dxtory - it isn't as bad as FRAPs in terms of system usage.
m
0
l
October 9, 2014 7:49:40 AM

I've tried Dxtory but it does pretty much the same. Might save up for an elgato or external recording device instead so it does nothing to the fps.
m
0
l
October 9, 2014 11:19:10 AM

Luke Field said:
I understand , saw these statements about fraps before but it was fine recording and gaming before why would thermal throttling just come on randomly? Also noticed it after I installed the Hyper 212 evo after a few weecs


How much thermal paste did you use, is it tightened down appropriately?

Is the heatsink warm? Is the fan working? I've asked these questions before, and then you went off on a tangent.
m
0
l
October 9, 2014 12:34:37 PM

I didn't use much thermal paste a line down the middle. I think it is tightened down properly yesterday when I went in to check for dust it seems fine, I haven't checked the heatsink when the computer is on as it is in a really awkward place to get to. The fan is working idle temps are around 14-30 degrees just in games but I can hear my GPU fan but the CPU fan is quite quiet anyway but in programs that show fan speeds it is showing a CPUFANIN and around 1500 RPM average. I'm going to buy another 2 cooling fans for my case and place them on top above the CPU as comments in videos I've watched have suggested this as it takes the hot air out of the CPU fan and takes it out of the case via the top.
m
0
l
!