[SOLVED] Why do I get low frame rates?

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Oct 27, 2019
51
1
35
Alright!

So I have recently upgraded my hardware to be able to play newer games.
I recently picked up the new star wars game, the surge 2 and evil within 2.
However I get massive frame drops and low frame rates on all three of these games, no matter how low I go on the settings.
I should have a powerful enough of a computer to handle these games, so I really don't understand the issue.

I have tried V-sync, enhanced sync, anti stuttering etc.


My rig is:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Six-Core Processor 3.40 GHz (I even overclocked it to 4.0 which did improve it a bit.)

GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5700

G.Skill 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3200MHz CL14 Flare X

200 GB SSD ( I have tried installing one of the games on it, but it didn't improve the framerate.)

2TB Harddrive.

Asus Prime B350-plus motherboard
 
Solution
Ok, so let's revisit some things.

You have an intake fan in the front now, yes? Bringing cool air in?

And an exhaust fan in the rear, at the top of the back of the case, taking hot air out, yes?

And you have the PSU turned correctly so that it is drawing in cool air from beneath the case and exhausting out the back, yes?

And have you run HWinfo and monitored your CPU and GPU card thermals to verify that there is not a thermal condition? If you have not, I would recommend that you do so.



Monitoring software

HWmonitor, Open hardware monitor, Realtemp, Speccy, Speedfan, Windows utilities, CPU-Z, NZXT CAM and most of the bundled motherboard utilities are often not the best choice as they are not always...
I have re-formatted my hard drive and SDD, reinstalled windows and installed all drivers and update once again.
And the issue is exactly the same.
There must be something that is broken or something.
 
Ok, so let's revisit some things.

You have an intake fan in the front now, yes? Bringing cool air in?

And an exhaust fan in the rear, at the top of the back of the case, taking hot air out, yes?

And you have the PSU turned correctly so that it is drawing in cool air from beneath the case and exhausting out the back, yes?

And have you run HWinfo and monitored your CPU and GPU card thermals to verify that there is not a thermal condition? If you have not, I would recommend that you do so.



Monitoring software

HWmonitor, Open hardware monitor, Realtemp, Speccy, Speedfan, Windows utilities, CPU-Z, NZXT CAM and most of the bundled motherboard utilities are often not the best choice as they are not always accurate. Some are actually grossly inaccurate, especially with certain chipsets or specific sensors that for whatever reason they tend to not like or work well with. I've found HWinfo or CoreTemp to be the MOST accurate with the broadest range of chipsets and sensors. They are also almost religiously kept up to date.

CoreTemp is great for just CPU thermals including core temps or distance to TJmax on older AMD platforms.

HWinfo is great for pretty much EVERYTHING, including CPU thermals, core loads, core temps, package temps, GPU sensors, HDD and SSD sensors, motherboard chipset and VRM sensor, all of it. When starting HWinfo after installation, always check the box next to "sensors only" and de-select the box next to "summary".


Run HWinfo and look at system voltages and other sensor readings.

Monitoring temperatures, core speeds, voltages, clock ratios and other reported sensor data can often help to pick out an issue right off the bat. HWinfo is a good way to get that data and in my experience tends to be more accurate than some of the other utilities available. CPU-Z, GPU-Z and Core Temp all have their uses but HWinfo tends to have it all laid out in a more convenient fashion so you can usually see what one sensor is reporting while looking at another instead of having to flip through various tabs that have specific groupings, plus, it is extremely rare for HWinfo to not report the correct sensor values under the correct sensor listings, or misreport other information. Utilities like HWmonitor, Openhardware monitor and Speccy, tend to COMMONLY misreport sensor data, or not report it at all.

After installation, run the utility and when asked, choose "sensors only". The other window options have some use but in most cases everything you need will be located in the sensors window. If you're taking screenshots to post for troubleshooting, it will most likely require taking three screenshots and scrolling down the sensors window between screenshots in order to capture them all.

It is most helpful if you can take a series of HWinfo screenshots at idle, after a cold boot to the desktop. Open HWinfo and wait for all of the Windows startup processes to complete. Usually about four or five minutes should be plenty. Take screenshots of all the HWinfo sensors.

Next, run something demanding like Prime95 version 26.6 or Heaven benchmark. Take another set of screenshots while either of those is running so we can see what the hardware is doing while under a load.


*Download HWinfo



For temperature monitoring only, I feel Core Temp is the most accurate and also offers a quick visual reference for core speed, load and CPU voltage:


*Download Core Temp




Ryzen master for Zen or newer AMD CPUs, or Overdrive for older Pre-Ryzen platforms (AM3/AM3+/FM2/FM2+)

For monitoring on AMD Ryzen and Threadripper platforms including Zen or newer architectures, it is recommended that you use Ryzen master if for no other reason than because any updates or changes to monitoring requirements are more likely to be implemented sooner, and properly, than with other monitoring utilities. Core Temp and HWinfo are still good, with this platform, but when changes to CPU micro code or other BIOS modifications occur, or there are driver or power plan changes, it sometimes takes a while before those get implemented by 3rd party utilities, while Ryzen master, being a direct AMD product, generally gets updated immediately. Since it is also specific to the hardware in question, it can be more accurately and specifically developed without any requirement for inclusion of other architectures which won't be compatible in any case. You wouldn't use a hammer to drive a wood screw in (At least I hope not) and this is very much the same, being the right tool for the job at hand.

As far as the older AMD FX AM3+ platforms including Bulldozer and Piledriver families go, there are only two real options here. You can use Core Temp, but you will need to click on the Options menu, click Settings, click Advanced and put a check mark next to the setting that says "Show Distance to TJmax in temperature fields" and then save settings and exit the options menu system. This may or may not work for every FX platform, so using AMD Overdrive is the specific, again, right tool for the job, and recommended monitoring solution for this architecture. Since these FX platforms use "Thermal margins" rather than an actual "core/package" temp type thermal monitoring implementation, monitoring as you would with older or newer AMD platforms, or any Intel platform, won't work properly.

For more information about this, please visit here for an in depth explanation of AMD thermal margin monitoring.

Understanding AMD thermal margins for Pre-Ryzen processors





*Download Ryzen Master




*Download AMD Overdrive



Also, posting screenshots, when requested, is helpful so WE can see what is going on as well and you can learn how to do that here:

How to post images on Tom's hardware forums

 
Last edited:
Solution
I have fixed with the fans so that the intake fan is on the front and the exhaust fan is on the back.
I have also put the PSU just how you showed me :)
When I installed AMD Overdrive, my computer got locked into a blue death loop.
Apperantly that is commen with ryzen 5 series.
I just had to boot in safe mode and delete it, no worries ^^

I installed HWinfo and had it running while I did a test with heaven benchmark.

View: https://imgur.com/a/R7kvPxq


The first two are in idle after a start up.
The second two are during a medium run with heaven benchmark.
And the last three are during an extreme run with heaven benchmark.
 
Why would you install AMD Overdrive? You don't have a CPU that supports AMD Overdrive. You need to uninstall that immediately. You should be using Ryzen master, not AMD Overdrive. I'm not sure why you did that, certainly nobody here told you to do that. This is exactly why people need to READ things before they just start DOING things.

If you had read what I posted, I SPECIFICALLY said AMD Overdrive was for PRE-Ryzen platforms. "PRE" means "before". Before Ryzen, that is what you used to monitor thermals on AMD platforms. After the release of Ryzen, you use Ryzen master. They are not anything alike, at all. Even HWinfo is not the right choice, not really, for Ryzen, although it will work to some degree.

Try Ryzen master and see what happens.
 
Alright I'm sorry, it's just that I've used it before with my last setup so it was more of a "Oh, I know this thing".
But no harm done, I just uninstalled itwithout any issue.
Ryzen masters work just fine.
 
I'm assuming those are at idle, and not under a full load? So, WITH Ryzen master open, take some screenshots while running Prime95. Choose the Small FFT option. Disable AVX and AVX2. AVX2 will not become available to disable in the pop up window you will see when you start the utility until you disable AVX by unchecking the box next to it.

Run it for 15 minutes. Take screenshots at five, ten and fifteen minutes. If at any point the CPU temperature exceeds 80°C stop the test by navigating to the top left menu named "Test" and choosing Exit from the drop down menu. Simply clicking the X in the corner of the utility like you would do for most applications will not stop the utility from running, it will just minimize it to the tray but it will still be running, so do it the way I have described if and when you need to stop the text.

Prime95: http://www.mersenne.org/ftp_root/gimps/p95v298b6.win64.zip
 
Heaven benchmark uses the GPU a lot, but it uses the CPU very little. We want to see what happens when the CPU is under a heavy load, to see if there is something there that might be responsible for causing the stuttering. In fact, it might actually be best if you installed HWinfo, and ran THAT while running Prime95, and took screenshots of all the sensors while it is running after about five minutes. It usually takes about three screenshots to capture ALL of the sensors (screenshot, scroll down, screenshot, scroll down, etc.) in the HWinfo window.
 
Oh yeah, you already have it installed. Well, that makes it easier. Just run Prime with HWinfo open and take some screenshots after about five minutes. Be sure to choose the Small FFT option, NOT "Smallest FFT" or "Large FFT". Be sure to disable AVX and AVX2 as well before you run the torture test.
 
Well, you've got me man. I'm not seeing any throttling or thermal issues there from what I can see anyhow. Maybe you just have a faulty graphics card. At this point I'm really not sure what to tell you to look at next other than the graphics card. Everything else seems to be in order.
 
By trying it in another machine to see if you have the same problem with it, or trying a different one in your machine to see if THAT does the same thing, or replacing it by way of RMA through the warranty program it has. It is very possible that there are other possibilities that I am just not thinking of at this time, so I might invite a few others in here to offer their opinions on some potential related issues.
 
The new Starwars is brutal. Resolution aside, minimum recommended setup is a 1700 and vega56, although minimum for playability is somewhat lower. It's going to tax thread counts.

The Surge2 is a single thread game, seriously old, so relies heavily on single thread IPC, which on the 1600 isnt its strong suit.

Evil Within 2 is pretty mediocre
The Evil Within 2 isn't exactly the smoothest performer, as we found in our TEW2 benchmarks on the GeForce GTX 1060 and the Radeon R7 370. We also discovered there isn't a huge visual difference between Low and Ultra, yet it can be a 60% hit on frame rate. While The Evil Within 2 may not be particularly well optimised then, there is wiggle room for performance improvements if you disable the right graphics settings.

What you are looking at is 3 games that are hard hitting in different areas, enough so that you aren't going to see high fps at all, and depending on the scene, can be large fps drop prone.

As I see it, there's nothing wrong with the pc as it stands, temps are acceptable although this was confusing
I have given the CPU voltage of 1,48125 via AMD Ryzen Master.
You shouldn't have to set any voltages.

The way it works is the cpu sets fps limits. It pre-renders all the frames before shipping them to the gpu, it's only real variable being the game code. After that, it's on the gpu to put the fps on screen according to detail settings and resolution. So if the cpu can only pre-render 60 frames, that's the limit and no lowering of settings on the gpu will change that number. If you raise the settings high enough, and the game is demanding enough and the gpu not powerful enough, then you can get lower fps on screen, and lowering settings will bump fps, but not beyond 60 set by cpu.

So if you are getting frame drops, first figure out if they are cpu limits going down or gpu ability failing. You've set gpu to minimum, so see what the fps is, then crank the settings to ultra. If fps stays roughly the same, then the cpu is maxed. If fps really drops, then the gpu is taxed. Figuring out which will determine where you need to start looking. It's entirely possible there's nothing but a 4k DSR set up and killing gpu fps, or an issue with Xbox DVR and gamebar helper killing cpu fps.
 
Alright!

So I have recently upgraded my hardware to be able to play newer games.
I recently picked up the new star wars game, the surge 2 and evil within 2.
However I get massive frame drops and low frame rates on all three of these games, no matter how low I go on the settings.
I should have a powerful enough of a computer to handle these games, so I really don't understand the issue.

I have tried V-sync, enhanced sync, anti stuttering etc.


My rig is:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Six-Core Processor 3.40 GHz (I even overclocked it to 4.0 which did improve it a bit.)

GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5700

G.Skill 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3200MHz CL14 Flare X

200 GB SSD ( I have tried installing one of the games on it, but it didn't improve the framerate.)

2TB Harddrive.

Asus Prime B350-plus motherboard

Have you tried checking your RAM utilization in the 'resource monitor' window? Just type it in the search bar and open up the app. You want your memory to look more like mine shown below. If the bar shows its being swallowed up by 'standby' memory or from programs that are 'in use', then that in of itself would cause your frame rate to dip in any game.

f5c1561327117040.jpg
 
Have you tried checking your RAM utilization in the 'resource monitor' window? Just type it in the search bar and open up the app. You want your memory to look more like mine shown below. If the bar shows its being swallowed up by 'standby' memory or from programs that are 'in use', then that in of itself would cause your frame rate to dip in any game.

f5c1561327117040.jpg

I just checked, and over 8778 mb are on standby when it's idle O.O
And over 9000 mb when I was playing star wars.


The first picture is on idle, and the second one is on star wars.

View: https://imgur.com/a/daUcOdm
 
Alright xD
A small update!
I have spoken with the store where I bought the GPU, and they have taken it back and are going to check it for me ^^
If they don't find anything, I could see if I could do the same with the CPU or something xD
 
Ok, so this thread has been running for a few pages now, and it's gotten a bit confusing for me because I am old and stupid. LOL.

Well, getting old anyhow. The stupid has always been there, sneaking around.

Anyhow, can you please list out your full CURRENT build, as it stands right now? Just so I, and others, don't have to keep looking through the thread to try and remember what hardware we are dealing with currently. Thanks. Sorry.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WildCard999
Haha, I understand how you feel xD
So I just got off from the phone with the store that I bought the GPU from.
It seems like it was busted, and they are going to send a new one ^^.


CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Six-Core Processor 3.40 GHz

GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5700 (Is in the shop, right now I have a GTX 970)

G.Skill 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3200MHz CL14 Flare X

200 GB SSD ( I have tried installing one of the games on it, but it didn't improve the framerate.)

2TB Harddrive.

Asus Prime B350-plus motherboard
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rogue Leader