Framerate probs with an AMD Phenom II

S

Scrobo

Geek Trainee
Hi everyone.

I'll post my specs first.

Gigabyte 890GPA board with AMD X4 PhenomII 955 Black Edition @3.2Ghz/4GB DDR3/Powercolor Radeon 5770/Hitachi Sata3/Realtek onboard audio (optical)/Windows 7 Ultimate 32

That should cover it. Now. I've been playing Hot Pursuit and Burnout Paradise lately. I've been running them at 1920x1080 with 8xAA and all details set to high. I never had a problem when I was running a... well.. let's say "freely obtained" version of each game. but after purchasing the discs... after a few months I have found the game lagging during fast moving scenes. Especially in Burnout. I've dropped from the game to check the vid card temp (running around 75-85) and the ambient case temp is around 40 degrees. (Not sure of CPU temps.)

I've disabled all startup items like uTorrent, MSO and Windows 7 gadgets. I downed the game to 1280X720... It still skips. It's only a little at first but gets worse and worse. Any ideas why I am having probs like this?
 
Scrobo said:
I never had a problem when I was running a... well.. let's say "freely obtained" version of each game.
Click to expand...
Got it. Well, if it didn't happen before and is only happening now with the purchased versions, it could be because of a bad installation. But a bad installation from both game CD's might not be a coincidence...
Your specs are definitely sufficient enough to run these games with no problem. In the mean time, download ATI's latest drivers for your vid card and Gigabyte's latest chipset drivers.
And if you can, take a screenshot of both the Task Manager>Perfomance (tab) and Temperature Monitor software you may be using.
 
Yes. I went to AMDs website and updated the drivers for the video card then tried Gigabyte's site for any updates for drivers for the board. Everything seems to be up to date. Although even after installing the new driver for the video card Windows 7 constantly gives me a warning to "Install my Video Card Drivers". I have no clue why. They've been updated directly from AMD.
 
I just though of something... it could be that you're AntiVirus is scanning for virsuses? (if you have an antivirus). Lets see, get SpeedFan right here. Take a screenshot before you run the game, and another screenshot while running the game (preferrably while its lagging). And take a screenshot of your task manager like i stated above.
 
Hi,

Your cd/dvd drive might also be a cause of the problem. If the games before were running straight from the hard drive, but now has to access data during the game from the CD, the drive may be slow to spin up the disk to read it. I've played some games where the game will freeze while the CD cycles up to get more data.
 
Found the problem. Thanks to your post scorp65 about SpeedFan. I found the CPU temp running at 69deg in idle. Removed the cpu and heat sink and got some arctic silver. Removed the silicone based gunk from the chip and used the arctic. Now the fan slows down a lot too. :) Still have a 200hr break in period for the gunk and idle temp is already down to 60deg.
 
Looks like I am still running 75-78 while gaming. Hot Pursuit did skip a few times. I read that the makers of Arctic Silver suggest the DOT application over the SPREAD application when applying the compund to the cap. Any merit behind this advice?

Desktop-Burning.png


Here is a screenshot of my desktop while burning a DVD. The temp goes up into the 70s. (Yes I am burning the series SOAP. I still find it quite humorous. Please no comments on my taste for TV humor lol)
 
So I was still getting it too hot. It started skipping again on all my games and would also lock up playing HD movies. I switched the monitoring software to Gigabyte's EASYTUNE for checking the core temps. The Arctic Silver was not doing what it was supposed to do. So I went on to their website and they suggested the DOT method for my CPU.

So I cleaned everything up again and put a drop the size of a grain of rice and applied the heat sink. And what a difference. While gaming the core runs around 50deg. MB temp is around 35deg. And the fan is much much quieter. Placed t under load zipping up 4 files at once and the temp never dipped above 51. I would like to invest in a silent cooling system but this is EXTREMELY tolerable. I ran Need for Speed for a bit and checked the temps and captured the screen.

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Thanks for everyone's help.
 
Great! Glad to hear i was of some help. Thermal Paste can make a big difference. I'm using Arctic Silver my self. ;)
 
What's your cpu cooler? Have you tried water cooled solutions for your problem, + thermal paste.. or a new cpu cooler.. Since your overclocking your cpu :D
 
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