What could be causing these performance drops? In-game fps drops + stress testing

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thomasbing

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Jan 11, 2015
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When I run a game or stress test my PC, my CPU utilization drops every 20-30 seconds (see picture)
http://imgur.com/gallery/9GNa6

My PC will behave normally before and after the drops but during the drops, I get 10-20 fps (normally 80) as well as my sound becoming weird during the drop.

I have disabled all the thermal throttling safety features in the BIOS. My temperatures are normal.

I have an AMD FX-8350 (with a CM Hyper 212X) with a Corsair VS550 and a MSI GTX660.
 
Solution
madmatt30
Its your board mate - you can take that as gospel.
The pro 3 is not good enough for an 8350.
The vrm's overheat under load , the chip drops to 1.4ghz intermittently , that drops cpu usage , GPU usage & fps.
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It runs at 4GHz but when it dips, the frequency drops massively. This makes me think that it's the CPU and not the GPU.
Which PSU do you recommend? Would a PSU not intended for high power gaming really cause this much of a performance dip?
 
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it can provide "uclean/not stable current at not required voltage.
that might cause the CPU to drop the frequency.
If you are in US I'd recommend Corsair RM750x - currently for 84$.
If you are not in US or it's over the budget - let me know your country (preferably with you favorite online store) and the budget, will try to help to find best thing available.
have you tried to reset the MB BIOS ? sometimes it helps to solve the problem.
Also, use the HWMonitor to log the CPU temperature, voltage and frequency - might help to understand the issue.
 
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When did the problem start?

Overloading a CPU would usually cause fire, or just a shutdown, not performance drops.

I would check windows power settings, reset bios to defaults, disable any overclocking tools/services that run on startup.
 
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I live in South Africa. My favourite store is wootware.co.za

I have tried resetting the MB BIOS and it helped a little (the drops weren't so drastic but they still happened at the same intervals)
 
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Thanks for all the help. I am in contact with the Wootware team (they sold me the CPU originally).

How will opening the case help?
 
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I can't afford to get a better motherboard that could do any better. What if it isn't the motherboard's problem and it actually is the PSU then I'll need to spend even more money.
 
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I was suspecting the board too.
The point of opening the case was to allow cooler environment for VRM to see if it helps. than i could suggest to point a fan at the CPU area. the thing with your CPU cooler is that it provides great CPU cooling, but no airflow at the power phases around it.
There many posts about this board having problems with higher wattage CPUs. here is one example of how to solve it
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2253166/asrock-970-pro-8350-wattage.html
 
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Do I still need to do this if I have an intake and exhaust fan?
 
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http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3176155/low-3dmark-score-gtx-970-8350.html

Follow the testing info I posted on the above thread with Intel burn test & overdrive.

You'll end up with the same result , 1.4ghz core throttling I guarantee.

There is no quick fix or true solution apart from a new board mate.

I could throw you a link to a $40 cooler that offers vrm cooling & you'll still likely have to down clock & undervolt to get stability.

The asrock pro 2/3, extreme 2/3 are low quality , they simply can't handle a 125w CPU.
 
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can you please explain where the VRMs are on the mobo? I'm not too clued up on anything more than the basics (like CPU, DIMM slots, PCI etc)
 
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I've taken the side off and there were no dips for the first 2 minutes of testing but after that the same thing happened
 
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Follow the testing advice I gave.

The vrm set is behind the CPU , 5 square black chokes with capacitors in between .
A good board will have 8 or 10 of these to split the load voltage & will also have them heatsinked.

Your board has 4+ 1 for ram.
They're low quality (seen them throttle under 50c) have no heatsinks & are inadequate for an 8350.
Fitting a tower like the 212 makes things worse because it removes secondary air flow that a down blower cooler provides.
It matters little on the pro 3 though, I've spent countless hours trying to help people in the same position as you to little avail.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=970+pro+r3+throttling&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjkoc_X5PjOAhUlJ8AKHVpVDGYQvwUIFygA&biw=360&bih=559

Have a peruse through some of those Google results, I may even pop up on a few of them.

 
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Do you think I should buy an Intel CPU and motherboard as an upgrade or a new AMD motherboard for my current CPU? Is it worth waiting for AMD Zen?
 
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The 8350 is still a decent CPU on the right board & running properly mate.
Certainly capable of pushing a much stronger gpu than your current 660.

Intel is always better for gaming but you're talking $300+

A new good quality board will cost you $70-90 max depending on your location??
 
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I'm in South Africa. Which do you recommend?
 
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The VRM is the Voltage Regulator Module which is responsible (in case of CPU) to convert the 12v from PSU to whatever required at the moment by the CPU. The VRM circuit on your board is located between the CPU and rear I/O pannel. It is consisting of 4 big square boxes (inductors) and 8 small MOSFET drivers.
That makes a 4 phases of power delivery.
The mosfet chips can get very hot when they are working hard, and usually covered by heatsinks to help to keep them cool. In case of your board, 4 phases have to work very hard to feed the 125watt CPU under load, and since they have no cooling - they overheat.
You can add heatsinks for them and most probably it will solve the problem - our little experiment with side panel showed that if they kept cool enough, they can do the job.
Yes, going intel would be great if you can afford it. but if it was me, i'd start with trying the heatsinks as they are very cheap.
 
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Can you send me a link to a recommended one? Is this a better option vs getting a new board?
 
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I'm doing a stress test and I have also downloaded AMD OverDrive. When I have a drop/ stutter, the VID drops from 1.35V to 0.85V
 
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