Upgraded GPU for worse frame rates???

Heydeeohred

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Apr 24, 2016
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Ok so a few days ago I upgraded from my old Evga GTX 650 TiBoost to a shiny new Asus Radeon R9 380 Strix card. The guy at Microcenter assured me even with my old CPU bottlenecking the video card ever so slightly I would see huge improvements in graphics capacity and FPS. I'm sad to report however, that this is not the case. A minor bump in graphics improvement in Fallout 4 with slightly WORSE framerates, Dying Light is running WAY WORSE at the exact same video settings... What the hell? Is there some software to test if the CPU is really holding me back? Here's my setup

Windows 10 x64
AMD FX-4130 Quad-core 2.81Ghz
Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P

I guess the last question is if you guys think it's my CPU slowing me down can I get away with just upgrading the CPU or do I have to get a new motherboard as well?

Thanks for your help! Every time I ask a question on this website everyone is so helpful!
 
Solution
I'd download & install amd overdrive mate

http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/software-technologies/technologies-gaming/over-drive

& also Intel burn test

http://downloads.guru3d.com/IntelBurnTest-v2.3-download-2047.html

Burn test is standalone & just needs to be unzipped somewhere.

Run overdrive,open the CPU status tab - it should gave a screen showing cores, core speeds & thermal margins.

Open Intel burn test , start a test.
Check your clocks in overdrive - should all be a solid 3.5ghz , thermal margins need to be above 0c at any time

Stop the test early if you want (couple if minutes) or let it run its course - takes 6 or 7 minutes.

The above is just to check that your CPU is now a none issue before looking more into the GPU...
I assume you meant 3.8GHz not 2.8GHz? Also, make sure you are running the latest/best drivers for your graphics card.

Here is a benchmark for this CPU: -

http://www.passmark.com/baselines/V8/display.php?id=62652153702

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This is close to the score of my Core2 Quad Q9650 when running at stock speeds of 3.0GHz.

http://www.passmark.com/baselines/V8/display.php?id=62696745769

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FX-4130 Quad 4,097 vs. Core2 Quad 4,305

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Now I know that the Core2 Quad bottlenecks my 750Ti (with large OC) quite a bit unless it is overclocked.

For example, BF4 is a 'no-go' on High/Ultra unless I set it to 4.3GHz. 4.5GHz is ideal.

Even in Rocket League (DX9 remember) it struggles unless it's running at OC settings. At stock, the CPU is often hitting 100%.

Dialling down the graphics levels helped in both cases, because even though the GPU is not the botleneck, there is still more demand on the CPU to run/schedule the higher textures and effects etc. I noticed lowering the resolution to 720p from 1080p did not help in any noticable way with CPU load still hitting 100%. Again, more indication that it was a CPU bottleneck.

I would recommend running Afterburner in the background while playing various problem games. Monitor the GPU load and the CPU load to see what it maxing out. I expect it will be the CPU. Check that the GPU is boosting to what it should be as well.

Try dfferent graphic detail settings, Low to Medium... all the way up to Ultra maybe and see what the effect is. Each time check the logs from Afterburner to see what is maxing, is it CPU or GPU or both? I expect it will be the CPU in most cases.

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Also consider these: -

650Ti Boost

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+650+Ti+BOOST

R9 380

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+R9+285+%2F+380

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The R9 380 on average benchmarks quite a bit higher that the 650Ti Boost, so the change in performance is unlikley to be due to the GPU.
 

Heydeeohred

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Apr 24, 2016
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No, I meant 2.81Ghz... It's old. I uninstalled all the old Nvidia stuff and Dying Light is still running WORSE than before which I still feel doesn't make any sense even if my CPU is bottlenecking the GPU....
 

Heydeeohred

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Apr 24, 2016
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Ok something fishy is going on. I upgraded everything, removed all the old drivers and still things are running like shit. I got afterburner and Dying light is maxing out the GPU usage and memory usage but CPU is hitting like 60-75. WTF IS GOING ON?!?!? It is running TERRIBLE. I was getting solid FPS on my GTX 650, why has it gotten worse??? This is extremely frustrating since I just spent $200
 
Please can you post a screen shot (or just list) your settings in the AMD Radeon Settings control panel?

Double-click on the icon in your Sys Tray, then >Gaming > Global Settings.

After that also click on System and see what driver version you have installed.

You card is quite similar to my R9 380X, so your performance is very fishy! It should be much better than with a 650Ti.

Also try running this http://www.passmark.com/download/pt_download.htm

Let me know the results after you have run the full test. As it is the trial version you might have to save the results using screen grabs by the way.

Also run 'dxdiag' just type it into the Windows search box. This will confirm what version of Direct X is running.

P.S. Do you have the 2GB or 4GB version?

Thanks.
 
Dying Light - 1080p - High - Max Quality
i5-4460 Quad Core Processor
16GB DDR3 1600MHz
Gigabyte G1 Gaming R9 380 4GB

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxBLJ1X3K1A

In this video the framerate is averaging about 88 fps apparently. Often going over 100.

The CPU in the video has about twice the performance of the one in question given it is the 2.8GHz version of the FX-4130.

I'm still thinking it's a CPU bottleneck, the guy that uploaded the video says it's a CPU intensive game.
 

Heydeeohred

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Apr 24, 2016
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Ok, maybe first things first here. After checking answers today first thing I did was open the dxdiag.txt and I notice this:

---------------
Display Devices
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Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST

Could this be the problem??? Also, how do I fix this? I uninstalled all the nvidia drivers, do I need to download the new directx? Apparently I'm running 11 right now, isn't there a 12?
 

Heydeeohred

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Apr 24, 2016
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1,530


It says very clearly in my system settings that I have a 2.81Ghz 4130 Quad core processor, so either you are mistaken or my system is lying to me.
 


Where does it say it's running at 2.8ghz? You should check the CPU settings in the BIOS- there it should be set to run at 3.8ghz as stated, here's a link to it with speeds listed: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+FX-4130+Quad-Core

If it really is pegged down to 2.8ghz then it would be seriously holding your system back. That said if you're just looking under windows system or in task manager, then the cpu slows itself down when it isn't busy to save power and reduce heat.

It is possible though it could have been set wrong in the bios.

Edit: With relation to DX version, most games are still DX11, and DX12 is *only available on Windows 10* so if you are running Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 they DxDiag will list as DX11 only.
 
I'm definitely not mistaken mate , 100% sure of that.
The 4130 is a 3.8ghz CPU & should power a 380 fairly well.
It won't game well running at 2.8ghz though.
Google 'fx4130 2.8ghz' & you'll see your motherboard has issues recognizing the 4130 & its multipliers because its not officially supported on the CPU list.

Download cpu-z, find your motherboard revision & update to the latest bios.
If there is still an issue you will have to enter bios & set multiplier yourself - running at 2.8ghz its simply not fast enough to power a 380 well at all.