Why can't I run my games at 60 fps with my pc build?

[NappinHappy]

I'm on my computer for a couple hours a day playing games, but mostly Final Fantasy XIV, and I believe that my pc is a pretty good one but I can never get it to run at a solid 60 fps. I can run it at max settings, but it won't go to 60. That also includes when I turn the settings down to their lowest. My build is: * CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor * CPU Cooler: Corsair H75 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler * Motherboard: sus M5A78L-M LX PLUS Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard * Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory * Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive * Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 256bit * Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

If I could get some insight as to why this is happening that would be great. Thanks.

 

[madmatt30]

You've got a 125w 8 core running on a board that shouldn't in all honesty support it.
You've then dropped a water cooler on which removes any kind of secondary cooling from an already weak 3+1 non-heatsinked vrm setup.
I have no doubt at all the board is probably throttling under load & lowering CPU clocks.

Sorry if this sounds crass but its a terribly terribly thought out combination - I'm actually surprised it runs at all without problems.

 

[madmatt30]

^ see it all too often - poor balancing of component choices gives amd builds a bad name in general IMO.
$160 CPU
$80 cooler
$40 (max ) motherboard
Single stick ram
Expensive overspecced PSU.
Totally unbalanced IMO.

8320+212 evo (or equivalent) + ud3p + xfx550 bronze would have cost less money & performed considerably better making for a happy bunny ;-)


Missed the single channel ram originally - not massively detrimental but not ideal - also it will likely be defaulted to 1333mhz which is more of a big deal.

To the problem at hand,firstly download cpu-z & post a grab of your memory & SPD tabs (would be nice to have your ram running optimal at the very least)

Secondly ,download amd overdrive & prime 95.
Run overdrive with the CPU status onscreen ,run a prime95 standard blend test.
Watch the clocks across all 8 cores - I'm certain they'll be bouncing between 1400-3500mhz erratically - which is throttling.

Regarding the motherboard - 2 options.

1. Entirely obvious (& expensive) - change it - simple as that.
2. Think about disabling turbo (4ghz base clock is just about enough to not massively limit a 970's performance up to 60fps)
3.would seriously suggest disabling 2 cores (maybe even 4) in bios - while this will lose you multicore performance it should to all intents stop any throttling & actually increase (or at least stabilise) gaming performance generally.

2 & 3 are essentially temporary measures - really option 1 is pretty much the only permanent fix.

 

[sizzling]

Is this 1080p? Also with a single stick of ram you are not running dual channel which might make a small difference

 

[NappinHappy]

http://imgur.com/a/Tok6F Here is the memory and SPD from my computer. I haven't downloaded the overdrive yet so I can't tell you about that. Also, I didn't think that my computer was that bad of choices. The people I play games with were the ones that have helped me, and it seemed like they knew what they were telling me. I don't know if it would help at all, but I also have an extra stick of ram that is 4gb.

 

[madmatt30]

^ you have some very good quality components let down by a very very poor choice of motherboard mate .
Ignore the single stick of ram issue (its running at the rated speed anyway) ,while its not optimal there is not a massive drop in performance.

Your motherboard though is an issue ,have a look at this thread.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2744641/cpu-clock-speeds-dropping-game.html

That board is similar but actually has a slightly better vrm setup than yours & the guy was still getting bad throttling.(I also own the same board & could not get proper stability with an 8 core)

You can follow the advice in there (the bios options should be the same/similar)
It may help with performance.The 8350 / 970 is absolutely capable of 60fps at max settings on most games out there.

If you'd posted that build list on here before buying anyone with any knowledge of PC building would have told you not to usecthat motherboard mate - your friends gave you bad advice in that respect.

 

[NappinHappy]

^ you have some very good quality components let down by a very very poor choice of motherboard mate .
Ignore the single stick of ram issue (its running at the rated speed anyway) ,while its not optimal there is not a massive drop in performance.

Your motherboard though is an issue ,have a look at this thread.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2744641/cpu-clock-speeds-dropping-game.html

That board is similar but actually has a slightly better vrm setup than yours & the guy was still getting bad throttling.(I also own the same board & could not get proper stability with an 8 core)

You can follow the advice in there (the bios options should be the same/similar)
It may help with performance.The 8350 / 970 is absolutely capable of 60fps at max settings on most games out there.

If you'd posted that build list on here before buying anyone with any knowledge of PC building would have told you not to usecthat motherboard mate - your friends gave you bad advice in that respect.

I will try out he Bios method to see if it works. In that thread you recommended some motherboards, would it be smart that I also pick from those choices? And I will definitely post here if I have anymore questions.

 

[madmatt30]

^ it would indeed be smart to change motherboards mate.

The fix I suggested may work but I consider it temporary (why would anyone be happy with only using 6 cores on an 8 core chip).

Ultimately to get the max performance from your CPU a better board is the only true solution especially running a card like the 970

 

[NappinHappy]

^ it would indeed be smart to change motherboards mate.

The fix I suggested may work but I consider it temporary (why would anyone be happy with only using 6 cores on an 8 core chip).

Ultimately to get the max performance from your CPU a better board is the only true solution especially running a card like the 970

I will only use that like you said as temporary until I get a new motherboard. I can't thank you enough for giving me this information.

 

[fivesandfalcon8]

If you have a amd system use an amd graphics card like one from the r9 series. the 8350 will bottleneck most geforce cards and also with such a small build like that watercooling is a waste of money