Is the Power Supply the Problem? :: Hardware and Operating Systems

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Balteric Aug 8, 2014 @ 9:06pm

Is the Power Supply the Problem?

Hello everyone, so for the past few months I've been having this strange problem (It's probably an obvious problem, but I want to clarify) with my FPS in Games. So my PC is medium-range I'd say, it can run Crysis 2 and BattleField 3 at Max Graphics. However, in some of the games I play, my FPS will drop from around 60 or so to around 13 FPS.

Here are my PC Stats and whatnot that you'll probably want:

MSI 890GXM-G65
2x 4GB Corsair Vengeance (Have no clue on the clocking for those)
AMD FX-4130 Quad-Core 3.8Ghz
ASUS R7250X-2GD5 Radeon R7 250X 2GB GDDR5 (Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121852)
Not sure on specifics for the PSU other than it being 400W.

Now what I do know is that the Graphics Card Recommends 450W. I've been considering that to be the problem for these FPS Drops (Please don't hate on that, just wanted to clarify that this is the real problem before I spend the cash on replacing it), but I'm not completely sure. All of my Temperatures are within normal ranges while running these games.

Also as a note, I play League of Legends on Max Settings, and average around 120FPS. Whenever I enter combat, or even occasionally when roaming around, the FPS will drop to 23 or so, and will gradually lower depending on how much is going on in the screen boundaries.

Any help people can give me on this would be great.

PS: My Computer has also been starting to freeze up lately. Spotify froze about 3 times today, Skype froze once, Windows Explorer froze about two times, and League of Legends froze around 2 (While in a Ranked Match, yikes!)

I'm just looking to get the solution confirmed, and this problem out of the way as soon as possible so I can play my games at their respective Framerate (It gets pretty bad commentating when the FPS Drops!)

Last edited by Balteric; Aug 8, 2014 @ 9:41pm

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Showing 1-14 of 14 comments

chiefputsilao✖️ping Aug 8, 2014 @ 9:56pm

if i'm not mistaken, the best discrete gpu upgrade path in your setup is between nvidia gtx 760 and amd r9 270x. (200$ price range or less)
quality psu to about 550w.

screen freezing can mean a lot of things. start by posting the temperatures of the cpu, gpu, hdd, etc and the voltages on 3.3v+, 5v+, 12v+ rail (use speedfan, hwinfo, or hardware monitor from cpuid)

Balteric Aug 8, 2014 @ 9:57pm

Well I'm not looking for a GPU upgrade, I just got this one in April. I checked up on the Temperatures I was getting for the GPU and CPU, GPU was around 60C in game and CPU was around 52 or so I believe.

chiefputsilao✖️ping Aug 8, 2014 @ 10:01pm

temps for cpu/gpu seem fine.

brand of the psu?

as for the game play experience, try lowering some game features (resolution, details, etc)

Balteric Aug 8, 2014 @ 10:05pm

I honestly am not sure on the Power Supply brand. And no matter what I do to drop the graphics and whatnot, it improves my Max Framerate, but the drops are still as frequent as before, and still as bad. The Power Supply is a few years old, I want to say it's Western Digital but I can't be 100% positive on that.

Last edited by Balteric; Aug 8, 2014 @ 10:06pm

chiefputsilao✖️ping Aug 8, 2014 @ 10:28pm

then perhaps the r7 250x is not fast enough to handle graphics-intensive scenes.

hwinfo, hardware monitor from cpuid can provide sensor readings on voltages provided by the psu (12v+, 5v+, 3.3v+) plus monitoring of temperatures.
(rule out failing psu and throttling of cpu and gpu under game load stress)

Balteric Aug 8, 2014 @ 10:36pm

It drops to 13 FPS in games if I'm just sitting in one spot. The FPS Drops are completely random, with the exception of League of Legends. I can manage League of Legends at that FPS, though. What I can't fathom is how the GPU couldn't be strong enough to handle those scenes. In the time I've played Crysis 2 (Not very long but there's some pretty intensive scenes in the beginning), my FPS hasn't dropped. However, when trying to play games like Don't Starve, Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: MW2, Binding of Isaac, etc., the FPS will go from about 60 to 13 for about 15-30 seconds, then go back up to 60 for a minute or two. The process repeats.

Bad 💀 Motha Aug 8, 2014 @ 10:49pm

An R7 250 series just aren't good for most games. It's comparable to an NVIDIA GT 630/640. Best bet would be something like R7 265 or R9 270; at the very least.

If it is freezing up just doing basic Windows tasks; then you either have a heat issue, or the PSU is not good enough for your setup. Best bet to test this further would be to reinstall the OS fresh, and by fresh I mean format the drive and clean install the OS. Do not just reinstall it over-top of itself. Common mistake by many people.

You should know those RAM specs; cause u need to manually enter them in the BIOS, or enable XMP/DOCP. If you are not doing this, then the current settings are most likely causing system instability.

Last edited by Bad 💀 Motha; Aug 8, 2014 @ 10:52pm

Balteric Aug 8, 2014 @ 10:52pm

The 250x works perfectly fine with the games I want to play. I don't expect to be running any next-gen games and whatnot with this card. I've been thinking Dragon Age: Inquisition, but I should be able to run that fine on lower settings. As I said, The Graphics card Recommends 450 Watts on the Power Supply, and mine is only 400W. I just wanted to confirm that the Power Supply is the issue before I bought a new one.

EDIT: I've also been using this RAM for about a year now without any problems. I've also done a Factory Reset and there's been no fix in the issue.

Last edited by Balteric; Aug 8, 2014 @ 10:53pm

Bad 💀 Motha Aug 8, 2014 @ 10:54pm

We can't test the PSU for you. And given that it is 400W, I think u already know the issue here. The wattage # really doesn't mean much by itself. It depends on the Amps available on the +12V line(s). And also the overall quality/efficiency of the PSU being used. As you could be using a cheap quality no-name 1000W labeled PSU and still have the same issues.

You simply need to test the system with a different PSU, plain and simple. If u have no way to do this, perhaps u need to visit a local PC Tech/Repair shop and let them try a different PSU on it that meets the CPU+GPU requirements.

Last edited by Bad 💀 Motha; Aug 8, 2014 @ 10:56pm

Balteric Aug 8, 2014 @ 10:55pm

Like I said, I was just confirming with you all to make sure it was the problem. I didn't know 100% for sure if the PSU would drop the framerate. I'll be able to buy a new PSU soon.

#10

Bad 💀 Motha Aug 8, 2014 @ 10:58pm

PSU won't drop framerate; it will however cause random reboots and system-wide freeze if the power supply is not enough. If all u are seeing is frame-rate-drops; that is for one your CPU and GPU are not very good. And two it could be they are throttling down their clocks, due to overheating, which is then resulting in poor FPS.

#11