Is my PC under-performing ?

[Blingbo]

My PC's components and specs are:
CPU: FX-8350 at 4.2GHz
GPU: 7870 XT Tahiti
RAM: Kingston HyperX Genesis (2x4GB) at 800MHz DRAM freq and 2200MHz NB freq
OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit
Mobo: Gigabyte 970a-ds3 rev 3

With this in mind, games like The Witcher III , GTA V and other AAA titles (can't remember specific games) seem to dip below 30 FPS at times even at the lowest possible settings. I just got The Witcher III and it started to worry me, because a friend said I shouldn't have problems running it, but I can play the game at the line between fun 40+FPS gameplay and a dull 20FPS ridden mess. It's the same with GTA V, either 50FPS lowest settings or 20FPS lowest settings I'm asking here to see if someone knows the possible reason as to why it's happening.

 

[Derza10]

Monitor your GPU and CPU usage during game play and see if either one is hitting at or close to 100%. Also check your temperatures to make sure you don't have over heating issues causing throttling.

 

[Blingbo]

Good thing you reminded me, i just checked with GPU-Z at it seems to be at ~98% load and 90 degrees C while running The Witcher III in the background. I found the culprit, but how can this be improved? This is a good question.

 

[Derza10]

90c is high for a GPU (might be causing it to throttle resulting in your poor performance), The first thing i would do is clean it as well as you can. If you still have very high temps you might need to just buy a more powerful GPU with a better cooler on it (could also try removing the GPU cooler and re-applying thermal paste). Do you have pretty good case air flow? that could also be contributing to your high temperatures.

 

[Blingbo]

I cleaned it 2 weeks ago and I am waiting for my 970 to be delivered

 

[Derza10]

I cleaned it 2 weeks ago and I am waiting for my 970 to be delivered

The 970 is a nice card, you should see pretty big performance increases.