Strange FPS but neither CPU nor GPU at 100% usage.

[Matt Pistritto]

So I have the following specs:
AMD FX-8120 (OC'd to 4.1Ghz)
MSI AMD R9 290 (stock settings)
2x4gb DDR3 RAM
Corsair CX750 750 watt Power Supply
I play at the resolution of 1920x1080

And the issue I'm running into is of the performance kind.
This first picture is that of playing Far Cry 4 on max settings. Low settings result in the exact same performance.

This next picture shows the stats of playing Alien Isolation on max settings.

The Unigine benchmark gives me the following results as well

GPU temps rarely exceed 62C and no matter what I try, the framerate in Far Cry 4 never gets higher than maybe 31 fps regardless of the settings I set it to. I'm assuming it's my processor that's causing this, but since not even that is hitting 100% usage, I start to question whether I'm completely out of luck with it. Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[turkey3_scratch]

CPUs 1 and 2 seem to be reaching 100% in Far Cry 4 so that is probably the reasoning behind that. CPU 1 is the cause of frame rate drops in Alien Isolation.

 

[Matt Pistritto]

You sure you're looking at the right graphs? In the pictures, the CPUs never go above 83C. And that's only one instance on CPU3 for about half a second during Far Cry 4.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Oops sorry I thought the labels were underneath the graphs.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

you are cpu bottlenecked, the first gen fx cpu's were notoriously bad for gaming when they were first reviewed. . It may not look like your cpu is hitting 100% usage on any particular core because windows is spreading the load. Also make sure you have vsync off if you want to test for a bottleneck.

 

[Matt Pistritto]

Will any form of over clocking relieve this? Or am I better off getting a new CPU? And what CPU would you recommend? Budget would probably be $350 as I'm willing to go Intel if it means not having to deal with these issues.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Will any form of over clocking relieve this? Or am I better off getting a new CPU? And what CPU would you recommend? Budget would probably be $350 as I'm willing to go Intel if it means not having to deal with these issues.

Overclocking would help a tad but I don't think it would resolve the issue, you are already overclocked as is. If you went Intel the I5-4690K would be best, though that would require a Z motherboard for overclocking it. Even a locked non-overclocked Intel would perform better in gaming than the FX 8120.

Or you could get the FX 8350 which apparently has 26% better single-core performance. That would be a worthy upgrade. http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/306/AMD_FX-Series_FX-8120_vs_AMD_FX-Series_FX-8350.html

 

[iam2thecrowe]

while an 8350 overclocked to 4.5 ghz is about the best your going to do without having to change motherboard (assuming your motherboard supports the cpu). A haswell i5 and new motherboard would be the best option, although not the cheapest. Although overclocking the 8 core amd cpu would require spending money on a noctua d14 cooler or a good aio watercooler, ofsetting the cost of just getting the faster and more efficient i5 in the first place.

 

[Matt Pistritto]

If I'm taking the Intel plunge, what brand motherboard and heatsink would I be looking to get?

 

[iam2thecrowe]

If I'm taking the Intel plunge, what brand motherboard and heatsink would I be looking to get?

Stick to the mainstream brands like Asrock, Gigabyte, Msi or asus. Pick one that has the features that you want for the best price. You could use the stock cooler to start with, the coolermaster hyper212 evo is the best price/performance heatsink around.

 

[Matt Pistritto]

Okay! Thanks for all the help! Both of you guys!