Major Underperformance

[thoon]

A short history of this build: It's my first, having completed it back in 2009. At that time I had a GTX260 in it, otherwise everything was the same. Current specs:

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 BX80601920
-- Running at about 35C with just a browser open. Will test temp under load later. Last time it reached >65C.
-- Heatsink: Noctua NH-U12P SE1366
-- Case: Antec 902 V3 with 5x120mm (not including 1 on heatsink) and 1x200mm fan running at medium to low speeds.

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Superclocked 01G-P3-1461-KR Driver: 8.17.12.8026
-- Running at about 45C now with just a browser open. Will test temp under load later

Monitor: Acer 22" X223WDbd
Resolution: 1680x1050 @ 60Hz

MB: EVGA X58 SLI 132-BL-E758-TR

RAM: Corsair Model TR3X6G1600C7 G (XMS3 6GB (3x2) 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600)

PSU: Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2/EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready

To name just a couple of my (few) games and their performance The Battle for Middle-earth 2 stutters into <10FPS on anything higher than Medium. Starcraft 2 manages decently at High settings, though I believe the game's coding favors better performance. Battlefield 2142 runs at Medium settings. All in all I can play most all of my collection on decent to low settings. With a few exceptions (LotRO & SC2) I just hit a ceiling when I attempt to break into quality visuals.

I was running Lord of the Rings Online earlier on "High" (behind "Very" and "Ultra") settings. Doing so at 1680X1050 with DirectX11. The majority of settings (textures, detail, shadows, etc) are set at High or Medium. DX11 water is at Medium. I averaged about 25 FPS in non-populated, enclosed areas. ~15 in semi-populated, open areas. <15 in combat/character heavy areas. CPU ran at ~40C, GPU at ~47 with 60% fan speed.

Since day one I had performance issues with the 260. I chalked it up to a bad card, and I RMA'd the original hoping that would fix the issue. However, the replacement card underperformed as well, and so I hit the internet looking for help. I've yet to find a solution.

Just recently I completed a second build which I gave my old 260 to. The card works perfectly in the new machine, meanwhile my 560 has inherited the same underperformance issues in the (first) build. Before installing the 560 I made sure to completely wipe the old drivers (installed DriverCleaner, ran it in safemode, made sure it was all gone). The new drivers installed fine (apparently) and the card does perform better than the old one. However, it's clear that my system is not working as it should. Ran 3Dmark basic (free) settings this morning to these results:

Really looking for advice on how to fix this situation. I've been led to believe it isn't a hardware issue (no BSOD, sudden crashes, or any other hiccups really). By all appearances the computer runs fine. But for whatever reason it chokes the second you put some pressure on it.

Please let me know if I left out any information that may be valuable in solving this issue! Thank you!

 

[geekapproved]

What do you mean by "underperforming"? Those numbers mean nothing unless we had something to compare them to. Is the score higher than it was with the GTX260??

You can't compare your numbers to "similiar systems". Why? Because most people that have a i7-920 are running them at around 4ghz. Not to mention most of them do a max overclock on the cpu and gpu just to score high.

What is 3d Mark basic?? Are we talking about 3dMark Vantage? 3dMark 11? 3dMark 06?

 

[Rizlla]

What Power Supply do you have?
List the full specs of you PC please.

 

[thoon]

Corsair 850w/EVGA GTX560/Core i7 920/6gb DDR3/EVGA x58 SLI/Antec 902

By basic I meant the free version of 3dMark 11. I managed to dig up what my 260 scored in 3dMark 06:

The underperforming is my lack of being able to play games at the settings I expected to. For instance, I still get framerate issues in populated areas in Oblivion. But if you're telling me 3dMark isn't something to judge by, then I could be mistaken!

And I don't know if it helps, but here's a thread that tracks my 260's troubles and attempts at a solution:
http://www.gamereplays.org/community/index.php?showtopic=508696&st=0

 

[jitpublisher]

What does CPUZ show for the graphic interface speed under the mainboard tab?

 

[PartialGenious]

Well you are comparing a 3DMark06 score against a 3DMark11 score. It does not quite work like that. Again, just as in another post I agree with RZilla please give us more details about the system.

 

[thoon]

What does CPUZ show for the graphic interface speed under the mainboard tab?

"Version: PCI-Express, Link Width: x16, Max Supported: x16"

What sort of details are you looking for? I have to admit that I still only have a layman's knowledge in these matters so I don't know exactly what information is needed.

Thank you guys for your replies so far!

 

[jitpublisher]

I was wanting to make sure the board was performing at 16x speed on the PCIe link width, which it is. I still think this a motherboard issue though, especially if the old card works normally in another system, and a second card performs badly in yours. Have you contacted EVGA about a possible motherboard RMA? A bad board can do all sorts of weird things that can have you pulling your hair out for weeks trying to sort an answer.

 

[swifty_morgan]

first thing, some of the earlier mother boards were total horse manure. Many people had "performance" issues of one kind or another. The second thing, HD speed means a lot. If you got one that spins up at under 7200rpm you'll notice it through your whole system. ( 5400-5900 )

 

[thoon]

Looking into the RMA, though I'm doubtful it'll be approved. At this point I'm probably out of the warranty date.

first thing, some of the earlier mother boards were total horse manure. Many people had "performance" issues of one kind or another. The second thing, HD speed means a lot. If you got one that spins up at under 7200rpm you'll notice it through your whole system. ( 5400-5900 )

So the early x58's were defective? Lovely.
HD model: Western Digital WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 3.0Gb/s.

 

[cuecuemore]

Run Afterburner in the background and turn all of the monitoring settings on. What does your card clock up to when running 3DMark?

 

[PartialGenious]

You don't list your motherboard model number, power supply model number, card model number, graphics driver etc. Just all of the essentials to give quality advice. Maybe even temperatures of GPU, CPU. Just as much info as possible.

 

[geekapproved]

All of the first P67 boards were defective and many P55 boards had defective cpu sockets, so I wouldn't doubt if some X58's had issues too. I call it great Intel quality control.

You have yet to give us the make and models of your parts so really can't help you yet. You haven't even told us what resolution your monitor is.

I mean you can't expect a GTX560 to play all games "on the settings you expected" at 1920x1080. I mean some games from 5yrs ago would bring a GTX560 to it's knees at 1680x1050 depending on what "settings you expected".

 

[thoon]

Sorry again guys, and thanks for the patient replies! I'm slowly but surely learning how to help you help me! Here are more detailed specs, which I've also added into the first post for convenience.

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 BX80601920
-- Running at about 35C with just a browser open. Will test temp under load later. Last time it reached >65C.
-- Heatsink: Noctua NH-U12P SE1366
-- Case: Antec 902 V3 with 5x120mm (not including 1 on heatsink) and 1x200mm fan running at medium to low speeds.

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Superclocked 01G-P3-1461-KR Driver: 8.17.12.8026
-- Running at about 45C now with just a browser open. Will test temp under load later

Monitor: Acer 22" X223WDbd
Resolution: 1680x1050 @ 60Hz

MB: EVGA X58 SLI 132-BL-E758-TR

RAM: Corsair Model TR3X6G1600C7 G (XMS3 6GB (3x2) 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600)

PSU: Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2/EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready

I mean you can't expect a GTX560 to play all games "on the settings you expected" at 1920x1080. I mean some games from 5yrs ago would bring a GTX560 to it's knees at 1680x1050 depending on what "settings you expected".

Very true! If it helps here's a more specific example: I was running Lord of the Rings Online earlier on "High" (behind "Very" and "Ultra") settings. Doing so at 1680X1050 with DirectX11. The majority of settings (textures, detail, shadows, etc) are set at High or Medium. DX11 water is at Medium. I averaged about 25 FPS in non-populated, enclosed areas. ~15 in semi-populated, open areas. <15 in combat/character heavy areas. CPU ran at ~40C, GPU at ~47 with 60% fan speed.

 

[geekapproved]

I don't know man, you should have been able to play it maxed out with a 4850.


Have you tried updating your motherboards bios? Tried the other 2 pci-e power cables?

I really don't see anything wrong with your system other than cpu heat. 65c is quite hot considering it's at stock speed and has a dual fan aftermarket cooler. Try running Intel Burn test and see what the real load temps are. If it hits 75c, stop the test, you should know within 10 minutes.

Is it just Oblivion that performs poorly?

 

[cuecuemore]

I think your card is stuck at video playback clocks and not going to max 3d gaming clocks, might wanna check that out.

 

[thoon]

Have you tried updating your motherboards bios? Tried the other 2 pci-e power cables?

To the former, that I have not tried. I'm willing to try, though I'll need plenty of guidance doing so. As for the latter, that was one of the first things that I tried.

I really don't see anything wrong with your system other than cpu heat. 65c is quite hot considering it's at stock speed and has a dual fan aftermarket cooler. Try running Intel Burn test and see what the real load temps are. If it hits 75c, stop the test, you should know within 10 minutes.

Will do. In the past when I've run burn test I've seen the temp peak over 70 before, though the CPU's run cooler since I reapplied the thermal paste around the beginning of this year.

Is it just Oblivion that performs poorly?

To name just a few (of my already small library) The Battle for Middle-earth 2 stutters into >10FPS on anything higher than Medium. Starcraft 2 manages decently at High settings, though I believe the game's coding favors better performance. Battlefield 2142 runs at Medium settings. All in all I can play most all of my collection on decent to low settings. With a few exceptions (LotRO & SC2) I just hit a ceiling when I attempt to break into quality visuals.

 

[thoon]

I think your card is stuck at video playback clocks and not going to max 3d gaming clocks, might wanna check that out.

How might I go about doing that?

 

[Outlander_04]

Can you tell us games you are playing

at what settings and , the frame rates you are getting?

If you dont have it already you can download a free version of FRAPS to find your fps
http://www.fraps.com/download.php

 

[cuecuemore]

Run Afterburner or any other software that can monitor your GPU performance (Precision, GPUTweak) Make sure that it's open and monitoring GPU clock speeds and then runs 3DMark or any 3D game. If it doesn't clock up to 850 MHz on the core, then you'll need to adjust some settings to maximize your performance.

 

[thoon]

Ran GPU-Z while playing Lord of the Rings Online at the beforementioned settings, which it matched again. Core Clock got to 850.5MHz. Memory Clock to 1026.0Mhz. Shader to 1701.0Mhz. I have other details in the log GPU-Z made if needed.

 

[geekapproved]

Makes no sense. All those games should be able to be played on MAXIMUM settings.

Only thing I can think of is your cpu is getting too hot while gaming and it's throttling itself to a slower clock speed. Download CPUID HW Monitor (google it) and run it while gaming, it will show your max and min temps during the entire session.