[SOLVED] running 90% of the games on 30-50 frames no matter what

[bulbulman]

it started about 2 months ago

geforce gtx 970 4gb

intel core i7-2600 3.4GHz

8 Gb ram

 

[Frag Maniac]

What are your temps? Has the PC been cleaned out of dust inside regularly? Also, what PSU are you using, and what games are you having troubles with? Also, is it just an FPS problem or is there heavy stuttering or freezing?

 

[bulbulman]

What are your temps? Has the PC been cleaned out of dust inside regularly? Also, what PSU are you using, and what games are you having troubles with? Also, is it just an FPS problem or is there heavy stuttering or freezing?

the temps are around 80-90, no nor really im gonna clean it now tho,the PSU is Cooler Master Elite Power RS-400-PSAR-J3 - power supply - 400 Watt , for honor, farcry 3, borderlands 2,csgo,minecraft and more, i have 30-60 frames on for honor{mostly 30} and its sometimes freezing and stuttering and on theother games its just low frames. btw what places i should clean my computer from dust?. thank you for your fast replay

 

[Frag Maniac]

Well first off with a GTX 970 it's recommended you have 500w total system power. Not all the games you listed will push it that hard, but certainly games like For Honor and Far Cry 3 will. https://forum-en.msi.com/faq/article/power-requirements-for-graphics-cards-20

Cleaning may help if the CPU and/or GPU heatsink fins are clogged with dust, but be careful how you clean them. Certainly do not touch them with a household vaccum, as they give off a lot of static which can harm electronic components.

Also do not spin the heatsink fans extremely fast with compressor if you have access to one. It's best to hold a fan blade while blowing. Compressors or canned air can be used, but it's advised you add a oil/vapor filter to the air hose. These can be had very cheap on eBay, which is where I got mine.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=inline+oil/water+filter+for+compressors&_sacat=0

If you go with canned air, make sure you buy a reputable brand that does not discharge a lot of propellant (read reviews). They will all give off some of course, but some do it excessively. Also keep in mind it comes out very cold, so let your PC cool down well before using it, and let it warm back up before turning it on (1/2 hour).

In a pinch a soft brush with fine bristles along with just blowing out dust with your breath can sometimes suffice. I like to get any residual dust in the case, on top of and under drives/PSU, etc, with just a soft, nappy dust cloth. In tight spaces I just wrap the corner of it around an unused pencil and push it through then grab it from the other end.

Of course obvious things like filters on intake fans of your case help. They also let you know at a glance from dust buildup when the PC needs cleaning. Another thing that helps is balancing intake to exhaust so there's a slight positive pressure inside the case. For that it helps to know the CFM of each fan (including PSU), and adjusting for slightly more intake. What slight positive pressure in the case does is keep any unfiltered openings from sucking dust into the case.

The reason I asked if there was any freezing or stuttering is it can be caused by specific things, such as thermal throttling, not enough VRAM for certain games that require a lot (your's effectively has only 3.5GB), a CPU too weak for the GPU, or an unstable OC on the CPU. VRAM is linked to the res you play at though, so if you're sticking to 1080p, 3.5GB is enough for most games.

Quite often stuttering is CPU related, and freezing GPU (VRAM) related, but it's not always that. Therefore the first thing to do is clean up the PC, then test again and check temps. MSI Afteburner is a free and good tool to use for temp and CPU/GPU usage because it can show stats onscreen while gaming once you select which stats to show.

What you want to look for is balanced CPU/GPU usage and acceptable temps. It's best if you can stay within 60-70c on the CPU and 60-75c on the GPU under load. Usage can vary anywhere from 30% per core to 90% or so depending on game. Problems to look for are way high usage on one, while the other is very low. This is known as a bottleneck and can be due to mismatched components, or one not working well. Your CPU and GPU models are evenly enough matched, but they are older models which may need new TIM if they can't run at acceptable temps (thermal paste).

The reason temps are important is the CPU and GPU can thermally throttle when their temp reaches a certain factory limit, whereby they throttle down in speed, which can definitely cause performance issues. In fact throttling often causes FPS to plummet repeatedly, which can lead to stuttering. High latency can also cause stuttering, such as Ryzen CPU performance being dependent on RAM speed (has twice the latency of Intel). In laymen's terms latency in this context is basically the time it takes for CPU and RAM to transfer data.

I also highly recommend since you only have 8GB RAM (Especially if on W10), that you disable unnecessary startups and background programs. I would also advise turning off any W10 apps that use telemetry that you aren't using, as they can suck up lots of RAM collectively.

Lastly, it's also a good idea in games that struggle performance wise to check your GPU and CPU against the recommended spec for the game. If you are not sure, just Google GTX 970 Passmark vs the required spec (same with CPU), and compare scores. In some games it's also good to check things like PCGamingWiki or forums that have talk on known performance issues and tweaks for some games. I also use either Nvidia Inspector or Nvidia Control Panel in some games to set Power Management to "Prefer maximum performance". If you do it the lazy way like most do by just setting the W10 Power Plan to High Performance, the CPU will run at max speed all the time, creating excess wear, noise, and heat while at idle. When you do it the way I advised the CPU only goes to max speed until you exit the game, then goes back to idle speed. Of course you have to set each game profile that needs it at max, but you only have to do that once.

 

[bulbulman]

Well first off with a GTX 970 it's recommended you have 500w total system power. Not all the games you listed will push it that hard, but certainly games like For Honor and Far Cry 3 will. https://forum-en.msi.com/faq/article/power-requirements-for-graphics-cards-20

Cleaning may help if the CPU and/or GPU heatsink fins are clogged with dust, but be careful how you clean them. Certainly do not touch them with a household vaccum, as they give off a lot of static which can harm electronic components.

Also do not spin the heatsink fans extremely fast with compressor if you have access to one. It's best to hold a fan blade while blowing. Compressors or canned air can be used, but it's advised you add a oil/vapor filter to the air hose. These can be had very cheap on eBay, which is where I got mine.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=inline+oil/water+filter+for+compressors&_sacat=0

If you go with canned air, make sure you buy a reputable brand that does not discharge a lot of propellant (read reviews). They will all give off some of course, but some do it excessively. Also keep in mind it comes out very cold, so let your PC cool down well before using it, and let it warm back up before turning it on (1/2 hour).

In a pinch a soft brush with fine bristles along with just blowing out dust with your breath can sometimes suffice. I like to get any residual dust in the case, on top of and under drives/PSU, etc, with just a soft, nappy dust cloth. In tight spaces I just wrap the corner of it around an unused pencil and push it through then grab it from the other end.

Of course obvious things like filters on intake fans of your case help. They also let you know at a glance from dust buildup when the PC needs cleaning. Another thing that helps is balancing intake to exhaust so there's a slight positive pressure inside the case. For that it helps to know the CFM of each fan (including PSU), and adjusting for slightly more intake. What slight positive pressure in the case does is keep any unfiltered openings from sucking dust into the case.

The reason I asked if there was any freezing or stuttering is it can be caused by specific things, such as thermal throttling, not enough VRAM for certain games that require a lot (your's effectively has only 3.5GB), a CPU too weak for the GPU, or an unstable OC on the CPU. VRAM is linked to the res you play at though, so if you're sticking to 1080p, 3.5GB is enough for most games.

Quite often stuttering is CPU related, and freezing GPU (VRAM) related, but it's not always that. Therefore the first thing to do is clean up the PC, then test again and check temps. MSI Afteburner is a free and good tool to use for temp and CPU/GPU usage because it can show stats onscreen while gaming once you select which stats to show.

What you want to look for is balanced CPU/GPU usage and acceptable temps. It's best if you can stay within 60-70c on the CPU and 60-75c on the GPU under load. Usage can vary anywhere from 30% per core to 90% or so depending on game. Problems to look for are way high usage on one, while the other is very low. This is known as a bottleneck and can be due to mismatched components, or one not working well. Your CPU and GPU models are evenly enough matched, but they are older models which may need new TIM if they can't run at acceptable temps (thermal paste).

The reason temps are important is the CPU and GPU can thermally throttle when their temp reaches a certain factory limit, whereby they throttle down in speed, which can definitely cause performance issues. In fact throttling often causes FPS to plummet repeatedly, which can lead to stuttering. High latency can also cause stuttering, such as Ryzen CPU performance being dependent on RAM speed (has twice the latency of Intel). In laymen's terms latency in this context is basically the time it takes for CPU and RAM to transfer data.

I also highly recommend since you only have 8GB RAM (Especially if on W10), that you disable unnecessary startups and background programs. I would also advise turning off any W10 apps that use telemetry that you aren't using, as they can suck up lots of RAM collectively.

Lastly, it's also a good idea in games that struggle performance wise to check your GPU and CPU against the recommended spec for the game. If you are not sure, just Google GTX 970 Passmark vs the required spec (same with CPU), and compare scores. In some games it's also good to check things like PCGamingWiki or forums that have talk on known performance issues and tweaks for some games. I also use either Nvidia Inspector or Nvidia Control Panel in some games to set Power Management to "Prefer maximum performance". If you do it the lazy way like most do by just setting the W10 Power Plan to High Performance, the CPU will run at max speed all the time, creating excess wear, noise, and heat while at idle. When you do it the way I advised the CPU only goes to max speed until you exit the game, then goes back to idle speed. Of course you have to set each game profile that needs it at max, but you only have to do that once.

thank you for your replay