Is My Processor Causing My FPS Issues.

[xFazzz]

I recently upgraded to a GTX 1080 due to my old card dying. The idea being that when I build a new PC I'll just transfer to 1080 into it. In my current setup its running with an i7 2600 (non k) at 3.4ghz.

However performance in games isn't great at all, and i'm wondering if my CPU being old is causing the issues.

In Battlefield 1 my fps is dropping to high 40's in some situations and it doesn't matter if i'm on ultra or low settings, also the GPU usage doesn't get above 50%. CPU usage gets up to 80%ish across all cores.

In FIFA 19 my GPU usage sits around 40-60% and my cpu usage is around 50-60% on all cores. I get around 160fps which is more than playable I know. However my friend who has a 980 and a i7 4770k pulls about 250fps. Which is making me wonder why performance is so low.

Across all the GPU benchmarks I have done, my scores are just below the average of what other people have with 1080's. I scored 2700 with an average fps of 107 on Heaven Benchmark with ultra quality, extreme tessellation and 8xAA at 1920x1080.

Temps for the GPU stay below 70c on full load. CPU temps average around 75c on full load (stock cooler).

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, your CPU is almost certainly the problem. It would probably be worth doing a clean install of the GPU card drivers first though.

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2767677/perform-clean-install-video-card-drivers.html

Also, it would be a good idea to visit your motherboard's product page and see if there are newer chipset (Intel .inf) files available for your CPU than what you have currently installed.

 

[mgallo848]

Synthetic benchmarks won't give you the whole story about potential bottlenecks. In single player games, there may be very little or no bottleneck at all. In multiplayer games, the CPU will most likely struggle to max out the fps and feed the GPU at the same time. I had a GTX 1080 (for about 2-3 days) I didn't like the particular card I had so I returned it. I did save 1 result with Heaven benchmark:

FPS: 128.2
Score: 3229
Min FPS: 34.0
Max FPS: 246.5
System Platform: Windows NT 6.2 (build 9200) 64bit
CPU model: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4930K CPU @ 3.40GHz (3399MHz) x6
GPU model: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 23.21.13.9135 (4095MB) x1
Settings Render: Direct3D11
Mode:1920x1080 8xAA fullscreen
Preset Custom
Quality Ultra
Tessellation: Normal

 

[Darkbreeze]

Your CPU was significantly better than his though. I don't think your benchmarks are representative in any way of what he should expect. The IPC alone is like apples to oranges. Plus, you have an additional two cores and four threads. But you're right in that if he can look at his current synthetic scores and compare them to yours which is only moderately newer than his, and then perhaps to some Coffee lake scores, he might get a realistic appreciation for the performance difference based on a change of CPU alone.

Not sure which way you were going with that info, so had to address it from both angles.

 

[xFazzz]

Your CPU was significantly better than his though. I don't think your benchmarks are representative in any way of what he should expect. The IPC alone is like apples to oranges. Plus, you have an additional two cores and four threads. But you're right in that if he can look at his current synthetic scores and compare them to yours which is only moderately newer than his, and then perhaps to some Coffee lake scores, he might get a realistic appreciation for the performance difference based on a change of CPU alone.

Not sure which way you were going with that info, so had to address it from both angles.

I thought my processor would be the issue. The only thing that was confusing me is the fact on youtube I can find several videos of people running an i7 2600 and getting much better frames than me. I don't know why im struggling so much with that.

Ignoring the language, this video shows much better and consistent performance than I get: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJJn-yxcM9g&t=265s

Im planning to get an i7 8700k when I upgrade. I assume that will have no issue getting the most out of my GPU?

 

[mgallo848]

I submitted the answer without typing the rest. My point was to show that in synthetic benchmarks, you won't really see the whole story. I know my CPU is better than his but if you look at his/my scores, mine wasn't really any better than his. (if you factor in that I didn't run the tessellation on extreme). Yet in games like BF1 I never dropped below 120 fps @1080 resolution.

 

[xFazzz]

I submitted the answer without typing the rest. My point was to show that in synthetic benchmarks, you won't really see the whole story. I know my CPU is better than his but if you look at his/my scores, mine wasn't really any better than his. (if you factor in that I didn't run the tessellation on extreme). Yet in games like BF1 I never dropped below 120 fps @1080 resolution.

If anything the benchmarks show the issue is with my CPU right? I pull 99% usage and decent results which shows there is no issue with the GPU. Correct?

 

[mgallo848]

I submitted the answer without typing the rest. My point was to show that in synthetic benchmarks, you won't really see the whole story. I know my CPU is better than his but if you look at his/my scores, mine wasn't really any better than his. (if you factor in that I didn't run the tessellation on extreme). Yet in games like BF1 I never dropped below 120 fps @1080 resolution.

If anything the benchmarks show the issue is with my CPU right? I pull 99% usage and decent results which shows there is no issue with the GPU. Correct?

Yes, that would be my opinion. Your CPU (not overclocked) is most likely giving you the the proper performance in multi-player games (especially games like BF1 that can/will more than 4 cores if you have it)

BTW, how much memory do you have?

 

[xFazzz]

I submitted the answer without typing the rest. My point was to show that in synthetic benchmarks, you won't really see the whole story. I know my CPU is better than his but if you look at his/my scores, mine wasn't really any better than his. (if you factor in that I didn't run the tessellation on extreme). Yet in games like BF1 I never dropped below 120 fps @1080 resolution.

If anything the benchmarks show the issue is with my CPU right? I pull 99% usage and decent results which shows there is no issue with the GPU. Correct?

Yes, that would be my opinion. Your CPU (not overclocked) is most likely giving you the the proper performance in multi-player games (especially games like BF1 that can/will more than 4 cores if you have it)

BTW, how much memory do you have?

12GB Ram. The PC is outdated to be honest. Started out life as a stock dell XPS 8300 in 2011. Only thing that has been changed is the GPU and PSU. So the motherboard is still the standard one that shipped with the dell. Just a shame because until last year the i7 2600 never gave me any issues.

 

[mgallo848]

On the positive side, you got your money's worth from it. That chip was released in the 1st quarter of 2011 so in a few months it will be 8 yrs old.

 

[xFazzz]

On the positive side, you got your money's worth from it. That chip was released in the 1st quarter of 2011 so in a few months it will be 8 yrs old.

Very true. Thanks for the help.

 

[Darkbreeze]

When was the last time, if ever, that you did a clean install of the operating system, motherboard drivers including the CPU chipset drivers AND graphics card drivers? If the answer to that is more than two years, or IDK, I'd suggest trying that before you do anything else.

First, back up all your important personal files. Anything that can't be replaced or will be lost during a clean Windows install that you don't want to lose and isn't already backed up somewhere.

Next, do this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-3567655/clean-installation-windows.html

Followed by installing all of the relevant drivers listed on your motherboard or prebuilt system product page.

Then, install the latest graphics card drives from the Nvidia website.

If you've recently or in the not too distant past already performed a clean install of windows, but have had more than one version of the Nvidia drivers installed without using the DDU, I'd highly recommend trying this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2767677/perform-clean-install-video-card-drivers.html

Also, if you're running on the factory installed power supply you can almost guarantee that the graphics card and CPU are not performing at optimal levels due to poor power delivery. What is the model of the currently installed power supply?

 

[xFazzz]

When was the last time, if ever, that you did a clean install of the operating system, motherboard drivers including the CPU chipset drivers AND graphics card drivers? If the answer to that is more than two years, or IDK, I'd suggest trying that before you do anything else.

First, back up all your important personal files. Anything that can't be replaced or will be lost during a clean Windows install that you don't want to lose and isn't already backed up somewhere.

Next, do this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-3567655/clean-installation-windows.html

Followed by installing all of the relevant drivers listed on your motherboard or prebuilt system product page.

Then, install the latest graphics card drives from the Nvidia website.

If you've recently or in the not too distant past already performed a clean install of windows, but have had more than one version of the Nvidia drivers installed without using the DDU, I'd highly recommend trying this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2767677/perform-clean-install-video-card-drivers.html

Also, if you're running on the factory installed power supply you can almost guarantee that the graphics card and CPU are not performing at optimal levels due to poor power delivery. What is the model of the currently installed power supply?

Corsair TX850M

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, that's certainly not the model that came from the unit, and is a pretty fair power supply, so I doubt it's related to that although certainly anytime there is any problem with a computer, at all, the PSU is always suspect since it can cause or mimic practically the exact same issues as every single other hardware component, in addition to it's own common failures. In this case though, without evidence, we'll leave that on the back burner for now.

It would be prudent though to maybe download HWinfo, run something demanding like Prime95 version 26.6 Small FFT test, or something that fully taxes the GPU card, and take screenshots of the HWinfo sensors and then post those results here. Be sure to only run the "Sensors only" option in Hwinfo. The other section of the program is mostly useless to us.

Also, you didn't answer as to whether or when you may have done a clean install of the OS or graphics card drivers. Also, make damn sure you have the very latest bios version that is available for your motherboard. If you are still on an early bios version you may have hardware level problems with newer UEFI only graphics cards.

I also think, given the age of your platform, this could certainly be a motherboard issue as well. PCI performance and problems are well documented on aging boards and is actually one of the more common symptoms seen when a board is experiencing some form of electrical related fatigue.