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New build has terrible graphical performance

kylew said:
It would most definitely explain the Cinebench results, but the CPU > GPU performance issue is still a bit confusing. How about setting 3D Mark 06's affinity to 2 cores that you think are fine, give it a run through and see how it goes? You'll know after one run if that's the issue.
Click to expand...

I found a setting in the BIOS where I can manually activate/disable each core. I disabled the 4th core and then ran the cinebench GPU test and its much improved. I also tried 3DMark 05 and 06 and they're a little better but still not what they should be. Also tried Dragon Age and that seemed much better too. Still not 100% but I guess you have to assume the missing core is having some impact.

In any case i'll be sending the CPU back to Overclockers for a replacement. Sent the GPU back last week and now the CPU is going back too. Ah well, at the very least I can now do something about it. Was getting quite worried that I was going to end selling it all for spares!

Many thanks guys. Especially bigjimmy.
 
Here's a screenshot of the Prime test running. This one didn't run for long as I just did it to take a screenshot. But you can clearly see the 4th core isn't running. The tests I ran last night went on for much longer and the 4th core didn't complete a test in any of them.

51945018.jpg



I did try that OCCT program too but it didn't find any errors. Not sure what's going on there. Why would in not work in Prime but be fine in OCCT?

I did some further testing with Cinebench GPU test, playing around with the affinity of the cores to see what happened.

All 4 cores on = Poor performance
Cores 1,2 and 3 on = Normal
Cores 1 and 2 on = Normal
Cores 1 and 4 on = Poor performance

Also, while that 4th core was enabled the GPU usage shown in GPU-Z was pretty much 0% the whole time. There were a few small spikes of usage but very low(5%) and a good few seconds apart. On all the tests where the 4th core is disabled I get a nice constant usage of around 50%, with no dips or spikes. So that 4th core is clearly interfering with the CPU > GPU.

I did also pull everything apart again this morning and checked the CPU socket and CPU pins. All seemed ok. Although, with all this messing about I'm lossing a little of the thermal paste between the CPU and heatsink. I'm pretty sure there's still good contact though as the two still stick together quite tightly and there's no visible gaps or holes in the layer of paste.

I've got a mate who I think might have an AM3 mb so I might try and get round to his at lunchtime to see if we can do some testing. If I can try my CPU on his board and vice versa then it should be fairly clear where the problem is.
 
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Well the results are in. Looks like a problem with the motherboard.

Tried my CPU in his system and it worked fine. Tried his CPU in my system and the 4th core wasn't working properly, just like it did with my CPU.

We only had time to test it on Prime95 so I'm hoping that's a good enough test.

I've checked the socket on my mb with a magnifying glass and i can't see anything obstructing the pins.

Im going to start an RMA and get it sent back. I was hoping it would be the CPU that was faulty... Its a smaller box to send back. :p
 
Well, my mobo is being returned from testing as OC found nothing wrong with it. They ran the Prime95 test just like I did and it picked up all cores just fine. Tested with 5 different CPUs. So looks like it's back to the drawing board.

It's gotta be driver or config issue now. There's nothing else it can be. I've tried all hardware variations. Trouble is i've reinstalled Windows more times than I can remember and it just makes no difference.
 
Ok, I got the mobo back from OCUK and have done another clean install of Win7. I installed absolutely nothing, no drivers, no software, and just ran Prime 95 from a USB stick... Well to be exact I copied it to the desktop from USB drive.

So anyway, fresh install, nothing installed, first boot of Win7. I run Prime95 and exactly the same problem. 4th core not working. Just stuck on Test 1 while the other 3 tick away.

I've tried going down to 1 stick of RAM and then tried alternating them, testing each stick. No joy.

I am completely baffled by this now. After all this testing I still have no idea what is causing the problem.

I've been thinking about installing WinXP to see what happens there. Is this worth it or will it make no difference?
 
I tried to underclock the CPU. I reduced the voltage down to about 1.15v(down from 1.29v). I also brought down the clock frequency to around 2.8. Tried another test and no difference. I also tried unplugging the DVD rom, using 1 stick of ram, 1 hard drive, no fans apart from CPU fan. I'm using a 700w psu and still the 4th core isn't running.

At this point I'm tempted to stick the lot on eBay.
 
@Jay85: I tried my CPU in a friends PC and it worked fine. I then tried his in my pc and it didn't work.

@KnightsWhoSayNi: Yeah, I've reset bios to defaults many times.

@Speed: Yep, latest bios update is on there. The issue was happening before I flashed the bios too.

@bigjimmyauk: I've just asked my mate if I can borrow his pc for a day so I can test every component. I should be able to test PSU, RAM and even the mobo properly so hopefully I can at least find out which component is causing the problem. Problem is asking this guy if I can borrow his pc is like asking if I can borrow his missus. He's quite attached to it shall we say ;) Hopefully I can persuade him to part with it for a few hours.

If this fails though then I may well take up your offer and send you the whole thing. If anyone can figure ou what's wrong with the bloody thing I'd be happy to pay for their time.

I'm starting to think this is maybe some weird compatibility problem between some of my components. Maybe they all work well individually but together they cause problems.
 
Haven't managed to get hold of my mates PC yet but I have done some more testing.

I been playing around with the cpu cores in the bios and enabling/disabling different combinations to see what effect it would have. No matter what I try, whether it's all 4 cores, 3 cores, 2 cores, its always the last worker on the Prime95 test that gets stuck. I know you can't switch off the first core but I tried running just one core on its own and windows wouldn't boot. Should I be able to run off one core?

I'm not sure what all this means as I don't know what order the cores in the bios appear in Windows or indeed Prime95. But the fact the last core in Prime95 is always the faulty one is very strange. Either this is always core 1(the one I can't disable) and that is faulty/incompatible, or there's some wierd thing going on thats disabling the last core everytime.
 
So i've finally figured out the cause of all this. Seems it's definitely the motherboard that's causing the problems. Whether it's faulty or what I don't know but there's something about it that the rest of my system just doesn't like.

After trying another PSU this morning and that also not working I took a gamble and went and bought a cheap ass AM3 mobo. Set it all up, reinstalled Windows and all my drivers and it worked first time. All 4 cores of the CPU firing. Prime95 test works perfectly and also tried Cinebench. CPU is now scoring 4.10 compared to 2.90 from before. The GPU test is up to about 57fps.

I'm not sure where this leaves me with OCUK now. Having already RMA'd the mobo to them and they returned it as not faulty, i've now got a practically brand new £160 mobo sitting next to me that is totally useless(to me at least). I guess I need to call OC and see what they can do for me.
 
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