Which chipset(s) are compatible with an XFX r9 380 GPU

WillJackman · Feb 10, 2016

Pretty much says it in the title. I heard from another thread here that my GPUs bad performance might be an incompatibility with the motherboard chipset. Just wondering if that's right and what chipset I need.

techgeek · Feb 10, 2016

Really all the chipset needs to have is PCI-E lanes. Either PCI-E 2 or 3 will work and all newer chipsets have either / both. In the case of Intel's CPU's the PCI-E lanes are provided by the CPU and not the chipset.

WillJackman · Feb 10, 2016

techgeek :

So it doesn't matter a whole lot what chipset I have? it is a 2 year old Motherboard working with my pretty much brand new card.

techgeek · Feb 10, 2016

The chipset isn't usually a limiting factor on compatibility of a graphics card. In rare instances I've read that certain motherboards may have problems with certain graphics cards. These are rare though and usually fixed on retail motherboards via BIOS updates. This problem is more common (though still rare) on OEM systems where BIOS updates are released less often.

WillJackman · Feb 10, 2016

techgeek :

Would updating my BIOS help do you think? I don't think it's been updated since I got the PC is 2013

techgeek · Feb 10, 2016

Are you having any issues? Do you have the graphics card in the title and are you having trouble with it being recognized by your motherboard?

Generally speaking BIOS updates are a touchy subject. Many people will tell you only to update them if you have a problem that is fixed with a BIOS update. However this can be difficult for instance with ASUS motherboards. Their BIOS updates aren't very descriptive, so it's difficult to determine what the update provides. Other people update their BIOS often and keep them up to date. The former set of people have either bricked a motherboard with a failed BIOS update or heard the horror stories about this. They do happen, but they are very rare now. In most cases even in these situations the manufacturer will have a way to recover from this without sending the board in. However I don't know that you need to keep them up to date either, although I am a member of this group personally.

So it's really up to you. If you aren't experiencing any problems with your system, and you aren't comfortable doing the update, then I wouldn't. If you are completely comfortable doing it and you want to, then I'd say go for it.

WillJackman · Feb 10, 2016

Yeah I do have the card in the Title. I'm having problems with the GPU performing awfully compared with what it should do. I have a thread about it here: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2968226/gpu-usage-spikes-100-gaming-causing-bad-fps-tanks-game.html#17479254

techgeek · Feb 10, 2016

Ok well it's unlikely your choice of chipset would cause that.

There are a number of things that can cause your GPU usage to jump all over. Assuming that graph is continual play and there aren't level loads, cutscenes, etc included then it could be that your CPU is bottlenecked. Now I'm not saying that is the case, just saying it's a possibility. You need to look at the core usage (all cores in case your game is favoring one or two core) plots to determine if they are becoming very busy. Now if you find all or one or two cores are hitting close to 100% usage at the same time you experiencing your GPU usage spikes then you have a problem with CPU usage and not GPU usage.

If you determine this to be the case, then you need to narrow down if the game is causing the core usage to go high or if there is another process hogging CPU time while your gaming. In rare cases it could be disk access that's the problem if the game is continually accessing the HDD. It could also happen if you have a small amount of free RAM and Windows is forced to use the page file lots.

WillJackman · Feb 10, 2016

techgeek :

Ok well it's unlikely your choice of chipset would cause that.

There are a number of things that can cause your GPU usage to jump all over. Assuming that graph is continual play and there aren't level loads, cutscenes, etc included then it could be that your CPU is bottlenecked. Now I'm not saying that is the case, just saying it's a possibility. You need to look at the core usage (all cores in case your game is favoring one or two core) plots to determine if they are becoming very busy. Now if you find all or one or two cores are hitting close to 100% usage at the same time you experiencing your GPU usage spikes then you have a problem with CPU usage and not GPU usage.

If you determine this to be the case, then you need to narrow down if the game is causing the core usage to go high or if there is another process hogging CPU time while your gaming. In rare cases it could be disk access that's the problem if the game is continually accessing the HDD. It could also happen if you have a small amount of free RAM and Windows is forced to use the page file lots.

My CPU temp and usage: http://imgur.com/Tvt13l3
the temp may be too high, could be thermal throttling? One core reached 100% but only for like 1 second and it dropped back down after that.

techgeek · Feb 10, 2016

Well that graph is very informative if that temperature is correct. The safe operating temps for the FX series is 60C and below. Your graph is showing the final read at 78C but you can see it was slightly higher, guessing something like 80C. That is way too hot and is likely throttling.

If that temperature is correct, you CPU is overheating. You need to look at your heatsink and fan assembly. Are you using the stock HSF?

WillJackman · Feb 10, 2016

techgeek :

Yeah, I haven't touched the CPU since purchase really. That's kind of a relief I guess. Just need to clean fans and heatsink and maybe reapply thermal paste? If not get a new cooler. Much cheaper than replacing the GPU

techgeek · Feb 10, 2016

Depending on where you are, if you can get it, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO is excellent and isn't expensive.

WillJackman · Feb 10, 2016

techgeek :

I'll do that, thanks so much for your help on this!

techgeek · Feb 10, 2016

Post here to let us know how you make out.

WillJackman · Feb 11, 2016

techgeek :

So I cleaned out my heatsink (It was kind of a mess) and now my CPU temps are down to 37 max. Yet the problem persists... Any ideas?

techgeek · Feb 11, 2016

This might be an obvious thing, but since your CPU HSF was so dirty, did you have a look at the HSF on your 380?

WillJackman · Feb 11, 2016

techgeek :

The 380 is pretty much brand new, no dirt at all. Also it's running at 54c so I doubt temperature is an issue.

techgeek · Feb 11, 2016

Any chance you could take a screenshot of MSI Afterburner?

WillJackman · Feb 11, 2016

techgeek :

Sure, lot of info here. Hopefully you can make more sense of it than I can: http://imgur.com/a/0qvC4

EDIT: Forgot this one http://imgur.com/8hB60Ns

Also might be useful to know that "Pagefile usage" in afterburner is a yellow line at the very top of the graph, using ~9800 MB when the max on the graph is 8192

WillJackman · Feb 11, 2016

I've fixed it!!! I went into BIOS and turned off the Amd Cool n' quiet feature. Fixed the spikes entirely in all games.

\o/

techgeek · Feb 11, 2016

Well it's good that you have it fixed. Generally AMD Cool n' Quiet and Intel Speed Step don't interfere with gaming, but I've heard of plenty of cases where they have. It's good that you sorted your overheating before turning off Cool n' Quiet.

As for the Afterburner screenshot I was looking more for the actual app and not the graphs, but since you've fixed it that is moot now.

Which chipset(s) are compatible with an XFX r9 380 GPU

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