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.

 

[jkteddy77]

so did you ever solve the bottleneck? I also have this with my R9 290 and 8350.

 

[atf_mart]

I dont think the cpu is an issue here. I had an fx 6300 OC to 4.6ghz and it was running on high at around 60 avg, with the obvious dips to kinda 40's but that was because of explosions and stuff plus I only had a gtx 660 non ti.

it is not the fx 8350, but it COULD be your cpu being defective, or having a bad overclock. an fx 8350 should not bottleneck a gtx 780 to that kind of 30's. make a new thread jk teddy.

 

[jkteddy77]

I dont think the cpu is an issue here. I had an fx 6300 OC to 4.6ghz and it was running on high at around 60 avg, with the obvious dips to kinda 40's but that was because of explosions and stuff plus I only had a gtx 660 non ti.

it is not the fx 8350, but it COULD be your cpu being defective, or having a bad overclock. an fx 8350 should not bottleneck a gtx 780 to that kind of 30's. make a new thread jk teddy.

Well, heres the thing, your 660ti was the bottleneck in yo 6300/660ti combo. Right now, my gpu usage is sitting at only 70-90% in maps, and turning settings down doesn't increase my fps. I have tried setting my bios to stock, and get about the same performance, same issues. Its not defective. my friend with his 8350 and r9 290 has the same fps drops in the same games.

A 6300 at 4.6ghz is right around the performance of my 8350 stock, so yes, you got drops to the 40's, and that could have been CPU side.
When you changed your settings lower, were you able to maintain a consistently higher fps? because for me, on many maps, I get the same fps on ultra and medium, and have to turn it to medium settings to even gain any more fps. turning it to medium releases the stress on the cpu, since turning down AA and GPU intensive settings only lowers my gpu usage, and results in the same FPS as with them on. I run 4xmsaa and high post antialiasing the same speed as with them off...

FYI: I've made 30+ threads on this, no one has an answer...

 

[atf_mart]

Ok, lets do something, one of the highest cpu demanding settings in bf4 is mesh quality. benchmark with low settings and with ultra settings. with your fx 8350 you should be able to keep it on high. if you what you state is correct you should see an increase in fps on low preset. on low preset with my old config (fx 6300) boosted fps like crazy. at the expense of uglyness.

try that and let me know.

 

[atf_mart]

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2149342/6300-5ghz-gtx-780-bottlenecking.html#13335368

if you take a look at this trhead hes using an fx 6300 and a gtx 780 wich is a lil bit faster or equal to your 290, so theres something else wrong with your system. it even could be windows.

drivers.

so many variables.

 

[jkteddy77]

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2149342/6300-5ghz-gtx-780-bottlenecking.html#13335368

if you take a look at this trhead hes using an fx 6300 and a gtx 780 wich is a lil bit faster or equal to your 290, so theres something else wrong with your system. it even could be windows.

drivers.

so many variables.

drivers are clean, I ran DDU. got latest 14.4 chipset and graphics drivers. All benchmarks seem to run fine (56 fps in Unigine Valley Extreme HD, 51.5fps in Unigine heaven all ultra), and so does Metro last light, far cry 3, Hitman absolution... its just games like Crysis 2, BF3 MP, and BF4 MP... I run Single player BF4 85-110fps. and Single player BF3, the first mission in the train? I got between 114 and 190 fps.. 114min! something is wrong, and I thin its the game hating FX architecture...

Mesh quality helps a bit, but not by much... ultra settings run 50-100, but low still run only 70-180...

 

[4745454b]

Interesting. Anyone else with an FX chip want to drop it down to single channel memory and test? I'll leave this open if you do. I'd like to see some data on this. Otherwise I'll just close. Thanks for the update OP.

 

[jkteddy77]

Interesting. Anyone else with an FX chip want to drop it down to single channel memory and test? I'll leave this open if you do. I'd like to see some data on this. Otherwise I'll just close. Thanks for the update OP.

Me and my friend both are in dual channel RAM, CPU-z confirms it for me, and I use 1866mhz RAM (yes its correctly timed an configuring), he's got 1333mhz RAM, we both still get the same issues

 

[Shaun311]

I was just reading through your thread, and it seems like I have a similar problem. Only in different games. In Borderlands 2, I dip to low 40s at times, and just now I started Slender, and it's choppy as hell. I just don't get it. I have been troubleshooting this problem for months and I am at a total loss. My setup is an FX 8350 stock/OC 4.8, custom water cooler, Asus Crosshair V Formula Z, G.Skill Trident x 2x8GB 2133 (when running stock speeds I run them under at 1866), EVGA 780 ti Superclocked, Hyper x 240 GB SSD, and 3x600GB Velociraptors in raid. I don't mean to jump on your thread, but I have posted things on this site a few times, and only got one dude that has been trying to help for months now. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[jkteddy77]

I was just reading through your thread, and it seems like I have a similar problem. Only in different games. In Borderlands 2, I dip to low 40s at times, and just now I started Slender, and it's choppy as hell. I just don't get it. I have been troubleshooting this problem for months and I am at a total loss. My setup is an FX 8350 stock/OC 4.8, custom water cooler, Asus Crosshair V Formula Z, G.Skill Trident x 2x8GB 2133 (when running stock speeds I run them under at 1866), EVGA 780 ti Superclocked, Hyper x 240 GB SSD, and 3x600GB Velociraptors in raid. I don't mean to jump on your thread, but I have posted things on this site a few times, and only got one dude that has been trying to help for months now. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I have issues in borderlands 2 too... To be honest, LOTS of games bottleneck with an 8350, even at 4.8ghz. That's the only conclusion I can reach. Here's and example for me in BF3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq9dSLOElX4&feature=youtu.be

Seems getting an Intel is the only solution. A shame it is, the CPU isn't weak, its just wildly unsupported. Few games unlock its potential to run like an i7, so most games it runs like an i3...

I see slowdowns in:
-Wolfenstein New Order
-Borderlands 2
-BF3/BF4 without mantle
-Sleeping dogs/Watch Dogs
-Many single threaded games like Gmod and Minecraft
-Crysis 2 (3 is slow because gpu bound, but 2 bottles my gpu usage)

What's worse is that games are getting LESS optimized for the 8350 by the looks of it. The 4 months I've had it, its been nothing but trying to unlock my R9 290's potential...

Yet, I see plenty online with no troubles at all with their 8350's so...

 

[JOOK-D]

I was just reading through your thread, and it seems like I have a similar problem. Only in different games. In Borderlands 2, I dip to low 40s at times, and just now I started Slender, and it's choppy as hell. I just don't get it. I have been troubleshooting this problem for months and I am at a total loss. My setup is an FX 8350 stock/OC 4.8, custom water cooler, Asus Crosshair V Formula Z, G.Skill Trident x 2x8GB 2133 (when running stock speeds I run them under at 1866), EVGA 780 ti Superclocked, Hyper x 240 GB SSD, and 3x600GB Velociraptors in raid. I don't mean to jump on your thread, but I have posted things on this site a few times, and only got one dude that has been trying to help for months now. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I have issues in borderlands 2 too... To be honest, LOTS of games bottleneck with an 8350, even at 4.8ghz. That's the only conclusion I can reach. Here's and example for me in BF3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq9dSLOElX4&feature=youtu.be

Seems getting an Intel is the only solution. A shame it is, the CPU isn't weak, its just wildly unsupported. Few games unlock its potential to run like an i7, so most games it runs like an i3...

I see slowdowns in:
-Wolfenstein New Order
-Borderlands 2
-BF3/BF4 without mantle
-Sleeping dogs/Watch Dogs
-Many single threaded games like Gmod and Minecraft
-Crysis 2 (3 is slow because gpu bound, but 2 bottles my gpu usage)

What's worse is that games are getting LESS optimized for the 8350 by the looks of it. The 4 months I've had it, its been nothing but trying to unlock my R9 290's potential...

Yet, I see plenty online with no troubles at all with their 8350's so...

People also have vastly different standards. Some are happy with 30 FPS, others only happy with 60+ (myself included). Personally I had to replace my 8320, simply didn't have the per-core performance necessary to prevent frame drops, especially in some MP titles.

 

[jkteddy77]

I was just reading through your thread, and it seems like I have a similar problem. Only in different games. In Borderlands 2, I dip to low 40s at times, and just now I started Slender, and it's choppy as hell. I just don't get it. I have been troubleshooting this problem for months and I am at a total loss. My setup is an FX 8350 stock/OC 4.8, custom water cooler, Asus Crosshair V Formula Z, G.Skill Trident x 2x8GB 2133 (when running stock speeds I run them under at 1866), EVGA 780 ti Superclocked, Hyper x 240 GB SSD, and 3x600GB Velociraptors in raid. I don't mean to jump on your thread, but I have posted things on this site a few times, and only got one dude that has been trying to help for months now. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I have issues in borderlands 2 too... To be honest, LOTS of games bottleneck with an 8350, even at 4.8ghz. That's the only conclusion I can reach. Here's and example for me in BF3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq9dSLOElX4&feature=youtu.be

Seems getting an Intel is the only solution. A shame it is, the CPU isn't weak, its just wildly unsupported. Few games unlock its potential to run like an i7, so most games it runs like an i3...

I see slowdowns in:
-Wolfenstein New Order
-Borderlands 2
-BF3/BF4 without mantle
-Sleeping dogs/Watch Dogs
-Many single threaded games like Gmod and Minecraft
-Crysis 2 (3 is slow because gpu bound, but 2 bottles my gpu usage)

What's worse is that games are getting LESS optimized for the 8350 by the looks of it. The 4 months I've had it, its been nothing but trying to unlock my R9 290's potential...

Yet, I see plenty online with no troubles at all with their 8350's so...

People also have vastly different standards. Some are happy with 30 FPS, others only happy with 60+ (myself included). Personally I had to replace my 8320, simply didn't have the per-core performance necessary to prevent frame drops, especially in some MP titles.

So you used to have this happen to you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq9dSLOElX4
BF3 isn't exactly a stressful game, even when the FX series came out...
Is this how yours ran, or am I doing something WAY wrong?
See, I MATCH people's benchmarks, even this sites frame for frame:
http://www.vmodtech.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/11/amd-radeon-r9-290-crossfire-performance-on-amd-fx-8350/vl-g-614x720.jpg
http://www.vmodtech.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/11/amd-radeon-r9-290-crossfire-performance-on-amd-fx-8350/hv-g-581x720.jpg
And my 8350 is at 4.4ghz... theirs is at 4.9ghz...
You think that thats just how its gonna behave? you think everyone else that says theirs runs over 60 does this too?