Low fps / choppy game play on most games! Help?

Thanks for the reply. I am for sure using the 8.1 windows 64 bit operating system. The GPU is a windforce r9 290 1.04ghz 4gb card as far as I know this is not underclocked but I will look up more on that as I wouldn't be able to tell in all honesty. I could try to re-install drivers. Out of curiosity why would overclocking the 8350 be a good idea as it stands? I know I am fully capable of overclocking it a bit but I don't see a need at this point in time. I was under the impression that most of the newer games could excel with an 8 core processor. I'm confused about needing to overclock as the processor exceeds most minimum / maximum processor requirements as does the GPU / ram.

I read a lot of good things about the 8350 and thought it was promising, so I really hope it does not come down to my processor being weak. I mean I can't see any reason even current games in 2014, 2015 strive for people to have an 8350 or i7 processor if it wasn't up to par with most i5/i7 chips. I know it's possibly just a suggestion but wouldn't that make amd obsolete for gaming then? I'd understand overclocking a model lower than an 8350... Eh maybe I just really don't understand then :O!

That's kind of what I was thinking... I mean the 8350 by no means is a weak processor from what I am reading. It perhaps wouldn't beat a newer i7 processor but the overclocking potential is great and it's an all over good processor. It was probably the most recommended processor to buy, so I got it. The plus side it was cheaper. I didn't expect it to be the best out there but I know it is pretty high up there for processors. Actually it's so good I didn't even want to overclock it. I didn't see a point but I could do it for just kicks or to learn to. Anyways, I will do my drivers and update the thread but most games for whatever reason my fps will stay low no matter how I change the graphic settings.

Even if I go to medium / high instead of very high on things I still have difficulty achieving 30-60 fps. I even have turned off most filtering, lowered shadow quality significantly and have turned off vertical sync. Although there is no point in me even using vertical sync if I can't even get over 60 frames anyways lol. Honestly the one game I had decent frames on was serious sam BFE 3 but that game honestly doesn't require much of anything and that's pretty sad that I probably only got 50-100 frames on that game. So, yes there is definitely something wrong with my computer I just don't know and why. I don't see why the drivers would have an issue as they are directly from catalyst and they auto detected my hardware. Really I'm open to any more suggestions lol. This computer wasn't really for me I bought this for me dad as I mostly use my laptop and don't mind the smaller screen.

My laptop is 17 inches but it plays like a beast and unfortunately as previously stated is out performing my desktop in most games. What I can't even conceive is how a 2.4 quad i7 4700HQ and 765m cpu / gpu beat an amd 8350 / r9 290 card. Obviously something is very wrong. I do not discredit the power of the 4700 processor nor the 765m they are very well designed for my gaming laptop; however, a desktop cpu / gpu should beat them significantly. I play csgo on my laptop all maxed out and I don't even want to install csgo on my desktop because I know I will be disappointed and I will regret my purchases.

I mean I'm more disappointed in myself because I thought i researched enough about the parts just to have them be compatible and what people recommended in general. I know this is all compatible but for whatever reason the computer doesn't want to be awesome. It's shy of it's potential power . I really wanted my dad to have an awesome computer. I mean it plays some games fine with little to know issues such as skyrim with mods or dead space 2 but those are childs play in comparison to the other games I strive to have run smoothly. I have battlefield 4 but I never got around to trying it out on the computer. Oh, crysis 2 played pretty well maybe not as well as it could but I'll have to give that another go. Le sigh, It's like I'm an inexperienced doctor trying to diagnose my patient with some illness. I have the symptoms I just don't know a remedy for it's agony rather how to make my computer confident in itself.

Okay haha with all seriousness I really want to run it smooth for my dad so I am open to suggestions. As previously mentioned by Jack I will redo drivers. Another question do monitors influence FPS at all? I know this monitor has had it's own problems. Like it poops out sometimes by flickering black and on saying it couldn't optimize itself for it's resolution but when I click the button to automatic digital input or digital input it will go back to 1920 x 1200. I don't know if this has anything to do with it but I've tried lowering the resolutions in games and no luck. I mean I really don't want to go below 1080, especially not with my graphics card. Apparently this GPU can handle much much higher resolutions I just don't have the monitor to support it. Anyways, after I do drivers I will come back but I am almost positive that wouldn't be the issue. Again thanks for the reply Jack.

* edit

I went into my BIOS and saw my ram was running at 1333 speed instead of 1866. I jumped it back up to 1866 and so far painkiller is running flawlessly. I'm not sure if this influences FPS but I will try my other games to see how they run.