FX-8350 clearly bottlenecking GTX 780, is this normal?

[TheRavenHD]

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UPDATE - PROBLEM SOLVED GENTLEMEN:

I have chosen the best answer which should explain what the problem was. Turns out that one stick or RAM just won't cut it for this CPU. This CPU cries out for the power of two sticks! I bought a set of Kingston HyperX Beast memory (2x4gb) at 1600MHz.

Single-channel seems to be the problem and not the speeds. I disabled dual-channel with the new sticks and performance dropped like a dodo. Performance gains were around a whopping 80% in Battlefield 4, this is where I found the most performance.

Summary - Single-Channel RAM just won't cut it. Dual-Channel is pretty much required, at least for my set-up. It boosted my FPS by up to 80% across the board. Thanks to everyone for the replies and thanks for the help!

P.S - Sorry for the late update - I guess i got so excited by the performance increase i was knocked into a nerd-coma.
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Full specifications:

Case : Corsair 400R Matte black
Mobo: Asus Sabertooth 990FX Rev 2.0
CPU: AMD FX-8350 at 4.2 GHz
GPU: GTX 780 Asus DCUII
RAM: 8GB 1333Mhz Transcend Information (doesn't run at 1333Mhz)
HDD: Seagate 1TB 7200RPM
SSD: Crucial M500 120GB - Running my W8.1 OS
PSU: Corsair CX750 80+ Bronze
Case Fans: 11
CPU temp (LOAD) 35-50 degrees Celsius
GPU temp (LOAD) 40-65 degrees Celsius

I listed the case and fans etc to show I have excellent airflow and temperatures throughout the case.

Battlefield 4, Far Cry3, Metro Last Light, pretty much any reasonably CPU intensive game is making my GTX 780 look like a laughing stock and I hate it, I've gone through several graphics cards in the last few weeks (GTX 760, GTX 770, GTX 760's in SLI and now GTX 780) and its still the same.

Battlefield 4 is getting around 48FPS down to 38FPS on maps like Flood Zone, Hainan Resort, all the large maps which require some beef on the CPU.

CPU usage: 80-100%
GPU usage: 50-70%

Clearly a bottleneck, do i have a faulty CPU? Should i move to i5-4670k? CAn anyone help find benchmarks for other FX-8350's in these games at similar clocks?

I cannot OC past 4.2GHz as system crashes are rampant at those speeds.

I have seen on these forums people so assuredly saying the FX-8350 will not bottleneck any single GPU solution and will even handle SLI/Xfire. This has no where near been the case for me. Testing a single 770, 760 and 780. All the SAME performance!! GTX 760 SLI was a disaster no point even going there performance wise.

 

[JOOK-D]

Do you know how to overclock? (sorry if that sounds patronising) You need to bump the voltage as well as the CPU multiplier.
Here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1348623/amd-bulldozer-and-piledriver-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboard

Once overclocked you should see less of a bottleneck if there is one present.

Just to check: you have the latest BIOS, GPU Drivers, Chipset drivers?

That's a very nice rig, you shouldn't be having any issues. Is this on 1920x1080?

 

[rolli59]

The I5 is a better overall gaming CPU so it is up to you.

 

[TheRavenHD]

Do you know how to overclock? (sorry if that sounds patronising) You need to bump the voltage as well as the CPU multiplier.
Here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1348623/amd-bulldozer-and-piledriver-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboard

Once overclocked you should see less of a bottleneck if there is one present.

Just to check: you have the latest BIOS, GPU Drivers, Chipset drivers?

That's a very nice rig, you shouldn't be having any issues. Is this on 1920x1080?

Thanks for the reply! When it comes to overclocking i'm more of a GPU OC'er. But I have been capable of overclocking a previous FX-6200 to 4.8GHz stable but this chip just doesn't wanna budge. I'm running at stock currently (4.0GHz) but see no drop in performance anyway.

I did some voltage steps and that did not seem to help at all. Performance was identical even in synthetic's but the heat was unbelievable. 66 celsius at 4.5GHz with rampant crashes. My cooler is also very adequate, its air but at stock it keeps my CPU down to 20C on idle and 35C at load.

EDIT: Also yeah 1080p and every driver you could imagine has been updated 😛

 

[spp85]

Seems like your system has serious problems AMD FX8350 perform at its best at battlefield 4. Have a look at the performance of FX8350 at

http://gearnuke.com/battlefield-4-pc-beta-benchmarks-hint-at-brighter-prospects-amd-cpus-5682/

Also

http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page6.html

 

[JOOK-D]

Do you know how to overclock? (sorry if that sounds patronising) You need to bump the voltage as well as the CPU multiplier.
Here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1348623/amd-bulldozer-and-piledriver-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboard

Once overclocked you should see less of a bottleneck if there is one present.

Just to check: you have the latest BIOS, GPU Drivers, Chipset drivers?

That's a very nice rig, you shouldn't be having any issues. Is this on 1920x1080?

Thanks for the reply! When it comes to overclocking i'm more of a GPU OC'er. But I have been capable of overclocking a previous FX-6200 to 4.8GHz stable but this chip just doesn't wanna budge. I'm running at stock currently (4.0GHz) but see no drop in performance anyway.

I did some voltage steps and that did not seem to help at all. Performance was identical even in synthetic's but the heat was unbelievable. 66 celsius at 4.5GHz with rampant crashes. My cooler is also very adequate, its air but at stock it keeps my CPU down to 20C on idle and 35C at load.

EDIT: Also yeah 1080p and every driver you could imagine has been updated 😛

Did you bump the CPU/NB voltage too? That's the problem that's been plaguing my overclock for the last few weeks.

Generally an i5 4670k will get higher FPS in most games than the AMD, but they're pretty equal in newer titles. BF4 is ridden with problems, I'm not surprised you get FPS drops it could be just an issue from BF4, however you have stated that the other games have issues too. It's odd, the AMDs can outperform the intels in FC3, BF4 and Crysis 3 (depending on the benches).

Is this a completely new rig and you've always had these problems? Did you upgrade from the 6200 with a fresh windows install?

 

[TheRavenHD]

Seems like your system has serious problems ,AMD FX8350 perform at its best at battlefield 4. Have a look at the performance of FX8350 at

http://gearnuke.com/battlefield-4-pc-beta-benchmarks-hint-at-brighter-prospects-amd-cpus-5682/

Also

http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page6.html

Yeah i'm quite worried and i'm looking for some large amounts of help after chucking so much cash into this system and it's just not performing as it should.

Student here so obviously money is quite short atm.

 

[TheRavenHD]

Do you know how to overclock? (sorry if that sounds patronising) You need to bump the voltage as well as the CPU multiplier.
Here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1348623/amd-bulldozer-and-piledriver-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboard

Once overclocked you should see less of a bottleneck if there is one present.

Just to check: you have the latest BIOS, GPU Drivers, Chipset drivers?

That's a very nice rig, you shouldn't be having any issues. Is this on 1920x1080?

Thanks for the reply! When it comes to overclocking i'm more of a GPU OC'er. But I have been capable of overclocking a previous FX-6200 to 4.8GHz stable but this chip just doesn't wanna budge. I'm running at stock currently (4.0GHz) but see no drop in performance anyway.

I did some voltage steps and that did not seem to help at all. Performance was identical even in synthetic's but the heat was unbelievable. 66 celsius at 4.5GHz with rampant crashes. My cooler is also very adequate, its air but at stock it keeps my CPU down to 20C on idle and 35C at load.

EDIT: Also yeah 1080p and every driver you could imagine has been updated 😛

Did you bump the CPU/NB voltage too? That's the problem that's been plaguing my overclock for the last few weeks.

Generally an i5 4670k will get higher FPS in most games than the AMD, but they're pretty equal in newer titles. BF4 is ridden with problems, I'm not surprised you get FPS drops it could be just an issue from BF4, however you have stated that the other games have issues too. It's odd, the AMDs can outperform the intels in FC3, BF4 and Crysis 3 (depending on the benches).

Is this a completely new rig and you've always had these problems? Did you upgrade from the 6200 with a fresh windows install?

Yeah bumped up those voltages.

When I upgraded I didn;t immediately do a fresh install but I did later on. Also I'm not sure if these problems have occured since I bought it as the GTX 770 and GTX 760 were performing just as they should. It was only when I went SLI I suspected something. GTX 760's in SLI were also getting drops of 38-48FPS so I just assumed I suck as setting up SLI and returned them to get a GTX 780 and yep... same performance :/ 38-48FPS on large maps for BF4.

Other games are running similarly yes, CPU bottlenecking and hitting 100% whereas the GTX 780 is pretty much sat there sunbathing >_>

 

[Guest]

Seems like your system has serious problems ,AMD FX8350 perform at its best at battlefield 4. Have a look at the performance of FX8350 at

http://gearnuke.com/battlefield-4-pc-beta-benchmarks-hint-at-brighter-prospects-amd-cpus-5682/

Also

http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page6.html

Yeah i'm quite worried and i'm looking for some large amounts of help after chucking so much cash into this system and it's just not performing as it should.

Student here so obviously money is quite short atm.

Do you have 1-8 GB RAM or 2-4 GB RAM. Also, what speed is it running at.

arrpee

 

[TheRavenHD]

Seems like your system has serious problems ,AMD FX8350 perform at its best at battlefield 4. Have a look at the performance of FX8350 at

http://gearnuke.com/battlefield-4-pc-beta-benchmarks-hint-at-brighter-prospects-amd-cpus-5682/

Also

http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page6.html

Yeah i'm quite worried and i'm looking for some large amounts of help after chucking so much cash into this system and it's just not performing as it should.

Student here so obviously money is quite short atm.

Do you have 1-8 GB RAM or 2-4 GB RAM. Also, what speed is it running at.

arrpee

single module 8GB Transcend Information piece of....

Got it for free with a Pre-built last year so i just kept it. If you bear with me for a sec I'll just grab the speeds it runs at during games but it runs at around 600MHz when just doing the normal desktop stuff's

 

[Guest]

Seems like your system has serious problems ,AMD FX8350 perform at its best at battlefield 4. Have a look at the performance of FX8350 at

http://gearnuke.com/battlefield-4-pc-beta-benchmarks-hint-at-brighter-prospects-amd-cpus-5682/

Also

http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page6.html

Yeah i'm quite worried and i'm looking for some large amounts of help after chucking so much cash into this system and it's just not performing as it should.

Student here so obviously money is quite short atm.

Do you have 1-8 GB RAM or 2-4 GB RAM. Also, what speed is it running at.

arrpee

single module 8GB Transcend Information piece of....

Got it for free with a Pre-built last year so i just kept it. If you bear with me for a sec I'll just grab the speeds it runs at during games but it runs at around 600MHz when just doing the normal desktop stuff's

You should be running 2 sticks of ram (dual channel). The 8350 likes 1866 ram.

arrpee

 

[rolli59]

667 CPU-Z means it is 1333 because of Dual Data Rate

 

[TheRavenHD]

Just grabbing some screenies...

 

[TheRavenHD]

667 CPU-Z means it is 1333 because of Dual Data Rate

Ahhh thanks was suspecting that but wasn't too sure.

 

[TheRavenHD]

Shot of FPS and RAM speed and temps. RAM is normal running at 667Mhz:

http://i.imgur.com/9k6RtY5.png

Shot of the CPU struggling like crazy while the 780 is chillin like a villain:

http://i.imgur.com/PZ9oCeD.png

 

[guggi4]

Last year there was a guy with similar problems with a fx8350 at bf3. It was actually the RAM which was bottlenecking and a OC of the RAM and northbridge solved his Problem.
Looks like its similar: one 1333 MHz may just doesnt cope it, i got more than double the bandwith with my 2*4gb @1600mhz. Maybe a friend can borrow you 2 sticks to find out if its the Problem

 

[TheRavenHD]

Last year there was a guy with similar problems with a fx8350 at bf3. It was actually the RAM which was bottlenecking and a OC of the RAM and northbridge solved his Problem.
Looks like its similar: one 1333 MHz may just doesnt cope it, i got more than double the bandwith with my 2*4gb @1600mhz. Maybe a friend can borrow you 2 sticks to find out if its the Problem

Yeah I was thinking the RAM may be a bottleneck but I don't know too much about RAM. Can RAM really make a difference between getting 32-48FPS and getting 60+ like I should be?

 

[JOOK-D]

Try doing smallFFT in prime95. If it's stable for around an 1 hour then try the Blend test. I'm having issues with my RAM right now (more stability issues than performance issues) due to bad timings/voltages. The smallFFT passing would rule out your CPU being the culprit, from a hardware standpoint anyway, and if Blend fails then it could be your ram.

 

[guggi4]

Found this in a german forum, was benched at low so there is a CPU bottleneck, but note the 1333mhz is still in dual channel mode in opposite to yours

 

[TheRavenHD]

Try doing smallFFT in prime95. If it's stable for around an 1 hour then try the Blend test. I'm having issues with my RAM right now (more stability issues than performance issues) due to bad timings/voltages. The smallFFT passing would rule out your CPU being the culprit, from a hardware standpoint anyway, and if Blend fails then it could be your ram.

Found this in a german forum, was benched at low so there is a CPU bottleneck, but note the 1333mhz is still in dual channel mode in opposite to yours

Woah! That's a pretty large difference.

I'm quite a novice when it comes to RAM, so single-channel is quite inferior to dual-channel? If so I might just pick up some Dual-Channel Kingston Hyper-X 1866Mhz memory from Amazon to see if my performance improves and if not, i can always exploit the return system as I did with m y graphics cards hahaha.

 

[4745454b]

Dual channel doesn't make it twice as fast. Most programs will show at best 10% improvement. You are likely to see bigger/better gains by moving to faster ram rather then dual channel. 1333 is really slow by today's standards.

 

[guggi4]

Never said it makes it twice as fast 😉
Good idea, 1866mhz dual channel kit is what a FX likes most, if it doesnt help just send it back (sshhhh 😉

Edit: as soon as you got your RAM, make sure that you enable XMP in BIOS to let the Ram run at the correct speeds, otherwise it will just run at the standard 1333mhz set by the bios

 

[TheRavenHD]

Thanks very much for all the help everyone! I will be ordering this week.

To anyone interested I found a forum on Battlelog where the OP had quite a similar if not identical situation to me and found that his FPS increased from 45FPS to 75FPS just because his single channel 1333MHz RAM was bottlenecking him.

https://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/forum/threadview/2955064768093426587/last/

I will post back and choose the solution if this works 😀

 

[guggi4]

Nice, let us know

 

[4745454b]

I never said you did. The OP said "so single-channel is quite inferior to dual-channel? and I didn't want him thinking twice as fast because he went from single to dual. I'd be more inclined to think the issue is 1333MHz ram (single doesn't help). I'm a bit surprised the slow down is that much. Might want to try OCing the ram and see how much it helps.