Poor performance in games

frugal_mike

Hi all

I have a new PC of reasonable spec, but it seems to have terrible performance in games. I don't think I'm over-estimating its capabilities either, it's struggling with relatively simple games too (such as Braid).

Spec is:

• Intel i5 4430 quad core processor (3Ghz)
• AMD Radeon HD 7850 GPU with 2GB vRAM (with the latest drivers installed from the internet, not the drivers that came on the CD).
• 8GB RAM
• 2TB HDD

I've run FRAPS, which is showing framerates as low as about 5FPS and rarely more than 10 in game. Changing the settings in the games doesn't appear to make a difference. Even on the lowest settings available it still has the same poor performance.

Games I've tested on so far:

Steam Demos:

• Braid
• Spec Ops The Line
• Call of Juarez Gunslinger
• Moto GP 13

Old games I had lying around:

• Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (circa 2006)
• The Lost Crown (the only game that works reasonably)

So, any tips on how I can diagnose the problem?

Thanks

SidP

Start with this website:

http://www.tweakguides.com

I've used it for years. I even forked out for the Deluxe edition of his guide. He's so good, nVidia now employ him to write guides for them.

If you're still having problems after following his extremely comprehensive advice, you may have a hardware issue.

Weird_Nev

That spec should have no problem running most games.

Is it stuck using the on board graphics instead of the dedicted GFX card? That happened to my laptop which has both onboard graphics and and a discreet gfx chip, and it made most games unplayable. A driver update fixed it.

It could be a Motherboard setting or a driver issue. Did you build this PC yourself or buy it from somewhere?

frugal_mike

SidP wrote: »

Start with this website:

http://www.tweakguides.com

I've used it for years. I even forked out for the Deluxe edition of his guide. He's so good, nVidia now employ him to write guides for them.

If you're still having problems after following his extremely comprehensive advice, you may have a hardware issue.

Thanks, i'll give that a look tonight after work.

frugal_mike

Weird_Nev wrote: »

That spec should have no problem running most games.

Weird_Nev wrote: »

Is it stuck using the on board graphics instead of the dedicted GFX card? That happened to my laptop which has both onboard graphics and and a discreet gfx chip, and it made most games unplayable. A driver update fixed it.

I'm fairly certain its on the gpu. When I first installed Windows it I had trouble getting high resolutions, and it turned out there was indeed a BIOS setting to disable onboard graphics. I disabled that and things seemed to work fine. Device manager lists the graphics adapter as AMD Radeon HD 7800 series, the Windows hardware score gives a 7.9 for gaming graphics, and I downloaded the latest drivers for the GPU when I noticed issues.

Weird_Nev wrote: »

It could be a Motherboard setting or a driver issue. Did you build this PC yourself or buy it from somewhere?

I bought it from Aria, about a week ago.

Cycrow

You could try running the DxDiag and see what it says.

it should list what GPU its using

Weird_Nev

Bizarre. I'd get back to Aria and say it's not performing properly. They should sort it. that's before you break too many settings and they claim it's your fault!

Retrogamer

Is it a laptop or a desktop?

If a desktop, check any power connectors feeding to the graphics card are secure and if a laptop, ensure it's plugged into the mains.

Cycrow

With a 7850, its defiantly not a laptop

Retrogamer

There's a laptop version of the chip, the only difference in name being an M at the end of it.

jaydeeuk1

One brand of radeon based graphics card doesn't use reference hardware, bios and possibly drivers (I'll try and find which) and using the generic AMD drivers can cause problems. Try finding the gpu manufacturer and see if they have their own drivers available.