Random FPS drops, PLEASE HELP ME!

[danryder]

Ok, So. I have just had this pc built.


Phenom II x4 Black Edition 3.4ghz
Asrock 970 Extreme 4
Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition
8GB Ram
Windows 7 64bit



The problem i am having is in some games. For instance War z and Fallout new vegas.

I will play, then the game freezes for a SPLIT second, not even a second, the VERY QUICK freeze causes my fps to drop buy about 20-30 frames then jumps back up to the 60 frames i usually get.

My temps are fine.

CPU : 20-25c when idle and 40-45c underload

GPU - 25c idle and 48 max underload.


As you can see...nothing seems wrong. Does anyone have some sort of explanation of this whatsoever?

 

[Deemo13]

Power supply?

 

[danryder]

Antec 550w

 

[twelve25]

What apps are running in the background? Virus Scanner, firewall, etc?

What does your CPU load look like during games?

 

[danryder]

I have Skype and Steam running, Steam because i need it to play Fallout and skype to chat with friends.

My Virus Scanner is Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Firewall. Thats about all i have running.

I have HWmonitor open to check my temps while i play and fraps too. But im not recording, Just have the FPS counter.


I alt tabbed earlier and my CPU Usage was on 70% for a second. The temps were only 44c.

Il run the game and check the usage again now,

 

[twelve25]

I suspect that your CPU is spiking and causing the frame rate drops. But it's hard to perfectly correlate. You may try running perfmon or some other monitoring tool to record the CPU load and see if any of your cores are flatlining at 100 while your fps drops. CPU load way say 70%, but that's an aggregate. You might have 100% on two cores and 40% on the other two, which would be 70% overall load.

 

[danryder]

Il play the game in windowed mode and make sure the manager shows at the bottom so i will be able to see the usage.


What am i looking out for?


And if it is this "Spike" What do i do to fix it? This pc and the parts are 2 weeks old max

 

[danryder]

Ok, So i played windowed and had my usage at the bottom.

It was fluctuating between 35% and 45% Never went over that :s

 

[twelve25]

You just want to look and see if any cores are spiking. One core at or near 100% constitutes a spike.

Then if you are sure nothing else is running that is causing that spike, you have a CPU bottleneck and you have to set your graphics settings accordingly.

It's just a theory. And of course make sure your drivers and firmware and such are all up to date before trying to dig deeper.

 

[danryder]

Well something strange just happened. This is the second time this has happened.

I exit a game and start browsing the web and this happened.

 

[danryder]

Im thinking about doing a format and fresh windows install. -.-

 

[masterman467]

1+ ^
also check your BIOS setings for your ram. if its at the wrong frequency it could screw stuff up.

 

[danryder]

I have no idea how to do that or change it.


I have 2x4 GB Vengeace Corsair

 

[masterman467]

yeah, but what numbers come after that? 1600mhz? 1333mhz? tap delete when starting up (some mobos are f3) and look around for ram setings. idk how your bios is layed out so i cant realy help.

 

[danryder]

It said 1600mhz when i bought it. But i have read somewhere that they are set to 1333mhz by default.

 

[masterman467]

bios is 1333 by default. you have to set it to 1600 in bios.
def try to change that.

 

[danryder]

Il give it a go.


Any ideas what could have caused those lines in the picture?


Also, Should i change the ram to 1600 before or after i fresh install?

 

[masterman467]

try it before you redo windows

 

[danryder]

One quick question before i have to format if this doesnt work.



When i re install windows and have to put the drivers for my GPU, Shal i use the disk that came with it or just go straight to the website and download the latest?

 

[masterman467]

forget the disk. the drivers on it are out of date before its released. go to the site and get them.

 

[danryder]

When im in the bios..is there anything i have to change other than the mhz?

 

[danryder]

I also just noticed that my CPU multiplyer is fluctuatimng between 11 and 17.

My guess is its because im on desktop not doing anything

 

[masterman467]

not that i know of.

 

[danryder]

Also, I need a decent FREE Anti Virus / Spyware


Currently using MSE and Malewarebytes.

 

[masterman467]

cant help ya there. i use tank. oh, i mean norton <_< >_>