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AMD Bulldozer FX-8 Causing Stutters or Mobo?

Manic1002

Manic1002

Manic1002

Associate
Joined
8 Jan 2010
Posts
22
Hi,

I recently upgraded my PC to the following.

AMD Bulldozer FX-8 8120 3.10Ghz
ASUS M5A78L LE 760G Motherboard
G.Skill 8GB DDR3 RAM
Nvidia Geforce GTX 660

Most games seem to recommend medium to high and some ultra but no matter what setting I put it on I always seem to get stutters or low fps'.

At first I thought it might of been the graphics card but that all seems fine, it's updated to its most recent driver.

I updated the BIOS and installed the Windows 7 Hotfixes for bulldozer CPUs but that hasn't helped really.

After looking around on the web I came across one person mentioning that the 7xx mobos barely support the AMD FXs and that they should upgrade to a 9xx mobo.

Could that solve my problem or is it more serious?

Any help would be great it's really frustrating I can barely play any game without stutters and that's more annoying than just flat out not working.
 
Have you tried running Heaven benchmark?
Also run prime with CPU-Z open on the desktop and see if the frequency fluctuates.

A 990x or 990fx chipset will have better power delivery I would expect but try the above. If you have LLC settings in the bios try and raise them. Also CPU voltage try 1.45-1.5V if it is lower and raise it a touch if the CPU-Z voltage is low under power.

Overclocking the CPU to 3.6GHz may help as well.
 
Thank you for a quick response.

Going to try Heaven and Prime now, also I'm not sure what LLC settings are. My CPU voltage according to CPU-Z is 0.948V or at least thats my Core Voltage, not sure if you meant anything else.

Sadly I'm an amateur at overclocking and upping volts could you recommend anything to help step by step?
 
I had a similar problem with my 8350 and Sabertooth motherboard. It stuttered when playing games which seemed to freeze for like less than a second. This happened quite often. I don't know if you have the same problem as I did but it could be. Unfortunately I don't know what caused this problem but I fixed it by reinstalling Windows. Once I reinstalled, there was zero stuttering so in my case it may have been a software issue.
 
I've tried reinstalling Windows previously and that didn't help really. Thanks though it does sound like a similar problem just small little stutters but they happen often.

Using Heaven these are my results:
FPS: 23.5
Score 592
Min FPS: 5.8
Max FPS: 55.6

Render Direct3D11
192x1080 8xAA fullscreen
Quality Ultra
Tessellation Extreme

Is 94C okay temperature for them settings?

And I ran it again on basic settings:
FPS: 62.7
Score 1579
Min FPS: 8.8
Max FPS: 147.3

Render Direct3D9
1280x720 2xAA windowed
Preset Basic

Just going to do Prime now.
 
Manic1002 said:
I've tried reinstalling Windows previously and that didn't help really. Thanks though it does sound like a similar problem just small little stutters but they happen often.

Using Heaven these are my results:
FPS: 23.5
Score 592
Min FPS: 5.8
Max FPS: 55.6

Render Direct3D11
192x1080 8xAA fullscreen
Quality Ultra
Tessellation Extreme

Is 94C okay temperature for them settings?

And I ran it again on basic settings:
FPS: 62.7
Score 1579
Min FPS: 8.8
Max FPS: 147.3

Render Direct3D9
1280x720 2xAA windowed
Preset Basic

Just going to do Prime now.
Click to expand...

94c? CPU or GPU? Probably throttling either way, north of 80c is no good for either part IMO
 
94c for the GPU, it was pushing more than I believe the GPU can handle though.

Still running Prime at the moment, my CPU temp is averaging between 66-72c.
My idle Core Volt seems to be 0.936 but now and then it spikes up to 1.416 and that's the highest I've seen.

Computer probably needs a good cleaning too though, so much dust where I am. But even when it has been cleaned the stuttering problem still occurs so I know it's not that but obviously it will be affecting my temps.
 
Sounds like throttling tbh. CPU temp is fine (prime isn't really representative of gaming) but the GPU is way too hot. It's probably throttling to prevent a fiery death... If the heatsink on the GPU is relatively clear of obstruction, I'd be tempted to take the cooler off and repaste it
 
Okay so I cleaned out my computer and after running a preset extreme benchmark in Heaven my GPU was around 78c highest being 81c so I managed to knock like 12c off my first temp.

Still getting stutters though and seems to be no fix for it :\

Don't really wanna have to buy a new mobo like a 9xx series but its looking like the cheapest option to fixing it. Other than buying an intel cpu and mobo but that's going to be expensive.

Strange though since I didn't have this problem on a quad core AMD but since moving to a 8 I have.
 
Interesting post here

http://www.overclock.net/t/1172619/asus-m5a78l-m-le-lx-m4a78lt-m-le-lx-owners-club/40

There should be a warning at the top of this thread regarding the false 125W TDP processor rating on the M5A78L-M "LX V2" and "LX PLUS" versions of the board. There are no changes in the VRM system on this board and there is nothing justifying the increased rating/ability to handle 125W TDP processors over the original M5A78L-M LX which is properly rated for 95W TDP and for good reason (it has been proven that stock speed operation attempt of 125W TDP processor will cause CPU throttling as part of Over-Current protection and it is likely that by attempting to run a 125W TDP processor on the V2 and the PLUS that you will get unreliable operation and lower performance than could be expected as opposed to with a board that offers a proper, higher VRM capacity).
Click to expand...

Weedy VRMs which barely support 125w CPUs could be the culprit
 
I remember reading somewhere that some fx8120's are 95w, and when I first purchased the same chip I had no issues and the same board. What games are you trying to run? Also I am surprised no one has asked you about the power supply yet, so which one do you have.
 
New mobo does seem like the cheapest option to try and solve the problem but still a lot of money for me right now if it doesn't.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-312-AM&groupid=701&catid=1967&subcat=1942

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-539-AS&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=1481

That's what I purchased and it says the CPU is 125w so I guess that's what it is.

As for games I'm trying to run that would be pretty much anything, every game I've tried stutters in someway. World of Warcraft was barely playable even on low settings I would stutter and sometimes if the screen was too full on higher settings it would crash out.

Devil May Cry and Remember Me stutters every half a minute or so. The Secret World was unplayable. Final Fantasy XIV isn't too bad but still it occurs randomly.

I know some of them are MMOs but it isn't my internet connection as I've been playing them absolutely fine for years until I upgraded. My girlfriend can play them fine on a computer right next to mine.

As for a PSU I have a G Power Extreme 780W. I also have a Corsair Hydro H40 on my CPU too.
 
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