4870x2 bottleneck

[Ph0enix33]

Hi,

I am not entirely sure this is the proper forum in which to post this, but I will give it a shot anyway. My problem is quite simple, though the solution may not be. I built my own PC by ordering the components from NewEgg a while back, and have always had issue with its performance in games, but have recently gotten to the point that I really must do something about it. Before I go any further, let me list the specs of my system

Intel q6600 OC'd to 3.0 with aftermarket cooler
4 gb RAM (2x2gb)
4870x2
Asus P5Q Deluxe MB
37" 1920x1080 monitor

The low frame rates are fairly consistent across all games, with the main concern being World of Warcraft. While in a raid scenario, using max settings and the native resolution of 1920x1080, I am lucky to get above 15 fps. If I drop all settings to low and set the resolution to 1280x720 I can get an additional 5-10 fps, hardly a substantial increase. Under less stressful situations, when other players are not on screen performing tasks, the frame rate goes up of course. When using Task Manager / GPUZ to monitor my system at load, I am seeing 50-60% CPU usage, 30-40% GPU load, and 75-85% memory usage. The memory is the biggest flag for me there, but even that is not maxed out (On a side note, I would like to know if it is normal to see 80% of 4gb of memory in use, when the task manager only has WoW.exe using ~1gb, firefox using 100mb, windows explorer using 50mb and everything else fairly negligible amounts, leaving a large portion of that RAM usage unaccounted for). Any advise as to what my problem is, or how I can go about correcting it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

 

[wa1]

Does it only happened on WoW?
What about the other games? Does it also has "slow" fps?

 

[Ph0enix33]

I just did a test run, and unfortunately disabling AI does not seem to make a difference.

wa1: Yes, other games suffer from the fps issue as well, not just WoW

 

[wa1]

De-frag your hard drive? cleaning your hard drive from anything that's unused?
make sure your card is free from dust? re-apply the thermal paste? it could be an overheating, check also the temps...

 

[Ph0enix33]

wa1: The card is dust-free. I too have considered overheating, but GPU-Z has it running at 75-85 Celsius, which though I initially thought to be too hot, many say the card is designed to take it. If you think that is indicative of an overheating problem, please let me know.

As for my PSU, it is a Corsair 750w. The performance problems are not sudden. They have existed since I built the machine. I even went to the trouble of RMAing my first card, but the replacement they sent has done no better, so I doubt it is a faulty video card.

 

[wa1]

have you updating your driver with the latest one? or try 10.3/10.4, that's the most stable driver for now...

 

[Ph0enix33]

I have updated to several different versions, and am currently running the latest. None of them seemed to help much. My Power supply doesn't seem to be the issue either. All components appear to be getting appropriate power.

 

[4745454b]

I'm going to go with a CPU or ram issue. (I'm not feeling that well at the moment so pardon if this is poorly written or doesn't make a lot of sense.)

You might have a quad, but if the usage is only 50% then your not doing enough to max it out. This is proved by the ~35% GPU usage, its simply not being feed enough data. One problem might be that the games/programs your using aren't threaded well. If this is the case there isn't much you can do other then get a CPU with a higher IPC. If you just need more power, then OCing your quad farther is the thing to do. What are your OC settings? If you have a G0 Q6600 you should be able to get to 3.6 or 3.8GHz.

I'm not sure about the ram. Memtest it is all I can suggest, and make sure its running at the specs it should be at.

BTW, you talk about only another 5FPS, but realize that if you only get 15FPS you just increased your frame rates by 33%. Thats a pretty big jump. I really think you need to double check everything. RAM and OC settings, heat for the CPU and GPU, memtest the ram and make sure your PSU rails are where they should be. And as Wa1 suggested you might want to look at your drive as well. Its my understanding that MMOs tend to use the drive more, and you haven't listed which one your using. I hope its not an older slow 120GB IDE drive.

 

[Ph0enix33]

I would like to further OC my processor, but have not been able to get it past 3.0 at 9x334. My temperatures are on the hot side, but nothing to the extreme where it would effect performance as far as I know. I have not run Memtest, but I will if you think it is needed. I will do some research into the PSU rails and check them as well. My HDDs are two 500 GB 7200 drives, and I am running Vista 64 if I left that out earlier.

I do not get spontaneous reboots at all. My system is running very well, save the poor gaming performance obviously.

 

[4745454b]

What cooler are you using?

Try dropping the CPU multiplier down to 8x. Put the FSB to 400 for a 3.2GHz CPU. (you might need to bump your Vcore up some, I personally wouldn't go above 1.4, but 1.45 should be ok for a 65nm CPU.) Make sure your ram is set for 1:1 so that its running at DDR2-800MHz. This isn't much faster then what your at, but it should give us an idea of what it will take for your CPU to hit 3.6 if it can.

 

[Ph0enix33]

I can't recall off hand what cooler I have, but I believe it was an Arctic brand. I will give the 8x400 a try and see if I can get it stable. I will post when I have some results. Btw, thank you all very much for your help thus far.

 

[1haplo]

Look at GPUz and see if the PCIe slot is running at x16, Sometimes people will see that the slot is running at x1

 

[Ph0enix33]

It is in fact running at x16 according to GPU-Z. I started a disk defrag last night, but it is still going. Approaching the 12 hour mark. Hopefully it finishes soon so I can try getting my cpu to 3.2.

 

[Ph0enix33]

Sorry to ask such a stupid question, but how do I adjust my ratio to 1:1? CPU-Z says I am running at 5:8, but I see no ratio settings in my BIOS, which must mean I need to input the numbers manually, only I do not know where they would go, or what speed to set each at. Here are more detailed specs on my memory if it helps:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066

Also, I am running my current 3.0 overclock at 1.28125V. Would I really need to increase that to 1.4 to get it to 3.2?

 

[Ph0enix33]

Sorry for that. After a bit of research, I think I came up with the correct method. I set my CPU to 8x400 (3.2 total) and my memory to 800 which, after the numbers changed when I altered my FSB setting, was the lowest option possible. I did not change my voltage, as I have read horror stories about pumping too much juice to your cpu, and it is running fine thus far. If I get a crash I will up the volts of course. I do notice however, that Warcraft is now taking up literally half of the memory it did when I was running a 3.0 (9x333) proc and stock 1066 ram settings. Any particular reason for this? The frame rates in game have remained largely unchanged sadly, and are still not bearable at a decent resolution or anything above minimum settings.

 

[kimyeang88]

It might not be GPU issue. I have 9800 GTX+ and ATI 5850. My cpu is same as you Q6600 oc to 333x9=3 Ghz and 2 GB RAM.

I did play WoW on both graphic cards but not 4870x2 tho. My resolution was 1680x1050, the game was about 55 FPS with highest setting and sometime it drop to 40(5850). 15 to 35 FPS with 9800 GTX+( highest setting)


Take a look at this guy, he got same problem as you by using 4870x2 (CoreI7 CPU and 6 GB DDR3) he still got to 22 FPS sometime. He did play Crysis smooth tho. Maybe WoW doesn't support dual GPU.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=16904267550&sid=1

Try to lower down some setting like AA, 24 bit ........ terrain detail? if the FPS increase, meaning the card x2 is not for WoW.

 

[Ph0enix33]

After this overclock, I am at what I assume is capped frames in Crysis (since it doesnt have an fps viewer), but regardless it runs very smoothly on very high settings, aside from a new issue with blurred text when I put it in fullscreen mode. But for some reason WoW is still running terribly.

 

[4745454b]

Make sure AI it turned on or your using only one GPU. Make sure you are testing a with a game that can use CF. You are correct that you don't need to bump the Vcore if you don't have to, I was only trying to give you the safe max ranges for your chip. You can now try 400x9 for a 3.6GHz OC. I wouldn't try going farther then this with a Q6600. If it doesn't work I'd try 1.3 or 1.35 first.

Do you have Vsync enabled?