Quick CPU upgrade question

[Wardez]

Pretty much, I tried running Battlefield 3 the other night and it was a lot different in performance than it was on launch. I used to run it smooth at a constant 70fps but now putting everything on low graphics settings just gets me by at around 35fps. I don't know if it's the updates that have bogged me down or what (I do regular maintenance on my machine and there's nothing physically worn or different in the system) but I'm thinking my processor isn't cutting it anymore.

Here's my system at a glance:
Windows 7 64-bit
Motherboard Name Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P
AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz (unlocked to 4 cores)
EVGA GTX 570
6gb of DDR3 SDRAM
64 gb SSD 200mb/s read 125mb/s write
700watt Corsair PSU

Now, I'm thinking my graphics card is acting as a bad bottleneck for my graphics card possibly?

I'm thinking about upgrading the CPU as a result, to a true beefy quad core:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

Would this be a significant upgrade and boost my FPS? Or might I be even better off just trying to overclock my current CPU?

 

[Casio]

Pretty much, I tried running Battlefield 3 the other night and it was a lot different in performance than it was on launch. I used to run it smooth at a constant 70fps but now putting everything on low graphics settings just gets me by at around 35fps. I don't know if it's the updates that have bogged me down or what (I do regular maintenance on my machine and there's nothing physically worn or different in the system) but I'm thinking my processor isn't cutting it anymore.

If it was running fine, nothing has changed and all of a sudden it's running at 50% lower FPS then your CPU isn't the issue. It's not like CPUs wear out and run slower over time.

 

[Wardez]

So what could it most likely be? OS issue, overheating, or memory leaks?

Anything I can do as far as a diagnostic output that could help pin the problem?

 

[Grayfox]

Reinstall.

Overtime windows becomes bloated with crap and a reinstall gives you back all your speed.

 

[nick09]

I would start by removing programs that you don't need. Then press the start menu, type in "msconfig"(without the ""), go to the startup tab, and then disable programs that you don't need to start up when the computer boots. You can also go into the Services tab, click "Hide all Microsoft services", and then disable services which you don't need or you think is bogging the system down. Other than that I'd try to reinstall the graphics drivers.

 

[Wardez]

I've already optimized windows. I defrag, run ccleaner, malwarebytes, and AVG. And always update graphics drivers. Not a single program I don't know about is running in the background. I'm thinking it might be the CPU overheating now.

A re-install couldn't hurt I guess and it would speed up the system a bit but I doubt it'll impact the gaming performance unless I somehow messed up along the way with some weird setting I shouldn't have changed. Everything's been running fine lately though, I just haven't tried running BF3 in a while, BL22 seems to run ok, not great though. I'll also try reinstalling BF3 on another harddrive as well 'cause the one it's on now's kind of getting old.

Hopefully I can pin this down. Gonna check temp's tonight once I'm home from work.

 

[Rotorist]

Some programs intervene and take cpu time backround. Close some (not security ones) before playing and chck this possibility.

 

[Wardez]

Welp, I think I just found my problem. Somehow my freaking motherboard decided to revert my CPU back to 2 cores! The CMOS must've tripped everything back into default settings a while ago during a power outage or something!

And here's shots of my temp's and memory peformance during a time when I'm doing my regular thing on the PC.

Chrome's running with a bunch of tabs, iTunes, a video capture program in the background as always, and Skype and my temp's are this high?


Can't believe I haven't checked into this sooner!

I'm off to reapply some thermal paste and dust out my case, also gonna try to reunlock the two cores.

Update:
Just ran prime95, which is a CPU/RAM torture test which subjects my system to full load.

Here's what it looked like under full load for a few minutes:

Holding steady at 70, still too much? I don't get it!

Update 2:
And I'm back to four cores, god damn it's like I had an extra turbo in my car that had gotten unhooked somewhere going down the road xD It's like I have a brand new computer, yay! The only thing is now the program I was using before to see temperatures isn't working anymore. Guess I have to look elsewhere.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

Your motherboard might have done that because of a malfunction or a safety precaution. Remember, the unlocked cores were rejected by the factory from testing and they locked them.

 

[Grayfox]

Anti virus background scanner can cause issues.

 

[bergauk]

I've already optimized windows. I defrag, run ccleaner, malwarebytes, and AVG. And always update graphics drivers. Not a single program I don't know about is running in the background. I'm thinking it might be the CPU overheating now.

A re-install couldn't hurt I guess and it would speed up the system a bit but I doubt it'll impact the gaming performance unless I somehow messed up along the way with some weird setting I shouldn't have changed. Everything's been running fine lately though, I just haven't tried running BF3 in a while, BL22 seems to run ok, not great though. I'll also try reinstalling BF3 on another harddrive as well 'cause the one it's on now's kind of getting old.

Hopefully I can pin this down. Gonna check temp's tonight once I'm home from work.

Get rid of AVG and go for Microsoft Security Essentials. That's your bottleneck right there. AVG is a bloated AV and constantly uses more CPU power than it should.

 

[Shaun]

^^^
Works well enough for me 👍.
Just to be on the safe side I also run Malawarebytes once a week or so.

Cheers Shaun.

 

[Grayfox]

^^^
Works well enough for me 👍.
Just to be on the safe side I also run Malawarebytes once a week or so.

Cheers Shaun.

Never run more than 1 security suite.

There background scanners can conflict can cause massive slow downs.

Even if it doesn't have an active scanner, use it with a grain of salt.

 

[Shaun]

I don't.
I only run Malawarebytes when I desire. Pretty much only my essential stuff runs on startup. Whenever I install anything new the first thing I do is disable it via msconfig for startup.
The way I see it if I need it I'll start it when required.

All that starts with my pc is windows, MSE, chrome, a couple of other programs I always use and squeezebox server to stream my flac files to my receiver in the loungeroom.
My pc runs just as quick as the day I built it.

Cheers Shaun

 

[bergauk]

Never run more than 1 security suite.

There background scanners can conflict can cause massive slow downs.

Even if it doesn't have an active scanner, use it with a grain of salt.

MalwareBytes generally is considered to be an On-Demand Scanner. Even if you do purchase the full version, it still barely uses anything anyways.