Question 9400F + Z390 speed at gaming < 3900

[BY66]

I have newly purchased the Asus Z390 and Intel Core i5-9400F with 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000 MHz.

When I played games like Far Cry 5, Battlefield V and Fortnite, the frequency is only 2970 MHz, is that because I have not updated the BIOS?

I saw everyone is getting 3905 MHz!!

 

[PC Tailor]

Welcome to the forums my friend!

What exact motherboard is it? How are you monitoring RAM speed?
Do you have latest BIOS and all drivers updated?
Do you mean it goes to 3000 on other games?

 

[BY66]

My motherboard is ASUS TUF z390. I use HWMonitor to monitor various devices's data.
I have updated the BIOS and all drivers are updated via ASUS available drivers.

I mainly play BF V, Far Cry 5 and Fortnite. Still they are just doing the stock CPU speed.

But I see many youtube videos about the 9400F are doing 3905 MHz. Am I missing something here?

 

[sizzling]

Is Windows power plan set to high performance? If no the try this.

What is your cpu temperature when gaming? What is your gpu & cpu usages when gaming? What is your full pc spec?

 

[BY66]

Is Windows power plan set to high performance? If no the try this.

What is your cpu temperature when gaming? What is your gpu & cpu usages when gaming? What is your full pc spec?

My Spec is:

Asus Tuf Z390
Core i5-9400F
Arctic Freezer 34 eSport Duo
Gtx 1660
2x8GB Dominator 3200
Corsair TX850 850W
Corsair Spec 06 case

CPU running 55~58C usage is around 50%
GPU is high 60~63C usage is nearly 95%

 

[sizzling]

My Spec is:

Asus Tuf Z390
Core i5-9400F
Arctic Freezer 34 eSport Duo
Gtx 1660
2x8GB Dominator 3200
Corsair TX850 850W
Corsair Spec 06 case

To add to my previous questions what resolution do you run and are you using v-sync or other frame rate limiter?

 

[BY66]

To add to my previous questions what resolution do you run and are you using v-sync or other frame rate limiter?

Sorry, it's 1920 x 1080

What v-sync is used for? I never use frame rate limiter

 

[sizzling]

Sorry, it's 1920 x 1080

What v-sync is used for? I never use frame rate limiter

V-Sync helps synchronise your frame rate to the monitors refresh rate to eliminate screen tearing.

Are you running max or near max game settings? Your gpu is running at 95% so it suggests your cpu doesn’t need to run any faster. If you lower the game settings does your FPS and cpu usage go up?

 

[jostegogar]

I have newly purchased the Asus Z390 and Intel Core i5-9400F with 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000 MHz.

When I played games like Far Cry 5, Battlefield V and Fortnite, the frequency is only 2970 MHz, is that because I have not updated the BIOS?

I saw everyone is getting 3905 MHz!!

if by everyone you mean yt videos they usually pair cpus with 2080ti at 1080p so the cpu needs to work really hard in order to keep up with gpu.
but if you want make sure that both your cpu and motherboard are ok use cpu z built in stress test to put your cpu under pressure. and monitor clock speeds with HWINFO64 to see if its reaching its advertised speed or not.

 

[BY66]

V-Sync helps synchronise your frame rate to the monitors refresh rate to eliminate screen tearing.

Are you running max or near max game settings? Your gpu is running at 95% so it suggests your cpu doesn’t need to run any faster. If you lower the game settings does your FPS and cpu usage go up?

All game settings are max'd out. Should I lower the settings to obtain a higher CPU frequency?

 

[BY66]

if by everyone you mean yt videos they usually pair cpus with 2080ti at 1080p so the cpu needs to work really hard in order to keep up with gpu.
but if you want make sure that both your cpu and motherboard are ok use cpu z built in stress test to put your cpu under pressure. and monitor clock speeds with HWINFO64 to see if its reaching its advertised speed or not.

I din't know CPU-Z has a built in stress test, I 'll give it a try and report back.
...Is my CPU faulty?

 

[sizzling]

All game settings are max'd out. Should I lower the settings to obtain a higher CPU frequency?

Yes but why do you want higher cpu usage/speed if happy with the FPS? By lowering game settings you increase the FPS, the higher the FPS the higher the cpu workload. Your cpu will likely ramp up to a higher speed when workload is high enough.

 

[BY66]

I tried it, nothing changes, I think my CPU is faulty I'll RMA it tmr.

 

[PC Tailor]

There was me misreading the initial point! I have edited out my stupidity / misunderstanding in my first post.

Are you able to run this benchmark here and post a link to the results just so we can get an idea: https://www.userbenchmark.com/

 

[jostegogar]

that doesnt mean there is something wrong with cpu. please check bios and make sure Intel turbo boost is enabled

 

[BY66]

There was me misreading the initial point! I have edited out my stupidity / misunderstanding in my first post.

Are you able to run this benchmark here and post a link to the results just so we can get an idea: https://www.userbenchmark.com/

Nevermind, I don't really like the 9400F, it doesn't have a built in graphics which I didn't know. I ll try RMA and get a 9900K tmr.

 

[mdd1963]

Are we honestly chasing down a missing 30 MHz here under load?

Built in graphics is useless anyway, since you have the 1660....

Sell the 9400F, if you prefer and can; get an 8700K or 9700K, at least....

(Possibly a better cooler will allow your Asus board to run the 9400F at it's max...; you will soon need one for a better CPU anyway)

 

[PC Tailor]

Are we honestly chasing down a missing 30 MHz here under load?

I initally read it at 30MHz. I since edited my initial comment.
It's referring to the CPU speed which seems to be a whole GHz under.