Video lagging problem on HD7770+Q6600

[rakkenroll]

I currently purchased a Sapphire Radeon HD7770 OC Vapor X video card. Installed it on an MSI G41M-P33 motherboard with my Q6600 CPU. I started to play my favorite online game and put the video settings on AUTO, it instantly pushed all the setting guages to HIGH. Started playing at 60+FPS with everything on HIGH. Game was very smooth until... after an hour of play, FPS dropped to 5... I checked CPU usage, it went to 90~100% from 30%. Checked GPU usage, it shows fluctiation from 0~50%. Then after around 5secs of fluctuation, GPU usage stayed at 0% for around 15secs. Then FPS went back to normal and everything was normal again. And after 10-15mins, it happened again. Then cycle continues. Can you help me I am really starting to have a headache. Did I buy the wrong card? Is it not compatible with Q6600? Below is the spec of my PC. I returned the video card to the vendor and tested it, I played with it for 30mins and it was smooth. Their test unit has a highend ASUS board and an i7 said the technician. Do I have to replace my CPU and board? Or buy another vid card model (GTX550ti)?

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Mobo: MSI G41M-P33 Combo
RAM: Corsair RMS 2x4GB DDR3
Vid: Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 OC Vapor X
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
PSU: Thermaltake 420w (mobo and HDD)
HEC 330w (vid card)

I havent upgraded to a 650w Thermaltake so I am currently setup in a dual PSU.

 

[ASHISH65]

Your cpu is old and it is litle bottlenecking.try this first - 1)try to set vsync setting to off in games 2)update to latest driver from amd site 3)update your bios from mobo site.

 

[ASHISH65]

Try to manual sett the graphic settings.your gpu is not enough to run at all high settings.your gpu is fine no need to replace it.

 

[rakkenroll]

Yes, forgot to mention bout that. I upgraded to 12.11 Catalyst then downloaded and installed latest BIOS from MSI. I also tried everything on LOW settings, still it happens. i also reinstalled Windows four times, Win7 64 bit, 32bit, XP 32 bit and 64 bit. All fresh and updated everything. Installed the game and still the lag happens.

Btw, thanks for the quick reply.

 

[ASHISH65]

Ok i think your cpu is holding you back.try to overclock that cpu.did you face lag in all games in offline mode?

 

[rakkenroll]

Yes, tested it on Battlefields 3 and Saint Row 3rd, same problem. Tried to overclock but up to 2.8Ghz only. When I try 3.0Ghz, PC fails to boot. I really dont know OCing well so I might be missing something.

Thanks.

 

[ASHISH65]

What is resolution you play?there is something wrong in your pc.

 

[rakkenroll]

1280x768 at the moment. Tried both high and low graphic settings. Yes, I think something is very wrong. I just cant point out at the moment. And its really giving me a headache.

 

[ASHISH65]

Your resolution is your problem.increase it.your hd 7770 is made for gaming for res 1400*900res.if you lower your resolution then the power of gpu shifts from gpu to cpu as your gpu usage will be less and add strain to cpu and your cpu will bottleneck.try to raise it to 1368*768 or more.

 

[rakkenroll]

I've also tried 1920x1080 still the same. But I've never tried 1400x900. Will try that when I get home tonight. We'll see how it turns out.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[rakkenroll]

By the way, NEWEGG PSU calculator says I do not need extra PSU.

"Our recommended PSU Wattage: 348 W
Please click “Find PSUs” button to find out the best results."

So my 420w Thermaltake is more than enought. I will also try running on a single TT 420W tonight.

 

[ASHISH65]

It is enough.

 

[swifty_morgan]

low amperage on the power supply.

did you take your machine to the shop and have them run it?

right click on desktop and check what resolution it's running at. see if it's running at the recommended setting.

check the CCC for settings that will overwhelm the card.

go to windows update and see what they have for your machine.

 

[rakkenroll]

I did not take it to the dealer. I just brought the vidcard back for testing. desktop is running on recommended settings (1920x1080). CCC settings is ALL in "Performance" where applicable and "Use Application Settings" where applicable. Have installed ALL critical updates Microsoft have for me. I've read somewhere that 13.1 will be released tomorrow, hope it helps me though.

Thanks.

 

[rakkenroll]

If ever CPU is holding me back, I will try use this guide:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/259899-29-core-overclocking-guide

Wish me luck. It will be my first time to OC.

 

[chocostain]

interesting. I've just confirmed that I have seen a number of posts with the same problem using this graphics card.

What could this suggest?

 

[swifty_morgan]

manually lower the resolution and game settings. the card can't "play" well at those obviously.

 

[rakkenroll]

Your resolution is your problem.increase it.your hd 7770 is made for gaming for res 1400*900res.if you lower your resolution then the power of gpu shifts from gpu to cpu as your gpu usage will be less and add strain to cpu and your cpu will bottleneck.try to raise it to 1368*768 or more.

I've done as you suggested and the problem still occurs.

Buying another CPU+mobo will most probably solve my problem but I just bought this board and the CPU was only given to me so I would not want to waste these. There has to be another way to fix this.

By the way, I have overclocked my Q6600 to 3GHz but the lag problem is still there.

 

[ASHISH65]

Now you only have one option 1)try that gpu in other's pc and play for 1hr and see what happens 2)if has again problems in other pc then it is a gpu problem 3)if run well then it would be your mobo or ram problem.i donot think it is a cpu problem.

 

[rakkenroll]

I finally found a way to fix my problem. Using MSI Overdrive, I declocked GPU core clock down to 550MHz and Memory Clock down to 650MHz. It removed the lag but gave me a bad FPS of 30.

Conclusion:
GPU card was too fast for my motherboard to handle. When GPU has processed everything, it "waits" for the CPU to finish off everything else and this is where GPU usage goes down as it waits. I have 2 options, upgrade motherboard & CPU or buy a slower card. Upgrading to a better CPU and board is more reasonable.

Thanks for the help guys. And its not a HD7770 issue after all. Its a board issue.

 

[rakkenroll]

Best answer selected by Rakkenroll.