Question Pc not achieving expected fps

[FatManKim]

I have a recently built pc with a i7 12700k, 7900xtx and 32 gb ddr4. In games like fortkite I get 180 on low settings. Benchmarkers on YouTube running similar components to me are getting 220 fps on epic settings. It's the same with overwok, although not at big of a difference. I get around 360 fps on ultra and others are getting 450 on ultra. I have noticed that my gpu usage I usually around 60 for fort and 80 for overwok. Not sure if that is the issue. If it is how would I fix it?

 

[bit_user]

This is outside my area of expertise, but please post more details of your system specs, if you want useful replies.

In particular, I'd be curious about your DDR4 frequency, what kind of CPU cooler you're using, and what your CPU temps are, in gaming.

Also, potentially motherboard model and any BIOS settings you changed.

 

[FatManKim]

My ram frequency is 3200, however in task manager it seems to only be using 2133. I am also using the NZXT kracken 240mm. My motherboard is the NZXT N690. For the bios settings, I did change them during the setup after following instructions recommended to me through JayzTwoCents bios settings video.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

My ram frequency is 3200, however in task manager it seems to only be using 2133.

Hey there,

You need to go into the bios and set your ram to run in XMP. Once done, save and reboot, then test again. You should see a massive boost.

 

[FatManKim]

Hey there,

You need to go into the bios and set your ram to run in XMP. Once done, save and reboot, then test again. You should see a massive boost.

I enabled XMP and I did see a boost of around 50-100 fps, however it still isn't at the expected fps levels that I should be getting in the game.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

I enabled XMP and I did see a boost of around 50-100 fps, however it still isn't at the expected fps levels that I should be getting in the game.

Okay, have you all chipset and system drivers up to date? What monitor and res do you game at?

It would be worth considering a bios update at this stage too.

What power plan are you running?

 

[FatManKim]

Okay, have you all chipset and system drivers up to date? What monitor and res do you game at?

It would be worth considering a bios update at this stage too.

What power plan are you running?

I'll try updating my drivers and bios. I'm also using a 144hz monitor at 1440p. I'm on high performance power plan.

EDIT: Graphics drivers, and processor drivers were all already updated to the latest version before this. BIOS I had already updated it about a month ago, so should be pretty new.

 

[bit_user]

Check your CPU temperatures, in gaming, and make sure it's not throttling. Could do the same for GPU.

In the worst case, you might need to tweak your fan curves. Again, not my area of expertise, but these are things I'd be looking at.

 

[FatManKim]

Check your CPU temperatures, in gaming, and make sure it's not throttling. Could do the same for GPU.

In the worst case, you might need to tweak your fan curves. Again, not my area of expertise, but these are things I'd be looking at.

My cpu temps are fine. Usually sitting around 50 when playing. GPU temps, however are a lot worse. When pushing my pc it gets to 60 and then from 90-108C hotspot temperature. For some reason the hotspot temperature only reaches to 100 and over when I stand still in game, however if I am moving it hovers around 90 or so. I'll try making my gpu fans spin faster starting from 60C going at 70 percent.

 

[bit_user]

Okay, hopefully that information is helpful to someone. Other than adjusting your GPU fan curves, I wouldn't know what else to do about it. I guess some might experiment with undervolting.

Other thoughts I have would be around software. Have you heard of a program called process lasso? You can use it to restrict games so they run on just the P-cores. You could go a step further and disable the E-cores in BIOS, which will make the ring bus run a little faster. In some games, one approach might work better than the other.

 

[FatManKim]

Okay, hopefully that information is helpful to someone. Other than adjusting your GPU fan curves, I wouldn't know what else to do about it. I guess some might experiment with undervolting.

Other thoughts I have would be around software. Have you heard of a program called process lasso? You can use it to restrict games so they run on just the P-cores. You could go a step further and disable the E-cores in BIOS, which will make the ring bus run a little faster. In some games, one approach might work better than the other.

Thanks for the help! I'll try experimenting with undervolting and maybe the lasso program as well.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

I'll try updating my drivers and bios

Make sure you clear CMOS after the bios update. This will rule out the bios completely.

Also, don't get too hung up on the FPS of CPU/GPU comparisons and videos associated with same. They could well be OC'ing the CPU/GPU or something, and so the difference maybe accounted for elsewise.

For undervolting I'd suggest using Throttlestop. It's much better than XTU. When you install it, you can run the built in benchmark along with a 'Limit' box. When you run the bench, it may flash different indicators like PL1 or PL2 or EDPOther, or prochot. If the limits are yellow than you have some minor throttling. If they are red in colour, then your CPU is throttling.

The software is writeen my UncleWebb aka Kevin Glynn (@uWebb429) is an Intel expert, among many other things. He often helps out here on the forum.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Other thoughts I have would be around software. Have you heard of a program called process lasso? You can use it to restrict games so they run on just the P-cores. You could go a step further and disable the E-cores in BIOS, which will make the ring bus run a little faster. In some games, one approach might work better than the other.

Really good suggestions. Those E-core do nothing for gaming.

 

[bit_user]

Really good suggestions. Those E-core do nothing for gaming.

@rluker5 has done some fairly extensive experimentation with E-cores and hyperthreading. I summarized the results of one set of experiments, here:

​

https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...irector-software.3827651/page-2#post-23142480​

​

See other comments by rluker5, in that thread, for additional info.

 

[bit_user]

For undervolting I'd suggest using Throttlestop. It's much better than XTU. When you install it, you can run the built in benchmark along with a 'Limit' box. When you run the bench, it may flash different indicators like PL1 or PL2 or EDPOther, or prochot. If the limits are yellow than you have some minor throttling. If they are red in colour, then your CPU is throttling.

The software is writeen my UncleWebb aka Kevin Glynn (@uWebb429) is an Intel expert, among many other things. He often helps out here on the forum.

Well, I was suggesting Undervolting to potentially help with GPU hotspots. If the CPU is clocking find and maintaining good temps, I'm not sure Undervolting it will help.

Again, I'm not an expert on any of this stuff, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

 

[rluker5]

I have a recently built pc with a i7 12700k, 7900xtx and 32 gb ddr4. In games like fortkite I get 180 on low settings. Benchmarkers on YouTube running similar components to me are getting 220 fps on epic settings. It's the same with overwok, although not at big of a difference. I get around 360 fps on ultra and others are getting 450 on ultra. I have noticed that my gpu usage I usually around 60 for fort and 80 for overwok. Not sure if that is the issue. If it is how would I fix it?

I used to have a 12700k. Replaced it with a 13900kf because I get an upgrade bug, I'm still GPU limited just as I was when I had a 12700k. My 3080 is as fast as the rest of them.

bit_user is right about disabling e-cores speeding up your ringbus on the 12700k. On Alder Lake the relatively slow e-cores are linked to the ringbus speed and slow it down a lot when they are active. The most immediate effect I saw from disabling e-cores is my ram latency dropped by about 5ns which is actually a bunch.
Some of those benchmarkers on youtube are likely tuning their ram which can take a lot of time messing around with timings, a lot of testing and often a fair amount of system instability. XMP is usually a nice jump over stock JEDEC already, and most people enjoy their time more playing games than playing with ram timings.
Even if you do overclock your CPU and get your ram timings just right there will always be somebody with some customized installation of Windows who gets more fps. If you do as well as mainstream reviewers then you are doing fine.

You could make 2 bios profiles since they are easy to switch. One with e-cores disabled to improve gaming performance on most games, and one with everything enabled for when you want that. Or you could just turn e-cores off and on in your bios when you want to. Disabling e-cores won't improve performance in all games, but for a 12700k it should for most.

And if you have Windows 11 installed (and virtualization is enabled in bios, it generally is by default) you might want to consider disabling memory integrity like the following video shows:

View: https://youtu.be/L7qEHqHi-Gs

It is a convenient coincidence that the author is using a 12700k and playing Fortnite.

Happy gaming.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Well, I was suggesting Undervolting to potentially help with GPU hotspots

Yes, a voltage fan curve on the GPU can yield lower temps.

An undervolt on an already hot CPU, whilst not necessary, can yield more performance and with with lower temp too.

 

[FatManKim]

I used to have a 12700k. Replaced it with a 13900kf because I get an upgrade bug, I'm still GPU limited just as I was when I had a 12700k. My 3080 is as fast as the rest of them.

bit_user is right about disabling e-cores speeding up your ringbus on the 12700k. On Alder Lake the relatively slow e-cores are linked to the ringbus speed and slow it down a lot when they are active. The most immediate effect I saw from disabling e-cores is my ram latency dropped by about 5ns which is actually a bunch.
Some of those benchmarkers on youtube are likely tuning their ram which can take a lot of time messing around with timings, a lot of testing and often a fair amount of system instability. XMP is usually a nice jump over stock JEDEC already, and most people enjoy their time more playing games than playing with ram timings.
Even if you do overclock your CPU and get your ram timings just right there will always be somebody with some customized installation of Windows who gets more fps. If you do as well as mainstream reviewers then you are doing fine.

You could make 2 bios profiles since they are easy to switch. One with e-cores disabled to improve gaming performance on most games, and one with everything enabled for when you want that. Or you could just turn e-cores off and on in your bios when you want to. Disabling e-cores won't improve performance in all games, but for a 12700k it should for most.

And if you have Windows 11 installed (and virtualization is enabled in bios, it generally is by default) you might want to consider disabling memory integrity like the following video shows:

View: https://youtu.be/L7qEHqHi-Gs

It is a convenient coincidence that the author is using a 12700k and playing Fortnit

Happy gaming.

I'll try that, thanks!

 

[FatManKim]

Disabling e-cores didn't really change anything, however undervolting my gpu did help quite a bit. I guess it was just the hotspot temperature limiting my fps. I gained about 70fps. I'll listen to Roland's advice about the benchmarks on YouTube. I think this is as much as I'll get without doing any extreme overclocking.

I hope this thread helps anyone who has the same problem I had. Also thank you everyone for the help!