High end PC with poor performance

[Andrew Leeseberg]

System Specs:
GPU: GTX 980 G1 Gaming OC @ 1500 mhz
CPU: Fx 8350 OC @ 4.7 Ghz
MB: Crossfire V formula Z
RAM: 8 GB ram @ 1333 mhz
PSU: 650 W
Hard Drive: 1 TB

I need help this system by all means should be able to handle anything that I throw at it in 1080p, and most that I do in 1440p. Yet, my performance in games is consistently poor and all of these are at 1080p. For example Far Cry 4 (medium-high): 35 AVG FPS, Skyrim (Ultra): 40 AVG FPS, GTA 5 (high) 45 AVG FPS, Arkham Origins (Ultra): 45 AVG FPS, and the list goes on for mediocre performance. I have tested both my CPU and GPU extensively with Prime95, Furmark, valey banchmark, 3D mark, CPU-burn and every time they have successfully hit 100% usage and remained there without issue. Defragmented my hard-drive a thousand times, and monitored my psu to ensure that it is pushing the voltage that it needs to. After all this I still get poor performance and frame drops. So, my question is that can faulty RAM cause this much of an impact on performance on its own? If so what can I do to ensure that it is in fact the RAM that is causing the issue and not my own insanity because I am at my wits end with this computer. Any and all suggestions are welcomed i'm getting kind of desperate for an answer.

 

[i7Baby]

"So, my question is that can faulty RAM cause this much of an impact on performance on its own?" - yes. the amount available can be a conern.

Also a poor quality power supply.

Also not having latest graphics card drivers.

Also too high game settings and/or monitor resolution.

 

[Tradesman1]

Lots of things, those mentioned by i7 Baby, slow DRAM, DRAM not set up optimally, slow HD, CPU overheating and throttling - many possibles

 

[PilotPlangy]

What results do you get in 3D Mark in comparison to similar machines online? Ive had similar issues in the past.
Websie reckons you should get a score around 10000. Whats yours?
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/4861315

Can you hear the fan on the card spin up during game play?
How much does it spin up to? 50% 80%?
The card could be thermally throttling. What sort of temps does it sit at during game play?
Running latest (or there abouts) drivers?

 

[CTurbo]

What psu do you have? Are all of your drivers up to date?

 

[whoratesit]

System Specs:
GPU: GTX 980 G1 Gaming OC @ 1500 mhz
CPU: Fx 8350 OC @ 4.7 Ghz
MB: Crossfire V formula Z
RAM: 8 GB ram @ 1333 mhz
PSU: 650 W
Hard Drive: 1 TB

I need help this system by all means should be able to handle anything that I throw at it in 1080p, and most that I do in 1440p. Yet, my performance in games is consistently poor and all of these are at 1080p. For example Far Cry 4 (medium-high): 35 AVG FPS, Skyrim (Ultra): 40 AVG FPS, GTA 5 (high) 45 AVG FPS, Arkham Origins (Ultra): 45 AVG FPS, and the list goes on for mediocre performance. I have tested both my CPU and GPU extensively with Prime95, Furmark, valey banchmark, 3D mark, CPU-burn and every time they have successfully hit 100% usage and remained there without issue. Defragmented my hard-drive a thousand times, and monitored my psu to ensure that it is pushing the voltage that it needs to. After all this I still get poor performance and frame drops. So, my question is that can faulty RAM cause this much of an impact on performance on its own? If so what can I do to ensure that it is in fact the RAM that is causing the issue and not my own insanity because I am at my wits end with this computer. Any and all suggestions are welcomed i'm getting kind of desperate for an answer.

Here are userbenchmarks for a similar build, your build should score roughly the same:

UserBenchmarks: Desktop 74%, Gaming 79%, Workstation 47%
CPU: 71% AMD FX-8350
GPU: 92% Nvidia GTX 980
SSD: 77.2% Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB
SSD: 70.9% Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB
HDD: 60.5% WD Black 1TB (2010)

Run the userbenchmark software and it may highlight some problems.

 

[Andrew Leeseberg]

What results do you get in 3D Mark in comparison to similar machines online? Ive had similar issues in the past.
Websie reckons you should get a score around 10000. Whats yours?
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/4861315

Can you hear the fan on the card spin up during game play?
How much does it spin up to? 50% 80%?
The card could be thermally throttling. What sort of temps does it sit at during game play?
Running latest (or there abouts) drivers?

I just ran a 3dmark test and the result was 10,769
The CPU tops out at 64 C, with a Corsair H80, the Gpu tops out at 72 C
I am using the drivers that nvidia released today to coincide with the release of gta 5.

 

[PilotPlangy]

Based on that Id say your machine is running just the way it should. What made you though it should be pushing higher frame rates?

 

[i7Baby]

Also a poor quality power supply.

Also too high game settings and/or monitor resolution.

DRAM not set up optimally, slow HD, CPU overheating and throttling

 

[CTurbo]

You're pushing the limits of what a FX can do. 1440p is not a kind resolution for them.


What psu are you using?

 

[Andrew Leeseberg]

I'm using a ThermalTake TR2 Series 600 Watt ATX Power Supply for the PSU

And pilot plangy I expected higher frame rates because others on the Tomshardware website have clamed to have superior performance on inferior hardware (EX: fx 6300 + R9 280 was outputting better performance in Arkham Origins than my PC is)

 

[i7Baby]

What 12v, 5v and 3.3v readings are you getting from it while gaming - from your mobo utility software?

What CPU temps while gaming? How measured?

What ram ( make and model) are you using?

What game settings are you using?

 

[CTurbo]

Well hell that's your problem. That psu is TERRIBLE.

 

[Andrew Leeseberg]

Well hell that's your problem. That psu is TERRIBLE.

Any suggestions as to what PSU I should replace this current one with, if you think it is causing the issues?

 

[i7Baby]

From tiers 1 or 2 of http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html#xtor=EPR-8886

eg Seasonic 520 or 550, XFX550 or Antec HCG520M

 

[Tradesman1]

Despite the other points, what are you comparing your rig to? If Intel, you aren't going to get the same numbers as an Intel rig will do. I did a lot of various testing for my article:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dram-benchmark-fluctuations,4080.html

and the AMD rig just didn't come close

 

[i7Baby]

It also shows up here - http://www.anandtech.com/show/8426/the-intel-haswell-e-cpu-review-core-i7-5960x-i7-5930k-i7-5820k-tested/6

and here - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

 

[DSzymborski]

I should note that there's no guarantee that it's your power supply. There's a very good chance that it is, especially if you have one of the old HEC-made TR2s rather than the better FSP-made ones. But a lot of PC repair, especially with issues that have generalized symptoms, is eliminating things one-by-one.

 

[i7Baby]

Yes. And we still haven't heard about -

Also too high game settings and/or monitor resolution.

DRAM not set up optimally, slow HD, CPU overheating and throttling

 

[PilotPlangy]

I'm using a ThermalTake TR2 Series 600 Watt ATX Power Supply for the PSU

And pilot plangy I expected higher frame rates because others on the Tomshardware website have clamed to have superior performance on inferior hardware (EX: fx 6300 + R9 280 was outputting better performance in Arkham Origins than my PC is)

I would tend to trust actual benchmarks on a website where botching the data is very difficult over what others claim online in a forum. Im not saying they are lying, im just saying 3D mark is hard to argue with 😉

It may be a stab in the dark but I think if you change the PSU you'll see zero performance increase. Generally, if your PSU is under powered, you would have a raft of other symptoms including under performance.