underperforming Help! My PC Is Underperforming

[TowersFlowers]

 

System Specs

Core i7 8700k

Gforce GTX 1080 Ti

Corsair vengeance rgb pro 4x8 Gb 3200 

Samsung Evo 960 m.2 Nvme ssd 1Tb

Corsair H100i platinum Aio

Nzxt E650 Psu

Nzxt N7 Z370 Mobo

Nzxt h500i Case

 

Problem

When playing games, such as Rainbow Six Siege, or Fortnite fps starts dropping very quickly and the PC LEDs start flickering on and off. This problem is more noticeable in Fortnite since it is more demanding than Siege. As the game loads the fans start ramping up and quickly reach their max speed, at the same time the fps are at about 160-200 but as I play more, it drops to 130-150 and then after about 1.5-2 hours of playing the fps drops from 130 to 15 in short bursts that make the game unplayable and the LED case and fan lights start flickering. I've had no other choice than to close the game and wait for the PC to cool back down. I noticed too that it gets unreasonably hot, especially on the front panel, where the 240mm Aio fans directly shoot hot air from inside the PC.

 

 

Solutions I Have Tried

I have tried to update bios(maybe it needs another update or something I haven't checked?) , changed settings in games to low (even though Geforce experience automatically detects my build and sets the graphics to max on them), checking power connectors, enabled XMP profile in bios (which I though would help to use the 3200mHz ram but it didn't), and reversed the 240mm fan's orientation to see if sucking air in would work better. I don't have any surge protector or stabilizer on the outlet although I'm not sure if that's related to the problem, I just though it could mean I needed a stable power output.

 

I'm really torn up by this because It's my first build and I went all in on it to try to make it last a very long time before needing an upgrade, but I am disappointed and in general discouraged about trying to build more pcs in the future. 

 

Thanks in advance for everyone's help in the forum!

 

[tarfeef101]

I always recommend logging (use msi afterburner, hwinfo64, etc) system metrics during gameplay to diagnose. These include:
 

• CPU temps, usage (per core), power (esp if you're not overclocking and are bound by power limits), frequency
• GPU temps, usage, power, frequency, VRAM usage
• memory usage
• motherboard VRM temps 

I added the last one which I don't normally bother with cause that motherboard isn't known for being amazing, and neither is that case with positive air pressure setups. your motherboard VRM may be throttling over time. But check those things, and see what seems out of place

[TowersFlowers]

55 minutes ago, tarfeef101 said:

I always recommend logging (use msi afterburner, hwinfo64, etc) system metrics during gameplay to diagnose. These include:
 

• CPU temps, usage (per core), power (esp if you're not overclocking and are bound by power limits), frequency
• GPU temps, usage, power, frequency, VRAM usage
• memory usage
• motherboard VRM temps 

I added the last one which I don't normally bother with cause that motherboard isn't known for being amazing, and neither is that case with positive air pressure setups. your motherboard VRM may be throttling over time. But check those things, and see what seems out of place

I already had afterburner downloaded and I downloaded hwinfo, for a second after having afterburner open, my pc made a sound as if a usd were unplugged and then the lights started to flicker. This got me a little scared, but it seems to be normal now. Should I run a game and see the afterburner overlay? What do I do with hwinfo?

[tarfeef101]

14 hours ago, TowersFlowers said:

I already had afterburner downloaded and I downloaded hwinfo, for a second after having afterburner open, my pc made a sound as if a usd were unplugged and then the lights started to flicker. This got me a little scared, but it seems to be normal now. Should I run a game and see the afterburner overlay? What do I do with hwinfo?

You don't need the overlay, it'll collect info as long as it is on and you can look after. Hwinfo if you just keep it open it should track min/max/avg statistics, so play your game and at the end once you notice performance degrading, see what those numbers look like.

 

The USB sound stuff is normal as it can cause devices to re-enumerate as it detects them

[TowersFlowers]

On 4/2/2020 at 2:38 PM, tarfeef101 said:

You don't need the overlay, it'll collect info as long as it is on and you can look after. Hwinfo if you just keep it open it should track min/max/avg statistics, so play your game and at the end once you notice performance degrading, see what those numbers look like.

 

The USB sound stuff is normal as it can cause devices to re-enumerate as it detects them

Hi! thanks for all the support. Alright, so I checked the hWinfo64 and recorded some results, but I can't seem to find them in my files. I took some screenshots too where I found that some of the cores (or something like that I'm still kinda newb), said they were critical. I also noticed that when I had Hwinfo and Msi afterburner open, the computer didn't sound as loud, and, oddly enough, stood cool for a longer time before heating up thus having a steadier framerate and 200fps that lasted a longer while. This makes me believe that this is an overheating problem, but I don't know what I should do or check now.

Extra info: After opening hwinfo and keeping it open while playing, the usb re-enumerate thing happened once every minute or so which was kind of annoying. Still wondering why then quieter fans were making my pc faster.

 

Do you want me to send in the screenshots I took from Hwinfo? Or find the info I recorded but cant seem to locate?

 

Thanks again for the help!

 

[tarfeef101]

3 hours ago, TowersFlowers said:

Hi! thanks for all the support. Alright, so I checked the hWinfo64 and recorded some results, but I can't seem to find them in my files. I took some screenshots too where I found that some of the cores (or something like that I'm still kinda newb), said they were critical. I also noticed that when I had Hwinfo and Msi afterburner open, the computer didn't sound as loud, and, oddly enough, stood cool for a longer time before heating up thus having a steadier framerate and 200fps that lasted a longer while. This makes me believe that this is an overheating problem, but I don't know what I should do or check now.

Extra info: After opening hwinfo and keeping it open while playing, the usb re-enumerate thing happened once every minute or so which was kind of annoying. Still wondering why then quieter fans were making my pc faster.

 

Do you want me to send in the screenshots I took from Hwinfo? Or find the info I recorded but cant seem to locate?

 

Thanks again for the help!

 

Yeah, if you have the numbers for those metrics I mentioned, that'd be critical to finding the issue. 

For example, if you hit the max temperatures on your CPU or GPU, then the clock speeds started falling, that's overheating. 

If your memory VRM/MOSFET temperatures starting getting really hot, then your motherboard could be throttling as well. 

 

If your CPU or GPU hit power limits, that also could throttle the system. 
 

So this info will help pinpoint what exactly is causing the performance to degrade.

[TowersFlowers]

14 hours ago, tarfeef101 said:

Yeah, if you have the numbers for those metrics I mentioned, that'd be critical to finding the issue. 

For example, if you hit the max temperatures on your CPU or GPU, then the clock speeds started falling, that's overheating. 

If your memory VRM/MOSFET temperatures starting getting really hot, then your motherboard could be throttling as well. 

 

If your CPU or GPU hit power limits, that also could throttle the system. 
 

So this info will help pinpoint what exactly is causing the performance to degrade.

I'm not sure if this is the numbers we needed but this is what I got from Hwinfo.

[tarfeef101]

5 hours ago, TowersFlowers said:

Snip

Hwifo64 is great if you know what you're looking for very specifically, and you know the sensors will pick it up. 

 

I can see from that your cpu is not overheating. Which is good. Also doesn't look like it's throttling. Also good. 

 

What'd be useful though is the graphs MSI afterburner can produce over time (like this: ) to see how your system performs during gameplay, over the entire time period

[TowersFlowers]

4 hours ago, tarfeef101 said:

Hwifo64 is great if you know what you're looking for very specifically, and you know the sensors will pick it up. 

 

I can see from that your cpu is not overheating. Which is good. Also doesn't look like it's throttling. Also good. 

 

What'd be useful though is the graphs MSI afterburner can produce over time (like this: ) to see how your system performs during gameplay, over the entire time period

Alright, the first set of pics are from the moment I opened the monitor, then, I took some pics after 1:45 hours of playing Rainbow Six and the last set of pics is 2:05 hours and just after closing the game.

Thanks, hope this helps.

[tarfeef101]

14 hours ago, TowersFlowers said:

- Snip -

Thanks for that. Tbh, that all looks... pretty fine. You seem to be utilizing the CPU and GPU pretty well, and they aren't dropping clock speeds or hitting max thermals and shutting down, so that's all good enough. 

 

What I'd try now, honestly, is probably the power supply or motherboard. The main components other than those look good, and to be honest, it sounds like a power delivery issue, which would likely come from one of those two (and are difficult to pinpoint with just software metrics). 

If you have access to another power supply or motherboard to test with, that's great, use them and see if you get a difference. But if you don't, my guess would be the power supply, since motherboards tend to more just "die". 

 

Since you say you notice lights flickering when you get problems, it sounds like an unstable power issue, which is more likely to be a PSU-side problem. If you can say where your fans/LEDs are connected (i.e. to the motherboard, and NZXT hue controller, etc) that could help (if it's a HUE the motherboard isn't even involved with that). But my hunch is the PSU is causing this. You can try to contact NZXT for a replacement, but I have no idea how good their RMA team is and how easy it will be to convince them that's the issue without proving it by swapping parts. If you have dubious morals (and a shop is open) you can buy a PSU to test and return it. When PC shops are open after everyone's done quarantining the nice ones will let you test with spare parts for free or cheap to debug it yourself. 

[TowersFlowers]

7 minutes ago, tarfeef101 said:

Thanks for that. Tbh, that all looks... pretty fine. You seem to be utilizing the CPU and GPU pretty well, and they aren't dropping clock speeds or hitting max thermals and shutting down, so that's all good enough. 

 

What I'd try now, honestly, is probably the power supply or motherboard. The main components other than those look good, and to be honest, it sounds like a power delivery issue, which would likely come from one of those two (and are difficult to pinpoint with just software metrics). 

If you have access to another power supply or motherboard to test with, that's great, use them and see if you get a difference. But if you don't, my guess would be the power supply, since motherboards tend to more just "die". 

 

Since you say you notice lights flickering when you get problems, it sounds like an unstable power issue, which is more likely to be a PSU-side problem. If you can say where your fans/LEDs are connected (i.e. to the motherboard, and NZXT hue controller, etc) that could help (if it's a HUE the motherboard isn't even involved with that). But my hunch is the PSU is causing this. You can try to contact NZXT for a replacement, but I have no idea how good their RMA team is and how easy it will be to convince them that's the issue without proving it by swapping parts. If you have dubious morals (and a shop is open) you can buy a PSU to test and return it. When PC shops are open after everyone's done quarantining the nice ones will let you test with spare parts for free or cheap to debug it yourself. 

Is it possible that the psu isn't causing the problem but rather my house has an unstable supply of voltage? Because I've noticed that very often in my house, lights just stop working or begin to flicker randomly and stay flickering when I turn them on, maybe using a voltage stabilizer could help?

 

[tarfeef101]

4 hours ago, TowersFlowers said:

Is it possible that the psu isn't causing the problem but rather my house has an unstable supply of voltage? Because I've noticed that very often in my house, lights just stop working or begin to flicker randomly and stay flickering when I turn them on, maybe using a voltage stabilizer could help?

 

I mean if it's actually that bad, then yeah, something to clean the power could be good. But damn that's pretty unusual, at least in the countries/cities I've lived in. 

[TowersFlowers]

2 hours ago, tarfeef101 said:

I mean if it's actually that bad, then yeah, something to clean the power could be good. But damn that's pretty unusual, at least in the countries/cities I've lived in. 

Yeah my city has been having difficulties with power and stuff, the light goes out every so often. So should I plug it in onto a power surge protector, or something like that? I know I've talked about voltage stabilizers but I'm not sure if I'm looking at the right thing. Can you link me a pic of what I should plug my pc into?

Thanks a lot!

[tarfeef101]

16 hours ago, TowersFlowers said:

Yeah my city has been having difficulties with power and stuff, the light goes out every so often. So should I plug it in onto a power surge protector, or something like that? I know I've talked about voltage stabilizers but I'm not sure if I'm looking at the right thing. Can you link me a pic of what I should plug my pc into?

Thanks a lot!

I would recommend a UPS for such things, and APC (one of the big players in that market) has a good description of the features you might find and what they mean: https://www.apc.com/ca/en/support/product-support/ups-buying-guide-for-selecting-a-battery-backup-system.jsp

 

The ones you might be most interested in are:

• Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) - Gives high application availability by correcting low and high voltage conditions without using the battery.
• Power Conditioning - Protects connected loads from surges, spikes, lightning and other power disturbances.

 

As for what model to buy, depends on your budget, what's available in your region, what features you might care about, etc.

[TowersFlowers]

On 4/6/2020 at 2:09 PM, tarfeef101 said:

I would recommend a UPS for such things, and APC (one of the big players in that market) has a good description of the features you might find and what they mean: https://www.apc.com/ca/en/support/product-support/ups-buying-guide-for-selecting-a-battery-backup-system.jsp

 

The ones you might be most interested in are:

• Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) - Gives high application availability by correcting low and high voltage conditions without using the battery.
• Power Conditioning - Protects connected loads from surges, spikes, lightning and other power disturbances.

 

As for what model to buy, depends on your budget, what's available in your region, what features you might care about, etc.

Hey, thanks for the recommendations! Lately I've been trying to play normally but it has still been struggling to keep a steady framerate while playing fortnite, especially when there is a lot of building and people nearby, the other day, my pc even crashed. I'm not sure if the ups would help if I don't know it's the main problem so I took some graphs from the exact moment when the frame drops were happening to see if you could maybe see something out of the ordinary. Would it help maybe if I change the fan config to have the radiator side pull in air so it's cooler? Or should I leave it be for now and see what other problems it could have? 

Thanks a lot!

[tarfeef101]

2 hours ago, TowersFlowers said:

Hey, thanks for the recommendations! Lately I've been trying to play normally but it has still been struggling to keep a steady framerate while playing fortnite, especially when there is a lot of building and people nearby, the other day, my pc even crashed. I'm not sure if the ups would help if I don't know it's the main problem so I took some graphs from the exact moment when the frame drops were happening to see if you could maybe see something out of the ordinary. Would it help maybe if I change the fan config to have the radiator side pull in air so it's cooler? Or should I leave it be for now and see what other problems it could have? 

Thanks a lot!

Okay, so looking at that I see:

1) Your GPU is thermally limited a bit. It would help if you got that cooler. Without knowing the setup of your system (what GPU model specifically, what CPU cooler, where are all the fans in the case, etc) I can't say how best to improve it. 

 

2) The one big dip happened when your CPU (on a couple threads) and your GPU dropped usage hard. That wasn't a thermal issue or anything. It is unlikely to be related to your power delivery from the wall since it only affected some cores. That sounds like some software interrupted the GPU, and the GPU+whatever game threads would block if the GPU was unavailable got blocked for a short time, causing what I imagine was a serious hiccup in the gameplay. I would take a close look at what you have on your system that might be doing that.

[TowersFlowers]

On 4/10/2020 at 11:05 PM, tarfeef101 said:

Okay, so looking at that I see:

1) Your GPU is thermally limited a bit. It would help if you got that cooler. Without knowing the setup of your system (what GPU model specifically, what CPU cooler, where are all the fans in the case, etc) I can't say how best to improve it. 

 

2) The one big dip happened when your CPU (on a couple threads) and your GPU dropped usage hard. That wasn't a thermal issue or anything. It is unlikely to be related to your power delivery from the wall since it only affected some cores. That sounds like some software interrupted the GPU, and the GPU+whatever game threads would block if the GPU was unavailable got blocked for a short time, causing what I imagine was a serious hiccup in the gameplay. I would take a close look at what you have on your system that might be doing that.

Alright, for the first part, I have a Gigabyte Gtx 1080 Ti, it is white and has 3 small fans at the bottom. The Cpu cooler is a Corsair h100i platinum aio with a 240mm raidator and its fans.

 

For the second part, I'm not sure what to say although it could be because apart from having Msi afterburner, I have nzxt Cam software. I could also try and look for viruses or stuff like that but I'm not sure what else.

 

Update: Just checked the pc while it was very hot and the rgb on the aio fans were not functioning correctly, the determined pattern of colors was stopping, and after around 3 minutes of cooldown, they got back to normal. Also, the Cpu and Gpu dips at the end of the graphs may be caused because I alt tabbed out of the game, although I'm not sure.

 

[tarfeef101]

On 4/12/2020 at 2:31 PM, TowersFlowers said:

Alright, for the first part, I have a Gigabyte Gtx 1080 Ti, it is white and has 3 small fans at the bottom. The Cpu cooler is a Corsair h100i platinum aio with a 240mm raidator and its fans.

 

For the second part, I'm not sure what to say although it could be because apart from having Msi afterburner, I have nzxt Cam software. I could also try and look for viruses or stuff like that but I'm not sure what else.

 

Update: Just checked the pc while it was very hot and the rgb on the aio fans were not functioning correctly, the determined pattern of colors was stopping, and after around 3 minutes of cooldown, they got back to normal. Also, the Cpu and Gpu dips at the end of the graphs may be caused because I alt tabbed out of the game, although I'm not sure.

 

Sorry I didn't get back for so long, I forgot the check the forum for a couple days

1. Yeah the 1080 ti is a hot card, if you're not watercooled, not much you can do about the card itself. Case airflow will help for sure. If you like the idea of a new case, check out GamersNexus' case content, and you can find what cases are good at cooling and pick one you like. that should NOT be necessary though, the clock speeds you're getting are still "fine", and should not cause the issues you're describing. 
2. Yeah that's probably when you alt-tabbed out. It is important when you collect this kind of info the remember (and if you're sharing, ideally indicate to the reader) when you experienced performance issues so they can properly be diagnosed. 
3. MSI afterburner is fine, I and thousands of people use it literally 24/7. I have 2 monitors and I often keep it open on the 2nd screen while gaming just cause I'm a bit of a nut when it comes to measuring performance. 
4. NZXT cam is... Questionable. People have had tons of issues with it before, and some have gone away over time, some have not. I doubt it's responsible for these problems directly. I do, however, generally recommend using motherboard control for fans where possible and not tools like Cam (at least for the speeds, let it handle RGB if you want). The problem is i don't know if your motherboard can even do fan speed control since it is NZXT and nothing about that motherboard is normal. But for fans, which are so important to your PC's operation, I don't like having to rely on software to control them, the hardware control of a motherboard or even a separate fan controller gives me more peace of mind.