Huge FPS drop

[Mohammad_Ali]

Hello, I've been getting FPS drops with my new Asus Direct CU II 7870 with pretty much any game I play. I can play at about 60 FPS on BF3 then randomly drops to 15-20 FPS for about 10 seconds then goes back up to 60. This actually happened to my old card,the HIS 6850, but then it stopped. Could it be related?

Here are my specs...

Asus Direct CU II 7870
AMD Phenom 2 x4 955 @ 3.3Ghz
12GB of DDR3 RAM @ 1600Mhz

 

[COLGeek]

What make/model of power supply (PSU) are you using?

Also, what are your CPU and GPU temperatures under load (like when gaming)?

 

[Mohammad_Ali]

I have a Corsair CX600 and the temps for the CPU while gaming is about 70 and for the GPU is 64 degrees Celsius.

 

[COLGeek]

What you are describing is very common with systems that have heat and/or power issues. Your PSU should be okay for this rig, your CPU is getting hot and might be clocking down to prevent damage and then spinning back up once the CPU cools a bit.

What heatsink are you using?

 

[Mohammad_Ali]

I have no idea, how can i find out?

 

[Mohammad_Ali]

If it truly is a problem I will upgrade it, but how is that it just started to happen as I got a new GPU?

 

[COLGeek]

If you don't know, likely you are using the one that came with your AMD CPU. Those tend to provide minimal levels of performance over time. Adding a stronger GPU can put more of a load on your CPU and generate more heat. You could also have a lot of dust built-up in the CPU heatsink that can be removed with some compressed air.

BTW, are you overclocking either the CPU or the GPU? If so, stop and see if the drop continues.

 

[mouse24]

In addition to the suggestions that COL has suggested, I suggest seeing what your CPU voltage is set to. Some cheaper boards put the CPU voltage to its max allowed for whatever reason. Something worth checking.

 

[bamanec]

Ive had the same problem and I do highly believe that it is the CPU that is getting too hot and cooling itself off. That was my problem with my old system.

 

[Mohammad_Ali]

Yes that is the problem. I let my PC cool and as soon as it got to 70 degrees or so it started to lag. Thanks a ton, guys.

 

[Mohammad_Ali]

Best answer selected by Mohammad_Ali.