Underperforming i7 6700K ~20% after i5 upgrade

[Peter_160]

I've just upgraded my mini ITX PC from an i5-6600 to an i7-6700K alongside an R9 Nano. In Cinebench, PassMark, The Witcher 3 (Novigrad) and in AC: Unity the new CPU has been fairly substantially underperforming. With all graphical detail turned down, fps can drop to the 40s in Novigrad and the same in crowded Paris. Cinebench's Multicore score is down by about 100 points from average for 6700K at 4.0GHz, and PassMark down by 2000.

Temperatures remain around 75-80C during benchmark testing, and there is no fluctuation of clock speed nor FSB (just under 100MHz x 40.00) at full belt.

The computer is using a Shuttle 500W PSU on an ASUS H110i PLUS D3 motherboard with an R9 Nano with a SanDisk Ultra Plus SSD as a Boot drive. The CPU is cooled with a Noctua NH-L9i.

Things that I've tried thus far are:

- Reinstalling Windows 10
- Factory Resetting BIOS[
- Setting PC to High Performance Mode
- Using more fans around the CPU to see whether temperature was affecting things.

What seems to be interesting is that performance has been quite similar to that which I experienced with the i5, especially in the two games.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Shuttle power supplies in XPS are good , they are 1u server grade , how much is the 12v output on it ?

Its a bronze rated 500w PSU built to a small form factor Shuttle PC63J. They are not 1u server grade servers use much higher efficiency PSUs.

Corsair or Silverstones SFX PSU's would be far better in this situation.

not in old times , If you remember in old times were 80 plus Only , later they became more efficient ..

I have good experience with Shuttle power supplies in XPC , 10 years working full load . they are good .

how much is the 12v ?

Right, and good enough 10 years ago does not equal good enough to run a 6700k and an R9 Nano....

This is the PSU he is running:

http://www.shuttle.eu/products/xpc-accessories/pc63j/

 

[Samer1970]

Shuttle power supplies in XPS are good , they are 1u server grade , how much is the 12v output on it ?

Its a bronze rated 500w PSU built to a small form factor Shuttle PC63J. They are not 1u server grade servers use much higher efficiency PSUs.

Corsair or Silverstones SFX PSU's would be far better in this situation.

not in old times , If you remember in old times were 80 plus Only , later they became more efficient ..

I have good experience with Shuttle power supplies in XPC , 10 years working full load . they are good .

how much is the 12v ?

Right, and good enough 10 years ago does not equal good enough to run a 6700k and an R9 Nano....

This is the PSU he is running:

http://www.shuttle.eu/products/xpc-accessories/pc63j/

I was asking about the 12V right ? I just said it is very good Quality .... and you can see from the specs it is good .. but old school , 3x12V rails 16A each ...

 

[Peter_160]

I was asking about the 12V right ? I just said it is very good Quality .... and you can see from the specs it is good .. but old school , 3x12V rails 16A each ...

Would one 16A rail be enough, or do the rails share power into one component? I'm aware that the Nano has a tendency to use more than the 175W TDP, and 16A would mean the rail can supply 192W.

 

[Karadjgne]

1u is just a type. You can get a 1u Athena psu or a 1u Seasonic psu. Serious difference in quality. Just like Dell or HP, the shuttle cases use different OEMs it's not the exact same psu as one that was used on a Shuttle 10 years ago. Many times its a bulk unit bought from whomever could supply the cheapest price at the time. A Seasonic OEM Shuttle would be good, an Athena powered Shuttle would be good luck.

As far as rails go, sometimes that's impossible to determine without looking at the actual unit. The vast majority used combined rails so 3x 16A (you'd think it would be 48) often ends up with @24-36A, depends on the combined wattage. There are a few psus that use a split rail (usually 4) where 2x rails are dedicated to pcie, one to motherboard and one to peripherals and will have like 2x 18A, 10A and 12A rails on a 700w psu.

One thing guaranteed about psus power specs is they do not add up. At all. In any logical way. My Seasonic 520w is 130w 3.3/5v combined, 480w 12v and 22w for the rest. That adds up to 612w. In reality, you have crossloads etc where rails are shared, rail limits etc, so the manufacturer has specified a wattage of 520w. Seasonic is reputable about its relatively honest wattages. There are other companies who are not and for various reasons you'll see 500w psus that are overloaded at little more than half the rated power. Pretty much a bald faced lie to the consumer. Not hard to imagine your 500w psu choking at 300w output and having such abysmally out of spec voltage regulation that at higher loads the pc is so unstable, it has to throttle back. Or shut down. Total power consumption on a system containing a r9 nano ranges from about 300w to 350w or anywhere upto @450w with OC.

https://youtu.be/f6snWfd1v7M

The educated preach about quality for a reason.

 

[Peter_160]

I've found what seems to be the issue: about 4:00 in this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQz4XmEFbTU single channel memory gets roughly the same performance I've been having, and dual channel gets the performance that other researchers have been getting. I think this is the answer.

 

[Rogue Leader]

I've found what seems to be the issue: about 4:00 in this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQz4XmEFbTU single channel memory gets roughly the same performance I've been having, and dual channel gets the performance that other researchers have been getting. I think this is the answer.

Do you have only 1 Memory DIMM installed into your system? The combination of slower DDR3 and only 1 DIMM, I guess it could do that, but I never thought the drop could be that big....

Also the drop in the video doesn't jive with what you have been telling us. its not THAT big of a drop, only about 10 fps.

 

[Peter_160]

Yeah I only have one stick of 8GB Ballistix 1600MHz. 10 fps is quite a lot, although right you are that it's not what I've been saying - if you look at the places in the video where he's experiencing 50-55 fps in the market, the dual channel is chugging out 70-75fps. The section from 4:02 to 4:09 shows that.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Yeah I only have one stick of 8GB Ballistix 1600MHz. 10 fps is quite a lot, although right you are that it's not what I've been saying - if you look at the places in the video where he's experiencing 50-55 fps in the market, the dual channel is chugging out 70-75fps. The section from 4:02 to 4:09 shows that.

I just checked it again and when hes hitting 70-73 fps the single channel is around 58-63, you're suggesting close to 20, but its really closer to 10. But in your case your memory is also a lot slower than the memory they use.

I do agree running dual channel is better, as well you are running standard DDR3 which Intel recommends against, you should be running DDR3L. This can wear heavily on the memory controller of the processor.

If you want to be comparable to the benchmarks you're checking against I would at a minimum go for dual channel DDR3L memory. In reality you should just drop that motherboard and get a DDR4 board, 2 DDR4 dimms, and consider replacing your PSU with an SFX Corsair or Silverstone as I suggested. Like Karadjgne said, the power ratings on that PSU don't jive either, and its possible you have both these issues hampering your performance in comparison to other i7-6700k systems.

 

[Peter_160]

Thanks for your help, I'll start with the memory, then go from there.

 

[Samer1970]

I was asking about the 12V right ? I just said it is very good Quality .... and you can see from the specs it is good .. but old school , 3x12V rails 16A each ...

Would one 16A rail be enough, or do the rails share power into one component? I'm aware that the Nano has a tendency to use more than the 175W TDP, and 16A would mean the rail can supply 192W.

If you use the PCIe connectors and not shared with other connectors you will be fine ...

 

[Karadjgne]

In most psu's, the 12v rail(s) are shared, no matter what. In op's psu all 3x smaller component rail will combine at a single output point which is then split to the different outputs. 12v is 12v no matter what cable is used. The only reason to use separate wires is to cut down on wire size per connector and allow some flexibility. Realistically you could group every single pcie, molex, Sata connection on a single lead. If it was heavy enough guage to handle the load.

 

[Samer1970]

In most psu's, the 12v rail(s) are shared, no matter what. In op's psu all 3x smaller component rail will combine at a single output point which is then split to the different outputs. 12v is 12v no matter what cable is used. The only reason to use separate wires is to cut down on wire size per connector and allow some flexibility. Realistically you could group every single pcie, molex, Sata connection on a single lead. If it was heavy enough guage to handle the load.

you should not overload the wires , they will heat up ..

If he put everything on one cable , will heat up.