I'm running an FX 8350 with a mild 4.4GHz oc coupled to an MSI Gaming 780 Ti and can't seem to play demanding games such as Crysis 3, Farcry 3, Metro 2033 Redux, and Crysis 2 Maldo 4.0 mod at a consistent framerate. Framerates are dropping at random while gpu utilization never exceeds 70% while the fps remain below 55fps. At times the gpu usage will drop down to 24% dragging the fps to 18. So my fps stay around 55 while the gpu usage is hung at around 70% unless it stutters at which point it plummets to around 24% dragging the framerate to 18. I am testing with v-sync off in both the game and drivers/Nvidia control panel.
I have a G10 Kraken hooked to an H90 so the temp never exceeds 55 degrees even with an overclock of 1234MHz so it’s not thermal throttling. I’ve removed all overclocks; along with the Nvidia drivers completely, then rolled back to Windows 7. I also unparked all the cpu cores in the registry as well as disabling power saving features in the bios. I have replaced the Motherboard which was originally an Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 to a (downgrade) ASRock 990FX Extreme 3. I’ve replaced/tested the ram and cpu. Upgraded the psu from a Rosewell Hive 750 bronze to an Evga gold rated Supernova 1000W and had a friend of mine test the 780 Ti on his rig. He also has a 780 Ti and tested it with Dragon Age and for a few hours over two days longest session being 4 hours and said it was good.
I’ve been in IT for nearly 8 years now but this is my first gaming/homemade tower so you won’t insult me with any fix suggestions. I’ve been in consoles b/c traditionally they have been cheaper. With this new gen of consoles I wasn’t impressed so I decided to build my own budget gaming rig, something we can all agree with.
I’ve had an issue with the front case headers since I’ve mad the system. The Fractal R4 has a three speed fan switch, two usb 2 ports and two usb 3.0 ports. I cannot use the fan switch while the system is running at all, when I do the system freezes (no BSoD just a freeze which won’t respond until a forced power off). Same with the usb ports but are a bit more random. I’ve contacted Fractal about this issue and they have shipped replacement parts but the issue remains through two motherboards and two PSU’s. Originally I had an R9 280X which performed flawlessly even with the weird short issue; it played Crysis 3 better than my 780 Ti is now. I’m not entirely convinced that it’s a case issue. Tonight I will disconnect all the front panel ports except the power button and test again, just weird the 280X worked fine with the front panel issue and the 780 Ti won’t , any other ideas?
System Specs-
OS:Win 8.1 x64 Pro & WMC
Hardware:
Fractal Design Define R4 http://amzn.com/B008HD3CTI
ASRock 990FX Extreme 3 http://amzn.com/B005POPQZA
AMD FX-8350 http://amzn.com/B009O7YUF6
Two G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB DDR3 1866 http://amzn.com/B006L4MRS2
Two CORSAIR Hydro Series H90's http://amzn.com/B00B4OCWDE
Tuniq TX-4 High Performance Thermal Grease (on cpu and gpu) http://amzn.com/B00405DHG0
G10 Kraken GPU cooler http://amzn.com/B00ITTFO8M
MSI GTX 780Ti GAMING GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB http://amzn.com/B00HPS4B3M
EVGA SuperNOVA 1000W G2 80 PLUS GOLD http://amzn.com/B00CGYCNG2
Mushkin Enhanced 240GB SSD (os drive) http://amzn.com/B00A0A5SUM
WD 1TB 7200RPM Black (game drive) http://amzn.com/B00FJRS6FU
Seagate 3TB Barracuda (DVR/media drive) http://amzn.com/B005T3GRLY
Some crap DVD drive http://amzn.com/poop