Gaming PC Problem: low FPS despite excellent components

Laetentur

Reputable
Oct 2, 2015
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Hello to all,

I am writing here after having exhausted virtually any other resource available to me. I have gone to repair shops and have them look at my PC, I have asked friends (one who is an IT guy and the other a Video Game designer), I have read forums and asked the manufacturer... and nobody knows what the issue may be; so here I am writing to you, hoping for some help via the world wide web before spending another 600-1000$ on a new graphics card and motherboard.

Even suggestions or questions are welcomed.


The issue:

I have a self built, gaming set up PC (built this Jan/Feb of 2015) with high-end items, yet when I play games, the FPS is low, and in some cases, so low, that it begs to question what is going on.
Examples:
1) in a MMO called ArcheAge, I had 30ish fps, after reading forums and playing around with the Nvidia settings in my control panel (specifically the v-syncs) I could get it to average at 100fps (however, it only helped with this game, despite making it a global [pc wide] change)
2) in a game called SMITE (MOBA type game), I have 150 fps in menu, but 30fps at a constant in-game.
3) in a MMO called Final Fantasy 14, I was sitting at 30-40 fps when I quit (a few months ago).

Any new game I try, low FPS. I compared these games to someone's z97 MB with a GTX 660 2GB graphics card, and they have far higher FPS than I do. Shouldn't they be at least equal?

I played near 10 years from a laptop, so I was used to low FPS, so when I got this computer, it worked better than my laptop by far. However, only upon comparing it side by side to someone's z97 with a 2GB GPU and seeing the level of quality and smoothness they have, did I realize what was going on.


The Hardware:

MB: (Asus) X99-Deluxe LGA 2011-v3
CPU: Intel i7-5820k (6-core @ 3.3 Ghz)
Memory: (Corsair) DD4 2133 @ 16GB of RAM total
GPU: (Asus) Nvidia Geforce GTX 970
Cooling: Antec Kühler 950 liquid cooling (for those who think it is an overheating issue, it is not)
PSU: Antec 1300W (for those who think it could be a power issue, it is not)
Harddrive: (Samsung) 850 EVO - 120G Solid State Drive (only used for Windows operating system)
(Seagate) Hybrid Drive St1000x001 (for games)
OS: Windows 7 - Home


What I've tried so far:

- All drivers are up to date (Graphics, MB, BIOS, etc) (even out of date, they didn't work - i.e. trying older versions with perhaps lower to no bugs in comparison to the brand new drivers)
- No graphics overshadowing (tested for that at the computer repair shops) (however, the question of bottle-necking did arise between MB and GPU)
- Cooling is sufficient with 8 fans, running games at 40-60 degrees Celcius
- RAM cooperates/is compatible with the motherboard, so no backfiring etc.
- Played with V-syncs to make it work, it did not improve performance.
- My resolution is a 1080p one, not a 4k one.
- Thermal compound is intact and processor runs well
- Updated the BIOS of the MB, did not improve performance
- Overclocked GPU for better FPS, did not improve performance
- Turn off Antvirus guards, firewalls, etc, did not improve performance
- I use AVG Antivirus, Malwarebytes and CCleaner - all bought items, i.e. premium not free versions - no threats on my computer
- When I play games, I have no alternate processes (like firefox/IE, not even music) running
- I tried using the Razer Game Booster - did not improve performance
- I have enough space on my windows hard drive and my gaming hard drive to play (close to 50% on my windows drive, and 65% on my gaming one).

Most graphics related items are from Asus, so there would be no question of compatibility (though maybe there is an issue anyway).
I have most likely forgotten things I have done, thus not included in this list. Should any question arise as to whether or not I attempted this solution, I will make sure to explain if I attempted it or not.


I hope someone can help me... 🙁 I am at my wits end and almost just want to buy a new GPU/MB as RMA would only give me replacements of the ones I have, which are obviously having some issues.


EDIT****

The repair shop was kind enough to take my graphics card out and test it in another machine, and it works just fine (at 80fps)... Does this mean the MB is screwed?
 
Solution
I don't know, I'd still go in the bios and change it to pcie 3.0, I don't know if that's a bug or what but I would change it and see if that's just a power saving feature or what. But if it truly is running at 1x, you'd probably see performance like that, even 4x. Do you have other things using the other pci express slots?

EDIT: Try a different x16 slot if you haven't done that already and see if it makes any difference.
Have you verified your components aren't overheating? Having high quality components and a watercooler doesn't preclude a heat issue.

If you haven't actually checked your temps, you can use open hardware monitor to check both CPU and GPU temps while gaming.

http://openhardwaremonitor.org/
 
Try to get a game like GTA V, or Witcher 3, see how it runs
If it's below 45 than is a problem
Maybe those games that you tried are mobas that aren't optimize for high-end PC's
Try your PC in FireStrike Benchmark or something
If it's low than maybe, when they sent you the GPU, they messed it up with a GTX 760 or something, it could happen, so check in a GPU program your GPU
If that dosen't work, benchmark the PC again in another program
If that dosen't work also, just send it back, to warranty, and get another one
 


Dear ben001,

Yes, I have checked this, also with a boot-sector scan and various programs, even external checks (taking the hard-drive out and then hooking it up to a secure computer system that checks it, specifically). No issues.
 


Dear quilciri,

Yes, I have done this. Opened the case up, and ran with several temperature gauges:
- One was a meat-department scanner, temperature came out about 2 degrees Celsius +/- of the programs I am running, and the BIOS heat sensors
- The other was a fan with built in temperature gauge from a friend of mine, both came up with the same answers.

Additionally, I am running 2 separate programs that monitor the heat, and my air flow is very strong. If I do not play games, my heat is usually in the 20's Celsius. During games, as in my post described, it gets higher, and the highest ever was at 67 Celsius.
 


Dear Reaper_7799,

I have done as you suggested: downloaded both programs, ran HWinfo first, then the Valley one, and found out the following:

GPU Core load:
- useage was at 99% average
Clockspeeds:
- GPU Clock: 1,385.9
- GPU Memory Clock: 1,873.1
- GPU Video Clock: 1,275.8


Anything else I can do that would help you evaluate the situation?

PS: the temperatures were good as well. Though Valley brought it up to 65ish celsius.
 
I missed your edit...hmmm...yeah it could have something to do with your motherboard since it is fairly new and if the card was tested in another pc and works fine. There could be a setting in the bios that is not right, I would double check all the pcie settings in the bios to make sure it's not running at a lower setting like 4x or something and you could also try the different generation settings for the pcie to see if it makes any difference. Hw info will also show if it's running at x16.

EDIT: Did the shop by chance test another card in your build?
 

The only thing i can see, viruses or malwares affecting your system performance while gaming.
You can find better alternatives: kaspersky, bitdefender, Norton 360 (Recommend) which is really a good anti-virus. Just try a trail version.

Or else everything looks fine to me. Dunno, what other say's.
 
The last step prior to the nuclear option is to swap out each part. I understand you might not have a friend with a Broadwell platform, but ask your friends if you can borrow the 660, some RAM, a power supply, and a HDD or SSD. Swap those out (one at a time so you can isolate the issue - odds are it's a single piece of hardware at that point).

If you've swapped out all of those parts, and the issue persists, then it's a problem with your platform (CPU/mobo). If you see the problem disappear after swapping out one of those parts, then bingo, it was that part.

good luck!
 


Dear Reaper_7799,

Firstly, sadly they did not put in a different card. I should've asked. Maybe I will try quilciri's approach and swap out the pieces (if my friends are willing enough). Sadly none of them have the CPU that I do, nor do any have DDR4 ram... which makes the whole process harder.

The following links here are the screenshots I did with various applications, as well as the HWinfo (they should "follow the scroll" downwards as you click the consecutive links below). If I can do anything more, please let me know:

http://i.imgur.com/f91tcji.png -Valley Benchmark
http://i.imgur.com/ioAuIoz.jpg -HWinfo1
http://i.imgur.com/ioAuIoz.jpg -HWinfo2
http://i.imgur.com/Qgq24Oe.png -HWinfo3
http://i.imgur.com/QinogtH.png -HWinfo4
http://i.imgur.com/uAzeJud.jpg -Valley Screenshot
http://i.imgur.com/pACfwjY.jpg -Ingame Screenshot (Game = "Smite", with Fraps on the top right w/ current FPS)
 


Dear quilciri,

thank you for the good luck. I will try and see if I can do it. Sadly, nobody I know uses a 2011-v3 CPU nor DDR4 memory, so those parts would be left unchecked. However, it is worth a shot with just the GPU.

 
i know you will find this stupid, but try to upgrade to win10 or win8.1 at least. clean driver reinstal, try downgrading to the previous stable driver version.

I think this is some kind of compatability issue, or the GPU is faulty! try running GPU-Z and when benchmarking, look how much mermory is used. If it's not around ~3700mb then this may be an answer.

double check the cables if everythink is connected appropriately. Are u using Virtu ? try disabling iGPU and make sure your GPU is the main selection in BIOS. Try restoring bios settings to stock...

What about the ram sticks? tried changing them, running on 1 / 2 sticks?
 
Sorry this is a little long.

Okay so a few things. It could be a faulty card if you wont be able to get this to perform the way it should or it could be a setting somewhere that is off or motherboard conflict because the card will run at 99% but the results are not what's expected.

To start, it looks like it's running at pcie 2.0 and not 3.0 because the pcie link speed is 5gbps max and it should be 8 GB per second for 3.0. Now that in and of itself wont cause fps drops but best to change that anyways in the bios. Because that setting is changed, make sure that pcie slot is actually running at 16x and didn't get changed somehow like the pcie 2.0 did. Are you running anything else like sound card or anything like that in the other slots?

On the main page of hw64, click video adapter and then your card and just double check what it says like below.

2ixDTWA.jpg


First up, try this tool gpu test. When you run it, it has several different things you can do in the drop down tab, choose tessmark x64, change your resolution and don't do it fullscreen. Run stress test, minimize and go to hw 64 and monitor the GPU core load for a few minutes. It should be pegged at maybe 95-97% and shouldn't be changing that much, maybe a few % at the most. Make sure it's not dropping down or anything. Note what the fps is. This test should peg your gpu close to the max and shouldn't change that much at all, I just want to make sure the card will run full and is not dropping down over a few minutes.

http://www.geeks3d.com/gputest/

Your valley score is low compared to 970 and 780 even, with 30-50 more max fps. Which can mean your gpu is not running full speed for some reason and you gotta narrow it down. Clock speeds are hitting max for stock, usage is hitting max, power is hitting close to max in valley but results are off and I'm not convinced it's not dropping usage during the benchmarks and gaming.

If your card runs solid in this test and after you double check the pcie speeds and such, you should try an overclock on your cpu. You have the cooler and it's not that hard to do, maybe those games it's running bad on are games that rely on only one or two strong cores and the 5820K per core strength is just not strong enough unless it's overclocked. The 6 core is as strong as 4790K when overclocked but the per core strength is not as strong as the quad core i7's and i5 unless overclocked and that could have a little to do with it.

Also what happens when you turn down settings in those games like no aa and drop down to medium settings. Can you check that if you haven't already and is the fps staying the same or increasing?

 


Dear Jesus_In_Adidas,

here are three screenshots, each done with the GPU-Z program running, with a game on the side. The GPU-Z was on my 2nd screen, and my game on the primary.

http://i.imgur.com/pe5ug7e.gif - Info about the GPU on GPU-Z
http://i.imgur.com/UwlA68U.jpg - inside the game "Smite" with GPU-Z running on the side - pic1
http://i.imgur.com/CFkcg5b.jpg - inside the game "Smite" with GPU-Z running on the side - pic2

Does this give you the info if it is using enough or not? If you need me to Screenshot something else, let me know.


As I am not a fan of Windows 10 nor Windows 8/8.1, I do not wish to try this until I would really have to, since I would have to buy the Windows Program, and that costs a bit just to try out a solution.
The Cables are all in tact, as I have rebuilt the system several times over, and even had the repair shop redo the cables, to double check them.
I am not using Virtu.
How do I make the GPU the "main" selection in the BIOS? Or better yet, how do I know if it is the main? (Sorry for the scrub question...)
The BIOS has been up-, and downgraded (as explained in the original post), without any luck.
 
Don't bother with overclocking now that I see that screenshot with 19 fps...wth is going on. What other games do you have that are more mainstream that you can test fps if you haven't already? Why is it so low when gpu usage looks good for the most part in that game. Is there some kind of fps cap in the config file for that game maybe and same for final fantasy?
 
I don't know, I'd still go in the bios and change it to pcie 3.0, I don't know if that's a bug or what but I would change it and see if that's just a power saving feature or what. But if it truly is running at 1x, you'd probably see performance like that, even 4x. Do you have other things using the other pci express slots?

EDIT: Try a different x16 slot if you haven't done that already and see if it makes any difference.
 
Solution
After much deliberation and the help of various people, foremost Reaper_7799, quilciri and Jesus_In_Adidas, and their suggestions and cross referencing, I finally found the problem and solved it.

It was the PCIE bus that was factory set to be at Generation 2; i.e. 2.0.
- Thus it was limiting the graphics card.
- When I went in, and tried to change it to a generation 3, it would not allow me to change the one it was seated in, so I changed a different PCIE slot and put the VGA/GPU in there.
- Rebooted the PC.
And who knew: suddenly my graphics can run on 3.0 @ x16, meaning my graphics are doing 80-150 where they used to do 20-30 frames per second.

So the issue was that the Motherboard had all PCIE/PCH and System Agent configurations set to "Auto", which for whatever reason, meant that my MB tuned them down to 1.0 PCIE speed and 2.0.

For any other Asus X99 Deluxe Motherboard users:
Keep this in mind, when you put in a GPU that is functional, and the motherboard is functional as well and you wonder countless hours what on earth is going on.
I, for my part, feel like a complete idiot for not checking that, but on that same note: I had no idea that that even existed, as in the handbook it says that they are all "Auto" to be at 3.0.

Either way, now I know better, and thank all who took their time with this and spent their free time on this. It is truly appreciated and I will honor your expended help by following your examples.

Thanks again,

Lae
 
now worries man, reaper is lurking for all those issues to occur, it's his everyday bread and butter 😀 lolz

Hey, you know, we've all been there and had those situations that makes you wanna go and buy a rope. Since you have an asus (me too bro, me toooo) - you will know where to search for an answer.

Good luck, have fun gaming :)

 

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