AMD FX-8320 Stutter

[Doug Painter]

Just got my FX 8320 CPU today. Upgraded from an FX 4130 so it's a pretty substantial upgrade. As I expected my PC feels snappier and multitasking is better than ever. However I noticed while gaming the cpu sometimes isn't fully utilized or only one core is being used more than the rest. I'll add a screenshot below.

A good example of this is when I was playing Heroes of the Storm (Maxed out) it started out at 60fps with the GPU usage at around 60 -70%. But about 30 seconds in the GPU usage dropped down to between 30 - 40% and only core #3 on the CPU was really being used. For the rest of the match the fps was hovering around 30 - 40. I'm having similar issues with Battlefield 4 using both Mantel and DX11 and a mix of medium and high settings.

I know this can't be normal especially for this game. It's not graphically intensive at all. My guess is the CPU was bottlenecking the GPU because it was only using core #3. I could be wrong though, just an educated guess.

I'm not sure why this would happen. Both my CPU and GPU are running stock clocks and all my drivers are up to date. Also in case anyone is wondering, I always do a clean install for drivers by uninstalling previous ones and such. The temps were also fine with no overheating so I don't think it could have been throttling from that.

I've noticed this in some other games as well where neither my GPU or CPU are really being utilized at all and both hover between 30 - 50% usage. Obviously for some games it doesn't really matter if they aren't being fully utilized. For instance I tested out Shadow of Mordor on a mix of high and ultra setting and it ran at a steady 60fps while only utilizing about 50% of the GPU and CPU.

I know my rig isn't the greatest and it's only really mid range but I know that it should be able to play most games at a resolution of 1600x900 and maintain a smooth 60fps with the right settings. If anyone can help out I'd really appreciate it. Sorry for the lengthy post, just wanted to make sure I got all the details in there.

This screen was taken while in game (Heroes of the Storm). The dips you see in the GPU and CPU graphs are from me alt tabbing out of the game for a second.

Specs
OS - Widows 8.1 64bit
Mobo - Asus m5a97 R2.0
CPU - AMD FX-8320
GPU - XFX R9 270X 2GB
RAM - ADATA 8GB (4x2) 1333
PSU - Corsair CS550M

 

[fkr]

yep that is a cpu bottleneck stemming from bad software programming only using one core.

you should be able to get an easy 4.4 overclock out of that CPU and I would recommend that. use a hyper 212 evo and you should be good to go.

games like shadow of mordor not using more cpu is probably because there is vsync on or some of the newer games have been setting fps caps on games also

 

[fkr]

http://www.overclock.net/t/1348623/amd-bulldozer-and-piledriver-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboard

quick overclocking guide. this is for asus boards but the priciples are the same

 

[jaimelmiel]

I don't know if this will help but open the task manager and see if your you have parked cores. This my cause problems with gaming.
Then follow the instruction on this video. I hope this solves your problem.

 

[Doug Painter]

yep that is a cpu bottleneck stemming from bad software programming only using one core.

you should be able to get an easy 4.4 overclock out of that CPU and I would recommend that. use a hyper 212 evo and you should be good to go.

games like shadow of mordor not using more cpu is probably because there is vsync on or some of the newer games have been setting fps caps on games also

http://www.overclock.net/t/1348623/amd-bulldozer-and-piledriver-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboard

quick overclocking guide. this is for asus boards but the priciples are the same

Yeah I have a 212 EVO and was going to do a slight OC but thought I might wait for my H80i to arrive. I didn't think the low performance would be due to it running at 3.5ghz.

I don't know if this will help but open the task manager and see if your you have parked cores. This my cause problems with gaming.
Then follow the instruction on this video. I hope this solves your problem.

I've read that parked cores are really only an issue for Windows 7. But I'll look around to see if that could be the issue for Windows 8.1 as well.

 

[jaimelmiel]

It may not be the problem . Al you have to do is check the task manager.

 

[fkr]

your evo should be fine to start your overclock. there is no reason you should not be able to get at least 4.1 with that cooler and many get to 4.4 without issue. that way when the new cooler arrives all that will happen is your temps will go down and you will be ready to go.

if you are maxing out or even coming close then an overclock will help on those badly threaded games. even a 4.1 overclock is a more than 10% increase.

the real disadvantage of amd cpu's is how bad they are on a core by core basis. they shine whenever a game uses multiple cores but that just started occurring in the last year or so. so to overcome this having the single core performance overhead is really useful. I would start overclocking. If you think about getting to 4.5 then you are talking about a 25% performance increase ona core by core level and that is significant. no piece of hardware really likes working at its max potential so giving it more potential could really help.

 

[Doug Painter]

your evo should be fine to start your overclock. there is no reason you should not be able to get at least 4.1 with that cooler and many get to 4.4 without issue. that way when the new cooler arrives all that will happen is your temps will go down and you will be ready to go.

if you are maxing out or even coming close then an overclock will help on those badly threaded games. even a 4.1 overclock is a more than 10% increase.

the real disadvantage of amd cpu's is how bad they are on a core by core basis. they shine whenever a game uses multiple cores but that just started occurring in the last year or so. so to overcome this having the single core performance overhead is really useful. I would start overclocking. If you think about getting to 4.5 then you are talking about a 25% performance increase ona core by core level and that is significant. no piece of hardware really likes working at its max potential so giving it more potential could really help.

Well I tried overclocking and got to 4.2ghz but the problems still persist. Also tried unparking cores and that didn't work either.

 

[Ryanrenesis]

The problem lies in your AMD CPU. They're just not good for gaming. Should have went Intel if your main focus was gaming. I know you'll be spending more, but you get what you pay for.

It is worth to note in some games like Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, an i5-4690K will actually give you more FPS per $ than a FX-8350. And this is at stock. When overclocked, the i5-4690K just runs away with its performance per $.

Proof:

i5-4690K - $237 - $2.76 per FPS
FX-8350 - $193 - $3.16 per FPS
* Note the benchmark show the i5-4670K instead of the i5-4690K, so it's actually even greater performance per $ than calculated above.

So in absolute cost, it is more expensive, but in cost per FPS, it is cheaper.

The i5-4690K is, by far, the best performance per $ CPU on the market right now.

 

[Doug Painter]

The problem lies in your AMD CPU. They're just not good for gaming. Should have went Intel if your main focus was gaming. I know you'll be spending more, but you get what you pay for.

It is worth to note in some games like Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, an i5-4690K will actually give you more FPS per $ than a FX-8350. And this is at stock. When overclocked, the i5-4690K just runs away with its performance per $.

Proof:

i5-4690K - $237 - $2.76 per FPS
FX-8350 - $193 - $3.16 per FPS
* Note the benchmark show the i5-4670K instead of the i5-4690K, so it's actually even greater performance per $ than calculated above.

So in absolute cost, it is more expensive, but in cost per FPS, it is cheaper.

The i5-4690K is, by far, the best performance per $ CPU on the market right now.

They arent bad for gaming. Ive seen people with near identical setups to mine run BF4 on a mix of high and ultra settings at a steady 60fps. I'm not worried about getting fps past 60 anyway since my monitor only supports 60hz. The 8320 is more than capable of holding a steady 60fps on a lot of games paired with a 270x especially when they are both overclocked and only gaming at 1600x900. The AMD 8 cores outperform their Intel counterparts in some games as well as some apps that have multi core optimizations. Advanced Warfare is a pretty bad benchmark comparison considering its new and poorly optimized for PC. A lot of people with high end rigs with i7s and titans are reporting they can barely run it and have constant stuttering.

Either way, I know what the 8320 is capable of so there is definitely something else wrong. Its not that its bad for gaming.

 

[fkr]

you are absolutely right about the 8320 being perfectly capable gamer. so I am starting to look into the game it self and checking out the forums over at battle.ne and it seems that this may be another case of a game that just has bugs

http://www.juststormit.com/go/en/news/temporary-fix-to-stutter-in-heroes-of-the-storm-r41

this says to change the audio quality to medium to help with the issue. hopefully we can figure out what is going on here and just ignore the person who says that a 8320 cannot perfectly power a r9 270x.

 

[Doug Painter]

you are absolutely right about the 8320 being perfectly capable gamer. so I am starting to look into the game it self and checking out the forums over at battle.ne and it seems that this may be another case of a game that just has bugs

http://www.juststormit.com/go/en/news/temporary-fix-to-stutter-in-heroes-of-the-storm-r41

this says to change the audio quality to medium to help with the issue. hopefully we can figure out what is going on here and just ignore the person who says that a 8320 cannot perfectly power a r9 270x.

Yeah after some research I came across some of the same information on the game. I mean it's still in alpha so it's not fully optimized at all. I guess I just figured even without it being optimized it would still run at 60fps on a rig like mine. I've been testing out some other games to see if this is just an issue with HOTS. I've been having similar issues with BF4 but then again that game never really ran good for me no matter what settings I have it on. CoD AW is the same story but that game is just horribly optimized for PC as I said in my last post.

I'm going to try those suggestions for HOTS and see if it helps out and I'll report back. Thanks for the help!

 

[fkr]

my favorite way to test is to use the free heaven benchmark.

https://unigine.com/products/heaven/download/

i usually keep msi afterburner open while doing these test so that I can watch to see if the GPU frequency is bouncing around or if gpu usage is all over the place.

make sure you have the riva statistics tuner open and all stretched out so that you can evaluate the gpu's behavior.

if this all works well then we have to check more into the CPU usage.

 

[WhiteSnake91]

Probably just due to it being a badly optimized game. Your 8320 is perfectly fine with the 270x. And don't feel too bad, many people with even better pc's than mine have had fps problems in bf4 for awhile. I honestly gave up on that game, all my friends quit playing it a year ago anyway after the horrible launch. BF4 has been horrible on pc...I basically did everything I could on my end and it never fixed the bad fps I was getting, even on high settings 1080p, no msaa. I overclocked my cpu, gpu, doubled my ram from 8 to 16gb, unparked my cores, disabled origin in-game...you name it, I've really scoured the internet and nothing helped. But yet I can play any other game I own perfectly fine on 1080p ultra settings


AW on pc is a mess right now I've heard too. My friend abandoned it since he said he said there's no way to turn off the mouse acceleration in game and aiming feels off.


in summary, your pc is fine, you wouldn't even "have" to overclock it honestly, it turbos to 4ghz on its own. I've heard many complain of the AMD stock cooler though so the EVO should be quieter along with cooler running.

 

[Ryanrenesis]

I get easily 60+ FPS constant on BF4 and 80+ FPS on COD:AW on my i5-4690K @ 4.7Ghz with a GTX 780 @ 1202Mhz/3225Mhz

Not sure why people have problems with the game.

 

[fkr]

I get easily 60+ FPS constant on BF4 and 80+ FPS on COD:AW on my i5-4690K @ 4.7Ghz with a GTX 780 @ 1202Mhz/3225Mhz

Not sure why people have problems with the game.

you cannot compare a nvidia card to a amd card. they both have there issues in different games. I know since I just went from CF 7950's @ 1200/6500 to a gtx 970 @ 1540/8000. I really miss my CF setup as it has really improved to the point where everything was working perfectly except for the clocks that I was running it at it was hot and that just does not cut it in phoenix az.

this was part of the release notes from amd drivers

Mantle performance for the AMD Radeon™ HD 7000/HD 8000 Series GPUs and AMD Radeon™ R9 280X and R9 270X GPUs will be optimized for BattleField 4™ in future AMD Catalyst™ releases. These products will see limited gains in BattleField 4™ and AMD is currently investigating optimizations for them.

the newer 14.11.1 beta drivers may help