Furious after my 1500$ PC won't run games properly

[Eugene Chung]

Before you go like you were scammed. I do not live in America so I have higher prices anyways. Alright, not that I built this computer for pure gaming I still got a really nice graphics card and a AMD card which was apparently for multitasking. Anyways when I run Battlefield 3, Saints Rows the Third, Metro 2033, Planetside 2, Minecraft or Mafia 2. It runs between 80 - 300 frames however every few seconds the frames drop to 15. I couldn't find any CPU drivers but my GPU drivers are updated. My full specs are:

Disk Drivers -
Samsung SSD 128gb 840 PRO
WD BLUE 1 TB (Games are installed here)
Graphics Card -
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760
Processors -
AMD FX 8350 Eight Core Processor
Memory -
Samsung 4GB DDR3 RAM x2 (Sorry I didn't specify earlier)
CPU Fan -
Coolermaster Hyper 103
Motherboard -
ASRock 970 Pro3 R2
Power-
Powerex III 600W

My temperatures fluctuate however:
GPU:
Idle: 40 Celsius
Ingame: 60 - 80 Celsius
CPU:
Idle: 30 - 50 Celsius
Ingame: 50 - 75 Celsius (Never passes 70 but gets that high)

Also my ASRock has these weird silent cool setting thingy but I don't wanna touch it until I get some info. (For the record it's already on)

Can I have a solution?

I personally think it's my CPU but I detached it once and I redid the thermal grease with the one from Zalman and reattached it.

 

[Pulefanden]

double ur rams, it might do the trick.

 

[MajinCry]

Try undervolting your CPU, if you haven't overclocked it. Should reduce the temperatures to 65C or so.

In your BIOS, disable Cool N Quiet.

Try de-fragging your hard drive.

Also, AMD graphics cards are as valid for gaming as NVidia. You must have gotten the CPU and GPU mixed up; AMD CPUs are the king when it comes to multitasking without breaking the bank, but lag behind intel in terms of single thread performance (10% or so when comparing processors at similar price points).

 

[EchoOne]

Go with the first answer first. 4gb of ram will get eaten alive by metro 2033,Bf3 and really modern game.

 

[ChrisCarbomb]

in nvidia control panel, make sure energy setting is at max performance.
and maybe try vsync? it will keep it at a steady 60fps

 

[MEC-777]

The first thing that stuck out as a potential bottle neck for this system (and makes sense according to the problem you described) is the 4GB of RAM. When your system runs out of memory, the frame-rates will drop almost completely, hence the frequent dips to 15fps.

Go with at least 8GB of DUAL CHANNEL (2x 4GB kit) 1866mHz RAM. The 8350 supports the 1866 speed RAM, so use that type for the best performance.

Your temps also look a little high, so you may want to consider adding some fans to your case for better air flow. I don't know what case you have, but if you can, try adding 1 or 2 fans pulling fresh air in from the front and 1 or 2 more exhausting air out the back. Also, make sure your PC is situated where there is clean air available.

 

[Eugene Chung]

Okay buddies thanks for helping, I actually have 8gb ram. The case also has 4 - 6 fans but they look kinda bad

 

[guggi4]

you cpu temps are a way too high! max temp for the fx series is 61°C, it may throttle to not fry it during the gaming. Maybe thats the reason for your drops

 

[MEC-777]

Your GPU and CPU are both getting quite warm, now that I re-read your OP.

What case do you have?

 

[CooLWoLF]

I think its your 4gb ram as some games run out of ram on 4gb and then the fps goes down, on 32bit operating system I have just over 3gb ram of my 8gb available and one or two games the same thing happens run 60fps then goes to really low fps then magically goes higher up. You have to lower settings to use less ram till you get more ram.

Just read you have 8gb ram its pointless to have 8gb if you don't have a 64bit operating system. Check if your is a 64bit OS.

AMD fx cpus are poor for gaming generally to intel cpus as they suffer from latency and more drops for minimum fps then intel cpus due to maybe intels 2x better single threaded performance. Also check what clock speed of your cpu is when running games.

No, just no. His 8350 is perfectly suited for any modern games. This is horrible misinformation and is just going to scare him.

OP, your issue is either A) thermal throttling from to high cpu temps or B) software/driver issues in the background. Its very likely option A, in fact I am sure of it. Fix that and you will be good to go.

 

[CooLWoLF]

OP is not asking for a discussion on intel vs amd benchmarks. That isn't the issue or the solution. The fact that your derailing his thread is ridiculous, unnecessary, and annoying.

 

[MEC-777]

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/61451-intel-haswell-i7-4770k-i5-4670k-review-16.html
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/61451-intel-haswell-i7-4770k-i5-4670k-review-17.html
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/61451-intel-haswell-i7-4770k-i5-4670k-review-18.html
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/61451-intel-haswell-i7-4770k-i5-4670k-review-19.html

Its very hard to find any game the amd fx8350 beat an i5. These are just hard facts. Intel cpus were designed for games, amd were designed for multithreaded tasks like video encoding.

crysis 3:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crysis-3-performance-benchmark-gaming,3451-8.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-wolfdale-yorkfield-comparison,3487-10.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/piledriver-k10-cpu-overclocking,3584-10.html

http://www.behardware.com/articles/880-17/amd-fx-8350-review-is-amd-back.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-processor-frame-rate-performance,3427-9.html

http://techreport.com/review/23750/amd-fx-8350-processor-reviewed/5
http://techreport.com/review/23750/amd-fx-8350-processor-reviewed/6
http://techreport.com/review/23750/amd-fx-8350-processor-reviewed/9

Whilefx8350 can play games exoect to have more fps dips and lower then i3 average fps in most games.

This is not a thread about Intel vs AMD. The 8350 is more than enough for what the OP is running.

Let's stick to solving the OP's issues. If it's not the ram, then I agree with the others, it must be throttling back either the GPU and/or CPU due to the high temps.

Operating properly, the 8350 should work great with this setup.

Eugene, what case do you have?

 

[Cazalan]

Temps are really high for stock clocks. Might have the wrong bracket used for mounting on the FX-8350.

 

[cmi86]

I think its your 4gb ram as some games run out of ram on 4gb and then the fps goes down, on 32bit operating system I have just over 3gb ram of my 8gb available and one or two games the same thing happens run 60fps then goes to really low fps then magically goes higher up. You have to lower settings to use less ram till you get more ram.

Just read you have 8gb ram its pointless to have 8gb if you don't have a 64bit operating system. Check if your is a 64bit OS.

AMD fx cpus are poor for gaming generally to intel cpus as they suffer from latency and more drops for minimum fps then intel cpus due to maybe intels 2x better single threaded performance. Also check what clock speed of your cpu is when running games.

Dude Hajifur seriously how many times do I have to tell you to cut the BS ??. Every single thread where someone is having Issues and has an AMD CPU there you are without fail to spout some completely invalid numbers and "facts" Intels are 2X as fast as AMD chips ?? Than please riddle me why the 83XX and 35XX are within a few FPS of each other on basically every gaming benchmark ?? Sure you can dig up a handful of benchmarks that will show otherwise (just to desperately try and prove your lame point with intel optimized or just horrendously coded junk titles) But the fact of the matter is that in 95% of games the difference is so close that you would never tell the difference anyhow. Before I tabbed out to play on toms for a bit I was running BF3 MP/Ultra @ 1080, streaming music, recording via fraps and have a browser open with a good 15-25 tabs and RARELY drop below 60 FPS even when the s**t totally hits the fan. Stop making it out to seem that AMD chips are not capable of gaming when the truth is otherwise. We are here on this forum to logically and honestly make suggestions and help diagnose situations for people. If you are not capable of that maybe you should just get out of here and stick to youtube for your fanboy battles. This is the last time I wil tell you next time I am going to a mod.

 

[cmi86]

I would like to make the suggestion of VRM throttling. The ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 is somewhat of a low end board and in addition to using poor quality VRM's they are also lacking any type of heatsink for cooling. My guess would be is that the VRM's are not capable of keeping cool with the big 8350 under load for continuous amounts of time. One of the biggest indicators to me is his quite high CPU temp which in my experiences with PD on 4+1 970 boards is usually due to VRM bleeding heat into the socket. OP try placing a fan over the VRM bank (behind your CPU socket and below the power connector) and see if this resolves your issue.

 

[cmi86]

cmi86 my benchmarks show intel cpus have less latency issues compared to amd and amd normally have lower minimum fps and dips in framerates and the op now saying he has 8gb ram means pretty much either its overheating or its working optimal levels. I see many personal reviews going from an fx8350 to an i5 and feeling amazed in the difference between the two in games. Its a big noticeable improvement. So all I am saying is th ops problem is normal most of the time this happens with amd fx line of piledriver cpus. The only other option is to check task manager or core temp and run the game on window mode and see if the clock speed is running at top speed otherwise it could be cpu throttling.

There were so many indicators of thermal throttling in the OP's post but instead of looking further in to that you just jumped straight to saying AMD cant game. Put your preferences aside and help the OP regardless of what they use.

 

[8350rocks]

cmi86 my benchmarks show intel cpus have less latency issues compared to amd and amd normally have lower minimum fps and dips in framerates and the op now saying he has 8gb ram means pretty much either its overheating or its working optimal levels. I see many personal reviews going from an fx8350 to an i5 and feeling amazed in the difference between the two in games. Its a big noticeable improvement. So all I am saying is th ops problem is normal most of the time this happens with amd fx line of piledriver cpus. The only other option is to check task manager or core temp and run the game on window mode and see if the clock speed is running at top speed otherwise it could be cpu throttling.

There were so many indicators of thermal throttling in the OP's post but instead of looking further in to that you just jumped straight to saying AMD cant game. Put your preferences aside and help the OP regardless of what they use.

+1

 

[Eugene Chung]

Thanks for the help. I would appreciate if you guys wouldn't derail though. I redid my thermal paste but that didn't help, If I were to get a new mother board what will I get? (Cheaper the better please.) Also what is this thermal throttling? I'm not a expert so you're gonna need to help me on that.

Also my case is a ABKO Ncore VIPER
http://gdimg1.gmarket.co.kr/goods_image2/middle_jpgimg/336/932/336932850.jpg
It's really cheap so I bought it. (40$)
(I am also willing to change my case)

 

[dsr07mm]

Try to run CPUID CPU-Z in background, run game in window mode and keep watching "core speed". If fps drops when core speed drops aswel then it's cpu throttling. I had exact problem, thermal paste - updating bios didnt helped so I ordered better motherboard. Not that I'm experianced too much but when someone have same problem as I did I really want to help.

 

[manofchalk]

Thanks for the help. I would appreciate if you guys wouldn't derail though.

Yes, there is no need for the thread to devolve into an AMD vs Intel flame war.

Thermal Throttling is when your chip kills its own performance to save itself from overheating (from the top of my head, in AMD chips it starts at ~67°C). Basically there are two ways to get around this, lower any overclock your running or slap on a bigger cooler.

 

[MEC-777]

Thanks for the help. I would appreciate if you guys wouldn't derail though. I redid my thermal paste but that didn't help, If I were to get a new mother board what will I get? (Cheaper the better please.) Also what is this thermal throttling? I'm not a expert so you're gonna need to help me on that.

Also my case is a ABKO Ncore VIPER
http://gdimg1.gmarket.co.kr/goods_image2/middle_jpgimg/336/932/336932850.jpg
It's really cheap so I bought it. (40$)
(I am also willing to change my case)

That case looks fine for air flow. How many fans do you have?

My suggestion would be to have the biggest fan that will fit pulling air in at the front and have the same on the back blowing out, as well as two on the top blowing out. If you already have some fans, check the direction they're installed and make sure they're pushing/pulling air in this way (in front, out the back/top).

You may want to also check your CPU cooler and make sure it's not trying to blow air "against the flow". Fans fighting against each other = stagnant air = higher in-case temps.

What's the ambient temp in the room where your PC is located?

 

[8350rocks]

Thanks for the help. I would appreciate if you guys wouldn't derail though.

Yes, there is no need for the thread to devolve into an AMD vs Intel flame war.

Thermal Throttling is when your chip kills its own performance to save itself from overheating (from the top of my head, in AMD chips it starts at ~67°C). Basically there are two ways to get around this, lower any overclock your running or slap on a bigger cooler.

62C is MAX for FX series CPUs.

@EugeneChung:

What was the cooler you were using? A Cooler Master 103? I am not sure that's a heavy duty enough cooler for the CPU you're running. You might try getting the 212 EVO from Cooler Master...it's only about $30 and will likely be quite effective in place of your 103.

 

[MEC-777]

@EugeneChung:

What was the cooler you were using? A Cooler Master 103? I am not sure that's a heavy duty enough cooler for the CPU you're running. You might try getting the 212 EVO from Cooler Master...it's only about $30 and will likely be quite effective in place of your 103.

The 103 looks beefy enough. I know looks doesn't necessarily = performance, however something as simple as swapping the fan on the 103 with a noctua or similar and making sure it's situated to push/pull in unison with the rest of the case fans, may be all that's required for proper cooling.

Would hate to buy a new motherboard only to find out the issue was due to pour airflow... lol

One benefit to the hyper 212 plus/evo cooler is the ability to add a second fan on the other side to create a push/pull effect. That would definitely help, so long as the rest of the flow in the case is adequate.

 

[cmi86]

Thanks for the help. I would appreciate if you guys wouldn't derail though. I redid my thermal paste but that didn't help, If I were to get a new mother board what will I get? (Cheaper the better please.) Also what is this thermal throttling? I'm not a expert so you're gonna need to help me on that.

Also my case is a ABKO Ncore VIPER
http://gdimg1.gmarket.co.kr/goods_image2/middle_jpgimg/336/932/336932850.jpg
It's really cheap so I bought it. (40$)
(I am also willing to change my case)

My apologies that Hafijur character is quite the notorious intel troll and he has quite a habit of targeting AMD threads and spreading misinformation to users such as yourself based solely on his brand preference, As I said above look into your VRM's, I bet they are the root cause for your CPU throttling.

 

[Eugene Chung]

Hmmm...

I need to sleep so I'll get it done tomorrow. I appreciate you guys constantly replying. Also my Cooler master Hyper 103's fan is blowing towards the case's fan. Maybe that's an issue? Also how can I check the VRM? I use HW monitor to check my temps ^_^

Also If I were to get a better fan what would be reccomended?