StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm and HD 7950 Vapor-X

[Mister Bombi]

Hello guys,

 

So I've been playing HotS lately. I got everything on max, even in-game AA and I notice the game runs slower than what I expected. It normally runs at 60-70 FPS without vsync, but sometimes drops to 30-40, even when there isn't much action on screen. I know it has good graphics but they don't appear to be so demanding.

 

Is this an issue with my graphics card or my CPU?

 

Thanks.

 

P.S. I've also had framerate problems in older games like Assassin's Creed 1 and Crysis 1.

[Emperor_Piehead]

If it's happening with older games and HotS it's probably an issue with the cpu and the weaker single core performance of the fx8350. 

[FluffyNuggets]

Could very well be a CPU bottleneck. Check the GPU usage in game and see if it's dropping. I could be wrong but isn't StarCraft pretty CPU intensive since they wanted it playable for people without GPU's?

 

BTW, how is the single player in HotS? I see it's gonna be on sale on Black Friday for $20 so I was thinking about picking it up. 

[Emperor_Piehead]

Could very well be a CPU bottleneck. Check the GPU usage in game and see if it's dropping. I could be wrong but isn't StarCraft pretty CPU intensive since they wanted it playable for people without GPU's?

Yeah it's pretty cpu intensive, but not designed for high core count usage. It can benefit a lot from a gpu though. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/R9_280X_Direct_Cu_II_TOP/20.html

[FluffyNuggets]

Yeah it's pretty cpu intensive, but not designed for high core count usage. It can benefit a lot from a gpu though. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/R9_280X_Direct_Cu_II_TOP/20.html

You'd think a 7950 would be able to handle it then. 

 

To OP, try increasing your OC on the CPU and see if that helps with the random frame drops. 

[Emperor_Piehead]

You'd think a 7950 would be able to handle it then. 

 

To OP, try increasing your OC on the CPU and see if that helps with the random frame drops. 

Well it's extremely optimized for nvidia and not amd. the gtx 760 beats the R9 280x in starcraft 2.

 

I agree with the OC on the cpu

[Mister Bombi]

Could very well be a CPU bottleneck. Check the GPU usage in game and see if it's dropping. I could be wrong but isn't StarCraft pretty CPU intensive since they wanted it playable for people without GPU's?

 

BTW, how is the single player in HotS? I see it's gonna be on sale on Black Friday for $20 so I was thinking about picking it up. 

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, given that I've problems with other games as well.

 

The campaign is amazing! I didn't like WoL's campaign that much because it was boring and honestly I just wanted it to end so I could move on with my life. This, on the other hand, is great. I'm interested in seeing how the story unfolds. I don't know, I think I prefer playing as the bad guy, haha.

[FluffyNuggets]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, given that I've problems with other games as well.

 

The campaign is amazing! I didn't like WoL's campaign that much because it was boring and honestly I just wanted it to end so I could move on with my life. This, on the other hand, is great. I'm interested in seeing how the story unfolds. I don't know, I think I prefer playing as the bad guy, haha.

Awesome, I'm gonna have to pick it up. I didn't pay attention to the story at all in WoL and skipped pretty much all of it because it was so boring. I figure for $20 it will be well worth it!

 

Yeah it sounds like a definite bottleneck to me. If you can just increase the OC to around 4.2 and that should help get rid of most of it. If you find it's still happening somewhat then shoot for a 4.4Ghz OC if you can. Thermals might be an issue at that point so just keep an eye on it. 

[Mister Bombi]

Yeah it sounds like a definite bottleneck to me. If you can just increase the OC to around 4.2 and that should help get rid of most of it. If you find it's still happening somewhat then shoot for a 4.4Ghz OC if you can. Thermals might be an issue at that point so just keep an eye on it. 

I know we're in the graphics cards forum, but do you know a good guide for overclocking an FX-8350? This is my very first rig and I'm scared of messing something up.

[FluffyNuggets]

I know we're in the graphics cards forum, but do you know a good guide for overclocking an FX-8350? This is my very first rig and I'm scared of messing something up.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1140459/bulldozer-overclocking-guide-performance-scaling-charts-max-ocs-ln2-results-coming

 

http://www.overclock.net/t/1348623/amd-bulldozer-and-piledriver-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboard#

 

Those two might help you. I just read that your board isn't that great for OC that CPU so I guess you'll find out soon. 

 

And if you get the Blue Screen of Death don't worry too much, just reset your CMOS by hitting the button if you have one or by pulling the CMOS battery out with the PC unplugged and hold the power button down to drain out any remaining power. 

 

Biggest thing is to keep your eye glued to your temps because they can increase dramatically with just a slight voltage bump. Make sure you run something like Prime95 for a couple hours to make sure it's stable. Some people say for like 12 hours but that's far too long for me to do it. 

[Mister Bombi]

http://www.overclock.net/t/1140459/bulldozer-overclocking-guide-performance-scaling-charts-max-ocs-ln2-results-coming

 

http://www.overclock.net/t/1348623/amd-bulldozer-and-piledriver-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboard#

 

Those two might help you. I just read that your board isn't that great for OC that CPU so I guess you'll find out soon. 

 

And if you get the Blue Screen of Death don't worry too much, just reset your CMOS by hitting the button if you have one or by pulling the CMOS battery out with the PC unplugged and hold the power button down to drain out any remaining power. 

 

Biggest thing is to keep your eye glued to your temps because they can increase dramatically with just a slight voltage bump. Make sure you run something like Prime95 for a couple hours to make sure it's stable. Some people say for like 12 hours but that's far too long for me to do it. 

Thanks man, I will definitely check those out.

[FluffyNuggets]

Thanks man, I will definitely check those out.

Happy to help. 

[Mister Bombi]

http://www.overclock.net/t/1140459/bulldozer-overclocking-guide-performance-scaling-charts-max-ocs-ln2-results-coming

 

http://www.overclock.net/t/1348623/amd-bulldozer-and-piledriver-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboard#

 

Those two might help you. I just read that your board isn't that great for OC that CPU so I guess you'll find out soon. 

 

And if you get the Blue Screen of Death don't worry too much, just reset your CMOS by hitting the button if you have one or by pulling the CMOS battery out with the PC unplugged and hold the power button down to drain out any remaining power. 

 

Biggest thing is to keep your eye glued to your temps because they can increase dramatically with just a slight voltage bump. Make sure you run something like Prime95 for a couple hours to make sure it's stable. Some people say for like 12 hours but that's far too long for me to do it. 

Will those guides work with my CPU? I'm not sure what Bulldozer and Piledriver mean.

[FluffyNuggets]

Will those guides work with my CPU? I'm not sure what Bulldozer and Piledriver mean.

It's just the architecture of your CPU. It will work since it should be the same for that series of CPUs.