Brand new gaming PC gets less than 30fps

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aionwannabe

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#105815 11-Jul-2012 14:46

This holidays i built a new gaming PC but for some reason it doesn't get anywhere near playable fps in any modern games, I have a feeling that the CPU is topping out because every-time I altab to look at task manager its maxed out.

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.120503-2030)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3450 CPU @ 3.10GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.1GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM
Card name: AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series (7850)
      Drive: C:
Free Space: 47.9 GB
Total Space: 114.4 GB
File System: NTFS
      Model: Corsair Force 3 SSD

      Drive: D:
Free Space: 656.2 GB
Total Space: 953.6 GB
File System: NTFS
      Model: WDC WD5000BPKT-24PK4T0(its actually 2 2.5' in raid0

      Drive: E:
Free Space: 904.3 GB
Total Space: 1907.7 GB
File System: NTFS
      Model: Seagate FA GoFlex Desk USB Device

All this is running off a 500watt psu but I don't feel like that's the problem because it ran an AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 640 and a 6870 which aren't specifically power efficient but now that i think of it I suppose it is possible.

Any thoughts?

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#654033 11-Jul-2012 14:52

What make is the PSU? 500w would be pushing it, even with a brand name PSU
All SSD drivers up to date?
Did you do a full reinstall of Windows? And all other programs?

Is drive E just for backing things up? and not running any pagefiles/gaming files?

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aionwannabe

147 posts

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#654037 11-Jul-2012 14:59

its a silverstone I believe its 80+bronze.
I havnt updated firmware on the SSD on account of IDK how so if that could be a major factor any guides? but drivers as far as im aware yes. The usb drive is purely pass storage and I don't run things off it

vinnieg

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#654040 11-Jul-2012 15:02

Silverstone are generally pretty good for their PSUs, so shouldn't be a problem there

Hmmm, I'm thinking it might be your SSD, not your CPU

Off the Corsair forums:
http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=95688/

I have moved across the ditch. Now residing in Melbourne as a VOIP/Video Technical Trainer/Engineer.

dukester

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#654042 11-Jul-2012 15:33

aionwannabe: This holidays i built a new gaming PC but for some reason it doesn't get anywhere near playable fps in any modern games, I have a feeling that the CPU is topping out because every-time I altab to look at task manager its maxed out.

Any thoughts?

If the cpu is showing running at 100% before you open any programs I would be looking in task manager to see if anything strange is running.

sidefx

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#654060 11-Jul-2012 16:09

dukester:
aionwannabe: This holidays i built a new gaming PC but for some reason it doesn't get anywhere near playable fps in any modern games, I have a feeling that the CPU is topping out because every-time I altab to look at task manager its maxed out.

Any thoughts?

If the cpu is showing running at 100% before you open any programs I would be looking in task manager to see if anything strange is running.

This. No way is that CPU the bottleneck unless something weird is going on.

And I assume all drivers are up to date?

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Lias

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#654065 11-Jul-2012 16:25

sidefx:

And I assume all drivers are up to date?

THIS.. and that doesn't just mean "no unknown devices in device manager", make sure you have the latest chipset/audio/video/etc drivers from the manufacturers website. IN particular make sure your video driver is the latest AMD driver, not a default Mirosoft one.

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aionwannabe

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Master Geek

#654072 11-Jul-2012 16:45

force3 update did speed up boot but no fps changes, looking through list of devices now

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

aionwannabe

147 posts

Master Geek

#654202 11-Jul-2012 21:32

Updated every relevant driver for my PC, nothing works yet.
When I alttab to check task manager, catalyst control center has a massive spike, Is there a program like MSI afterburner which shows the CPU usage over time of a single process?

aionwannabe

147 posts

Master Geek

#654271 12-Jul-2012 02:44

Sorry to make back to back replys here but I just ran Prime95 and watched CPUZ tell me that when the CPU usage goes up in decreases my multiplier from 16 to 8 but then when im in firefox it hits 34. I am thoroughly confused

sidefx

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#654353 12-Jul-2012 09:59

Did you assemble the PC yourself? What heatsink\fans are you using for CPU and did you apply decent thermal paste correctly? What sort of temperatures is it reading when you're running prime95?

EDIT: If temps all look ok and you're positive the heatsink etc is installed well, then look your bios for some sort of thermal management\throttling settings and turn them off?

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timmmay

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#654397 12-Jul-2012 10:55

That's a pretty well spec'd PC, though I don't know about video cards.

Check your task manager to see what's taking the CPU, that's probably the problem. I didn't know you had SSD drivers, they're just SATA. SSD firmware updates happen though, but I doubt they're particularly important. Rouge processes are most interesting.

TechSol

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#654411 12-Jul-2012 11:23

aionwannabe: Sorry to make back to back replys here but I just ran Prime95 and watched CPUZ tell me that when the CPU usage goes up in decreases my multiplier from 16 to 8 but then when im in firefox it hits 34. I am thoroughly confused

Try turning off speedstep and turbo boost in your bios and report back... that would eliminate something funny going on with multipliers.

vinnieg

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#654427 12-Jul-2012 11:37

Could be clocking it back due to overheating?

Try Speedfan, and see how high your CPU temp/northbridge temps are

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stevenz

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#654454 12-Jul-2012 12:17

Go dig up the latest beta Catalyst drivers. AMD are known for having frequent issues with driver versions.

500W should be ok. If your D: drive was 2 3.5" drives I'd say that you were pushing your luck, but if they're 2.5" then that should be ok.

You haven't accidentally plugged the video cable into an output on the motherboard? (I know it's unlikely, but you never know...)

View all processes in task manager and see what specific process is maxing it. Try running a windowed benchmark like FurMark or RTHBL and see what's going on. FurMark should manage some fairly decent FPS on that card and barely touch the CPU as it's just running GPU functions.

http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur

Edit: A quick & simple "real-world" benchmark is RTHDRIBL: http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/rthdribl/index.html

Being able to run it in a window is useful so you can fire up task manager and see if the CPU is maxing out, in tests like this with very little logic processing, the CPU shouldn't ever get past 10-20% in theory.

@KnightNZ

timmmay

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#654477 12-Jul-2012 12:47

Hard drives take almost no power, it's CPU and graphics that soak it up.

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