Loud CPU fan - lag in video games

[Banchou]

Good day,
My PC is about a year old. I'm a gamer and in my free time I tend to play lots of games. Lately I've started to notice lag issues while playing games like Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Devil May Cry 4. Both games run great on my system with most of the settings on high with pretty smooth frame rates. And by lag I don't mean that there is something wrong with frame rate. I have checked it with Fraps and the fps is fine, but still I'm noticing lag. Mostly it tends to lag in not necessarily wide open inviroments, but in more detailed places within the games.
While I'm gaming the CPU fan gets really loud. I don't think it has ever been this loud. I used HWMonitor to check the fan speeds and while I'm not gaming they're usually around 2000 - 2500 and while in games they get from 2500 to over 3000 and sometimes almost reaching over 4000. The CPU it self seems to be working at 100% frequency, the usage on the other hand isn't all that high - around 30% I'm guessing - also it does not seem like it's overheating the temperature stays around 40 - 50 C while gaming and about 30 - 40 while not. I did change the thermal paste form the stock one to an Arctic Silver 5, but it didn't change a thing. I've been scraching my head for roughly a month now with no results...

Here are the specs:

CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition 3.2 GHz with stock cooler.

Motherboard: ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3.

RAM: Kingston DDR3 1333 MHz 4GB - 2 sticks.

GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5670 1GB - I do have the latest drivers installed.

HDD: WD Shapphire Black 500GB.

 

[Ubrales]

It looks like the heat transfer between the CPU and the heatsink is poor. Give the heatsink a good cleaning with compressed air. The next thing to look for is a failing CPU fan; it is not responding to the speed control in the BIOS. Replace the CPU fan if necessary.

 

[Banchou]

It looks like the heat transfer between the CPU and the heatsink is poor. Give the heatsink a good cleaning with compressed air. The next thing to look for is a failing CPU fan; it is not responding to the speed control in the BIOS. Replace the CPU fan if necessary.

Ah yes, I did clean the heatsink with the comprssed air when I was changing the paste - fortgot to mention that. I'll check the speed control in BIOS then as you suggested.

 

[Z1NONLY]

HWmonitor read my Phenom II 1045t temps low by over 10C.

Your CPU may be getting closer to 60C which could be hot enough for the CPU fan to spazz.

I would double check your temps with another program. AMD overdrive gives temp readings.

You may double check and find your temps are fine, but if it is getting hot, and you have a working HSF and good application of thermal paste, the next suspect is voltage. (Run CPU-Z and see what your V-core is, in that case)

 

[Banchou]

HWmonitor read my Phenom II 1045t temps low by over 10C.

Your CPU may be getting closer to 60C which could be hot enough for the CPU fan to spazz.

I would double check your temps with another program. AMD overdrive gives temp readings.

You may double check and find your temps are fine, but if it is getting hot, and you have a working HSF and good application of thermal paste, the next suspect is voltage. (Run CPU-Z and see what your V-core is, in that case)

I've also used SpeedFan to get the readings - they were very close to HWMonitor, but very well I'll try AMD overdrive and check the voltage with CPU-Z.

It's getting late so thank you for your answers Z1NONLY and Ubrales I'll report back about the results tomorrow.

 

[Ubrales]

Try RealTemp.

 

[Banchou]

Okay so I went into BIOS > Hardware monitor section and before trying anything for some reason the fan was spinning around 3000 RPM I think once it even reached to 4000 RPM. I set the fan to Silent mode as that was the only thing that I was able to configure exept for the min speed. Didn't notice any differene in speeds or the noise.

Tried AMD OverDrive the temps seem to be fine just like in HWMonitor.

I also did run CPU-Z to check the V-core. Core voltage jumped around 1.020 - 1.395 V. HWMonitor shows same readings as CPU-Z. AMD OverDrive showed 1.025 V in CPU menu. In BIOS I saw 1.380 V, but I guess that one refers to max voltage. By the way I have a Modecom Premium 500W PSU - that's what's witten on it. It got a bit warm while playing AC: Brotherhood.

So could it be the CPU Fan that causes that lag in my games or the PSU?

 

[Banchou]

Oh and RealTemp only seems to work with Intel CPU's.

 

[Ubrales]

I did not find much info or reviews on the Mode com Premium 500W PSU. Try a better quality PSU that delivers 500 to 650 watts. Brands like Corsair, Seasonic, Abtec, XFX.

Your present PSU may not be delivering the needed power for peak loads.

 

[Banchou]

I did not find much info or reviews on the Mode com Premium 500W PSU. Try a better quality PSU that delivers 500 to 650 watts. Brands like Corsair, Seasonic, Abtec, XFX.

Your present PSU may not be delivering the needed power for peak loads.

I don't think it's a very popular PSU company got it form my local computer store.

Maybe I'll check how it behaves while in games. PSU could also be the one making the noise right? and maybe those CPU fan speeds are alright for my stock fan?

As I said I have had my PC for a year, but what I forgot to mention (again) is that I had a pretty old HHD from which I also was expieriencing lag in videogames, but then I got my current one and games like Skyrim run pretty smooth without any lag issues. Games like GTAIV and Sleeping Dogs suffer the most - lag mostly occurs while driving and turning in corners on crossroads. Devil May Cry 4 on the other hand as I said runs very smooth except in detailed places with more texturework. AC: Brotherhood tends to have that lag troughout the game, but again it occurs the most when there is lots of detail on screen or in bigger crossroad like places. So yes maybe the problem does lie in PSU - like you said it's not delivering the needed power for peak loads.

What do you think?

 

[Ubrales]

Replace the PSU with a good brand; 500 to 650 watts.

And, 3,000 RPM is too high for the CPU fan. Check the model of the fan and verify the CFMs. In my opinion the noise is coming from the CPU fan which is running too high. The bearings may have already been damaged at these high RPMs.

 

[Banchou]

Replace the PSU with a good brand; 500 to 650 watts.

And, 3,000 RPM is too high for the CPU fan. Check the model of the fan and verify the CFMs. In my opinion the noise is coming from the CPU fan which is running too high. The bearings may have already been damaged at these high RPMs.

Alright, thanks for your time and help - I greatly appreciate it. Now I have a greater clarity about the cause of this issue with my PC.

 

[Banchou]

Best answer selected by Banchou.

 

[Ubrales]

Best answer selected by Banchou.

nThank you!