Can i please get some help? Making me depressed.

[danryder]

Basically, I sold my xbox and wanted to become a pc gamer.

I came on here and got help from everyone regarding what parts i should buy for the best budget ish gaming rig.

My specs are


Asrock 970 Extreme 4
Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition
8GB Corsair Vengeance Ram
Sapphire HD 7850 2GB OC edition
Antec 550w Psu

Windows 7 64bit.



My issue is, No matter what game i play, I get this sudden fps drop kinda like a spike. I get the same FPS on ultra as i do on lowest settings on all games.


I have used driver sweeper and re installed my GPU drivers, Didnt fix it.

Im about to do a complete format and fresh install of windows and everything as this is the last straw.

I spent every single penny i had on this computer, So im kinda stuck with it now and im unable to do anything. I have severe Bi Polar Disorder and i get stressed/depressed pretty quickly so i need games to keep me occupied.

All my Temps are perfectly fine, I have monitored the cores, None are above 60% when im gaiming. My GPU load never goes above 25-35%.

Everything idles at 25c and underload doesnt go over 50c.


Can some please tell me what type of settings i should be able to play most games on and with what average fps?

I need to know asap before i dop a complete re install in hope it fixes.

What does this problem sound like to you?

 

[DeadRam]

Run 3D Mark and compare your score to similar systems. www.futuremark.com I'm no AMD expert but I know incorrect chipset drivers can kill a GPU score. Try re-installing the MB chipset drivers and then the newest ATI drivers.

 

[danryder]

Do you mean use the disk that came with the motherboard to re install the drivers and then go to AMD website and download the drivers for my card? I did this before.

Should i use the disk that came with my GPU instead?

 

[tiny voices]

This is a very decent computer and once its all sorted it will have no problem running most games on high settings. I would check to make sure all the mobo drivers are correct and make sure AMD VISION is updated.

Download msi afterburner and see what your GPU is doing.

Is this the first time it has happened or has it been happening since day 1?

 

[danryder]

I didnt start gaming on it til a week or so afterwards. So i aint sure about day one.


I just ran that 3d mark thing and on every single scene i only got around 25fps 28 maximum.


TinyVoices, Do you happen to have skype? I really am stupid with this stuff and i wouldnt mind a step by step guide on how to make sure everything is uptodate ect. Whats amd vision?



I was also told to update my bios by another guy. I googled my motherboard and found what i think is the right thing and i did it. Now everything looks different when booting and im not sure i did it right or got the right one. How do i reset it back to original?

 

[tiny voices]

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/970%20Extreme4/?cat=Download Select your operating system and make sure you have all the drivers up to date.

Get MSI afterburner and run it while you play a game and see what % of the GPU is being used. Also, make sure it detects your GPU at all.

If all else fails, you may have to RMA your card.

 

[danryder]

Whenever i have played games i have had catalyst open too. My GPU temps rarely exceed 45c and the load i have never really seen go above 40%

 

[tiny voices]

On high settings your GPU should be at much more than 40%. I'm not sure what to tell you. You might have to RMA your card.

Anyone else is free to throw advice around as well.

 

[danryder]

I downloaded the mobo drivers and extracted them.

Now there are loads of things... Do i just click the catalyst install manager?

 

[danryder]

Ran Fallout New vegas at highest settings, In windowed mode so i could look at the CPU usage.


Was fluctuating from 35% to 44%


I was still getting those fps spikes too, Even after i updated the drivers.

 

[tiny voices]

This could just be a bad card. I don't know that much about GPUs but if you have reinstalled all the drivers and it still has changed nothing I would just RMA the ard and get a new one.

 

[danryder]

Im going to do a complete install of windows and wipe everything.

I called the guy who made the pc for me and he said that the drivers on the disk that came with the GPU should be fine. So im going to give that a go.

 

[tiny voices]

Alright sounds like a plan. Hope it ends well. If not I would definitely RMA the card.

 

[danryder]

Hi Tiny, Im back from a fresh install of all drivers.

I used the disk that came with the GPU for the drivers.

I have another question.


I have 2 lots of 4GB Corsair Vengeance ram. On my mother board there are 4 ram slots.

Blue, White, Blue, White.


Do i put my Ram into the first 2 slots?

Or do i put 1 into each of the blue or each of the white?


They are currently next to eachother 1 in blue and 1 in white?

 

[tiny voices]

You want them both in blue or both in white.

 

[danryder]

Thanks.


1 Last thing.

When i had my radeon HD 6770 I had a catalyst manager that let me check my fan speeds and GPU temps..However with the disk that came with my Sapphire HD 7850 I never got this manager when i installed the drivers?

Is this vital at all or needed?

 

[tiny voices]

Its not needed. I like MSI Afterburner for GPU monitoring.

 

[danryder]

Well, I just shutdown and moved one of my rams over to the other blue one.......

I then went into the boot options and set them to 1600 as they were 1333 by default and i can see a huge performance increase. Not from gaming thouh, i havent got any installed yet. lol


Think the rams being in seperate slots could have had something to do with my earlier issue?

 

[tiny voices]

Its a possibility but probably not.

 

[danryder]

Well, I played fallout NV and no matter what graphical setting i put it on, This FPS Spike drop happened.

I then played Red Faction Armageddon on Max settings and rarely went below 50 fps even in huge fights and never experienced any stutter or fps drops.

So my guess is, Fallout New vegas and Saints Row 3 are just bad games for FPS.




On another note


I have core temp. Whenever i open it atleast one of my cores is on 100% load for a second then drops back down to like 13% ( When im on my desktop not gaming)

Is this a bug/normal?

I sat here opening it and closing it and alot of the time atleast 1 core was on 100% then other times they werent.

 

[tiny voices]

its normal man. is it like core 2 or 3? that happens sometimes.

 

[danryder]

Its usually the very first core, however it did happen to 3 cores once or twice, but as i said it only happens when i open it then it drops back down.


I just played War Z in windowed mode at like 1280x720 and still couldnt get more than 30fps, So again it must just be the game as its in beta/alpha.


I had core temp open the whole time and all cores were fluctuating alot one went up to 89% once or twice but thats all.


Im hoping to god i can play Skyrim ok as thats the main game i got this PC for.

 

[danryder]

Also i have been reading up about resolutions effecting fps/gameplay

People talking about caerds being too powerfull for tyhe resolution so they are not getting the performance they should.



I currently game at 1600x900 .. With a HD7850 2GB........ Could this be the reason im not getting the performance i should be? or do these people not no what they are talking about?

 

[tiny voices]

do you have vsync enabled? Don't play games windowed. play them full screen. Sometimes playing windowed games can actually decrease FPS.

 

[danryder]

I always turn Vsync off and i hardly ever play windowed mode. I only did this time to check the coretemp.

However on some games i have noticed that i et more FPS in windowed mode.