PC strongly underperforming.

I wasn't sure where to put this as I have no idea where the origin of this problem comes from. But here goes nothing.

So I built this PC a few months ago. I built it with hardcore gaming in mind so I went pretty all out with it. But performance in games has been lacking, especially when I compared it to another PC that I built for a buddy of mine. (Which had inferior components all around)

System Specs:

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 @ stock speeds (3.0 GHZ)

EVGA 8800 GTS 512 MB (g92)

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) RAM

ASUS Maximus Formula Motherboard

AuzenTech Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Sound Card

2 x 150 GB Western Digital Raptor's running in RAID 0

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 Power Supply

I also have a Killer NIC M1 network card installed but im not using it right now. I need to take it out.

All of this seems to run cool as well. My CPU keeps at good temperatures and everything.

Here are some benchmark scores:

3Dmark 06 score: 11402
SM 2.0 Score: 4368
SM 3.0 Score: 5091
CPU Score: 3213

Pretty lacking as far as I know.

Anyway, does anyone have any ideas? Ive tried swapping out the ram but that didnt help anything. Im not sure what to do anymore. I'll be happy to provide any more information if it will help.

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8800 GTS 512 MB is bottle necking

Reply to bpogdowz

Could you post your friends results as well? You should try disabling eist in bios. (speedstep) also make sure you performance option are set to maximum.

Might wanna try OC'ing. Keep in mind I have no idea if these settings are feasible, only that they should work in THEORY.
FSB 400mhz
multiplier set to 8

Should give you a CPU clock 3.2GHz and a FSB of 1600Mhz. This will sqeeze a bit more performance out of your ram w/o pushing your cpu to hard. I don't know if a 2000mhz fsb is possible on your setup but the settings for that would be..
FSB 500
multiplier 6

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Reply to PsyKhiqZero

PsyKhiqZero wrote :

Could you post your friends results as well? You should try disabling eist in bios. (speedstep) also make sure you performance option are set to maximum.

Might wanna try OC'ing. Keep in mind I have no idea if these settings are feasible, only that they should work in THEORY.
FSB 400mhz
multiplier set to 8

Should give you a CPU clock 3.2GHz and a FSB of 1600Mhz. This will sqeeze a bit more performance out of your ram w/o pushing your cpu to hard. I don't know if a 2000mhz fsb is possible on your setup but the settings for that would be..
FSB 500
multiplier 6

Would an OC really fix it? I'm sure I could bump my CPU up pretty good but it just seems that even with stock speeds I should be performing better.

Also, I need to get my friend to run 3Dmark06 for me but I don't think he'll be able to tonight, I just know that he runs World of Warcraft much better than I does. (Not exactly the best benchmark but its one of the only things he plays). I'm seeing subpar performance throughout all games I play though.

Reply to nick3318

An OC would only increase the CPU and SM 2 score. Your buddy probably just has his graphics card overclocked.

Message edited by bpogdowz on 10-06-2008 at 09:40:46 AM

Reply to bpogdowz

Something is making your processor perform poorly. It should be getting about 4300points or so. My Q6600 at 3.2ghz 1600fsb get's roughly 4500. And to whoever said it's the graphics card holding it back is blatantly wrong.

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Reply to Lucuis

Lucuis wrote :

Something is making your processor perform poorly. It should be getting about 4300points or so. My Q6600 at 3.2ghz 1600fsb get's roughly 4500. And to whoever said it's the graphics card holding it back is blatantly wrong.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/ [...] r17516.jpg

You're right, his processor is gimped out.

Reply to bpogdowz

Naw my buddy has everything at stock speeds, like i said, I'm the one that built it and hes only been using it for few weeks now.

Thanks for the replies you guys. Any clue on what I can do to fix it? I figured it was probably something to do with my CPU.
I spent a stupid amount of money on it because I was planning on doing some pretty CPU intensive stuff with my pc as well.

Anything look strange or out of order?

Reply to nick3318

What is your PSU?

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Reply to bpogdowz

bpogdowz wrote :

What is your PSU?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139002

Reply to nick3318

The CPU scores in 3Dmark 06 are tied to the VGA. If you want true CPU scores that are not influenced by the VGA then download SiSoftware Sandra 2009 (freeware version) and run the CPU benches.

Here are my benches with a Q6600 400 x 8 @ 3.2G/1600 (C1E enabled which shouldn't matter) with DDR2 800 1:1 for comparison. I do have a little stuff running in the background but they should be real close.

Arithmatic Benchmark Results
Dhrystone ALU : 54.46GIPS
Whetstone iSSE3 : 41.06GFLOPS

Multimedia Benchmark Results
Multi-Media Int x8 iSSSE3 : 108.31MPixel/s
Multi-Media Float x4 iSSE2 : 66.65MPixel/s
Multi-Media Double x2 iSSE2 : 33.52MPixel/s

Multicore Efficiency Benchmark Results
Inter-Core Bandwidth : 18.20GB/s
Inter-Core Latency : 40ns

Message edited by Zorg on 10-06-2008 at 10:22:35 AM

Reply to Zorg

PSU looks good. Your CPU is probably over heating and TM1 and/or TM2 is kicking in.

Reply to bpogdowz

Ouch...

Arithmatic Benchmark Results
Dhrystone ALU : 39.66GIPS
Whetstone iSSE3 : 33.95GFLOPS

Multimedia Benchmark Results
Multi-Media Int x8 iSSE4.1 : 85.54MPixel/s
Multi-Media Float x4 iSSE2 : 47.95MPixel/s
Multi-Media Double x2 iSSE2 : 24.27MPixel/s

Multicore Efficiency Benchmark Results
Inter-Core Bandwidth : 12.63GB/s
Inter-Core Latency : 80ns

Also, I don't think overheating is the problem. Realtemp is showing 25 28 31 31 on each core respectively.

Message edited by nick3318 on 10-06-2008 at 10:40:47 AM

Reply to nick3318

Yeah, clearly you have a problem. Can you run CPU-Z and take a screen shot, of the CPU tab, while running Prime95 25.7 small FFTs. Be sure to right click on the icon near the clock and close Prime95 after you get the screen shot.

You can capture the active window with Capture and use TinyPic to host it for you.

Message edited by Zorg on 10-06-2008 at 10:55:17 AM

Reply to Zorg

Here you go:

Reply to nick3318

Damn, it all looks good. Maybe you are hitting TM2. If you haven't already, run Prime95 small FFTs and monitor temps with Real Temp. Let it run for at least 10 minutes until temps stabilize and then post them.

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Reply to Zorg

Zorg wrote :

Damn, it all looks good. Maybe you are hitting TM2. If you haven't already, run Prime95 small FFTs and monitor temps with Real Temp. Let it run for at least 10 minutes until temps stabilize and then post them.

34 36 38 38

Reply to nick3318

Those temps are low. Stock cooler? Try this Real Temp beta it has an updated Tjmax. It may be a little higher, but still not your problem. I Found it.

I have to tell you, I'm at a loss. You're running Vista, I assume?

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Message edited by Zorg on 10-06-2008 at 12:52:42 PM

Reply to Zorg

Zorg wrote :

Those temps are low. Stock cooler? Try this Real Temp beta it has an updated Tjmax. It may be a little higher, but still not your problem. I Found it.
I have to tell you, I'm at a loss. You're running Vista, I assume?

Nope Im running a pretty decent Zalman air cooler, and yup im running vista.

Not sure what to do, I've had this problem since the day I installed the Operation System really. So I don't think a reinstall would help any.

Message edited by nick3318 on 10-06-2008 at 12:48:14 PM

Reply to nick3318

The only thing I can think of is that something is stealing cycles. Save your data and reinstall the OS fresh, including the format, and try the benches again. I know it is a PITA, but that's all I can think of.

Reply to Zorg

Ha, I moved my edit and you saw it in the other post.

I don't think it's Vista, but do you have a copy of XP lying around? I can't imagine it's a bad chip, because it would be crashing.

I would reinstall anyway just to rule it out. If I think of something I'll post it.

If you find out be sure you post here, because I'm really interested in the cause.

Message edited by Zorg on 10-06-2008 at 12:57:55 PM

Reply to Zorg

Grasping at straws here.

Did you default the BIOS after the flash? Because you are supposed to in order to clear any trash that might be there.

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Reply to Zorg

Zorg wrote :

Grasping at straws here.

Did you default the BIOS after the flash? Because you are supposed to in order to clear any trash that might be there.

The flash? I haven't flashed the BIOS at all. Unless im missing something...

Yeah, I dunno. I guess ill need to do a reinstall but that's going to have to wait until i figure out how to back up all my data. My portable hard drive is on the fritz.

Reply to nick3318

I got threads mixed up. In which case, maybe you should do a BIOS flash. If you look at the Mainboard tab in CPU-Z it will tell you the current BIOS revision. then you can get the latest one from Asus.

Do not, and I say again, DO NOT use the Windows based BIOS flash. I'll look in the manual and find out the USB flash method. Download the manual PDF when you get the latest BIOS revision download, so you can easily find the page I give you.

This link will get you to the download mobo selection page. Maximus Formula

Be sure you get the correct BIOS. If there is a question, ask, a bad flash will brick your mobo.

Message edited by Zorg on 10-06-2008 at 01:29:18 PM

Reply to Zorg

Asus calls it EZ flash. Directions are on page 4-5 in the PDF. It is possibly the same page in the paper manual. You need a USB flash drive or floppy.

Reply to Zorg

Alright I'm going to get some sleep before I do any of this. I'll try flashing the BIOS when I wake up tomorrow. It's 5 AM where I'm at and I've been up all night

Thank you for all the suggestions so far!

If anyone has any more ideas please post them here, I'll be back on this thread tomorrow. (Monday)

Reply to nick3318

You can also try to reset the BIOS to Optimized defaults as well, because some of the settings may conflicting.

Reply to yonef

Definitely check your BIOS version and look at flashing to the newest. Alot of the BIOS updates for the Asus ROG boards have been for CPU and memory compatibility and browsing the Maximus ones seems there's a lot of other CPU tweaks in them.

Do the Asus EZ Flash 2 through the BIOS with a USB stick. Just did it the other day on my Rampage Formula and it's very easy and the safest.

Reply to SiliconX

I successfully flashed the bios but when I ran the benchmarks again I had nearly the exact same results.

Anything else I could try?

Reply to nick3318

Do you have any extra programs running in the background? Antivirus, instant messaging, etc. Antivirus like Norton and Macafee can be real resource hogs if running one of those.

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Reply to ohiou_grad_06

ohiou_grad_06 wrote :

Do you have any extra programs running in the background? Antivirus, instant messaging, etc. Antivirus like Norton and Macafee can be real resource hogs if running one of those.

Nope I'm not running much of anything.

Reply to nick3318

I don't have Vista, but I can't imagine that much of a difference. You could Google for a post of the bench with Vista. Even though it is unlikely that it is causing the problem try disabling Vanderpool, unless you are planning on running virtual machines.

Reply to Zorg

Blah this is terribly frustrating. Is there anything I could run to get more information on the processes my CPU is running?

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Reply to nick3318

You sure one of the processors didn't go poof because the heat generated from the other processor is enough to move the thermal diodes on the dead CPU.

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Message edited by bpogdowz on 10-07-2008 at 05:02:03 AM

Reply to bpogdowz

bpogdowz wrote :

You sure one of the processors didn't go poof because the heat generated from the other processor is enough to move the thermal diodes on the dead CPU.

All the cores are getting used when running Prime95 if that's what you mean.

Reply to nick3318

nick3318 wrote :

Blah this is terribly frustrating. Is there anything I could run to get more information on the processes my CPU is running?

Windows Sysinternals Process Explorer v11.21

Reply to Zorg

Anything look strange? There's a bit more if I had scrolled down but nothing too important I think.

Reply to nick3318

Yeah, 23.26% for hardware interrupts is way way way too much. I suspected something was stealing cycles.

Mine sits at either 0 (no entry) or .38. (deleted) getting 2 similar threads mixed up again.
That percentage probably correlates with the difference in the bench.

Something to Google, interrupt and driver problems, I'm sure there are other people with the problem and a fix.

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Message edited by Zorg on 10-07-2008 at 07:17:26 AM

Reply to Zorg

Zorg wrote :

Yeah, 23.26% for hardware interrupts is way way way too much. I suspected something was stealing cycles.

Mine sits at either 0 (no entry) or .38. I say it's that kicka$$ Nvidia mobo. Save yourself a lot of grief and get a cheap P45 it's worth the cash.

That percentage probably correlates with the difference in the bench.

Something to Google, interrupt and driver problems, I'm sure there are other people with the problem and a fix.

So this is possibly the problem then? What exactly are hardware interrupts? If you don't mind me asking.

Also, there's an error with the "SM Bus Controller" in device manager, it says i need drivers. Could that be whats causing the interrupts?

2nd edit: Or maybe the Killer network card i have installed (but am not using) is causing conflicts with my motherboards build in network stuff? ( For wayy lack of a better term)

Message edited by nick3318 on 10-07-2008 at 06:26:39 AM

Reply to nick3318

Interrupt - Wikipedia

This is old but still accurate enough, I think. System Management Bus

Anything in the device manager with an exclamation, needs to be addressed when you have a problem. That is really the first thing to do.

You need to install the chipset drivers. Go to Asus's forum and determine which is the best driver set for your mobo, the latest isn't always the best although with the Intel chipset they probably are, download and install them. Your problems may disappear.

The extra card could certainly be causing interrupt conflicts, but it's more likely the chipset drivers. If you aren't using it, then remove it. I always remove all USB drives, printers etc. and any other cards/peripheral that I can remove when testing and then put them back one at a time and test. It's the same method with the OS and programs.

This assumes, of course, that the problem can't be isolated without the more drastic measures.

Message edited by Zorg on 10-07-2008 at 07:15:34 AM

Reply to Zorg

Where would i find the chipset drivers?

Are you talking about this?

"Intel(R) Chipset Software Installation Utility V8.3.0.1013 for Windows 2000/XP & 64bit XP & 32/64bit Vista(WHQL)."

Reply to nick3318

I assume it's this one, so yes.

Message edited by Zorg on 10-07-2008 at 08:10:51 AM

Reply to Zorg

Looking good so far!

50.96GIPS

43.03GFLOPS

Ill update once i do more testing.

Reply to nick3318

Cool, I think it's fixed. Whenever you get a new mobo always download and install the latest BIOS and driver revisions.

Reply to Zorg

By the way. While the chipset drivers resolved the device manager alert it was taking out the network card that took care of the hardware interrupt. There's still a hardware interrupt but its taking up maybe .73 at the most processin power. Im not sure how normal that is.

Reply to nick3318

My hardware interrupts is under .05%.

Reply to bpogdowz

I haven't had any problems with IRQ conflicts since Windows 98, so I really haven't payed attention. I wouldn't loose any sleep about .73%. If you really need the NIC you can manually change IRQ to resolve the conflict. With two gigabit connections I don't know why you would need it.

Reply to Zorg

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