My Core 2 Quad not able to handle games?

[miggtt699]

Hello there guys, I've been experiencing something that really shouldn't be happening. I own an Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX6700 that I run both at stock speeds and sometimes at the overclocked speed of 2.96GHz. And I have never encountered a game that I play that made my Quad come to it's knees.

Now recently I got Saints Row The Third and my fps constantly dips bellow 30, either on low, medium or high, the difference in FPS from LOW to ULTRA is about 5 FPS, so it's not a GPU bottleneck, and I've also checked with afterburner, in 1280X720 I get ~20-35FPS and the GPU usage is around 50-60%. Is that game so demanding that it requires me a CPU better than a C2Q?! I've searched the requirements and it says as recommended (Any Quad Core Processor (Intel® Core i5 or AMD Phenom™ II X4) or 3.0+ Dual Core CPU). I'm confused. Am I doing something wrong?

Waiting for replies, and thanks for reading.

 

[Andreas414]

The first thing I'd do is check Windows Resource Monitor. Open the CPU tab while you're in-game and see if any individual core is maxing out, as this is enough to slow down some games even if the total CPU utilization is relatively low. I've run into similar issues with games that my Phenom should be able to handle no problem; While I'm not sure that there's a fix short of upgrading, it's something you could at least check off the list.

 

[swilczak]

You are running the game with an old processor and an old graphics card, so that's your problem. I have a high end system that's only a year old and that game doesn't run very well on it, I mean it does but the frame rates drop a lot maybe because of the way the gaming engine is designed. It's a big open world game with a lot of things going on so frame rates usually aren't consistent with these types of games.

 

[computer_nugget2]

that game was designed more for consoles. so it doesnt really surprise that it runs like ass on a pc. my friend had a pentium e5800 and a gt220 running gtaIV and the game ran okay. it ran just as smooth as it did on ps3.

unless saints row 3 is that poorly ported.

 

[Novuake]

Comes down to slow PER CORE performance and bad coding on the games part. You need a CPU with better PER CORE performance as well as multiple cores.

 

[miggtt699]

You are running the game with an old processor and an old graphics card, so that's your problem. I have a high end system that's only a year old and that game doesn't run very well on it, I mean it does but the frame rates drop a lot maybe because of the way the gaming engine is designed. It's a big open world game with a lot of things going on so frame rates usually aren't consistent with these types of games.

I don't need upgrading anytime soon on the processor, but the graphics card does need to be changed. But other than that, I can play any game nowadays on my system.
Here's a sample:http://youtu.be/cohllmvzbsA?t=36s

 

[miggtt699]

The first thing I'd do is check Windows Resource Monitor. Open the CPU tab while you're in-game and see if any individual core is maxing out, as this is enough to slow down some games even if the total CPU utilization is relatively low. I've run into similar issues with games that my Phenom should be able to handle no problem; While I'm not sure that there's a fix short of upgrading, it's something you could at least check off the list.

Will do.

 

[miggtt699]

that game was designed more for consoles. so it doesnt really surprise that it runs like ass on a pc. my friend had a pentium e5800 and a gt220 running gtaIV and the game ran okay. it ran just as smooth as it did on ps3.

unless saints row 3 is that poorly ported.

I run GTA IV fine on my sytem, that's why I don't understand why saints row runs so badly compared to GTA IV

 

[Novuake]

720p... CPU holding you back. And no you can't play DX11 only titles...

 

[jessterman21]

Yep, sounds like it's finally time for a platform upgrade.

Don't feel bad - my i3 causes drops below 30 in newer games, too.

 

[miggtt699]

Comes down to slow PER CORE performance and bad coding on the games part. You need a CPU with better PER CORE performance as well as multiple cores.

Yes but with everyother game runs fine, this is the only one that is giving me issues since I've had this build. Even GTA IV runs fine with my system. Which is why I don't understand why Saints Row would be this heavy.

 

[Novuake]

Yes but with everyother game runs fine, this is the only one that is giving me issues since I've had this build. Even GTA IV runs fine with my system. Which is why I don't understand why Saints Row would be this heavy.

Totally different games, can not be compared.
Give me a list of some of the CPU intense games you play?

 

[miggtt699]

Yep, sounds like it's finally time for a platform upgrade.

Don't feel bad - my i3 causes drops below 30 in newer games, too.

Yes but I am only having issues with this game, as I said multiple times, I can run every other game fine, GTA IV, Far Cry 3, Crysis, Crysis 2, Need for speed Most Wanted 2012... Every game runs fine except this one. Which I don't understand why.

 

[swilczak]

Comes down to slow PER CORE performance and bad coding on the games part. You need a CPU with better PER CORE performance as well as multiple cores.

Yes but with everyother game runs fine, this is the only one that is giving me issues since I've had this build. Even GTA IV runs fine with my system. Which is why I don't understand why Saints Row would be this heavy.

GTA IV is from 2008 and saints row the third is from the very end of 2012.

 

[swilczak]

Comes down to slow PER CORE performance and bad coding on the games part. You need a CPU with better PER CORE performance as well as multiple cores.

Yes but with everyother game runs fine, this is the only one that is giving me issues since I've had this build. Even GTA IV runs fine with my system. Which is why I don't understand why Saints Row would be this heavy.

GTA IV is from 2008 and saints row the third is from the very end of 2012.

 

[miggtt699]

Yes but with everyother game runs fine, this is the only one that is giving me issues since I've had this build. Even GTA IV runs fine with my system. Which is why I don't understand why Saints Row would be this heavy.

Totally different games, can not be compared.
Give me a list of some of the CPU intense games you play?

I've played:
Crysis (high settings, never dips bellow 30)
Crysis 2 (the second option, runs ~40 FPS)
Minecraft (All maxed, on far render distance, solid 60 with the frame lock)
Sims 3 (LOL, Maxed out 30-40 FPS but is quite jumpy, get 90FPS sometimes)
GTA IV (Medium settings 30-40FPS)
Need For Speed Most Wanted (High, 30 FPS, I think this games caps it there)
Far cry 3 (720P on ULTRA 25-30 FPS, and it's a GPU bottleneck, as the GPU usage is always at 98%)

Older games run all maxed no problem.

 

[miggtt699]

Comes down to slow PER CORE performance and bad coding on the games part. You need a CPU with better PER CORE performance as well as multiple cores.

Yes but with everyother game runs fine, this is the only one that is giving me issues since I've had this build. Even GTA IV runs fine with my system. Which is why I don't understand why Saints Row would be this heavy.

GTA IV is from 2008 and saints row the third is from the very end of 2012.

The Core i7 990X was the first processor to be able to run GTA IV over 60 FPS and it had to be overclocked. Do I need to say more? GTA IV is a very CPU intensive game.

 

[Novuake]

None are CPU intense...

 

[computer_nugget2]

the qx6700 is a great cpu, but i think maybe you just need a video card upgrade. saints row 3 is probably having trouble running with the older graphics card. i think it favors more newer cards cards with dx11.

 

[miggtt699]

None are CPU intense...

GTA IV and Minecraft are known for their CPU smashing abilities. How's it not a CPU intensive game..? .w.

 

[Novuake]

the qx6700 is a great cpu, but i think maybe you just need a video card upgrade. saints row 3 is probably having trouble running with the older graphics card. i think it favors more newer cards cards with dx11.

The newbie might be right... Never tried Saints Row, so could not say.

 

[miggtt699]

the qx6700 is a great cpu, but i think maybe you just need a video card upgrade. saints row 3 is probably having trouble running with the older graphics card. i think it favors more newer cards cards with dx11.

The card isn't the problem. The CPU is. The card can run it @ULTRA on 720P and sometimes doesn't even max the card out.

 

[Novuake]

the qx6700 is a great cpu, but i think maybe you just need a video card upgrade. saints row 3 is probably having trouble running with the older graphics card. i think it favors more newer cards cards with dx11.

The card isn't the problem. The CPU is. The card can run it @ULTRA on 720P and sometimes doesn't even max the card out.

That does not mean much if its a DirectX issue.

 

[miggtt699]

the qx6700 is a great cpu, but i think maybe you just need a video card upgrade. saints row 3 is probably having trouble running with the older graphics card. i think it favors more newer cards cards with dx11.

The card isn't the problem. The CPU is. The card can run it @ULTRA on 720P and sometimes doesn't even max the card out.

That does not mean much if its a DirectX issue.

Look here. If it was the graphics card, it would drop the frames dramatically from LOW to ULTRA settings, and this isn't happening, I get a 5 FPS hit, it's not the graphics card. It's the CPU.

 

[computer_nugget2]

do you have the lastest driver for your video card?