CPU speed drops causing fps drops ingame. Change mobo or cpu?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
H

henkpatat

Commendable
Jul 2, 2016
7
0
1,510
Hello,

I've been experiencing fps drops while playing games. I had a bad gpu so I thought that was the problem. I bought the NVIDIA Gtx 970 and still got fps drops. Later on I found out it was my cpu speed dropping all the time. Then I did change some settings in my bios which seem to help a bit. But now my overal fps is kinda bad.

My cpu is an AMD FX 8120 eight core and my motherboard is an ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX.

I read on the internet that some motherboard might be incompatible with eight core processors. Would switching to MSI 970 gaming motherboard fix this problem?

Thanks.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
C

Calvin7

Titan
Feb 19, 2013
11,725
334
76,490
AMD FX-8120 Zambezi 8-Core 3.1 GHz Socket AM3+ 125W FD8120FRGUBOX Desktop Processor

The 125W refers to TDP (Thermal Design Power). There is also a 95 watt TDP model.

The Thermal Design Power (TDP) is the average maximum power a processor can dissipate while running commercially available software. TDP is primarily used as a guideline for manufacturers of thermal solutions (heatsinks/fans, etc) which tells them how much heat their solution should dissipate.

960GM/U3S3 FX only supports 95 watt TDP FX CPUs. You may be using an unsupported CPU.

AMD FX-Series FX-8120 - FD8120WMW8KGU / FD8120WMGUSBX is a 95 watt TDP CPU.

AMD FX-Series FX-8120 - FD8120FRW8KGU / FD8120FRGUBOX / FD8120FRGUWOX is a 125 watt TDP CPU.

I believe only the 125 watt FX-8120 was sold in the United States. You may want to run CPU-Z. If you run CPU-Z, it will list the Max TDP. (95 or 125).
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
H

henkpatat

Commendable
Jul 2, 2016
7
0
1,510
Hi, thanks for replying.

I downloaded CPU-Z and at the CPU tab I can see at max TDP is 125 Watt. This would mean my motherboard is not supporting my cpu. I have been using this combination for like an half year. Could this have done any damage to my cpu? If not I think it's best to buy a new motherboard.

Do you recommend the MSI 970 Gaming?

Thanks again!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

Calvin7

Titan
Feb 19, 2013
11,725
334
76,490
MSI has the 6+2 power phase setup.
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Motherboards/MSI-970-Gaming-Motherboard-Review-AM3-Gets-Something-New-Change/Power-and-Overc

GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3P (rev. 2.0)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128651
• 8+2 phase CPU VRM power design

MSI Gaming 970 Gaming
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130790&Tpk=N82E16813130790

Using the wrong CPU on your current board may damage the motherboard over time. The CPU is probably still good.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
H

henkpatat

Commendable
Jul 2, 2016
7
0
1,510
It seems that the GIGABYTE motherboard needs a BIOS-flash in order to use the FX series cpu. Will the MSI motherboard be able to use my cpu immediately? Since you won't get any warranty if you flash your motherboard I don't feel like flashing my motherboard, I've never even done that before.

Might be a better choice then to buy the msi, right?

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom