cpu usage drops, causing fps to drop in games

iWerli · Jan 11, 2015

alright so in any game i play, and some i stream, ill be playing at 80-120 fps and my cpu usage will drop and my fps will go to 15-40 for a few seconds then come back up. my temps on my cpu dont go more than 55C because im using a good cooler. i just dont know why my cpu would just lower it's usage and drop my frames. when it starts to throttle it goes from 70 or 80% usage down to 30ish. my cpu is the AMD FX-8320 and i got it yesterday. i been trying to fix it all day. i upgraded from the FX 4300. im running at stock speeds, stock everything. and all 8 of the cores are being used.

damric · Jan 11, 2015

There are multiple suspects here. Let's weed them out.

First: Run AMD Overdive stability test and monitor the Thermal Margin and clock speeds for about 15 minutes. If that looks normal we can move on to the next suspect.

iWerli · Jan 11, 2015

damric :

how do i do the AMD overdrive test? is it a software i download or?

damric · Jan 11, 2015

http://www.amd.com/en-us/markets/game/downloads

iWerli · Jan 11, 2015

damric :

thank you ill be back once the test is done!

iWerli · Jan 11, 2015

should i select all and do it for 15 minutes?

damric · Jan 11, 2015

iWerli :

Yes. Run it. Your cores should all go to 100% load and thermal margin should be something positive. If thermal margin gets close to zero then the clockspeeds will throttle back. That means a cooling problem.

iWerli · Jan 11, 2015

damric :

alright thanks! cya in 15 minutes.

iWerli · Jan 11, 2015

damric :

so... my % went to 100, and then after about 10-30 seconds each time, it would throttle down to 35-45%. but the thermal margin never went under 25. i also took pics of my temps, usages, and the logging screen of overdrive.

http://gyazo.com/a6b6f1b301d8cd3b1e267b41cc272d5d
http://gyazo.com/517d35a4d779ff6fba114ed7c7e0e8f8
http://gyazo.com/7b26f557e775ea3d8688a63a0c882dd1
http://gyazo.com/c71a1642585016fd2734c6dee4b0ad7f

i didnt use the entire 15 minutes because well... it just kept throttling and going back, throttling and going back, etc etc.

damric · Jan 11, 2015

Show me a pic of the CPU status.

Like this:

iWerli · Jan 11, 2015

damric :

http://gyazo.com/eb85c713e24f80bd13333597373afba2

would you like me to put 100% load on it and take a pic then too?

iWerli · Jan 11, 2015

http://gyazo.com/d6406bddbd4236f107ea6f57fbf169df
weird. the graphs show 100% usage while task manager shows 39%

here they are at 100%
http://gyazo.com/2715b4ab0343f2d3d2a9ca601809bd88

damric · Jan 11, 2015

Ok so first pic looks fine (normal unloaded).

Last pic looks good (normal load).

But the second pic...that is throttling. Can you test it again to verify?

(You may ignore task manager and all your other programs right now).

iWerli · Jan 11, 2015

damric :

yes. ill write down what i see happening in a notepad.

damric · Jan 11, 2015

I have a few tricks up my sleeve if it's really throttling. Really, that's an easy fix and I would be glad that we found the problem so quickly.

Sig2525 · Jan 11, 2015

What is your motherboard? you upgraded from fx quadcore to fx octacore.

those octacores requires 990fx chips motherboard if you use a lesser motherboard, the performance of the procie will be limited due to the insufficient power output of the board to the processor.

damric · Jan 11, 2015

Sig2525 :

That's definitely a possibility as that is one possible cause for throttling (overloaded VRM).

iWerli · Jan 11, 2015

damric :

alright. my notes are written down on the pics.
at 100% load: http://gyazo.com/fb4a0874e0ddbe827fdb4c594ad93daf
once it throttles to 39% load: http://gyazo.com/87adbee818c889759d454e1a82989c10

my mobo :s http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131795&cm_re=ASUS_M5A78l-m_lx_plus-_-13-131-795-_-Product

damric · Jan 11, 2015

iWerli :

Ok. So the Thermal Margiin never made it even close to zero, but it throttled anyway. Sounds like overloaded VRM on the motherboard. What model is it?

iWerli · Jan 11, 2015

damric :

iWerli :

Ok. So the Thermal Margiin never made it even close to zero, but it throttled anyway. Sounds like overloaded VRM on the motherboard. What model is it?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131795&cm_re=ASUS_M5A78l-m_lx_plus-_-13-131-795-_-Product thats my mobo

iWerli · Jan 11, 2015

if my mobo is indeed "bottlenecking" my cpu, what do you think i could do to help stop the throttling? im not great when it comes to power. so im not sure what it means when a VRM overloads

Sig2525 · Jan 11, 2015

iWerli :

you need to change that mobo before it damages your processor. even a 970fx would have a hard time on a fx octacore. those motherboards are only recommended on lesser fx series like the quadcores and even on the hexacore that mobo will not be recommended.

damric · Jan 11, 2015

Sig2525 :

iWerli :

you need to change that mobo before it damages your processor. even a 970fx would have a hard time on a fx octacore. those motherboards are only recommended on lesser fx series like the quadcores and even on the hexacore that mobo will not be recommended.

I agree. Choose one of these with beefier VRM:

damric · Jan 11, 2015

VRM is voltage regulation module (the little black ICs to the left of the CPU socket near the plug). Your board has 4+1 phase (4 for power to the CPU and one to RAM) and it has no heat sink. I bet you would burn yourself if you touched them under load. Luckily ASUS has automatic protection in place to keep the board from melting into the bottom of your case.

The boards in this faq are all good VRM design that can handle 8 core.

iWerli · Jan 11, 2015

man. i dont have any money right now. so i wont be able to get a new mobo for a little while. what can i do to protect my processor and mobo while i wait for a new mobo? disable a couple cores? undervolt?

if i play bf4 without streaming or anything it doesnt throttle. just because it doesnt throttle, does it still mean its in danger?

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