High-end computer not acting high end.

[trance]

So I got a new rig this summer, specs; Intel i7 2600 4x3.4GHZ, radeon HD 6850 1GB, 12GB ram, W7 64b. Thought it to be pretty high end when I bought it. It's being rather slow and noisy (making me suspect the cooling's not effective enough). I've opened it up and I believe the fans are all working as they should (no weird sounds from them, and no undue resistance or other strange behavior). The computer isn't really doing too well with Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, it's struggling with Ultra (It hypothetically should be able to run it without any issues at all, it's well over the recommended specs of that game). Now I might have overestimated the graphics card, I am aware of that, would there then be anyway of increasing performance without buying a new one? I thought that a radeon 6850 would be more than enough to handle the games coming out this year :/.

A penny for your thoughts!

P.S: Might add that the graphics drivers are up to date.

[Bolkonsky]

What resolution are you running games at?

[Benneffect]

What resolution are you running games at?

He's probably attempting the high end resolution, as it is a high end computer. I have the same problem even on RTW when fighting a huge battle, yet I have the second best ASUS multi-media computer. The question is this: is there something we can do to make it better, without degrading our gameplay by going to low resolution?

[Top-Tier-Tech]

I had written up a lengthy post but then lost it due to Google Chrome's stupid "backspace functions as browsers back button" that for some reason doesn't realize the quick reply textbox on this forum is in fact a text box...

Anyway, the jist of what I said was:

1. Make sure you have the latest version of CCC.

If you have old drivers then poor performance in new games is to be expected.

2. Lower your graphic settings or resolution.

If you are trying to run games on high settings at a high resolution then what you experiencing is to be expected. The AMD 6850 is a $150 graphics card, it is NOT high end and as such won't be able to max new releases out at higher resolutions.

3. Upgrade your graphics card.

A 6950/6970 or a GTX 560 ti 448 core edition Would get you the performance you desire. Ultimately if you did decide you need better graphics you would do well to wait for the AMD 7000 series and Nvidia GTX600 series lineups coming out next year.

[SonOfCrusader76]

I had written up a lengthy post but then lost it due to Google Chrome's stupid "backspace functions as browsers back button" that for some reason doesn't realize the quick reply textbox on this forum is in fact a text box...

Anyway, the jist of what I said was:

1. Make sure you have the latest version of CCC.

If you have old drivers then poor performance in new games is to be expected.

2. Lower your graphic settings or resolution.

If you are trying to run games on high settings at a high resolution then what you experiencing is to be expected. The AMD 6850 is a $150 graphics card, it is NOT high end and as such won't be able to max new releases out at higher resolutions.

3. Upgrade your graphics card.

A 6950/6970 or a GTX 560 ti 448 core edition Would get you the performance you desire. Ultimately if you did decide you need better graphics you would do well to wait for the AMD 7000 series and Nvidia GTX600 series lineups coming out next year.

Whenever I go to the latest version of CCC, I usually end up getting lots of BSOD, which stop when I revert to an older version!

[Top-Tier-Tech]

Whenever I go to the latest version of CCC, I usually end up getting lots of BSOD, which stop when I revert to an older version!

That can happen, but keep in mind that games released after whatever driver set you are using may not perform well. I stay away from AMD cards because I feel their drivers are inferior and more problem prone but different setups can cause various problems. Hopefully the next set of drivers work for you.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

i Agree with Top Tier Tech accept this concerns skyrim which is CPU limited, more then GPU even so it shouldnt be running that bad.. its not a vram issue game hardly uses 600-700mb of vram at ultra at 1920x1080

my guess is the cpu cooler isnt properly cooling the cpu and its overheating so it down clocks when it downclocks it runs like crap,

could also be unstable ram as 12gb on an i7 1155 dosent make much sense

4x4x4 aka 4gb x 3 sticks is for I7 1336 platform, so if your running 3 sticks pull 1 stick and make sure the other 2 are in proper dual channel configuration

if its 4x4 and 2x2 then thats fine, and shouldnt cause an issue,

list of quick things to try

get up to date driver not sure if its 11.12 or 12.1 drivers but they offer a performance boost for Skyrim, google it
defrag the HDD,
remove any ini tweaks to the game you may have done alot of people use shadow tweaks, well the CPU is used for shadow rendering in Skyrim if you push to high game runs like crap

just a few quick suggestions before i get smashed.

[AngryTitusPullo]

get up to date driver not sure if its 11.12 or 12.1 drivers but they offer a performance boost for Skyrim, google it

Skyrim runs smoother for me with 11.11 driver and slightly jerky a bit with 11.12 but I stick with 11.12 since Shogun 2 runs better with it. Playing on all high/ultra for Skyrim/Shogun 2 using iCore3 and ATI 5770.

[prdude1234]

I dont know if what I am saying is true, but anyway, I have heard that many old games run very laggy on Dual, Tri or Quad cores. Why? As far as I know, in PCs with more than 2 cores, one processor processes graphics, while the another processes sound, AI etc. And since old games are not compatible with that system of processing, it means they will use only one processor instead of all the processor, and it will lag. So dont get scared if your PC lags with old games. As for new games, IDK, I have heard not all modern games are optimised for Quad-cores, so that might be why they lag.

[prdude1234]

Download Battlefield 3 and see if it runs, because it is optimized for Quad cores and wont lag on quad cores.

[Zerosliver]

I'm still guessing it's his graphics adapter, it's not really what you'd call high-end in the terms the OP thinks it is.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

true but Skyrim ISNT GPU heavy,

its about as demanding GPU wise as Oblivion was years ago

Oblivion Fallout 3 Fallout New Vegas and Skyrim all essentially share the same requirments,

the game engine alone is 8 years old its might be the GPU but if other games run fine then its probably heat related, aka CPU, as the Sandybridge chips will downclock to 1.6ghz and if the CPU thermal throttles it will do just that,

that said



the game is CPU limited most of the time unless using a GPU below a 5770 / 6770 / 4870 from the AMD camp

CPU comparisons



Now judging his CPU is more then enough and so is his GPU

I have to say ram instability
power issue
heat issue.

altho the GPU could be overheating as well causing performance issues.

[Zerosliver]

If you have driver issues, I'd suggest uninstalling the AMD drivers, downloading driver sweeper or a similar program, rebooting in safe mode, running the program and thus removing remaining driver residue. Than installing the latest version of your drivers after rebooting again.

[Zerosliver]

I've had driver issues with both nVidia and AMD, it's sad to see that these issues exist and can't be avoided.

[trance]

Thank you very much, I'll definately try uninstalling the GPU drivers and installing the newest version, I'll also look into CCC. As for resolution, I'm actually just going 1280x1024 (How come I cannot increase it past that? O.o). Btw, I might add that there's been some very strange behavior from my computer when running games. Battlefield 3 works very well, with close to no stability issues at all, however Mount and Blade made the GPU spin up and increase in heat, like it was struggling with the game. Empire Total War runs extremely unstable even at low graphics for some reason - M2TW works like it should though. Skyrim has crashed at a few occasions, I'm however aware that it may be a bug.

My gut feeling has been that it could possibly be power supply, I'm however not much of a computer whiz, so I'm not really sure how I can check if that is the case. Any ideas how to? Also, RAM instability? :o

[Top-Tier-Tech]

Thank you very much, I'll definately try uninstalling the GPU drivers and installing the newest version, I'll also look into CCC. As for resolution, I'm actually just going 1280x1024 (How come I cannot increase it past that? O.o). Btw, I might add that there's been some very strange behavior from my computer when running games. Battlefield 3 works very well, with close to no stability issues at all, however Mount and Blade made the GPU spin up and increase in heat, like it was struggling with the game. Empire Total War runs extremely unstable even at low graphics for some reason - M2TW works like it should though. Skyrim has crashed at a few occasions, I'm however aware that it may be a bug.

My gut feeling has been that it could possibly be power supply, I'm however not much of a computer whiz, so I'm not really sure how I can check if that is the case. Any ideas how to? Also, RAM instability? :o

Umm... CCC is what AMD's drivers are called. (Catalyst Control Center). If your monitor has a native resolution of 1280x1024 then that would be why you cannot increase it beyond that. At that resolution you should definitely not be experiencing these performance issues so there is definitely something seriously wrong with your system. It could be as simple as a failing GPU, it could be your RAM, it could be drivers.... tis' kinda hard to diagnose over the internet. I guess I'd place my bet on it being either a failing GPU or PSU.

[trance]

Umm... CCC is what AMD's drivers are called. (Catalyst Control Center). If your monitor has a native resolution of 1280x1024 then that would be why you cannot increase it beyond that. At that resolution you should definitely not be experiencing these performance issues so there is definitely something seriously wrong with your system. It could be as simple as a failing GPU, it could be your RAM, it could be drivers.... tis' kinda hard to diagnose over the internet. I guess I'd place my bet on it being either a failing GPU or PSU.

Ah, stupid me , of course! Well I'll fiddle with drivers today and see if I get any performance boosts. The funny thing as previously said is that Battlefield 3 works perfectly fine at ultra, while for example Skyrim isn't at all smooth as it could be. I fixed 12.1 some days back and IMO my performance in Skyrim has been slightly lower than before the patch, I guess it will be improved with new patches/new driver fixes along the way then. I am still a bit worried about something failing seeing as the computer is new and cost me quite a significant sum.

Catalyst Control Center has an overclocking function, but I'm cautious about using it seeing I don't have any previous experience and don't have any wish to fry something in the computer

[Darkpriest667]

Ah, stupid me , of course! Well I'll fiddle with drivers today and see if I get any performance boosts. The funny thing as previously said is that Battlefield 3 works perfectly fine at ultra, while for example Skyrim isn't at all smooth as it could be. I fixed 12.1 some days back and IMO my performance in Skyrim has been slightly lower than before the patch, I guess it will be improved with new patches/new driver fixes along the way then. I am still a bit worried about something failing seeing as the computer is new and cost me quite a significant sum.

Catalyst Control Center has an overclocking function, but I'm cautious about using it seeing I don't have any previous experience and don't have any wish to fry something in the computer

Please refer to my previous post.. if battlefield is working good and skyrim is not at all (and again refer to my previous post) maybe its the program and not your Build ;-)

[Crazyeyesreaper]

12.1 is the up to date driver

Catalyst Driver team recommends it OVER ALL other drivers for skyrim as it also improves skyrim by a further 10-15% but as with all things that tends to apply to new gpus not previous gens, so 6900 will see a boot but most likely 5 series wont. considering the way AMD works.

Improves performance (10-15%) in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim when Multi-Sample Anti-Aliasing is enabled on the AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 Series for single GPU and AMD CrossFire configurations

[AngryTitusPullo]

When was it released ? I might be wrong about the number. I mean the one released earlier Dec and mid Dec (few days ago).

Usually my system will prompt me for new driver released and I haven't remembered any new ones (within 2-3 days).