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  1. #1

    CPU bottlenecking?

    Hi! I have been playing games like FC3, skyrim, SR3, and I noticed I've been getting some video lag/choppiness.
    Now, I'm assuming that it's my processor bottlenecking everything... Specs:

    CPU-AMD Phenom 965 IIx4 Black series OC 3.42
    8GB ram
    nVidia 570HD 1468 (ish?)

    I used to have an FX 8150 8 core, but long story short it broke so I threw in my backup CPU a few months ago. I'm just so sick of this crappy performance and I've been trying to narrow it down to a single component, but work has pretty much been consuming my life, and I am going to a wedding on my 2 off days this weekend with my fiance so I don't have time to trouble shoot.

    I've been building computers for the past 12 years (since I was 9) so I have a ton of experience there, so I know what I'm doing. Also, please don't come and recommend an Intel processor, I personally hate intel and will NEVER go back to using them.

  2. #2
    Not sure exactly what it is you're asking. You've already said the lag is happening after you had to downgrade your processor, so you already know what the main problem is. Other than that, not much else to say. Get a better processor ^^

  3. #3
    Deleted
    Run a game and log your CPU meanwhile. Is the load 100%?

  4. #4
    Brewmaster Majesticii's Avatar
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    I've been building computers for the past 12 years (since I was 9) so I have a ton of experience there, so I know what I'm doing. Also, please don't come and recommend an Intel processor, I personally hate intel and will NEVER go back to using them.
    Nobody is questioning that up to this point, so don't mention it either. It might throw people off as this comes off rather arrogant.
    Also, not quite sure what graphics card you mean.

    Anyway, in order to know for sure if it's the processor in the particular games you're going to have to run MSI Afterburner and monitor the GPU load.
    If you get crappy performance whilst having 99% GPU load, your graphics card is the problem. If you have bad performance with sub 99% GPU load, it's probably your processor.

    Quote Originally Posted by achareat View Post
    Run a game and log your CPU meanwhile. Is the load 100%?
    A CPU doesn't have to have a load of 100% before being a bottleneck. The ALU / Architecture can pile up long before that. A better test is GPU load monitoring.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Majesticii View Post
    Nobody is questioning that up to this point, so don't mention it either. It might throw people off as this comes off rather arrogant.
    Also, not quite sure what graphics card you mean.

    Anyway, in order to know for sure if it's the processor in the particular games you're going to have to run MSI Afterburner and monitor the GPU load.
    If you get crappy performance whilst having 99% GPU load, your graphics card is the problem. If you have bad performance with sub 99% GPU load, it's probably your processor.



    A CPU doesn't have to have a load of 100% before being a bottleneck. The ALU / Architecture can pile up long before that. A better test is GPU load monitoring.
    This is the card.
    Yeah my GPU runs at like 30%-60%, the highest I've ever seen it was 78%. So I'm pretty positive it's my CPU, I just don't want to replace that and then it turns out to be my ram.

  6. #6
    Brewmaster Majesticii's Avatar
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    30-60% with vsync enabled, or disabled?

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Majesticii View Post
    30-60% with vsync enabled, or disabled?
    Mostly off, Vsync is horrible for me. It makes wow SUPER choppy and the fps will drop to 19 then go up to 60, then go back down to 19. I'm assuming it is the fact that i'm using a tv for a monitor

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by zolok2.0 View Post
    Mostly off, Vsync is horrible for me. It makes wow SUPER choppy and the fps will drop to 19 then go up to 60, then go back down to 19. I'm assuming it is the fact that i'm using a tv for a monitor
    TV's definitely aren't the issue, it's the AMD CPU.
    Computer: Intel I7-3770k @ 4.5GHz | 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 RAM | AMD 7970 GHz @ 1200/1600 | ASUS Z77-V PRO Mobo|

  9. #9
    Brewmaster Majesticii's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zolok2.0 View Post
    Mostly off, Vsync is horrible for me. It makes wow SUPER choppy and the fps will drop to 19 then go up to 60, then go back down to 19. I'm assuming it is the fact that i'm using a tv for a monitor
    No the fact you're using traditional Vsync. Adaptive vsync solves these issues.

    And i'm pretty sure that the games you mentioned should perform well on your processor. My guess is something else is wrong.

    FC3 CPU performance
    http://static.techspot.com/articles-...nch/CPU_01.png

    Saints row 3 on a 2500K, note that nothing happens above 3cores. Not even OC changes much.
    On DX11 it's completly GPU reliant.
    http://cdn2.benchmark3d.com/benchmar...cores_dx11.jpg

    You just messed some driver or setting up. Your CPU is fine. This is why you shouldn't rule out stuff in the startpost.
    Last edited by Majesticii; 2013-01-04 at 06:42 PM.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Majesticii View Post
    No the fact you're using traditional Vsync. Adaptive vsync solves these issues.

    And i'm pretty sure that the games you mentioned should perform well on your processor. My guess is something else is wrong.

    FC3 CPU performance
    http://static.techspot.com/articles-...nch/CPU_01.png

    Saints row 3 on a 2500K, note that nothing happens above 3cores. Not even OC changes much.
    On DX11 it's completly GPU reliant.
    http://cdn2.benchmark3d.com/benchmar...cores_dx11.jpg

    You just messed some driver or setting up. Your CPU is fine. This is why you shouldn't rule out stuff in the startpost.
    Huh, odd. I'm using the latest nvidia drivers. Should I be using a different version? Nvidia is notorious for being unstable these days

  11. #11
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    Did you fresh install Windows when changing the cpu back?

  12. #12
    I am Murloc! Cyanotical's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by foil View Post
    Did you fresh install Windows when changing the cpu back?
    as long as the motherboard remains the same, all that you need with a CPU change is a restart

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cyanotical View Post
    as long as the motherboard remains the same, all that you need with a CPU change is a restart
    Na but in general should the cpu be able to play these games anyways?

    Might be crapware or etc etc and a fresh install is the cheapest and quickest way to find out if hardware or software. Only takes 30 mins.

  14. #14
    I am Murloc! Cyanotical's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zolok2.0 View Post
    Nvidia is notorious for being unstable these days
    no they're not

    Quote Originally Posted by foil View Post
    Na but in general should the cpu be able to play these games anyways?

    Might be crapware or etc etc and a fresh install is the cheapest and quickest way to find out if hardware or software. Only takes 30 mins.
    it's possible, its could also be that the bios wasn't reset with the cpu change, or it could be a faulty chip, or even a poor heatsink

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Cyanotical View Post
    no they're not



    it's possible, its could also be that the bios wasn't reset with the cpu change, or it could be a faulty chip, or even a poor heatsink
    Nvidia has bad drivers for 500 series cards, some cards tend to have a driver crash on GPU heavy games and WoW just has shitty DX11 so it doesn't the drivers anyway(20-30% GPU usage in raids and still get driver crashes)

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Tehterokkar View Post
    Nvidia has bad drivers for 500 series cards, some cards tend to have a driver crash on GPU heavy games and WoW just has shitty DX11 so it doesn't the drivers anyway(20-30% GPU usage in raids and still get driver crashes)
    I have been using Gigabyte Nividia GTX 580 Super Overclock Version since March 2011. I have played Crysis 2, WoW and SWTOR with it. Although I have used several different driver versions, my card has NOT crashed not even once, and I always play with everything at ULTRA and res 1920X1080.

    http://www.techspot.com/review/423-g...ce-gtx580-soc/
    Veteran vanilla player - I was 31 back in 2005 when I started playing WoW - Nostalrius raider with a top raid guild.

  17. #17
    Brewmaster Majesticii's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sturmbringe View Post
    I have been using Gigabyte Nividia GTX 580 Super Overclock Version since March 2011. I have played Crysis 2, WoW and SWTOR with it. Although I have used several different driver versions, my card has NOT crashed not even once, and I always play with everything at ULTRA and res 1920X1080.

    http://www.techspot.com/review/423-g...ce-gtx580-soc/
    Do you even PC?

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Majesticii View Post
    Do you even PC?
    Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 SOC. SOC=Super Overclock

    Rocket science.
    Veteran vanilla player - I was 31 back in 2005 when I started playing WoW - Nostalrius raider with a top raid guild.

  19. #19
    I am Murloc! Cyanotical's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tehterokkar View Post
    Nvidia has bad drivers for 500 series cards, some cards tend to have a driver crash on GPU heavy games and WoW just has shitty DX11 so it doesn't the drivers anyway(20-30% GPU usage in raids and still get driver crashes)
    given the semi random-ness of the crashes, the general assumption is that this is more of a hardware issue, there are plenty of people who never had any problems with 500 series cards, you never hear about this because happy people dont complain on forums

    there were a few bad apples with the 200 series drivers, but most of the stability issues had to do with 3 and 4 way SLI setups, individuals who maintain stability problems with a single card over multiple driver releases need to look at something else, such as faulty hardware, or unstable overclocks

    but there simply isn't any evidence of a brand wide instability with either nvidia or amd

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Sturmbringe View Post
    I have been using Gigabyte Nividia GTX 580 Super Overclock Version since March 2011. I have played Crysis 2, WoW and SWTOR with it. Although I have used several different driver versions, my card has NOT crashed not even once, and I always play with everything at ULTRA and res 1920X1080.

    http://www.techspot.com/review/423-g...ce-gtx580-soc/
    "Super Overclock" my ass with your 10 MHz core boost. I can raise Core by over 120 MHz and everything is stable and temps are same.

    ASUS GTX 580 DirectCU II

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