[SOLVED] I9 9900k low performance issues in games

[Ljac95]

I recently upgraded by CPU from an i7 6700k to an i9 9900k and have changed the motherboard from an MSI Z170 Tomahawk to and Aorus Pro WiFi Z390. I know this is overkill for gaming but was still under the impression there should be a gain in performance. This is paired with a 1080ti and 16GB DDR4 at 3000mhz, I have Corsair 850 PSU and a Corsair H110i v2 for cooling.
The issue I am having is that since installing yesterday I seem to be getting lower frame rates and increased stuttering in games. The CPU is running at stock and temperatures don’t normally exceed 65c under load. Does anyone know of anything that could be causing this?

thanks in advance.

 

[CosmicDance]

Can you list your full PC specs, whether your RAM is single or dual channel and what resolution your are running games at please.
It will help everyone to answer your query properly.

Thanks

Andy

 

[Ljac95]

No worries please see below,

CPU - i9 9900k w/ Corsair H100i V2
Motherboard- Aorus Pro WiFi Z390
Ram - Corsair vengeance LPX DDR4 3000mhz
GPU - Aorus 1080ti 11G Xtreme (Kraken G12 w/ Corsair H75)
PSU - Corsair RM850i
Samsung 250GB SSD
Seagate 1TB HDD
seagate 2 TB portable expansion

I am playing at 1080p on a 144hz Gsync monitor.

 

[Ljac95]

Oh I forgot RAM is Dual Channel

 

[geofelt]

Stuttering is often caused by lack of cpu capability.
Your 9900K is a very strong processor but it is also a hot one.
I suspect throttling.
See if you can run a temperature monitor that shows the maximum temperatures.
If you ever see 100c. you are likely throttling to a lower multiplier to control the temperature.

What is your idle temperature?
That is a first check to see if your cooling is functioning properly.
I would expect to see 10-15c. over ambient if all was well.

Sometimes, malware or a virus can also cause such problems.

Is your C drive ssd near full?
If it is past 90% that may be the problem.

 

[sizzling]

Did you reinstall Windows?

 

[TheDeadlyFeet]

You could try to do a clean re-install of Windows 10.

 

[Ljac95]

Apologies, I should have mentioned I did a clean reinstall of windows but still having the issue and temperatures are not going above 60C under load, maintaining a steady 4.7 Ghz boost.

 

[Ljac95]

My C Drive was also pretty empty as had reinstalled windows and removed all old files.

 

[Power94]

Your motherboard doing this, try to update BIOS if dont help change it.

 

[nikoli707]

Is it an intermittent problem or is it reproducible on a benchmark like 3dmark?

 

[Ljac95]

I have only tested it in games but it seems to be all of them are getting lower frame rates. What’s also interesting is my GPU is running hotter than normal, not by much but a bit. Will give the new BIOS a go, stupid question but would bios updates affect game performance?

 

[CosmicDance]

Yes BIOS updates can have a huge impact on performance as manufacturers tweak them to utilise the CPU's full potential.
They affect performance, temperature, boosting and many other factors with the updates.
So if the BIOS version is old it can certainly have an adverse affect on your PC.

Also check that in your BIOS the XMP profile is active for your RAM otherwise it won't be running at its full speed.
It is usually set to a default of 2133 MHZ if not.

Andy

 

[mdd1963]

all chipset drivers for that mainboard installed from manufacturer's website? (never rely on default MS installed drivers)

you can install run HWMonitor, then install/run run CPU-Z/bench/stress CPU

Note the clock speeds and temps sustained after 10-15 minutes....

Defacto/ 'normal' factory specs would have all cores at about 4.7 GHz under an all core load... (A motherboard that supports MCE, if enabled, and cooling adequate w/power limits removed might hit 5 GHz on all cores, but, some 9900K samples won't hit it on default core voltage)

Make sure all WIndows updates are applied, you don't want to be downloading/applying patches while checking performance.

 

[Power94]

Just do what i say and your problem should be fixed 😉

 

[Ljac95]

So I updated the BIOS from F10 to F12c which is the most recent listed, I then tweaked BIOS settings i.e enabled XMP and reset my fan curves. The only issue I did have after woulds was for some reason my display driver then kept failing, am currently doing a clean reinstall. What I noticed when playing the Witcher 3 was that although frames were still lower than previously it didn't seem to be stuttering and temps seemed fine. My only question at this point is could it simply be the way I set up the CPU, everything is on auto in the BIOS with the exception of vcore which I set to normal and then applied a -0.050 offset to keep the voltages down.

 

[CosmicDance]

That negative voltage offset will also affect performance and CPU boosting.
Try it as standard as your temperature was only 65c so plenty of headroom.

 

[Ljac95]

So I reset the vcore to offset to normal, according to HW monitor the vcore is hitting 1.296 at max. Is this ok, if not what is the max safe vcore if not overclocked?

With regard to my original post frame rates seemed decent (140 - 160 at 1080p Ultra in the Witcher 3, which is the only game I have installed at the moment), at this point I am wandering if I just had unrealistic expectations. The performance isn't overly bad but my only concern is that it is not exceeding that of my old set up which makes me wonder if there is an issue.

 

[CosmicDance]

Yes your voltage is fine.
The Witcher 3 is a surprisingly graphically demanding game considering it is a few years old, especially on high settings.

Try some other games if you have them and see how they perform.

 

[Zizo007]

I recently upgraded by CPU from an i7 6700k to an i9 9900k and have changed the motherboard from an MSI Z170 Tomahawk to and Aorus Pro WiFi Z390. I know this is overkill for gaming but was still under the impression there should be a gain in performance. This is paired with a 1080ti and 16GB DDR4 at 3000mhz, I have Corsair 850 PSU and a Corsair H110i v2 for cooling.
The issue I am having is that since installing yesterday I seem to be getting lower frame rates and increased stuttering in games. The CPU is running at stock and temperatures don’t normally exceed 65c under load. Does anyone know of anything that could be causing this?

thanks in advance.

You won't see a real fps improvement from a 6700K to a 9900K in less threaded games.

 

[Ljac95]

I had a feeling that was the case, what I find really strange though and was hoping someone could shed some light on is in games such as Doom 2016 and F1 2019, games that previously ran at 150+ fps are now capping at 130fps. It almost feels like there is some kind of frame cap being applied?

 

[Ljac95]

Ok I think I may have figured it out, for reasons I cannot fathom having my Xbox controller connected via the motherboards on board Bluetooth was capping my frames??

 

[CosmicDance]

Ahh glad to hear you have sorted it anyway and thanks for the update as it also helps others in future.
You can always use the Xbox controller with a mini USB cable.

 

[Ljac95]

Am currently the cable from an phone charger, but Doom was running at a locked 200fps and F1 2019 is now exceeding 130fps in areas. Thanks, for all the help regardless.