Am I bottlenecking? =( Large FPS drops in games

[Carista]

Hi all, i've recently been trying to work out what in my computer I should upgrade, but sadly I can't work out what the problem is... I get massive frame drops, and very frequently whilst below 60 FPS my GPU usage drops into the 20 - 40% range. This typically happens in MMO's, however I don't know if my CPU is reaching 100%. I use MSI Afterburner to monitor the statistics, and I have not noticed any of the CPU cores reaching 100%, or even close to it really. 80% is the highest ive seen a core go.

My specs are as follows

Asrock 970 Extreme4 mobo
Gtx 680 2 gb GPU
Amd FX 8350 Black Edition CPU
Windows 7
AOC Q2770Pqu 27" 1440p IPS Monitor
8 Gb DDR3 1333 Mhz ram ( I typically hit 7 gb used when playing games like wildstar, which I know is poorly optimised but I have observed this problem across multiple games )

Any ideas or suggestions as to what the problem could be?

Temperature wise my GPU is fine, processor as of writing this ( I currently have a game running ), according to Core Temp software, is 56c min, 67c max, I am unsure if this is acceptable for a CPU or not.

Please note I have no idea about computers really, i'm not very smart when it comes to hardware and software, so any responses I would appreciate having simplified! =(

I'd also like to know if I was to upgrade, what should I be looking at replacing? =o

Thank you if anybody helps!

 

[pcgaming98]

Even in the case that it is a bottleneck, it wouldn't result in frame drops and fps stutter. At most, you'd be missing out on some extra fps. What games are these? They ALL experience frame drop?

67C max is meh for a AMD cpu @ 4 GHz, in the case that you didnt overclock it. Sounds like you're on stock cooling.

In the case that you want to upgrade, your CPU should be upgraded. I'd go the Intel Core i5 Haswell route, the Intel Core i5 4670K if you plan on overclocking in the future, and the Core i5 4590 if you dont. Most of the other Core i5's are just downclocked a couple hundred mhz, so if you don't choose any of the two I suggested, it's not gonna be a massive difference.

 

[Carista]

Even in the case that it is a bottleneck, it wouldn't result in frame drops and fps stutter. At most, you'd be missing out on some extra fps. What games are these? They ALL experience frame drop?

67C max is meh for a AMD cpu @ 4 GHz, in the case that you didnt overclock it. Sounds like you're on stock cooling.

In the case that you want to upgrade, your CPU should be upgraded. I'd go the Intel Core i5 Haswell route, the Intel Core i5 4670K if you plan on overclocking in the future, and the Core i5 4590 if you dont. Most of the other Core i5's are just downclocked a couple hundred mhz, so if you don't choose any of the two I suggested, it's not gonna be a massive difference.

Wildstar, Blade and Soul, it happened in World of Warcraft too although my frame-rate was usually ridiculously high in that game so it didn't effect much. -VERY- occasionally in League of Legends. Skyrim sometimes, although I have skyrim relatively heavily modded with high texture mods. Those are the ones that come to mind off the top of my head.

Do you have any idea what would cause the frame drop / fps stutter? :s The GPU severely dropping in usage, and my frame-rate tanking is very frustrating.

And yes, I am on stock cooling right now.

 

[pcgaming98]

I'd blame it on Windows 7 but that wouldn't be very professional so try updating your DirectX. Also keep an eye on voltage of the CPU. Make sure it doesnt significantly drop, or the frequency of the CPU could too, resulting in abrupt performance loss.

Also, try increasing the page file size a bit to improve gaming performance. It's an odd fix but it works for most.

 

[Carista]

I'd blame it on Windows 7 but that wouldn't be very professional so try updating your DirectX. Also keep an eye on voltage of the CPU. Make sure it doesnt significantly drop, or the frequency of the CPU could too, resulting in abrupt performance loss.

Also, try reducing the page file size a bit to improve gaming performance. It's an odd fix but it works for most.

I don't really know how to do any of that. I've got no idea what the page file is, or what a significant drop in voltage / frequency would be. =(

 

[pcgaming98]

First of all, I just updated my previous post because I made a mistake. You want to >>INCREASE the page file size.

How to change page file size


Open System by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, right-clicking Computer, and then clicking Properties.

In the left pane, click Advanced system settings. Administrator permission required If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings.

Click the Advanced tab, and then, under Virtual memory, click Change.

Clear the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives check box.

Under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change.

Click Custom size, type a new size in megabytes in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, click Set, and then click OK.

 

[Carista]

First of all, I just updated my previous post because I made a mistake. You want to >>INCREASE the page file size.

How to change page file size


Open System by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, right-clicking Computer, and then clicking Properties.

In the left pane, click Advanced system settings. Administrator permission required If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings.

Click the Advanced tab, and then, under Virtual memory, click Change.

Clear the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives check box.

Under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change.

Click Custom size, type a new size in megabytes in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, click Set, and then click OK.

It's currently set to 8148 mb... Any suggestion what I should change it to? It wants Initial and Maximum, and there's two check-boxes saying "system managed size" and "No paging file" do I need to check either of those?