Software has to "bed in" on my computer
<div class="IPBDescription">And I don't understand it?!</div>Right, my spec:
i7 950 @ 3.07GhZ
GTX 570 1.28GB (263.09 drivers)
8GB RAM (4x2GB)
Win7 64bit
Clean system, only problem I notice is high temperatures (GFX up to 80 when stressed, CPU up to 70).
When I first played Crysis 2 my frame-rate averaged 35fps, regardless of the graphics settings. I tried the usual- updating drivers, checking for spyware etc- but nothing helped. One day, as if by magic, the frame-rate shot up to 80+. The game hadn't been patched, I hadn't changed any settings. Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, I didn't question it strange though it was.
This week I bought the brilliant BRINK. Up until today, my FPS averaged 45. Again, updated drivers but it didn't help. Booted the computer up today- and I had changed nothing since I last played it- and now I average ~70fps.
I AM SO CONFUSED AND I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE.
Any suggestions?!
i7 950 @ 3.07GhZ
GTX 570 1.28GB (263.09 drivers)
8GB RAM (4x2GB)
Win7 64bit
Clean system, only problem I notice is high temperatures (GFX up to 80 when stressed, CPU up to 70).
When I first played Crysis 2 my frame-rate averaged 35fps, regardless of the graphics settings. I tried the usual- updating drivers, checking for spyware etc- but nothing helped. One day, as if by magic, the frame-rate shot up to 80+. The game hadn't been patched, I hadn't changed any settings. Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, I didn't question it strange though it was.
This week I bought the brilliant BRINK. Up until today, my FPS averaged 45. Again, updated drivers but it didn't help. Booted the computer up today- and I had changed nothing since I last played it- and now I average ~70fps.
I AM SO CONFUSED AND I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE.
Any suggestions?!
Comments
Don't know what the problem is.
That's what I thought as it's only 650w.
But it doesn't come and go, it just improves and stays there. The system is solid too, not a single crash yet (touch wood).
I know crysis 1 did this, and battlefield 2 did something similar.
--Scythe--
This
And update the BIOS and check BIOS settings, run PC check for any hardware failures, also check your disk fragmentation as steam games can defrag themselves if you right click the game in your library.
hand down my pants -- I got your back.
Are you using the stock cooler or just not applied thermal paste or something?
A framerate of exactly 60 generally means you're running with vertical sync enabled. Not always, but usually.
Portal 2 also slows down the framerate to your monitor's refresh rate if you turn on the power saving options.
What resolution are you running at? (completely underestimated yet crucial information when talking about framerate)
Also the Nvidia drivers aren't quite up to date.
70C sounds very high for your CPU temperature, but after checking it seems i7s just run really hot. Investing in good quality thermal paste is reported to reduce the temperature by 10C or so. If you are using one, investing in a non-stock cooler would further improve this.
A framerate of exactly 60 generally means you're running with vertical sync enabled. Not always, but usually.
Portal 2 also slows down the framerate to your monitor's refresh rate if you turn on the power saving options.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thanks for in the information
maybe the game didn't wanna dish out all the fps's's's's'ss's to any old scrub and it was waiting for you to prove yourself.
or perhaps it's some sort of built-in sill enhancement tool training you to play with low fps and then letting you loose with higher fps so you can really 8dom. :O
So I let this die as the problem seemed to disappear, but it popped up again a few days ago as Bad Company 2 hovered around 35-40fps. The PC had been on a while, so I turned it off for the night and tried it again the next day straight form booting. It went back up to 80-120fps, so I'm thinking it's:
1. Temperature problem. After the problem I ran a temperature recording program. I found the following:
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->cpu max = 95deg. (Bad Company 2)
cpu idle = ~40deg
gpu max = 86deg.
gpu idel = 60deg.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That seems worryingly hot. I set the program to beep if the CPU hit 95deg, which it did so I turned it off. I'd bet it could hit 100 degres and then the CPU would throttle back? No stability issues yet but I've banned myself from any games until I sort the problem. Don't wanten to shorten the i7's life span.
2. I'm running an ancient PCI SoundBlaster XFi card. So old it's got to be close to being called a legacy device. Long shot, but wondering if it causes conflicts every now and again? A google seems to return lots of results about Creative's bad drivers. It wasn't designed for Win7.
3. An even longer shot but maybe the PSU fails to squirt its juice constantly? It's branded (CoolerMaster I think) so would hope it wasn't the problem, but I have had bad experiences with them on my last computer (2 Antecs blew up so I won't touch them again!)
I'm assuming it's more likely to be a temperature issue, so I've spent £30 on a huge heatsink+fan for the CPU and a couple of 120mm fans.
More specifically, do some searches and find out what the temperature ranges for your processor are. My E8400 for instance counts as "warm" at the 60-61 C it reaches under maximum load, and is "hot" at 65+. 95 C would be far too hot.
tl; dr: Lots of vagueness.
Edit: Bit more info. Again, pertains to Core2 processors. May still apply to I7s.
There are two types of sensors in the processor, tcase and tjunction. The sensor for tcase is situated inside the processor die, inbetween the cores. The sensors for tjunction are located within each core, so you should have as many tjunction values as you have cores.
tcase will usually be a lower value than tjunction under load, as the sensor isn't situated directly among all the electronics generating the heat. If you're unsure of what value you're measuring for your CPU temperature, it could be tcase. TRy to figure out what tcase max is for your processor, because with Core2 processors at least it was lower than tjunction max. If tcase is at 95 C and tjunction max is 110, overheating is not a possibility to be ruled out.
But the real gist of it still this: Try to figure out what exactly the temperature limits and expected temperatures of your processor are. Because it's impossible to say otherwise. And if you can unravel the whole tcase/tjunction mess, even better.
New CPU Cooler & Arctic Silver Thermal Paste with a new PSU would be a good idea. Also disable any overclocking if you have any.
I'm starting with the cooling (an Arctic Freezer 13 + Arcting thermal paste + 2 120mm fans).
I'll monitor the temps after I get the parts. If I'm still having performance problems I'll have to send the PSU back. Hope it won't come to that though as it was part of the tower case so would be a pain to sort!
Out of curiosity- does everyone else put their PC in an out-of-the-way place- under the desk, in the corner in my case?
I ask as I've had problems with temperatures using stock HSF for the last couple of upgrades. Whilst other people also say stock HSFs are poop, no-one seems to have it to the extent I am. Wondering if putting it in a corner makes heat collection extra worse.
So I let this die as the problem seemed to disappear, but it popped up again a few days ago as Bad Company 2 hovered around 35-40fps. The PC had been on a while, so I turned it off for the night and tried it again the next day straight form booting. It went back up to 80-120fps, so I'm thinking it's:
....
....
I'm assuming it's more likely to be a temperature issue, so I've spent £30 on a huge heatsink+fan for the CPU and a couple of 120mm fans.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yep, it is a temperature problem. When the CPU gets very hot it throttles and that would explain the low performance. If it was a PSU-Problem, your PC would just freeze, restart or shutdown. 95°C are not ok. My 125W Athlon 6000+ would get a maximum of 55° when i used the Arctic freezer 64. Now I'm using the Scythe Mugen2 (in a different case though) and the max temp. is 46°C, idle 32°C.
Your CPU has a TDP of 130W! <strike>An Arctic freezer is actually too small</strike> although it would do ok at high revs. Make sure you get a good heatsink/cooler. A Thermalright HR-02 Macho has a pretty decent price-performance ratio. Make sure the hot air gets out of the case - a case with 2 fans next to the CPU Heatsink (one in the back, one in the top) will do. Also the Graphics card should be cooled, a fan in the side-wall of the case can help, but it isn't a must.
Place your PC wherever you want just make sure it gets enough air, and can push air outside. I'd estimate a distance of 10 cm to a wall would be enough.
Could you make a photo of your PC's bowels?
Hopy ###### that's insane. No wonder it's hot.
Sorry for the poor image quality- ipad camera is poop!
<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/43/imageuqd.jpg/" target="_blank">Before I upgraded the fan</a> *Click rotate left once on imageshack
<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/29/image1djl.jpg/" target="_blank">After upgrading the fan</a>
<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/9/image2urm.jpg/" target="_blank">The 2 120mm fans</a>. I was going to take your advice Zeno and fit one on top but I forget this is a new-age PC case that has the PSU at the bottom. I figure hot air rises so a fan on top would just push hot air back down? For now I've mounted them on the side.
Idle temps remain the same as before (40 CPU, 60 GPU). I'm hoping the computer thinks that's a good hold speed and so isn't taxing the fans too much. Will give Bad Company 2 a go and report back.
P.S. The 120mm fans have a large + small connector. I forget which one allows the speed to be adjusted and went for the big 4-pin one as bigger = better :D
[EDIT]
Ok comparison of before/after temps (after temps tested on a warm day, ~30deg)
<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1-->old;
cpu max = 95deg. (BC2)
cpu idle = ~40deg
gpu max = 86deg.
gpu idel = 60deg.
---
new;
cpu max = 65deg.
cpu idle = ~40deg
gpu max = 86deg.
gpu idel = 60deg.<!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->
I know I shouldn't scoff at dropping cpu max temp by 30deg., but I think I'm a little disappointed that that's at stock speed so I guess I won't be able to overclock it (i7 950 @ 3.06GHz)
I have one of these new age PC cases too :P
The Top fan should be set so it blows hot air out of the case, the back fan is also an exhaust fan. Your 2 side-fans are currently set so they blow out.
The side fans aren't really important however, in some cases they have no effect at all (sometimes). In your case i would suggest you leave the lower side-fan installed (i would turn it around, so it blows inside the case and delivers fresh air for your GPU, but you can experiment with this and see what's better, in or out-ward airflow). The Upper side-fan should go back into the top and blow out. The Fans on the front of the case should blow in (they probably do already).
Silly question, but did you use thermal compound? (I ask because the idle temperature seems quite high indeed)
The connectors ...
How many wires go in the large ones, how many in the small ones? It seems there is a black wire but i can't really tell from the photo. The difference is: the small ones can be connected to the mainboard and maybe the mainboard can even control them (if it supports it). The big connectors are for direct connection to the PSU - in this case they won't be regulated and run at max speed all the time.
If there are 3 wires going into the small connectors, you can read the fan speed if your mainboard supports it. If there are just 2 you can't.
I'll change the fans aroud on the weekend- thanks!
Also, fitting the fan on the top, switch the fan to blow air OUT the top, and it will suck the heat out the top. Not blow it inside (unless you fit the fan the wrong way round!)
Also, fitting the fan on the top, switch the fan to blow air OUT the top, and it will suck the heat out the top. Not blow it inside (unless you fit the fan the wrong way round!)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Not <i>even</i> for NS2? Tbh overclocking for NS2 is pointless until the network performance has been optimised.
There is of course a little game called Battlefield 3 coming out soon.
But yea this is also to make sure I can get playable frame rates with the upcoming games:
BF3
Deus Ex HR
Witcher 2 (I know it's been out a while but only just ordered it)
As well as some others I shouldn't have a problem with (DotA 2, RO2, etc)