Computer majorly underperforming - What is the cause??

RinRanRyan · 21 Aug 2011 at 16:22

Hey there,

I have currently upgraded my CPU on my PC because of a bottleneck that was occurring whilst playing Bad Company 2. It was a dual-core and I upgraded to a quad-core AMD X4 640 which made the game go from completely unplayable to okayish on the lowest graphics settings but still with massive lag spikes when joining servers and when someone would plant a bomb etc. I have just looked up my specifications and my PC should be destroying this game yet it isn't and I have no idea why.

I just saw someone on Youtube with the same processor and a WORSE graphics card play the game on full graphics at 50fps which I find really peculiar. The graphics card I am using is an ATI radeon 5770 and I have 4GBs of RAM.

Does anyone know what could be causing this or have any suggestions as to what I could look into or change on my PC? I really feel it should be doing a lot better than this?

Gimpymoo · 21 Aug 2011 at 16:24

Check the PSU...

Fr0dders · 21 Aug 2011 at 16:25

Usually windows.

Without getting too in depth, whenever i felt my system was under performing and i couldn't find a specific cause for it, i just wiped the drive and re-installed windows.

Just install the very most basic of drivers (graphics, video, chipset, sound and thats about it)

then install game of choice that feels slow.

If it still feels slow then its hardware. If this fixes it, gradually re-introduce software back into your build. If your games suddenly feel slow again then check what you last added.

Tovo · 21 Aug 2011 at 16:26

Do you have a full spec ?

Also make sure your Heatsink is correctly fitted. On my old PC the heatsink came loose and I was rolling 8 fps on CSS, once I fixed it I was rolling max.

RinRanRyan · 21 Aug 2011 at 16:27

Thanks for the replies guys. I do only have a Corsair 400W PSU, do you think this is likely to be the cause?

RinRanRyan · 21 Aug 2011 at 16:28

How could I test to see if its a PSU bottleneck?

Tovo · 21 Aug 2011 at 16:29

RinRanRyan said:
How could I test to see if its a PSU bottleneck?

Give us a full spec so we can check the power usage...

or try yourself with this http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jspp

RinRanRyan · 21 Aug 2011 at 16:33

Okay thanks, now getting them...

infernox · 21 Aug 2011 at 16:34

That 400w unit is perfectly fine.

955 and a 4870 on that fine.

Very underrated PSU.

RinRanRyan · 21 Aug 2011 at 16:36

What is the best way to get all my system specs? I used to have a program or web page that did it but now I can't find it....?

RinRanRyan · 21 Aug 2011 at 16:37

Windows Windows 7 Home Premium Edition (64-bit) Service Pack 1 (Build 7601)
Internet Explorer 8.0.7601.17514
Memory (RAM) 4096 MB
CPU Info AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 640 Processor
CPU Speed 3009.4 MHz
Sound Card Speakers (Realtek High Definiti
Display Adapters ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series | ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series | ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series | RDPDD Chained DD | RDP Encoder Mirror Driver | RDP Reflector Display Driver
Monitors 1x; Generic PnP Monitor |
Screen Resolution 1280 X 1024 - 32 bit
Network Network Present
Network Adapters 802.11bg Wireless Adapter
CD / DVD Drives D: HL-DT-STDVDRAM GH22NS50 | E: MagicISOVirtual DVD-ROM | G: ELBY CLONEDRIVE
Ports NOT Present LPT1
Mouse 8 Button Wheel Mouse Present
Hard Disks C: 465.7GB
Hard Disks - Free C: 224.4GB
USB Controllers 2 host controllers.
Firewire (1394) Not Detected
Manufacturer * Award Software International, Inc.
Product Make * M61PME-S2P
AC Power Status OnLine
BIOS Info | |
Time Zone GMT Standard Time
Battery No Battery
Motherboard * Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. M61PME-S2P
IP Address 192.168.0.2 |
MAC Address 00-22-75-0E-07-2C
Host Name RYAN-PC

RinRanRyan · 21 Aug 2011 at 16:43

A quick go on that PSU calculator with just the RAM, CPU and GPU inputted already comes to 450W recommended without any hardrives etc added. Does this mean I should change the PSU??

infernox · 21 Aug 2011 at 16:53

If its The CX400w. It is not your psu.

Try backing up your important files and reinstall, game / windows.

And install basic drivers. and google for the best catalyst version people are using for BC2

RinRanRyan · 21 Aug 2011 at 16:57

Okay I am now trying that out now. Many thanks. Will report back in a second...

Gimpymoo · 21 Aug 2011 at 17:04

infernox said:
If its The CX400w. It is not your psu.

How can you be so sure that the PSU is not failing without doing a multimeter test?

infernox · 21 Aug 2011 at 17:07

I've had 3 of them and they have not failed me. and are currently sitting in mothers, fathers and brothers pc's

Brilliant kit. and i would severely doubt thats the cause in such a matter.

infernox · 21 Aug 2011 at 17:09

And catalyst drivers are awful.

Went from my dual core to quad because my black ops loading was slow. Made no difference.

Changing catalyst made a difference though.

And my dual core was faster.

What a waste of £100 due to something that should have worked the first time.

SuperTronNarwhal · 21 Aug 2011 at 17:11

infernox said:
And catalyst drivers are awful.

Went from my dual core to quad because my black ops loading was slow. Made no difference.

Changing catalyst made a difference though.

And my dual core was faster.

What a waste of £100 due to something that should have worked the first time.

IS this ATI Catalyst Driver you talking about? if so how did you improve it?

infernox · 21 Aug 2011 at 17:14

Yes i moved to 10.4. Noticed a difference. Then moved to 11.2. Which so far seems the best for me. Try it. But you might have to try a few to get the best. I tried like 10-20 of them before i found the best one.

Gimpymoo · 21 Aug 2011 at 17:35

Have allways found Catalyst drivers more stable than Geforce in recent years.