Phenom II X4 940 being "slow"

[Betatest]

Hey there guys, I have been having "problems" with my PC, in games I feel like the cpu is being slow. Some of you may remember me from before, I was having problems with MMOs, now, the problem is MOBA games (LoL, HoN). I overclocked it to 3.4GHZ but it does not seem to help, my FPS still drops to 40ish in big fights and I have been wondering, is it really caused by my cpu? Would it be better with i3-2100, because I am not planning on playing anything else in the next 3 years, DotA 2 is coming out "soon" and I am planning on playing that for loooong time. I also have GTX 460 1GB.

 

[Rhoxed]

full pc specs please? i play both of these games and have no problem of keeping 60+ fps with my chips. Could be video card related, or even HD related.

 

[Betatest]

As mentioned Phenom II X4 940 OCed 3.4GHZ, GTX 460 1GB, 4GB 800MHZ RAM, MA770-UD3, W7-64bit, now the problem is, my fps is usually at 60 (vsync on), but whenever there is fight going on, it drops to 40ish.

 

[nyker96]

it could just be your graphics card, here's how to find out, put the game to lowest detail, 1024x768 then run it, see if you still get 40ish at fights, if so, then your cpu needs upgrade. If you getting higher fps now, then your gpu needs to be upgraded. Just a way to find your bottleneck.

 

[Betatest]

I am pretty sure that GTX 460 isnt the bottleneck in those games, they are way more heavy on the cpu, I was having the same fps drops with my old GTS 250.

I am also playing in 1680x1050, it is not even 1080i, so I am certain that my 460 is enough.

 

[trollolo]

you should detail your starting items and your late game build focus. that is crucial to system performance

 

[gmaster456]

That actually sounds pretty normal. FPS drops should be expected during times when a lot is going on.

 

[sm625]

GTX 460 is definitely enough. And so is your cpu. I have an athlon that slowed down on me and it turned out to be cool n quiet kicking in when its not supposed to. Try disabling it in the bios.

 

[Rhoxed]

Try turning off vsync in LoL or something, and run a game - what do your fps look like?

I just tried mine with vsync on (i dont use it) 60 solid and dipped to mid 50's in large fights. with vsync off i get ~110 fps with dips to ~80 fps.

 

[toyota]

if your lowest dip was actually 80 fps with vsync off then you should not be dipping below 60 with it on.

 

[(sic)Klown12]

if your lowest dip was actually 80 fps with vsync off then you should not be dipping below 60 with it on.

In theory, you're correct. But games do sometime have problems with V-sync(could stem from driver problems?) and can result in little oddities like he's describing. I don't play the game he's talking about, so I can't say if that's it though.

 

[sangyup81]

Sometimes this can happen if your Phenom II isn't completely stable. If you lower your overclock a bit and it actually gets faster than that's probably the case.

For me, I had issues with loading times on SCII until I got it to a more stable setting

 

[Betatest]

I was having the same exact problem even at stock speed (3.0GHZ) thats why I tried to overlock it. I will try to disable vsync and see how it goes.

 

[Imouto]

Or maybe the game is a complete shit and all your hardware is fine.

 

[zlejedi]

I solved similar problem in World of Tanks where fpses could drop into 20s on X6 1055T by replacing it with 2500K Now it rarely goes into 30 fps range.

 

[Betatest]

Well, it happens in LoL and in HoN, so it is not the game.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

40FPS should be playable.

 

[podspi]

Try playing in windowed mode w/ the task manager up. If one or more of the CPU cores are maxed out, you have found your bottleneck. Might also want to resource manager to make sure the CPU is hitting 3.4ghz (no thermal throttling, etc). As others have said though, 40FPS should be playable, and it is normal for framerates to drop when lots is going on.

 

[Despoiler]

I run a Phenom II 940BE CnQ disabled, AMD 5850 @ 1920x1080, vsync on, at stock cpu and video card clocks and I never get below 60fps in LoL. It's not the chip, but something native to your rig that is the issue.

 

[Tuna-Fish]

40FPS should be playable.

This depends very much on the person. I have no trouble with dips to 20, but I know someone who gets very real headaches from sustained fps below 50, and is completely incapable of playing any of the console titles that aim for constant 30 fps.

Just because it's playable for you, don't assume that it's playable for him.

 

[toyota]

40FPS should be playable.

that's not the point. if his system should not be dipping that low for that game then there is an issue.

 

[sm625]

I run a Phenom II 940BE CnQ disabled, AMD 5850, vsync on, at stock cpu and video card clocks and I never get below 60fps in LoL. It's not the chip, but something native to your rig that is the issue.

If you could try something I'm sure it would help the OP. Try manually clocking your cpu down to around 2GHz max. I'm fairly certain you will still get 60fps even at just 2GHz. But if not then we might get an idea of the magnitude of his slowdown. I suspect it is going all the way down to 800 MHz. AMD and their mobo vendors just dont have CnQ nailed down quite yet, and I bet its the same with BD too.

 

[Betatest]

So guys you are basically saying that Cool n Quiet might be causing it? I do not even know what it does, isnt it for underclocking or something?

I do not really know, thanks for help tho.

 

[Imouto]

I have a Q6600 at stock with a 5850 and LoL runs perma 60 fps so the problem isn't your CPU.

 

[Despoiler]

If you could try something I'm sure it would help the OP. Try manually clocking your cpu down to around 2GHz max. I'm fairly certain you will still get 60fps even at just 2GHz. But if not then we might get an idea of the magnitude of his slowdown. I suspect it is going all the way down to 800 MHz. AMD and their mobo vendors just dont have CnQ nailed down quite yet, and I bet its the same with BD too.

I disable CnQ for a reason. If it is enabled it doesn't correctly gauge the number of cores and clockrate needed to get max FPS. It will do stuff like shut down two cores and give me 2 cores at 1400mhz. In those cases I would see a lot lower FPS in a given game or it won't react fast enough to increased load so you would get a slowdown in fights until it caught up. I believe BD's CnQ is a lot more intelligent so it shouldn't do silly stuff like this.