Trying to locate the bottleneck in my computer, any help appreciated!

[Abtankeros]

My current specs are as follows:

SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ PSU
Kingston 8GB(2 X 4GB) DDR3-1333MHZ PC10600
Intel Core i5 2500 Processor LGA1155 3.3GHz CPU
Gigabyte Geforce GTX670 Windforce
Seagate SATA3 1TB 7200RPM 32mb Cache
Asus P8H67-M-LEV3 H67 2DDR3 5PH 1333 RAID GLAN PCIE16 SA3 mATX HDMI ST

One thing that really bugs me is that a friends CPU and GPU is similar in terms of performance specs, however in Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm he's pushing close to 200+fps on the ultra setting whereas I barely pass 70fps and even fall as low as 28fps on occasion. This leads me to believe it is likely the other components holding me back but I have no idea which one. I've also upgraded from the 560ti to the 670 which didn't really improve performance too much for me except giving me another 10-20 fps in FPS games. I still get massive framerate drops in NFS: Hot pursuit when I'm drifting around a corner like below 15fps.

 

[tenaciousk]

The only thing i would think that would effect frame rate like that is your cpu, do you have the K version? or just i5-2500? I have never used one, but was under the impression they were good gaming cpu's So i wouldn't think that would be your bottleneck..

 

[Novuake]

He is using a much lower resolution monitor. OR he has Lucid Virtu running which causing FRAPS to think that it is pushing more frames, which it is not.

 

[Abtankeros]

The only thing i would think that would effect frame rate like that is your cpu, do you have the K version? or just i5-2500? I have never used one, but was under the impression they were good gaming cpu's So i wouldn't think that would be your bottleneck..

No it's just the i5-2500 no k. Could it be because Starcraft 2 is very CPU intensive? I still expected more improvements in FPS across all my other games too though :/

 

[Novuake]

One more thing, fully remove your drivers and re install the latest of Nvidias site. Those numbers for hot pursuit are not normal.

 

[unoriginal1]

I don't think it's a bottleneck.. Your system is pretty good and fairly new.
What resolution is your friend playing on compared to yours?
What kind of temps are you getting for your gpu and cpu?
Do you have the most recent drivers updated?

What I'm getting at is there is something else wrong.... It's not a issue of not having a powerful enough component on your system. You have a pretty good rig.

670 bench
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5818/nvidia-geforce-gtx-670-review-feat-evga/12

i5 2500 bench
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/20

Update: "and of course in the time it took me to post links etc... 817237862 people have posted and said the same haha." You have plenty of help goodluck!

 

[Novuake]

The only thing i would think that would effect frame rate like that is your cpu, do you have the K version? or just i5-2500? I have never used one, but was under the impression they were good gaming cpu's So i wouldn't think that would be your bottleneck..

No it's just the i5-2500 no k. Could it be because Starcraft 2 is very CPU intensive? I still expected more improvements in FPS across all my other games too though :/

The 2500 is one of the best gaming CPUs out there.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

See the chart, its the top tier.

 

[tenaciousk]

The only thing i would think that would effect frame rate like that is your cpu, do you have the K version? or just i5-2500? I have never used one, but was under the impression they were good gaming cpu's So i wouldn't think that would be your bottleneck..

No it's just the i5-2500 no k. Could it be because Starcraft 2 is very CPU intensive? I still expected more improvements in FPS across all my other games too though :/

No i really dont believe it is your cpu, i would do as suggested and uninstall/check for latest drivers.

 

[tenaciousk]

What resolution are playing at 1080p?

 

[Abtankeros]

He is using a much lower resolution monitor. OR he has Lucid Virtu running which causing FRAPS to think that it is pushing more frames, which it is not.

His moniter is 1920x1080. His specs are exactly as follows:

CPU: Intel Core i5 3570 LGA1155 CPU 3.4Ghz 6Mb Cache Ivy Bridge
Motherboard: ASRock Z77_OC_FORMULA.Z77 4xDDR3 3*PCIex16 GBL RAID HDMI USB3.0 SATA3 uATX
RAM: Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) CML8GX3M2A1600C9 DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Low Profile Vengeance module for AMD, Intel Du
GPU:Leadtek GTX 660 TI PCI-E 3.0 2GB 192-bit DDR5, Base: 915 Boost: 980/6008 MHz, 2x DVI, HDMI, DP, Fan
CD Read/Write Drive: Samsung SATA Black Internal DVD±RW Drive
Case: Zalman Z5 Plus USB3.0 Case
PSU: Zalman 650XG 650W 80+ Gold PSU

He is not measuring using FRAPS but the actual in-game FPS monitor that you can turn on by pressing crt+shift+f (or was it alt?)

 

[Abtankeros]

One more thing, fully remove your drivers and re install the latest of Nvidias site. Those numbers for hot pursuit are not normal.

The only thing i would think that would effect frame rate like that is your cpu, do you have the K version? or just i5-2500? I have never used one, but was under the impression they were good gaming cpu's So i wouldn't think that would be your bottleneck..

No it's just the i5-2500 no k. Could it be because Starcraft 2 is very CPU intensive? I still expected more improvements in FPS across all my other games too though :/

No i really dont believe it is your cpu, i would do as suggested and uninstall/check for latest drivers.

What resolution are playing at 1080p?

The thing is I un-installed ALL previous drivers! I'm running on the 314.22 drivers from Nvidia's site.

 

[Novuake]

You have a much better graphics card!

Do the driver reinstal. Does he use Lucid Virtu or not? It affects all FPS meters.

 

[Abtankeros]

What PSU do you have? You have a much better graphics card!

SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ PSU! Is that enough?

 

[wdmfiber]

SC2 will run on a "toaster". The game is unusually CPU dependant and your i5-2500 is overkill and should destroy it.

It's likely that in your GPU control panel you are forcing AA(anti aliasing) on games. Don't do this, as it will drop your fps "like crazy", especially in SC2.

Also, 200 pfs is good to know for "benchmarking" only. Most monitors won't display over 60 fps anyway; it's just a function of how they work. Plus the human eye doesn't notice anyway. But you do want over 30fps for a smooth game play experience.

 

[Abtankeros]

I don't think it's a bottleneck.. Your system is pretty good and fairly new.

What resolution is your friend playing on compared to yours? 1920x1080, the both of us.

What kind of temps are you getting for your gpu and cpu? GPU: 31 degrees idle, I'm not sure when it's under load will try and get back to you on that.

I currently have no way of measuring the CPU's temperature
Do you have the most recent drivers updated?

What I'm getting at is there is something else wrong.... It's not a issue of not having a powerful enough component on your system. You have a pretty good rig.

670 bench
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5818/nvidia-geforce-gtx-670-review-feat-evga/12

i5 2500 bench
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/20

I thought so too! Until I started to play games on it! It's driving me insane!

 

[Abtankeros]

SC2 will run on a "toaster". The game is unusually CPU dependant and your i5-2500 is overkill and should destroy it.

It's likely that in your GPU control panel you are forcing AA(anti aliasing) on games. Don't do this, as it will drop your fps second "like crazy", especially in SC2.

Also, 200 pfs is good to know for "benchmarking" only. Most monitors won't display over 60 fps anyway; it's just a function of how they work. Plus the human eye doesn't notice anyway. But you do want over 30fps for a smooth game play experience.

Thank you I will try looking around the GPU control panel! I realize 30-60fps is optimal anyways but I'm just really frustrated by why it's doing this! I don't know how well my computer will handle future games if its performance is like this now!

Okay so I turned off ALL the anti-aliasing features in my GPU control panel (Manage 3D settings) and in the 'adjust image settings with preview' I chose 'let the 3D application decide'. I just tried Starcraft 2 HOTS and I'm getting 60-100 fps but nowhere near 200fps. The average temperature through my current 10 min playthrough of the GPU was 60degrees 'celcius'

 

[pauls3743]

For cpu temps download tools like realtemp or coretemp, most motherboards come with their own monitoring utilites as well.

 

[Abtankeros]

You have a much better graphics card!

Do the driver reinstal. Does he use Lucid Virtu or not? It affects all FPS meters.

He does not have Lucid Virtu, he hardly knows anything about computers. He came to me to select all his components.

 

[Airm3n-1292454]

Perhaps he has a bit better airflow in his case than you resulting in lower temps as the gpu will throttle if it were to get too high. Also what speed is his gpu and gpu vram running at in game? Is he running a Solid State hard drive compared to your normal drive? That could potentially make a difference i'm not sure how much drive access happens during that game. Does he have a fresh install with nothing else than drivers and a couple games installed? Also is his memory running a bit tighter timings than yours?

 

[Abtankeros]

Perhaps he has a bit better airflow in his case than you resulting in lower temps as the gpu will throttle if it were to get too high. Also what speed is his gpu and gpu vram running at in game? Is he running a Solid State hard drive compared to your normal drive? That could potentially make a difference i'm not sure how much drive access happens during that game. Does he have a fresh install with nothing else than drivers and a couple games installed? Also is his memory running a bit tighter timings than yours?

So I just played Starcraft for 20 mins. My GPU never went above 55 degrees, and my CPU never went above 60 degrees. He does not have an SSD, but his RAM runs at 1666Mhz while mine is at 1333Mhz. His computer is brand new while mine is a year old. But an FPS difference of 100 is excessive even with those two factors no?

 

[Airm3n-1292454]

Do you defrag your hard drive at all? And what type of drive is he running to be precise? The 10k WD raptor drives still have a good boost over the 7200 and 5400 rpm drives. Also i noticed that you said what resolution your friend is running at 1920x1080 but not what you are playing at. If by chance you have a 1920x1200 that would make a bit of difference. Also what is the refresh rate on his monitor compared to yours? As well to note about the hard drives again are you running off the intel sata connectors on the motherboard and is he doing the same?