FPS drops to 15-20 for a few seconds very often

[Syktris]

Ever since I upgraded my cpu and cooling system last week, i have been getting strange fps drops that last for a few seconds then the fps go back to 60
i've already uninstalled and reinstalled graphics drivers

specs:
AMD Fx 8350 4.0 ghz
H80i water cooler
msi R7950 3GB
8gb ram
Windows 8.1

 

[Syktris]

Although I'm no expert on AMD CPUs I'm pretty sure you've jumped in without reading the whole thread.

His Aux sensor is cycling between approx 24 seconds of sub 30C temps to over 100C for 12 seconds with out any intervening rises or drops. 70C to 80C rises don't occur in the blink of an eye with no intervening temps being recorded.

If you Google the problem it's either a faulty hardware sensor or faulty software reporting, NOT actual real temperatures.

All you are doing is confusing the OP.

I think it's equally likely that the boards method of self-preservation could be a simple on/off trigger that applies a multiplier to the output of that sensor in order to trigger throttling when a certain threshold is reached by a sensor that has been added as afterthought or revision to cut down on board failures. It's not uncommon at all to see these sort of band-aid solutions used on cheap motherboards.

The board design probably has a flawed or dysfunctional socket temp readout. Something that could not be fixed without re-running a the batch of boards. Someone probably came up with a bandaid solution that keeps the motherboard from catching fire but has the unfortunate side effect of generating an all-or-nothing throttling behavior.

I've seen this sort of all-or-nothing throttling on lots of boards. Nicer Asus boards are some of the only ones that actually "soft" throttle down the power state steps as they hit temp thresholds. LOTS of AM3+ boards don't report socket temps correctly.

Ahh, fair enough bud. Did I mention I'm no expert on AMD 😉

and the aux temps are still doing that thing 🙁

 

[mdocod]

Take the fan off of the OE heatsink that came with your FX chip and try to strap it up over the motherboard VRMs. If there's room, a thin fan behind the motherboard tray is also a good idea.

If you install fans, and try under-clocking and under-volting, and still have the same symtoms then I believe Colin Lee was correct, the board is probably defective.

 

[Syktris]

Take the fan off of the OE heatsink that came with your FX chip and try to strap it up over the motherboard VRMs. If there's room, a thin fan behind the motherboard tray is also a good idea.

If you install fans, and try under-clocking and under-volting, and still have the same symtoms then I believe Colin Lee was correct, the board is probably defective.

put it wher for the vrm? and theres no opening for a fan on the back of my case, which way should the air go

 

[mdocod]

My AMD build is in a Fractal Core 3500 case, which has over 2cm of space behind the motherboard tray, so I have "hung" a fan back there like this:

The primary heatsink for the CPU voltage regulation system is on the front of the board, near the CPU socket.. Note the fan mounted there hovering over that heat-sink on the motherboard in the pic below. I believe your motherboard also has a heat-sink in this region (although it is smaller).

Your large AIOCLC may interfere with trying to improve air-flow in that region as it appears to be over-hanging the area and effectively snuffing it out.

 

[Syktris]

no room near the mosfet/cpu , and i could put that fan in the back hung like u, but how did u do that? i dont have any extra screws

 

[mdocod]

I just used a piece of single-stranded (stiff) insulated copper wire, looped it through the mounting holes on the fan and wrapped it around some of the various wire bungles that are strung behind the tray. There are no screws used to "hang" those fans in either of those positions.

 

[Syktris]

I just used a piece of single-stranded (stiff) insulated copper wire, looped it through the mounting holes on the fan and wrapped it around some of the various wire bungles that are strung behind the tray. There are no screws used to "hang" those fans in either of those positions.

yea but ive disabled and enabled everything it says here http://forums.tweaktown.com/asrock/47282-asrock-970-extreme3-fx-8120-keeps-throttling-im-not-overclocking-3.html
and yet my aux temps are still going to 100?
and ive even underclocked to 3.8

 

[mdocod]

The practice of disabling every power saving feature on the board is actually being carried over from a by-gone erra. Most of those settings can be left ENABLED without negatively effecting a custom performance tune, in fact, most of them will simply make a tune more efficient. I always keep C1E, C6, and Cool/Quiet enabled. When overclocking on boards that properly support it I use offset voltage or custom P-States to take advantage of reduced power states in conjunction with the overclock.

Turbo and APM are the only settings that really need be disabled if you want to take manual control of voltage and clocks, as those features can override your handiwork. (In most cases, disabling APM will have the effect of disabling turbo as turbo is dependent on APM for on-the-fly voltage and clock scaling, however, disabling turbo does not disable APM. It's a one way relationship.).

--------

Since the front side of your motherboard's VRM area is basically sitting in a stagnant hole with blocked air-flow, I would advise as part of a test to eliminate VRM cooling as an issue, to under-clock the CPU-NB to 2000mhz, dropping the CPU-NB voltage to 1.15V, and then underclocking the CPU to like 3.2ghz and adjusting the CPU-Voltage to the same 1.15V or so. This will cut the power dissipation of the CPU WAY below stock. (at these settings the peak power dissipation will be like 80W). If you still get the same symtoms like this (temp readings jumping to 100C+ and forced low power states), then it's time to look at having the board RMA'd.

 

[Syktris]

The practice of disabling every power saving feature on the board is actually being carried over from a by-gone erra. Most of those settings can be left ENABLED without negatively effecting a custom performance tune, in fact, most of them will simply make a tune more efficient. I always keep C1E, C6, and Cool/Quiet enabled. When overclocking on boards that properly support it I use offset voltage or custom P-States to take advantage of reduced power states in conjunction with the overclock.

Turbo and APM are the only settings that really need be disabled if you want to take manual control of voltage and clocks, as those features can override your handiwork. (In most cases, disabling APM will have the effect of disabling turbo as turbo is dependent on APM for on-the-fly voltage and clock scaling, however, disabling turbo does not disable APM. It's a one way relationship.).

--------

Since the front side of your motherboard's VRM area is basically sitting in a stagnant hole with blocked air-flow, I would advise as part of a test to eliminate VRM cooling as an issue, to under-clock the CPU-NB to 2000mhz, dropping the CPU-NB voltage to 1.15V, and then underclocking the CPU to like 3.2ghz and adjusting the CPU-Voltage to the same 1.15V or so. This will cut the power dissipation of the CPU WAY below stock. (at these settings the peak power dissipation will be like 80W). If you still get the same symtoms like this (temp readings jumping to 100C+ and forced low power states), then it's time to look at having the board RMA'd.

did all that, and it still happening, now the aux temps will go up to 120c and i cant RMA i think, cus i got this mobo as gift like 2 years ago

 

[mdocod]

bummer... might try reverting back to whatever CPU was on there before and see if it still does it, but this sounds to me like the motherboard is shot. Hate to say it but after reviewing the big picture here, I believe that the choice to install the 8350 with that AIOCLC, providing no motherboard cooling, may have been the culprit that damaged the board causing this erratic behavior.

 

[Colin Lee]

no room near the mosfet/cpu , and i could put that fan in the back hung like u, but how did u do that? i dont have any extra screws

If you've got a desk fan you could just leave both side panels off and direct the air flow into the case.
Although it is sounding like the MB is goosed. It's possible it was on it's way out and the new CPU and the AIO (changing the airflow) just tipped it over.

 

[Syktris]

yea ill probably just leave it how it is now, and be happy my pc works even if i cant play games, ill wait to buy a new case and mobo