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Fatboi1

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I've been trying to figure this problem out and I think my CPU is the culprit. The problem is while the game is playing, the frame rate(Splinter Cell Blacklist's the latest game to do this) will drop very low and then goes back to playing smooth only to do it again after a few minutes. I put the game in window mode and had HWmonitor and the task manager open and my temps seem normal based on what I'm doing(70c for the CPU and 75-85c GPU). I noticed when the performance dropped, the CPU usage dropped from 70% or higher to as low as 30% and then when it went back to normal, so did the CPU usage. The process affinity for the game in the task manager has all cores being used so it's not that. My CPU is a FX4100 OC'd to 4.1GHZ(stock 3.6ghz).
 

Orbital-Fetus

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I've been trying to figure this problem out and I think my CPU is the culprit. The problem is while the game is playing, the frame rate(Splinter Cell Blacklist's the latest game to do this) will drop very low and then goes back to playing smooth only to do it again after a few minutes. I put the game in window mode and had HWmonitor and the task manager open and my temps seem normal based on what I'm doing(70c for the CPU and 75-85c GPU). I noticed when the performance dropped, the CPU usage dropped from 70% or higher to as low as 30% and then when it went back to normal, so did the CPU usage. The process affinity for the game in the task manager has all cores being used so it's not that. My CPU is a FX4100 OC'd to 4.1GHZ(stock 3.6ghz).


sounds like you found a direct correlation between FPS and CPU performance.
it also sounds like this problem is not just with one game.

your instincts may be correct and your CPU is crapping out when dealing with graphics.
 

Fatboi1

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sounds like you found a direct correlation between FPS and CPU performance.
it also sounds like this problem is not just with one game.

your instincts may be correct and your CPU is crapping out when dealing with graphics.
The thing is this started happening on games that played fine before. Just now I booted up GTA IV and played for about 15 minutes and strangely it didn't do it so this problem is random. On splinter cell though it's noticeable. Basically there's nothing that seems to trigger the fps drop in game, it just happens literally in intervals of minutes. It'll be smooth as butter, then drop down to like 20fps for about 10 seconds and then shoot back up to normal performance. I can't quite tell if it's temp related. I'm going to try putting my CPU clock speed back to default.
 

Orbital-Fetus

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The thing is this started happening on games that played fine before. Just now I booted up GTA IV and played for about 15 minutes and strangely it didn't do it so this problem is random. On splinter cell though it's noticeable. Basically there's nothing that seems to trigger the fps drop in game, it just happens literally in intervals of minutes. It'll be smooth as butter, then drop down to like 20fps for about 10 seconds and then shoot back up to normal performance. I can't quite tell if it's temp related. I'm going to try putting my CPU clock speed back to default.


trouble shooting is a bytch but it makes you more knowledgeable and you will be a greater asset to the PC community when you find your problem and are able to share it.

good luck and report back.
 

yseJ

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Fatboi1

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trouble shooting is a bytch but it makes you more knowledgeable and you will be a greater asset to the PC community when you find your problem and are able to share it.

good luck and report back.
So I put my CPU back to clock speeds and fired up Splinter Cell again and it didn't have any random drops during the 30 minute or so test i did. I was in the same area and I tried it in windowed mode and full screen and it didn't happen. I tried upping the AA to SSAA and MSAA 4x and even though my GPU usage went up it didn't get choppy like it would before. :yeshrug:
 

2gunsup

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So I put my CPU back to clock speeds and fired up Splinter Cell again and it didn't have any random drops during the 30 minute or so test i did. I was in the same area and I tried it in windowed mode and full screen and it didn't happen. I tried upping the AA to SSAA and MSAA 4x and even though my GPU usage went up it didn't get choppy like it would before. :yeshrug:

Sounds like an unstable overclock. Did you run Prime95 or Linx for a few hours after doing it?
 

Fatboi1

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Sounds like an unstable overclock. Did you run Prime95 or Linx for a few hours after doing it?
That was a long time ago probably early this year or last year when I first built it. I remember I kept getting blue screens in Prime 95 and the CPU temp would get high.
 

2gunsup

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That was a long time ago probably early this year or last year when I first built it. I remember I kept getting blue screens in Prime 95 and the CPU temp would get high.

Which probably means it was unstable. If you can't pass several hours of Prime95 without a BSOD then your system is unstable, even if you can run games, browse, etc without a crash as you may have already noticed.
 
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