[SOLVED] i5-6600 fine in benchmarks, bad in games

[LEGOpanek]

Hi, so I've been using this setup for about 5 years now, really often, heavy gaming usage. Not sure if it did run better before or not, but in the past few years, the CPU is really not enough for modern games.
i5-6600, GTX 1060 (1900MHz), 4x4GB 2133MHz, EVGA Power Supply 500W

Battlefield 4 runs pretty fine (1440p,120 FPS, medium, no stuttering almost)
Battlefield 1 unplayable (1080p, 60 FPS with drops to 35-40FPS every second, lowest graphics. ton of stuttering)
Battlefield 5 unplayable (1080p, lowest gfx, 50-60 FPS with drops to 35 when there're players shooting, dying, I'm getting hit, explosions - way too much stuttering, cant aim. When flying or such, I can get around 90 fps stable tho)
GTA V has a bit of stuttering too on high graphics
Hell let loose, Squad, No mans sky, Division 2 (barely playable, lowest), Ghost Recon games, they all have CPU usage constantly around 80-90, often staying on 100% and stuttering / micro stuttering
Escape from Tarkov, low graphics, both 1440p or FHD are similar in terms of stuttering that I get at all times on all maps except the smallest one.
Nothing really changes when I limit FPS to 60 (got a 1440p,144hz screen)

It looked a bit like thermal throttling. I'm using the stock intel cooler, haven't changed the thermal paste for 5 yrs (tomorrow I'll change it)
I don't think it's the case though. The temperatures when playing Tarkov or others or benchmarking, do not exceed 72°C usually and they use to stay around 60-65°C (not great but not close to throttling, I think?)
Core clock speeds are constantly around 3600MHz, even when below 60°C under load.

I format all drives and reinstall Windows 10 every year, nothing much changes in terms of gaming performance even right after the clean installation.

The thing is that my friends with quite similar CPUs have a lot better performance. For example this one, with a slightly worse CPU i5-6500, having way better performance and less usage

LINK: MORE INFORMATION AND A COMPARISON TO A FRIEND WITH A SIMILAR PC

I ran out of ideas of what could be wrong... :/

 

[iiSlashr]

The 6600 is very old. With only 4 cores and no SMT, it's going to run into problems with games like that which are CPU-heavy. Temps may be a problem, and running at 1440p is probably not realistic for a 1060. I would recommend going to something like a Ryzen 5 3600 or

 

[LEGOpanek]

The 6600 is very old. With only 4 cores and no SMT, it's going to run into problems with games like that which are CPU-heavy. Temps may be a problem, and running at 1440p is probably not realistic for a 1060. I would recommend going to something like a Ryzen 5 3600 or

Yeah it is indeed, but look in the bottom of the picture over there and tell me why should friends like this one have games running wayy better with an actual worse but similar CPU.
Anyways yeah 1440p is not really nice on a 1060, but in older games it's alright and in new games, I don't have a problem with going on low settings, if the FPS are stable, which they would be but not with this CPU..

Whatever FPS i get is fine, but the stuttering is clearly caused by the CPU, that is the problem 🙁

 

[iiSlashr]

Yeah it is indeed, but look in the bottom of the picture over there and tell me why should friends like this one have games running wayy better with an actual worse but similar CPU.
Anyways yeah 1440p is not really nice on a 1060, but in older games it's alright and in new games, I don't have a problem with going on low settings, if the FPS are stable, which they would be but not with this CPU..

Whatever FPS i get is fine, but the stuttering is clearly caused by the CPU, that is the problem 🙁

I'm not able to access the page the picture is on right now. Do they have better graphics cards?

 

[geofelt]

To check for thermal throttling, run HWmonitor.
It will display the current, min and max cpu temperatures.
If you see a max of 100c. you have likely throttled.
If your minimum temperature is much more than 10-15c. over ambient, your stock cooler has probably come loose and needs to be remounted.

----------------how to mount the stock Intel cooler--------------

The stock Intel cooler can be tricky to install.
A poor installation will result in higher cpu temperatures.
If properly mounted, you should expect temperatures at idle to be 10-15c. over ambient.

To mount the Intel stock cooler properly, place the motherboard on top of the foam or cardboard backing that was packed with the motherboard.
The stock cooler will come with paste pre applied, it looks like three grey strips.
The 4 push pins should come in the proper position for installation, that is with the pins rotated in the opposite direction of the arrow,(clockwise)
and pulled up as far as they can go.
Take the time to play with the pushpin mechanism until you know how they work.

Orient the 4 pins so that they are exactly over the motherboard holes.
If one is out of place, you will damage the pins which are delicate.
Push down on a DIAGONAL pair of pins at the same time. Then the other pair.

When you push down on the top black pins, it expands the white plastic pins to fix the cooler in place.

If you do them one at a time, you will not get the cooler on straight.
Lastly, look at the back of the motherboard to verify that all 4 pins are equally through the motherboard, and that the cooler is on firmly.
This last step must be done, which is why the motherboard should be out of the case to do the job. Or you need a case with a opening that lets you see the pins.
It is possible to mount the cooler with the motherboard mounted in the case, but you can then never be certain that the push pins are inserted properly
unless you can verify that the pins are through the motherboard and locked.

If you should need to remove the cooler, turn the pins counter clockwise to unlock them.
You will need to clean off the old paste and reapply new if you ever take the cooler off.
Clean off old paste with alcohol and a lint free paper like a coffee filter.
Apply new paste sparingly. A small rice sized drop in the center will spread our under heat and pressure.
Too much paste is bad, it will act as an insulator.
It is hard to use too little.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[LEGOpanek]

I'm not able to access the page the picture is on right now. Do they have better graphics cards?

Try this site maybe
https://ctrlv.cz/b0f5

 

[LEGOpanek]

To check for thermal throttling, run HWmonitor.
It will display the current, min and max cpu temperatures.
If you see a max of 100c. you have likely throttled.
If your minimum temperature is much more than 10-15c. over ambient, your stock cooler has probably come loose and needs to be remounted.

----------------how to mount the stock Intel cooler--------------

The stock Intel cooler can be tricky to install.
A poor installation will result in higher cpu temperatures.
If properly mounted, you should expect temperatures at idle to be 10-15c. over ambient.

To mount the Intel stock cooler properly, place the motherboard on top of the foam or cardboard backing that was packed with the motherboard.
The stock cooler will come with paste pre applied, it looks like three grey strips.
The 4 push pins should come in the proper position for installation, that is with the pins rotated in the opposite direction of the arrow,(clockwise)
and pulled up as far as they can go.
Take the time to play with the pushpin mechanism until you know how they work.

Orient the 4 pins so that they are exactly over the motherboard holes.
If one is out of place, you will damage the pins which are delicate.
Push down on a DIAGONAL pair of pins at the same time. Then the other pair.

When you push down on the top black pins, it expands the white plastic pins to fix the cooler in place.

If you do them one at a time, you will not get the cooler on straight.
Lastly, look at the back of the motherboard to verify that all 4 pins are equally through the motherboard, and that the cooler is on firmly.
This last step must be done, which is why the motherboard should be out of the case to do the job. Or you need a case with a opening that lets you see the pins.
It is possible to mount the cooler with the motherboard mounted in the case, but you can then never be certain that the push pins are inserted properly
unless you can verify that the pins are through the motherboard and locked.

If you should need to remove the cooler, turn the pins counter clockwise to unlock them.
You will need to clean off the old paste and reapply new if you ever take the cooler off.
Clean off old paste with alcohol and a lint free paper like a coffee filter.
Apply new paste sparingly. A small rice sized drop in the center will spread our under heat and pressure.
Too much paste is bad, it will act as an insulator.
It is hard to use too little.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you sir, that is a very nice guide actually.

 

[geofelt]

Start HWmonitor earlier so we can see what the idle temperatures are.
On the link, minimum and maximum temperatures are similar.
I doubt that you are throttling.

On task manager, look to see if there are any other tasks that are consuming cpu power.
Perhaps you have contracted a virus or malware that is interfering.
On the cpu graph, right click and change the display to logical processors.
You should see 4.

 

[LEGOpanek]

https://imgur.com/a/AdFx3at

View: https://imgur.com/a/AdFx3at

or
https://ctrlv.cz/X8Eb

More information from idle state and more from a game.
The temps in idle didn't go above 50°C for sure.

I'll try another Windows reinstallation to make sure it's all clean, but I'm sure it all ran like this even after the last reinstall which included formatting all drives, not just C.

When a game is running, nothing else really uses the CPU according to the Task Manager. Usually I'm on Discord, that's like 5% somehow, then other small stuff and then the game with like 90% usage.

 

[mdd1963]

the 4c/4t CPUs have been effectively overloaded in most modern Win10 games for 3 years...

They have issues maintaining even adequate minimum FPS for many folks....and the problem is more noticeable given even better GPUs, with CPU-induced frame rate drops in many heavy multiplayer action sequences.. (throw in some group chat/Discord, and it's even worse, and, heaven help you if you decide to stream gameplay with but 4 threads....)

In short...upgrade, don't look back. Six core/12t is the new basic config, with 8c/16t being 'more than adequate', in my opinion...

 

[iiSlashr]

When a CPU is at 100% usage all the time, it's going to cause stuttering. I had an FX-8320 (similar performance to your chip, if a bit better), and I stuttered in all the games I played as well.

 

[LEGOpanek]

Is there a possibility that some kind of computer parts wear could be a part of the problem? I mean the usage over those 5 years was heavy.. unhealthy amount of time in demanding games per day on average..

 

[RodroX]

From what I can see in the picture your friend have a GTX 0170, while you have a GTX 1060, that alone with bascially the same CPU will have an impact on the FPS.

Besides that your friend my have a cleaner Windows 10 installation (less crap on the background). When was thew last time you did a backup and reinstalled Windows + all the lastest drivers?

But yeah a core i5 6000 series will limit the performance of both GTX 1060 and 1070.

I used to play BF5 with my old rig (core i5 3570 + 2x4GB + GTX 1060 6GB + SSD), both the campaign and multiplayer. Campaign was a bit stuttering (I used to play at 1080p with high settings, look really awesome) but playable. Multiplayer was a real mess and yes the limiting factor was the CPU, didn't matter much which graphic setting I was using. Of course the lower your graphic setting the more load goes into the CPU.