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Geek Culture / Random FPS Drops on every 3D Application

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Silvester
19
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Joined: 7th Dec 2005
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 27th Dec 2011 10:52 Edited at: 27th Dec 2011 12:13
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Hello guys!

I've recently been replacing some very old components in my computer, which required an upgrade.. quite badly after 7 years. And after spending a decent amount of cash I managed to acquire the following components:

M4A785RD-V EVO Motherboard.
AMD Phenom II X4 955 @ 3.22ghz
4x 2GB Corsair DDR3 RAM @ 1333Mhz
Nvidia GTX 560 Ti 1GB, Overclocked at 900Mhz factory default
Cooler Master Real Power M620 Power Supply @ 620Watts

My first issue with this card was, that my screen doesn't support anything over 1440*900, the funny thing is.. This card does NOT appear to support this resolution by default, so I had to look up the timing of my screen, and add the resolution and proper refresh timing manually, no biggie.. It works just fine now.

Now this setup seems perfect, you'd imagine. And it is, so long as I don't ever use any 3D Application. Unfortunately it appears that every time I work with anything 3D, my computer runs fine at first. But after about 3-5 minutes of actively playing, my Framerate drops from about 120+(Or 60, when Vertical Sync is on) all the down down to 10-20 for 20 or so seconds, or more. Now something this fixes itself by forcing the game or application to load a new object in memory, or remove one.. But most of the time it is completely random and appears/disappears out of nowhere.

I'm sure you can all agree with me, that this is quite frustrating. Now, I've spent the past four days taking it apart, re-installing windows disabling IPv6, disabling services and fiddling with all sorts of settings, layouts memory tests and whatnot, but NOTHING comes out as a functional fix, or broken hardware. Here's a list of things I tried:

Hardware Related:
Taken the computer apart, blew everything clean and carefully put it back together to ensure there were no faulty connections.
Ran various memory tests.

Software Related:
Tried various versions of the Direct X Redistributable.

Operating System Related:
Re-Installed Windows. (From three seperate CDs, to be sure it wasn't a corrupt installation package)
Installed Linux.
Installed Windows XP.
Disabled IPv6. (Apparently a common cause of lag on some computers)
Disabled the WLAN Background checks Windows does.
Disabled RAC, which supposedly checks for validity in certain processes.
Disabled various features to do with LAN Background checks.

Driver Related:
Install the Drivers Supplied with the card itself.
Install the Latest Drivers from Nvidia.
Install the Latest Beta Drivers from Nvidia.
Change the drivers to work on Performance mode.
Tried various timing variables for the refresh ratio.
Fiddled with various settings of Anti-Aliasing.

Game/Application Related:
Change the program's settings. (Sadly, High or Low.. Everything has the same issue, it runs fine and then plummets to the ground)

As you can see, I've tried quite a few solutions.. And I've googled a ton more, that did not appear to apply to my computer, however. But now I am completely out of ideas, and lost. In the years I've been working on computers, and fabricated them for the company I work at, I have never seen or heard of this issue, aside from faulty drivers or an improperly connected video card, but this is not the case here. Here's a list of the games I have tried this on:

Borderlands
Skyrim
Star Wars: The Old Republic
World of Warcraft
Bastion
Bioshock 2
Guild Wars
F.E.A.R.
Oblivion
Morrowind
Delta Force (The original)

And Applications:

Milkshape 3D
Realm Crafter
Dark Basic Pro Applications
FPS Creator

Here's a heat reading of my game while playing Skyrim, Highest possible settings and.. well, it's quite darn hot. I could invest in getting a new case, to be fair my current is 13 years old and modified to hold my motherboard and other components, but there's no in-case fans and I believe the cooling is way off, if perhaps not even non-existant. BUT before I would purchase a new case, some new cooling etc.. I'm not sure if this will increase my performance all that much, because it shouldn't affect performance, in my own experience.. And my old computer ran at similar temperatures, without any issues, aside from the fact it was vastly outdated.



And here is my DXDiag, in case anyone would like to view it:


If anyone would be able to help, I would much appreciate it.. I'm completely stumped, and so are the people I work with. And to be honest, I do not have the money to start randomly replacing components again to see if it works.

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MrValentine
AGK Backer
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Joined: 5th Dec 2010
Playing: FFVII
Posted: 27th Dec 2011 12:04 Edited at: 27th Dec 2011 12:05
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Let me see if I got this right... you quite clearly just told us you are using non legitimate windows copies... or did I read that part wrong... nothing gets me more annoyed that hearing that...

Also DDR2??? WHY?

Haha typical AMD running at stupid temperatures as ever... get yourself a better cpu cooler... thats likely why you got frame drops... remember not all apps render using the gpu.
Take Counter Strike Source as a good example of this.

EDIT

e typo...

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Silvester
19
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Joined: 7th Dec 2005
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 27th Dec 2011 12:16 Edited at: 27th Dec 2011 12:19
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Quote: "Let me see if I got this right... you quite clearly just told us you are using non legitimate windows copies... or did I read that part wrong... nothing gets me more annoyed that hearing that..."


To be fair, I do HAVE a legitimate home premium copy laying around, the problem is.. I wanted to know if my installation DVD was borked or not, so I grabbed a few copies elsewhere in the meanwhile. Is it legal? No, but does it serve it's purpose until resolved.. Yep. Not the best idea ever, but beside the point for now.

Quote: "Also DDR2??? WHY?"

Typo, it's DDR3.

Quote: "Haha typical AMD running at stupid temperatures as ever... get yourself a better cpu cooler... thats likely why you got frame drops... remember not all apps render using the gpu.
Take Counter Strike Source as a good example of this."

I realise this, however I wanted some more input before I spent ~140 on a new case and proper cooling.. My wallet's quite empty as it is already.

Thanks for the information though, I've already spotted some stuff I'd likely get either way, this just means I'll have to get it as soon as possible.

I've been looking into some of my books, and records on the internet.. And it appears that the heat my computer is causing, DOES bottleneck the performance as it's triggering a fail-safe or two.. maybe even three.
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MrValentine
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Playing: FFVII
Posted: 27th Dec 2011 12:20
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Good lad...

Yeah figured it was a typo lol... hows the ti card... I had one of the early ti cards... they were ace...

Just get a good cooler for now... preferably a heat pipe based one

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Silvester
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Location: Netherlands
Posted: 27th Dec 2011 12:23
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Actually, I was considering ditching my entire case, and re-working it with a liquid cooling system. Why? Don't know, it sounds nice. I found some interesting deals on the supplier my work uses, and I might just end up taking up on them.

The card is great, it's a neat mid-range card aside from my current issues. I've been able to run all the games I have on the maximum settings, there's a few moments where it drops from 60 to 40fps when a lot is going on with V-Sync on, but hardly anything bothersome.
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bitJericho
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Joined: 9th Oct 2002
Location: United States
Posted: 27th Dec 2011 12:35
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Yep, the heat is probably causing the problems. Make sure you've installed the heatsink properly on the cpu, and if you replace the heatsink on your video card, make sure that's set correctly too.

86 degrees is rediculously hot. You'd probably be fine just getting a couple nice (big) case fans.


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Silvester
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Posted: 27th Dec 2011 12:52 Edited at: 27th Dec 2011 12:55
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I would, but my case is well over 13 years old and I'm running out of space in it. There's no space for fans, and no space left for anything else. So I figured I'd go and get the following components, once my bills are paid.. Hopefully by tommorow:

CPU Cooling (Water)
Case (Comes with two pre-installed fans from my supplier)

The heatsink on my GPU is fine, as in a PC here at work it appears to run like a charm at 37 degrees. So I'm leaving that as-is for the time being. Those two pieces of equipment will set me back about €70, so it's not all that bad.. Also replacing my old DVD-Reader/Writer due to the noise it makes.. Setting me back about €90 total, not too bad I'd say.

The only thing that saddens me, is that I have to part with my Half Life 2 themed computer I spent the past few years fiddling about with. I liked the look of it.. So I'm hanging the side panel with the logo and whatnot on my wall I guess.
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charger bandit
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Joined: 10th Nov 2009
Location: Slovenia
Posted: 28th Dec 2011 14:24
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Don't overkill with water cooling,thats just silly. Just buy a decent 30 bucks CPU cooler and a slightly modern case with front and back fan mounting places. That water cooling won't be much better than any average CPU cooler.


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