First Post (PC Problems)

[chocy]

I've had this same system since December of 2014. When I got it, it wasn't all that impressive, despite being told it was nearly $1200. It is a Alienware 51 R2, it has a i3 4150 @3.50 ghz, a GTX 745, and 6 gbs of DDR3 @1600 mhz. Custom motherboard, the model number is 0PGRP5, manufactured by Alienware. I've put this PC through many different games from Titanfall 1, the first game i ever played on it, to Minecraft, to CSGO, to DMC5. One game i've fallen in love with again is Destiny 2. While this game is by no means the most demanding on the market, the lengths I have to go to in order to achieve anywhere near 60 fps are amazing. All settings at low, 720p, and a 65% in game render resolution and I still can't keep a steady 60. I refuse to lower the render resolution anymore, in fear it might destroy everything i hold dear. Recently I have encountered an issue regarding stuttering in game for no reason at all. I'll be walking through the Tangled Shore and all of a sudden I go from 50 fps down to the single digits for at least a solid minute before recovering, than experiencing the same thing again 30 min- 1 hour later. This led me to try and figure out if somehow, i'm getting bottle necked by the i3. Using Xbox game bar, yes it is actually useful now, to see what my usages where at in game, I found out that my CPU sits at nearly 100% at all times while my GPU never exceeded 25%, with RAM staying at about 70%-90%. This got me a little concerned, so I thought maybe my drivers where messed up, because a 1060 gets bottle necked less. So I updated EVERY driver I could, and still the problem continued. I'v been searching for a solution for days, and still haven't found one. If anyone else has a PC almost identical to mine, could you tell me if this happens to you, or if you just now what the problem is and how to fix it, I would be forever in your debt.

 

Thanks for your help,

 

Alex

[minibois]

Sounds like you know exactly what is going on. The CPU is holding back the GPU. 

Especially newer games don't run exactly great on 2c4t CPU's.

 

If you think your CPU performance is abnormal though, be sure to run a CPU benchmark like Cinebench R15 and compare the scores you get with what you should get.

Easiest way to do this is to go into the 'CPU, Motherboards and Memory' forum section, check the pinned topic for Cinebench, use the download link to get Cinebench R15 (R20 is newer but has less scores available now) and just run the test.

 

Be sure to close all applications when running this test!

 

After that, go back to this thread, check the Google Spreadsheets for other scores from people using that same CPU and see if your score lines up.

 

If it lines up: you are definitely being bottlenecked by your CPU.

If your performance compared to those other scores is drastically different: it can be a whole time of things. Including temperature.

 

I don't recommend having a temperature monitoring software open during a benchmark, but you have gotten a score from your system already, so now it's time to check the system. Run Cinebench again and using a program like HWMonitor, check your temperatures and clock speeds. The temperatures should not exceed 85 - 90 degrees C and the clock speed should ride quickly and flatten out (and definitely should not decrease).

 

I still however suspect the CPU is holding back the system. You could of course upgrade to a 4th i5 or i7 and retain the rest of your system, but I'll check first if those would be a good for the games mentioned.

 

Hope some of this helps and if anything was unclear, be sure to press the 'quote' button below my post and ask away!

[chocy]

1 hour ago, Minibois said:

Sounds like you know exactly what is going on. The CPU is holding back the GPU. 

Especially newer games don't run exactly great on 2c4t CPU's.

 

If you think your CPU performance is abnormal though, be sure to run a CPU benchmark like Cinebench R15 and compare the scores you get with what you should get.

Easiest way to do this is to go into the 'CPU, Motherboards and Memory' forum section, check the pinned topic for Cinebench, use the download link to get Cinebench R15 (R20 is newer but has less scores available now) and just run the test.

 

Be sure to close all applications when running this test!

 

After that, go back to this thread, check the Google Spreadsheets for other scores from people using that same CPU and see if your score lines up.

 

If it lines up: you are definitely being bottlenecked by your CPU.

If your performance compared to those other scores is drastically different: it can be a whole time of things. Including temperature.

 

I don't recommend having a temperature monitoring software open during a benchmark, but you have gotten a score from your system already, so now it's time to check the system. Run Cinebench again and using a program like HWMonitor, check your temperatures and clock speeds. The temperatures should not exceed 85 - 90 degrees C and the clock speed should ride quickly and flatten out (and definitely should not decrease).

 

I still however suspect the CPU is holding back the system. You could of course upgrade to a 4th i5 or i7 and retain the rest of your system, but I'll check first if those would be a good for the games mentioned.

 

Hope some of this helps and if anything was unclear, be sure to press the 'quote' button below my post and ask away!

Hey Mini,

 

Thanks so much for your help. I did what you suggested and tried out Cinebench 15. When I compared it to the spreadsheet i came across only 1 other, by TheElt, which scored 291. When I ran it for the first time I got a score of 336. I decided to run the test a few more times to see if it could maintane that score. It was able to do so, but the temps started to scare me. The scores were 332, 325, and 328 for tests 1, 2, and 3 respectfully. I gave about ten seconds of down time before starting the next test. The temps averaged at around 140 (F), and sometimes hit a max of 160 (F). I'm not an expert but, i think the temps might be playing the largest role in this hole thing. I'm just gonna have to wait till I can save up enough to buy a hole new PC, cause this one is going to kick the can soon.

 

Thanks again for everything,

 

Alex

[minibois]

1 hour ago, chocy said:

Hey Mini,

 

Thanks so much for your help. I did what you suggested and tried out Cinebench 15. When I compared it to the spreadsheet i came across only 1 other, by TheElt, which scored 291. When I ran it for the first time I got a score of 336. I decided to run the test a few more times to see if it could maintane that score. It was able to do so, but the temps started to scare me. The scores were 332, 325, and 328 for tests 1, 2, and 3 respectfully. I gave about ten seconds of down time before starting the next test. The temps averaged at around 140 (F), and sometimes hit a max of 160 (F). I'm not an expert but, i think the temps might be playing the largest role in this hole thing. I'm just gonna have to wait till I can save up enough to buy a hole new PC, cause this one is going to kick the can soon.

 

Thanks again for everything,

 

Alex

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/77486/intel-core-i3-4150-processor-3m-cache-3-50-ghz.html

 

The 'TCASE' for this CPU is 72C/162F. TCASE is as Intel explains it:

Quote

Case Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor Integrated Heat Spreader (IHS).

Simply put, it's the max temperature before the CPU will say "yeah, this is too hot. Dial it down!" and with dial down I mean it will become slower.

This might be because of multiple reasons, have you cleaned the PC in recent years, by the way? Because if not, what you can do right now at least is clean out the PC (especially the cooling fans and the CPU cooler) and apply new thermal paste.

There are multiple 'best ways' to clean a PC but usually I recommend these options:

 

Supplies needed:

1. Way to get rid of dust static free (can of compressed air/datavac/vacuum with 'blow out air' mode/etc.)

2. Way to ground yourself 

3. Some new thermal paste (you can get this at any place that sells PC hardware and it shouldn't cost more than 5 USD)

4. Something to clean off the thermal paste with (toilet paper and some higher percentage alcohol, like 70+%)

5. Optional, but an antistatic brush can be really helpful when getting rid of larger chunks of dust.

 

0. Ground yourself (e.g. with an antistatic wristband, grounding yourself on a heater/grounded power socket, or your PC case when it's still plugged in)

1. Open up the PC case

2. Unplug the fans from your motherboard or hold them, so you are not spinning them up in the next steps*

3. Take off the CPU cooler, makes it much easier to clean out everything (I would recommend leaving the CPU in the system)

4. Take your PC outside

5. Use a can of compressed air/datavac/leafblower/vacuum cleaner with 'blow out air'-option to get rid of all the dust in the system. Don't use a vacuum to suck up the dust, vacuums use static electricity to pick up dust. Not good for the components.

6. Take extra care of the fans and CPU cooler

When all the dust is gone, you can focus on the CPU thermal paste. 

7. Clean off the old paste from the CPU cooler, make sure the cooler is properly clean off thermal paste and dust.

8. Clean off the CPU itself in the same sort of fashion.

9. Apply a 'grain of rice'-sized bit of thermal paste to your CPU

10. Mount the cooler to the CPU again.

 

The way a CPU cooler mounts or dismounts depends on the sort of cooler you have, this is for example how to remove and mount an Intel stock cooler:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005852/processors.html

 

 

*Reason you don't want to have spinning fans plugged into a system is because the spinning can create some current, which could send electricity back to the board.. That's not good !

[chocy]

On 8/25/2019 at 4:10 AM, Minibois said:

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/77486/intel-core-i3-4150-processor-3m-cache-3-50-ghz.html

 

The 'TCASE' for this CPU is 72C/162F. TCASE is as Intel explains it:

Simply put, it's the max temperature before the CPU will say "yeah, this is too hot. Dial it down!" and with dial down I mean it will become slower.

This might be because of multiple reasons, have you cleaned the PC in recent years, by the way? Because if not, what you can do right now at least is clean out the PC (especially the cooling fans and the CPU cooler) and apply new thermal paste.

There are multiple 'best ways' to clean a PC but usually I recommend these options:

 

Supplies needed:

1. Way to get rid of dust static free (can of compressed air/datavac/vacuum with 'blow out air' mode/etc.)

2. Way to ground yourself 

3. Some new thermal paste (you can get this at any place that sells PC hardware and it shouldn't cost more than 5 USD)

4. Something to clean off the thermal paste with (toilet paper and some higher percentage alcohol, like 70+%)

5. Optional, but an antistatic brush can be really helpful when getting rid of larger chunks of dust.

 

0. Ground yourself (e.g. with an antistatic wristband, grounding yourself on a heater/grounded power socket, or your PC case when it's still plugged in)

1. Open up the PC case

2. Unplug the fans from your motherboard or hold them, so you are not spinning them up in the next steps*

3. Take off the CPU cooler, makes it much easier to clean out everything (I would recommend leaving the CPU in the system)

4. Take your PC outside

5. Use a can of compressed air/datavac/leafblower/vacuum cleaner with 'blow out air'-option to get rid of all the dust in the system. Don't use a vacuum to suck up the dust, vacuums use static electricity to pick up dust. Not good for the components.

6. Take extra care of the fans and CPU cooler

When all the dust is gone, you can focus on the CPU thermal paste. 

7. Clean off the old paste from the CPU cooler, make sure the cooler is properly clean off thermal paste and dust.

8. Clean off the CPU itself in the same sort of fashion.

9. Apply a 'grain of rice'-sized bit of thermal paste to your CPU

10. Mount the cooler to the CPU again.

 

The way a CPU cooler mounts or dismounts depends on the sort of cooler you have, this is for example how to remove and mount an Intel stock cooler:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005852/processors.html

 

 

*Reason you don't want to have spinning fans plugged into a system is because the spinning can create some current, which could send electricity back to the board.. That's not good !

Once again thanks for the help. I'll make sure to deep clean my PC. I've down about two minor cleans, just blowing all the dust out with compressed air, so I could try doing something like this.

 

Thanks,

 

Alex