Why does my computer run games poorly?

[SirDragonfruit]

So Ive had this gaming pc I built for the past year and Ive noticed that many games run horribly on my pc. A games such as league of legends runs at 30-15fps on the lowest settings. I need some help diagnosing why it runs so poorly. heres my pc specs:
GPU: MSI R9 390 8GB
CPU: AMD FX 6300 Six Core 3.50GHz
RAM: G.Skills 8GB DDR3-1866
Motherboard: MSI 970 Gaming ATX AM3+

Please help me find out why it runs so bad, thank you.

 

[Atomicdonut17]

LoL can run on CPUs IGPU with low resolutions and low settings with much higher efficiency. Are you even getting anything from your GPU? What's the normal temps?

 

[DRagor]

^ This makes me ask the question: did you connected monitor to GPU and not to motherboard?

 

[The Paladin]

like previous posters I would suggest running HWINFO from the web leave it in background, run your game(s) and see if either the CPU or the GPU are having thermal issues (max column for temps). if you can report on that...

 

[SirDragonfruit]

Im gonna test the temperatures now we what I get

 

[SirDragonfruit]

Also I'm fairly certain I'm connected to my gpu and not my motherboard

 

[MART3R]

There are many reasons why a good computer runs games poorly, first of all make sure that whatever cable youre using to connect your PC to your monitor (HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort, etc) is plugged into your graphics card and not your motherboard. Id also recommend that you make sure your drivers are up to date.

If youve already done the above, you should go into the Nvidia Control Panel and tell your graphics to quit screwing around 😉
This is done by right-clicking over the Windows desktop and selecting "NVIDIA Control Panel"
From the NVIDIA Control Panel, select the "Manage 3D settings" from the left column
Click on the Power management mode drop down box and select "Prefer Maximum Performance"

Now, I know that when I build gaming computers, the Nvidia Control Panel trick is one of the things I do right after installing drivers because it is usually the problem when experiencing bad fps in 3D programs.
If the ladder doesnt work I strongly suggest downloading a software that allows you to monitor CPU and GPU temps and performance to find out what the bottleneck is. One of the programs Id suggest is "MSI Afterburner" because it's one of the few programs that will monitor both CPU and GPU, as opposed to just specialising in one of them.

Good luck, I hope this helps.

 

[Atomicdonut17]

Also I'm fairly certain I'm connected to my gpu and not my motherboard

We need complete certainty. It should be the shorter of the two IO's. It shouldn't have any USB, serial or ethernet ports.

 

[neblogai]

FX6300 does not have iGPU- it would not display if connected to motherboard video outputs.

 

[Atomicdonut17]

FX6300 does not have iGPU- it would not display if connected to motherboard video outputs.

Good point. So it's at least connected. That still leaves its performance lack open.

 

[SirDragonfruit]

It is connected to the gpu for sure

 

[SirDragonfruit]

My whole PC was just messed up by the msi afterburner program. Wonderful.

 

[MART3R]

Can you describe what you mean by "Messed up"? I have MSI Afterburner on every computer I own (even my parent's) and Ive never had any problems.
You cant do anything harmful to your pc without going into settings and unlocking things like voltage controls.

What you want to do is go into settings under the "monitor" tab and check only the important boxes like CPU Temperature, GPU Temperature and performance monitors for both. You can even monitor the ram usage of the games if you want using this software.

Then have it run in the backround while you play games and see perhaps your Graphics card is overheating or wont go above 30% usage. It is a cornucopia of information and will definitely help you figure out what is going on.

 

[SirDragonfruit]

I must've downloaded a virus of some sort because windows won't start right, give me a few hours to fix this then I'll get back to the fps problem

 

[MART3R]

Ah, Im sorry I didnt specify earlier but it is crucial that you get it off the official MSI website.
https://www.msi.com/page/afterburner -- will lead you to the page they have dedicated to the program and it will be under the "downloads" tab