Low performance with this config?

[Kerygam]

Hey guys!

We have already talked about this problem in local groups and they too have said that this performance is unrealistic for this config. What's your opinion? What could be the problem?

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GhZ
GPU: ASUS Radeon R9 270X DirectCU II TOP 4GB GDDR5
RAM: Hynix 2x8gb 1600mhz (There may be a performance issue here)
Motherboard: Biostar h81mhv3
Power supply: nBase 600W
SSD: (System) Kingston SA400 240GB
HDD: Samsung, 500GB 7200RPM

Now about the performance:

Fortnite: Not a necessity, sometimes it would be nice to have fun if it didn't spike down to 20-25fps at full low, 720p. I usually run over it and wipe it in a few hours, but it still makes my mind distracting. Which is very surprising that the game runs better on HDD than on SSD. Less lag-spike, more enjoyable. (No matter what setting I'm using at, full low, 800x600, this is the same perfmormance and lagspikes)

League of Legends: The game spins nicely, due to 120fps cuz VSYNC, it holds, but dropping at more serious fights to 70-80, which can be felt at 120hz. I don't have much trouble with that, but I'm interested in it too.

AC: Syndicate: Medium-low settings averages 52 FPS according to Radeon software, although within the game without fps counter it seems very spiky.


Far Cry: Primal: With Medium-low settings, it was very rarely set at 60fps.


Everything I've done so far / comments:

- CPU, GPU cooling paste change, to avoid overheating. By the way, I would add here that the GPU's "automatic" fan control doesn't work.. If I leave it at 20% (automatic) by default, after 10-15 minutes of more serious play (Genshin Impact, Fortnite) the card crashes at 85-90 degrees. Solution: Tighten the fan speed manually to 100%, then no problem with the overheating. I'm wondering, why it didnt controll the fan correctly?
CPU has no problem with temperature.

- Of course I had the latest drivers, bios update etc.

- Reinstalling Windows, multiple times, (for many reasons.)

- Try out older GPU drivers. (It used to be a solution, now it's not)

- Replacing SATA cables, there was also a Power Supply change, although not necessarily because of it, but it did nothing with this performance.

- When I downloading something to the SSD (Software) I literally unable to use other apps, because the downloading use the SSD for 100%, and if I try to watch YT, or etc, it freezes.. Is that normal too?

The motherboard is brand new, I bought it about 3-4months ago, but the previous motherboard had the same performance.

Thanks for reading and I hope someone can help. Havea nice day!

 

[PP Mguire]

Hynix 2x8gb 1600mhz (There may be a performance issue here)

This is perfectly fine.

Not a necessity, sometimes it would be nice to have fun if it didn't spike down to 20-25fps at full low, 720p. I usually run over it and wipe it in a few hours, but it still makes my mind distracting. Which is very surprising that the game runs better on HDD than on SSD. Less lag-spike, more enjoyable. (No matter what setting I'm using at, full low, 800x600, this is the same perfmormance and lagspikes)

The lower the resolution, the more CPU bottlenecked you get. At 1080p a 270x will average between 100-120fps with an R5 3600 CPU on all low settings. Try that setting on 1080p instead. As to the SSD, it won't be the cause of lag spikes, that is something else entirely. You will have issues if you fill the SSD though, but not FPS issues.

League of Legends: The game spins nicely, due to 120fps cuz VSYNC, it holds, but dropping at more serious fights to 70-80, which can be felt at 120hz. I don't have much trouble with that, but I'm interested in it too.

AC: Syndicate: Medium-low settings averages 52 FPS according to Radeon software, although within the game without fps counter it seems very spiky.


Far Cry: Primal: With Medium-low settings, it was very rarely set at 60fps.

These seem normal in with this hardware.

- CPU, GPU cooling paste change, to avoid overheating. By the way, I would add here that the GPU's "automatic" fan control doesn't work.. If I leave it at 20% (automatic) by default, after 10-15 minutes of more serious play (Genshin Impact, Fortnite) the card crashes at 85-90 degrees. Solution: Tighten the fan speed manually to 100%, then no problem with the overheating. I'm wondering, why it didnt controll the fan correctly?
CPU has no problem with temperature.

This I believe was an issue with these cards, but it's been so long I don't remember well.
What heatsink on the CPU, and what is load temp?

- When I downloading something to the SSD (Software) I literally unable to use other apps, because the downloading use the SSD for 100%, and if I try to watch YT, or etc, it freezes.. Is that normal too?

No, it's not. You shouldn't experience this even if the SSD gets full which would show a significant I/O drop.

Here is what I'm looking at

Power supply: nBase 600W

This appears to be a lower quality no name OEM unit. I'm inclined to ask what your previous power supply was since you mentioned you replaced it. Voltage droops can cause FPS spikes, and voltage droops can damage NAND flash in SSDs which is what your story is saying in short. Your Fortnite issue could be a matter of CPU bottleneck, especially if you're not testing at 1080p or higher.

 

[Kerygam]

The lower the resolution, the more CPU bottlenecked you get. At 1080p a 270x will average between 100-120fps with an R5 3600 CPU on all low settings. Try that setting on 1080p instead. As to the SSD, it won't be the cause of lag spikes, that is something else entirely. You will have issues if you fill the SSD though, but not FPS issues.

Sounds, and looks good!
I tried it, and thats better, but only in HDD. Thanks for it!

This I believe was an issue with these cards, but it's been so long I don't remember well.
What heatsink on the CPU, and what is load temp?

I use the i5's stock cooler, I really dont have issues with the temperature. The CPU's warmest core was 71celsius, while I did a stress-test. Thats seem okay to me.
Maybe you are right with the card issue. Thats an "old" one, and I reached out some sites, and someone else had problems with the overheating too, thanks for it too!

No, it's not. You shouldn't experience this even if the SSD gets full which would show a significant I/O drop.

Here is what I'm looking at


This appears to be a lower quality no name OEM unit. I'm inclined to ask what your previous power supply was since you mentioned you replaced it. Voltage droops can cause FPS spikes, and voltage droops can damage NAND flash in SSDs which is what your story is saying in short. Your Fortnite issue could be a matter of CPU bottleneck, especially if you're not testing at 1080p or higher.

Yeah, its not a cool branded PSU, but I thought it will do the work. My last PSU was almost the same non-branded type, but a 450W. Something happened with it, because sometimes its just turned off, and the last time I tried to look around what is happening, it began to smoke.. So yeah, thats a dead PSU rn, and I stole this PSU from my friends unused pc, so its not a brand-new one neither.

Thank you for all your answers, It helped me a lot.
If you have any other tips or something, I'm all ears.

 

[PP Mguire]

I use the i5's stock cooler, I really dont have issues with the temperature. The CPU's warmest core was 71celsius, while I did a stress-test. Thats seem okay to me.
Maybe you are right with the card issue. Thats an "old" one, and I reached out some sites, and someone else had problems with the overheating too, thanks for it too!

Yea it's a common fan curve issue that AMD cards had problems with for a while. To save on noise they waited till the last minute to ramp the fans up which made them quite hot.

Yeah, its not a cool branded PSU, but I thought it will do the work. My last PSU was almost the same non-branded type, but a 450W. Something happened with it, because sometimes its just turned off, and the last time I tried to look around what is happening, it began to smoke.. So yeah, thats a dead PSU rn, and I stole this PSU from my friends unused pc, so its not a brand-new one neither.

Yea it's not a case of being "cool" branded, it's a case of quality components vs a cheap unit. The power supply converts AC to DC and powers every single thing inside your computer. These components have very strict tolerances and when put under a load a cheap PSU will "droop" that voltage. If your card needs 200W of constant 12v and the PSU droops the 12v line down to say 10.875 that's bad. It means your graphics card is running on bad power (think of a power brown out in your house and how it destroys things like your AC, fridge, etc, same concept). Considering you fried a cheap 450W I'd say you're having problems due to possibly faulty components due to a cheap PSU.
Another thing about cheap PSUs is their wattage listed is peak. That means that absolute maximum amount of wattage that PSU can output is 600W, and the average continuous is probably around 250W (would be way less with the 450W unit, hence why it's now dead). Quality power supplies advertise that maximum continuous load wattage. Aka, something like a 650W eVGA G5 Gold will output 600W all day long without an issue. The quality components will give it a little overhead and the machine could probably peak 800W without tripping OCP (over current protection, the thing causing the 450W to shut down before eventually frying).
Combined sustained wattage for your machine is probably close to 300W (200W for the card, about 100-120W for the CPU at max turbo load) meaning you're driving the 600W while gaming at it's edge. Bad voltage drops from a cheap PSU can cause NAND flash to act crazy too, which would also explain your SSD issues. More than likely your SSD got damaged from the previous PSU dying but not enough to keep it from operating. Probably a spike in voltage on the 5v line as soon as the 450W went pop and blew smoke.

Take it from me, I learned my lesson the hard way 16 years ago about cheap power supplies when I fried 1200 bucks worth of components from a cheap Raidmax power supply.

Fun fact, this same concept applies to car amplifiers. That 40 dollar Boss 2000W class D amp will probably only give you 200W of clean power.

 

[Kerygam]

Wow, thanks for that tech-quicky, I really really appreciate that.
I've always been: Huh, lets save money on PSU, thats not so important, but now after I read your advice, it completely changed my mind.

Take it from me, I learned my lesson the hard way 16 years ago about cheap power supplies when I fried 1200 bucks worth of components from a cheap Raidmax power supply.

Dang, I feel really bad for it.

I don’t think I’m going to spend on this config anymore. But if I plan to build a new one in the near future, I will definitely listen to your advice and get a better quality PSU.

I am soooo grateful, thank you!

 

[PP Mguire]

If anything, put money in PSU first. A quality unit will last you several builds. I have PSUs from 2008 and 2009 still around in modern rigs with no issue.