10 replies to this topic

[Grotoiler]

Greetings all,

I'm having some issues regarding periodic major frame-rate drops on my PC. I'm running an AMD Phenom II x4 (970 I think, will check later) 3.4Ghz, 8GB DDR2-667 RAM. I was also running a GTS-250 1GB card, with which I averaged 30fps on medium settings, dropping to 2-3 frames every few seconds. I've since upgraded to a GTX-760 2GB, which now bumps me up to 80-plus in-game.

Problem is, even with the new graphics card, I'm still suffering from frame drops into single-digit rates (down to 5-6fps), which is really ruining the experience for me...

When I upgraded the Graphics card I also did a fresh format and re-install of windows, installed the latest drivers for everything to boot.

I'm thinking that my woes might be tied to the fact that I'm still using DDR2-667 RAM.

While I am seriously considering a RAM-CPU-Motherboard upgrade over December, I'd like to hear if anybody else is experincing a similar issue, and what their setups are.

Also, do any of the techies here maybe know if it might be the RAM which is causing the frame bottlenecks?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: I've heard talk and theories of Unparking your CPU cores in windows 7 (I'm running Win7 64-bit) can help. I've also seen someone on the Planetside 2 forums mentioning that if you have large amounts of RAM (of which I have 8GB) that you can disable your Paging Files and this would net you a performance increase. I've yet to try either of those to though.

Edited by Grotoiler, 15 November 2013 - 06:28 AM.

[Catamount]

Normally RAm is irrelevant, but that's because normally we're all running DDR3.

Could slower DDR2 be causing your problem? Conceivably, yes. Is it possible for you to overclock the RAM and see if that makes a difference? If you could get that RAM to something close to DD2-800 at passable timings (maybe 5-5-5-15, lower ideally), and see if it helps, that would be a good indicator as to whether it's your problem.

Obviously replacing the MoBo/CPU/RAM altogether would alleviate the issue, so maybe it's a moot point if you plan on that anyways.

Edited by Catamount, 15 November 2013 - 06:34 AM.

[Shamous13]

unparking the cpu's only gives intel processors a gain due to the fact that they have half of the cores being "physical" cores and the other half being "virtual" cores where as AMD are all physical cores. See this write up http://www.xtremehar...e-201111226092/

[focuspark]

Shamous13, on 15 November 2013 - 06:32 AM, said:

unparking the cpu's only gives intel processors a gain due to the fact that they have half of the cores being "physical" cores and the other half being "virtual" cores where as AMD are all physical cores. See this write up http://www.xtremehar...e-201111226092/

Quoted for truth.

Any chance you have mixed memory types in the system? I've seen a lot of performance issues from people "upgrading" their RAM by adding more after the fact. Generally speaking, unless you really know what you're doing, RAM should homogeneous and purchased all at once; and completely replaced not "upgraded".

[Grotoiler]

Catamount, on 15 November 2013 - 06:29 AM, said:

Normally RAm is irrelevant, but that's because normally we're all running DDR3.

Could slower DDR2 be causing your problem? Conceivably, yes. Is it possible for you to overclock the RAM and see if that makes a difference? If you could get that RAM to something close to DD2-800 at passable timings (maybe 5-5-5-15, lower ideally), and see if it helps, that would be a good indicator as to whether it's your problem.

Obviously replacing the MoBo/CPU/RAM altogether would alleviate the issue, so maybe it's a moot point if you plan on that anyways.

color me stupefied! Thanks for the idea, though I have absolutely no idea what that means haha. I've never overclocked anything before, let alone understand the process. Thanks again for trying to help though!

focuspark, on 15 November 2013 - 11:35 AM, said:

Quoted for truth.

Any chance you have mixed memory types in the system? I've seen a lot of performance issues from people "upgrading" their RAM by adding more after the fact. Generally speaking, unless you really know what you're doing, RAM should homogeneous and purchased all at once; and completely replaced not "upgraded".

There could be. I added incrementally over the past few years, so there might be diferent frequencies floating around in there...

I'm not too tech savvy to be honest; I can replace components when the need arises, and understand some underlying principles in theory, but when it comes to further nuances of advanced technomancy and appeasing the machine-spirit, I draw a blank

[Tolkien]

Grotoiler, on 15 November 2013 - 01:22 PM, said:

color me stupefied! Thanks for the idea, though I have absolutely no idea what that means haha. I've never overclocked anything before, let alone understand the process. Thanks again for trying to help though!



There could be. I added incrementally over the past few years, so there might be diferent frequencies floating around in there...

I'm not too tech savvy to be honest; I can replace components when the need arises, and understand some underlying principles in theory, but when it comes to further nuances of advanced technomancy and appeasing the machine-spirit, I draw a blank

This info might be out of date but re: mixed ram types I think that is protected against by the bios. As I understand it ram boards have one tiny little chip on them (or used to) called the SPD or 'Serial Presence Detect' - see wiki http://en.wikipedia....presence_detect)

This chip tells the bios of the computer at start up what its capabilities are in terms of frequency and timing. Unless you've gone to 'pro' mode in your bios it should restrict the ram to run at the timings of the slowest stick in the system. Then again you might have to tell the bios to 'load defaults' after installing the new ram.... If it always listened to the SPD then overclocking ram wouldn't happen, but it does.

YMMV.

[Werewolf486 ScorpS]

NOTICE!!!

The core unpark utility is not specific to Intel and some people need to stop their AMD fan boy talking. I have proof this works on AMD with my buddies and their Faildozers (poking the bear). This utility is for systems running window because windows parks your cores to conserve power regardless of it being Intel or AMD! When your system is under a load that doesn't require all the cores windows parks them to save power and then when you need them windows will turn them on one at a time (Stutter) and then switch them off again (stutter) and then this repeats (stutter) through out game play. I now have a majority of my online buddies who have used this and the others just haven't remembered to do it. I used it with GREAT success on my old q9550s and buddies have used it on their AMD cpu's and removed most of the stutters if not all.


The next thing to do is to turn Shadows to low in your options/graphic settings/advanced area and watch your FPS stay more stable and the stutters happen generally when you zoom (slaw in MWO, nothing you can do).

I don't advise disabling the page file function, google it and you should understand that it will cause instability in programs running.

Edited by Werewolf486, 15 November 2013 - 03:01 PM.

[Catamount]

Unless added RAM becomes unstable (which usually results in crashes more than anything), mixed types shouldn't cause performance problems. The system will simply run the faster of your modules at the speed of the slowest. There was certainly a day and age when RAM was much more finicky about that sort of thing, but it was prior to the DDR2 days for the most part. I'm running G.Skill and Corsair RAM in my system now (two 4GB kits), and it's humming along nicely at 1333mhz. I wish it would hum along nicely at 1600mhz, but the Corsair RAM is a little finicky, and I'm too lazy to get it working.

Edit: Tolkien basically has it right

Quote

when it comes to further nuances of advanced technomancy and appeasing the machine-spirit, I draw a blank

Well there's your problem! Rule #1 with technology: don't learn your technology practices from the Imperium of Man! Praying to your machine is not going to make it work, anymore than it does with Comstar. It invariably leads to things breaking, lost knowledge, and occasional acts of mass murder.

Typically, asking questions works better

Edited by Catamount, 15 November 2013 - 04:06 PM.

[Gremlich Johns]

--> DDR2-667 RAM

One, it's DDR2 and 2) it's 667 (you should be at least 1066)

Your CPU is okay, but your RAM (and subsequently your mobo) are limiting your performance with this engine.

[Fuerchtegott]

core temp above 64° Celsius -> phenom down to 800 MHz -> temp below 50° your frame rate back to normal and repeat ...

[Sen]

Quote

When your system is under a load that doesn't require all the cores windows parks them to save power and then when you need them windows will turn them on one at a time (Stutter) and then switch them off again (stutter) and then this repeats (stutter)

There's a Breakfast Club joke in that there quote somewhere Especially since I can't remember ever actually HAVING that problem. (and I change computers like most people change clothes)

Since O/P has not overclocked his system AT ALL and is using an older chipset DDR2 quad core AMD, is it possible that in stock configuration the processor isn't able to keep up with fast changes? The other thought is, is it possible it's caused by communication delay to the GPU? [which I wouldn't think would be the case, I'm just throwing out ideas]

http://www.tomshardw...ntium,2366.html

Above link is for O/P. Even if you decide not to attempt to overclock your system, I'd STILL give it a read. The more you know about your equipment the more power you have over it. I BELIEVE It should be relevant to your processor.

Also, and this is brought up at least once in every thread like this: as a Just In Case, check your power options in control panel and make sure you're set to "High Performance". Depending on the system, this can either make a huge difference or none at all, but it's worth a shot.

Edited by Sen, 16 November 2013 - 07:35 AM.