My brother has been living with a crappy pc for some time now, but today he finally got a new rig. However, his first game wasn't really the best experience with his new pc. (hd 7870, 2500k, 8gb ram) We started up starcraft 2. With vertical sync on and the rest on high (AA off), he got around 55 fps. It dipped around that. With vsync off, he has around 80 fps. On custom battle he's been getting 10-20 fps and bad stuttering with aa on and off. His resolution is 1440x900 so it just seems...weird. His card should pull 60 fps imo (cpu: 2500k stock) Currently, he's feeling bad. He got a brand new comp and it still has problems like his old crappy pc. Can't really blame him. Could it be his monitor? It's kinda old and I had to use a dvi/vga adapter on the 7870. We installed a new windows, since his computer is brand new. First thing I did was download the sound, INF and usb3 driver from Asrock. Then I downloaded amd 12.8 and a belkin wireless driver. I ran Unigine Heaven yesterday and his gpu usage was usually 64% or 100%. Maximum gpu temp was 64C and max. cpu temp was 52. The benchmark ended with 40.8 fps and 10 minimum/108 max. The settings were all highest, except for the resolution. It was something like 1300x1020. I.ll try and upload his benchmark.
First of all: 1) What PSU? a bad/old/underpowered PSU can give 3D gaming issues. 2) R U kidding? he got a 2500k and not OCing? If he wasn't going to OC then he should have got the 2500, not the K version. OC that bitch to at least 4Ghz on all cores (and on custom maps you will have no issues), get a decent cooling (CM 212+/evo). I'm currently on 4.3Ghz and everything runs smooth. DISABLE ALL ENERGY EFFICIENCY **** ON BIOS (Except C1) AND WINDOWS (PUT POWER MODE: PERFORMANCE) 3) OC that VGA till it bleeds... get at least 1000mhz on that core. Use afterburner. 4) install latest Catalyst drivers + CAPs If everything else fails, it probably is a VGA issue. PS: at lower resolutions you will need mor CPU power. he would probably have less issues at 1080p, as it will be less CPU intensive, so, there's probably something holding on the CPU power. Check that out, squeeze it from bios and windows. remember W7 SP1 is needed to take advantage of AVX. I played SC2 with my 2500k @ 4.3 + my HD6800 (when it was only 1) and got constant 60fps, but it would dip sometimes when on a custom map with many ppl playing, its normal.
1) XFX pro 550W psu, it should be good enough 2)he has a CM 212 EVO. never said we wouldn't OC it, just wanted to test the system before OCing 3)it's a hd 7870 xfx double d, it should be oc'd high enough for his needs 4) I downloaded 12.8 package, but why do I need CAD? Is there a good guide out there for 2500k/p67 fatality performance? it's been a while since I OC'd.
Using high performance power mode now. Fps is better, but sc2 seems to have tiny 1/2 second freezes. Like clicking a unit from the base, or when the enemy attacks. There are multiple tiny freezes during the battle.
False alarm Installed tf2 and it ran butter smooth. I went to the SC2 forums and there's a huge thread with people having the same problem.
That seems more like a game issue. This is something i experienced with gta IV, are you using the latest SC2 version? Is he using an HDD or SSD? It could be a driver issue too. There are many guides for Ocing that i5 2500K I have one that i will give to ya later. My recommendation is to use the auto tuner, after it go to the bios, disable spread spectrum, disable al C3 and C6 steppings but not C1, turn BCLK back to 100 and use high profile preset for the voltage controls. Then use -0. 055v for the voltage so you don't have a fixed voltage all the time and don't hurt the transistors on the long run. Keep 4ghz on all cores as morewill probably overheat on that cooler, unless it has 2fans. You can keep lowering voltages until you find the lowest stable ones. Edit: glad you found the issue Edit #2: here's the guide I used for basics... http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/overclocking/39184-p67-sandy-bridge-overclocking-guide-beginners.html To test OC for long term stability use prime 95 (latest version) and let it run at least for 4 - 8 hs (in blend mode) to make sure you got a stable machine. To do the - or + 0.005v differences you can use IBT (intel burn test) in high for 5 to 10 passes. If it fails, you are sure it won't go past prime. Be careful ! IBT runs around 10ºC hotter than prime 95 and if you are not watching temps you can fry your cpu (it will probably hang your pc and shut down first, but it isn't healthy to run the cores around 85+ºC for more than a couple of mins) Use Core temp to check on temps. I run at 4.3Ghz with a coolermaster V8 at around 1.354 to 1.357v at max load and around 0.910 to 1.128v at idle and desktop/browsing use. All this with high profile set in bios. you can reach 4.3Ghz stable with 1.280v fixed voltage probably. Temps are around ambient temperature when idling and max temps in winter are around 60ºC to 65ºC and on summer around 70ºC to 76ºC on IBT. Gaming temps are usually 20ºC less than that.
Thanks poker I'll be OCing it tomorrow. Also disabled intel speedstep technology on bios. Someone said this should be better.
NP. Intel speedstep is quite useful as it allows the CPU to step down from the max speed to lower speeds when not necessary. It drains less power, generates less heat and it actually works quite well. Of course this is only when you OC below 4.5Ghz and are not looking for an extreme overclock. at very high frequencies it may cause instability.
that's worded a little strange, if cpu bottleneck leaves you at 55fps at a low resolution, 55 is all you will get from anything higher until the gpu reaches 100%, then the fps will go down further at lower resolutions, you run into cpu bottlenecks more, while higher resolutions can still run into them with things like lots of characters on screen (MMOs)
Yes, I didn't express myself correctly, was on my phone and hadn't rechecked what i wrote. What I meant is that at lower resolutions you will find yourself bottlenecked by the CPU instead of the GPU, most probably, and at higher resolutions you will find the limits of your GPU first. It is the norm nowadays to play at 1080p as a standard resolution on desktop monitors, I recommend he upgrades, a common LED panel is quite cheap. There's no need for more and there's too many reasons to list in here for a resolution upgrade, 1080p looks awesome.
:nerd: i prefer x1200, closer to the golden ratio, more room to work in windows, & 1080p fits perfectly if a game/console/movie is limited to it
Yeah I agree, that is why I said the the standard now is 1080p onwards. Anyway, it depends mostly on the country. As in my country we have a 16:9 ratio as standard, 1080p is the norm. 1920x1200p is 16:10 ratio, or 1600x1200 which is 4:3 I like the 4:3 for desktop work (office) but it is hideous for image/video. It IS great for 3D design as it distorts less.
cant stand 4:3, such a square (5:4 1280x1024 even worse), you still need some width for all the panels in your max/maya/photoshop/flash/etc apps i dont think it depends on the country anymore, the monitor manufacturers are just punks churning out 1080p only monitors with only a small amount of 16:10 x1200 (or larger ones) available
