CPU maxing out, Low FPS

[peter2go1f]

Hey guys,
This is my rig-

CPU : Intel core i3 530 @ 2.93ghz
RAM : 4GB
Graphics/Video Card : ATI Radeon HD 5700 series

The problem is when I play Call of Duty Black Ops it's that as soon as I launch the game the cpu maxes out at 100% on task manager and when I play on Multiplayer or Singleplayer I get no more than 25FPS, often just getting 10 FPS or even lower.

The thing is I dropped my PC just a few weeks ago and the CPU was maxing out when I turned it on and shutting off within 3 minutes because of overheating I think. I managed to fix this problem by lowering the base clock speed in the BIOS but the problem stil remains whenever I play Black Ops. I brought the Base clock speed back to normal and everything else is normal too.

Before I dropped my PC I had no problems with the game at all and it would run nicely, I think at least 40 to 60 FPS. I don't think there's anything wrong with my video card or anything else. But my CPU just maxes out and the temperature goes up to 105c. I think the problem may be with not enough power to the CPU or I should underclock it? I don't think overclockng would help as it was just fine before I dropped my PC.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. PLEASE HELP!

 

[4745454b]

If you physically dropped the tower and then lowered the base clock to stop an overheating issue, you "solved" the problem in the wrong way. You need to remove the heatsink, clean it, apply new thermal paste, and then put the heatsink back on. Your problems should be fixed after this.

 

[peter2go1f]

Thanks for your advice, I did physically drop it and I did clean the heatsink but I don't have any thermal paste. I hope your right that if I just put themal paste on it will fix the problem but then why did my PC start performing fine after I "underclocked" it?

By the way when I'm doing normal tasks such as browsing the internet and stuff, when I look at task manager my CPU usage is very low, like it rarely goes over 30% and the temperature stays at around 70c so it's fine like that. It's ONLY that I have a problem with my CPU maxing out when I play Black Ops resulting in my VERY slow frames per second.

 

[peter2go1f]

What resolution do you play at and which of the 5700 series gpus do you have?

I play Black Ops at 1024 x 768 and I have the Radeon HD 5770. Thanks

 

[azeem khan]

your video card is powerful enough to play that game applying thermal past is the perfect solution

 

[4745454b]

If you are surfing which is mostly idle and your at 70c, thats MUCH to hot. Take the sink off and apply thermal paste. The reason why you have issues while playing games is the CPU is clocking itself down to prevent it from burning up. Don't do what diggle suggested by OCing your CPU. By forcing it to 3GHz or 3.2GHz you will destroy your CPU.

 

[peter2go1f]

Hey guys thanks alot for your replies,
I put the graphics on the highest settings and got about 10 FPS average, often going as low as 1 to 3 FPS and rarely reaching 20 FPS. It's taking WAY too long to load the game servers and matches, I time out half the time because it takes so long. So I changed the graphics to the lowest settings I could and I still got about 10 FPS average and there was no difference wheter it was at high settings or low. So now I'm pretty certain there's something wrong with my CPU.

The resolution for my pc monitor is 1024 x 768. It's actually a TV via VGA cables. And I did not know about thermal paste until recently, I do not know a lot about computers as of yet I'm afraid, but I'm trying to learn.

I'm using a ASUS P7H55-M Mobo by the way and exactly how do I overclock? and what does the ratio 3:2 mean? I only managed to reduce the Base clock in the Bios because that was the only thing I knew I could change and kinda understand after searching the internet for explanations. Thanks for your help

 

[4745454b]

by the way and exactly how do I overclock?

If you are surfing which is mostly idle and your at 70c, thats MUCH to hot. Take the sink off and apply thermal paste. The reason why you have issues while playing games is the CPU is clocking itself down to prevent it from burning up. Don't do what diggle suggested by OCing your CPU. By forcing it to 3GHz or 3.2GHz you will destroy your CPU.

Again, only overclock if you want to kill your CPU. You need to fix your overheating problem, and then your games will play fine.

 

[peter2go1f]

Best answer selected by peter2go1f.

 

[peter2go1f]

Hey guys thanks for all your help. My PC has returned to normal now. The problem was thermal paste like all of you were saying. See I had put the heatsink on a different position (like turned it clockwise/anticlockwise you know?) from the original angle after I dropped my PC. But I saw yesterday that bits of thermal paste was stuck on the CPU and there was a shape to it so I just put the heatsink on so that whats left of the thermal paste would be in contact evenly with the CPU. So I just turned the heatsink around so it was in the original position as it was from the start. Do you understand? Well anyway it worked so thanks a lot for your help.

My idle temperature has come down to 35c average and I can play Black Ops at highest settings and get 50-90 FPS again. The CPU doesn't max out because the temperature doesn't go above 60-70c when I play BLOPS. Thanks again

 

[4745454b]

If you get some new paste you should be able to bring your load temps down. 60-70 is still near the thermal limits of the chip. Grab some rubbing alcohol and clean all the old paste off the CPU and heatsink. I guess the new current favorite method is to put a small bead/grain of rice size dot of new paste in the center of the chip and then put the sink back on. The pressure of the sink will spread it out. You should see your temps drop even lower.

 

[peter2go1f]

Load is 15c to 20c and these temperatures are when I'm surfing the internet. My brother was going to buy thermal paste but he just bought a new ACC290 - Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2 130Watt heatsink instead. Should I still buy thermal paste? Any suggestions on good thermal paste? Thanks

 

[Guest]

Load is 15c to 20c and these temperatures are when I'm surfing the internet. My brother was going to buy thermal paste but he just bought a new ACC290 - Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2 130Watt heatsink instead. Should I still buy thermal paste? Any suggestions on good thermal paste? Thanks

my suggestion?

"if it ain't broken don't fix it "

The above statement means: "If something is working adequately well, leave it alone. EPIC SMILEY FACE"

 

[peter2go1f]

my suggestion?

"if it ain't broken don't fix it "

The above statement means: "If something is working adequately well, leave it alone. EPIC SMILEY FACE"

HAHA LoL good point there razor. But I just wanna lower my temp even lower. And I meant load is 15-20% not celsius.

 

[4745454b]

If he bought an AC7pro, and it came with paste, you can reuse whatever is left over.