Is my psu a bottleneck for my graphics?

[Hattyboo 10]

hi, i have a really good understanding about pcs, and near enough everything to do with them really,other than, i dont know too much about psu's and their power, i have a fx 8350 8 core cpu, with a corsair watercooled cpu fan, 12gb of ddr3 1600mhz corsair vengeance, an asus hd 7870 2gb pci express graphics card etc, but my psu, is a 5 year old delta electronics psu 750 w, and in call of duty ghosts, i get really dramatic fps drops on some maps even on medium settings my pc should be able to handle that pretty fine, but thats the only game that it really happens with, now im wondering, if my psu is too old and not upto handling my card

[tzijlstra 11]

I doubt it, 750 watt should be plenty to deal with that system and I have never heard of a PSU delivering fewer watts over time, although I will happily be corrected on that point.

 

It is more than likely due to CoD having the usual porting problems. The code is written for console first, PC second, this means that due to the various different hardware combinations possible in PCs the game might struggle in one set-up and not in another.

 

I would ask on a gamers forum that has a dedicated section for CoD Ghosts to make sure.

[stimpy 10]

I agree.

 

Lack of power wont cause a framerate drop. Its either got enough power or it hasnt. So it either works or it doesnt.

 

Is the cpu being throttled at all?

[denomis 10]

Cod ghosts is just a bad game.

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Call-Duty-Ghosts-Frame-Stutter-Issues-Horrendous-PC-60366.html

 

Don't worry as it's not your pc but just a crappy coded game.

[Ghozer 112]

I agree.

 

Lack of power wont cause a framerate drop. Its either got enough power or it hasnt. So it either works or it doesnt.

 

Is the cpu being throttled at all?

 

This isn't quite true....

 

If a PSU is at it's max draw, but stable enough to not cut out, but the GPU isn't quite pulling it's max capability, it will be doing more work to render the same, and get hotter, or keep cooler and slow down causing lower performance...

 

This is the case with my machine in the living room as it's only a 350 watt PSU with a 6 Core AMD, 12GB DDR3 RAM, and a Radeon 6770 - it works, it plays games well, but the GPU gets a bit warmer than normal, and the performance isn't it's max... but it's enough!... until I can afford a better PSU at least!

[Cyclone 10]

That makes no sense Ghozer, the card cannot get hotter because it doesn't have enough power (electrical power, just to be clear).

 

If your PC is throttling due to heat, then that will happen no matter what PSU you are using (unless a new PSU improves the airflow significantly or reduces the heat it's adding to the system, both of which are unlikely).

[geared 316]

750w PSU should be more than man enough for the job.

Delta are a very well regarded make so it's not like it's some dodgy piece of junk either.

 

Updating all of the drivers, and having a look round a few computing forums might be worth a shot.

 

COD:Ghosts does not support 'Mantle', like denomis said it's just a pretty badly written game.

Edited May 6, 2014 by geared

[Ghozer 112]

That makes no sense Ghozer, the card cannot get hotter because it doesn't have enough power (electrical power, just to be clear).

 

If your PC is throttling due to heat, then that will happen no matter what PSU you are using (unless a new PSU improves the airflow significantly or reduces the heat it's adding to the system, both of which are unlikely).

 

Tried it with the PSU outta my main machine and it's cooler, and better performance..

350w vs 550w

 

The main thing that matters isnt wattage anyway, its Amperage on the 12v rails that matters most with regards to GFX cards! - and thats why my 350w PSU is fine.

 

ANd I never said it was throttling due to heat...

Edited May 6, 2014 by Ghozer

[Cyclone 10]

That sounds like your PSU is hot and is heating up the inside of the PC. The GPU is thus running hot and is having to throttle due to that heat.

If the PSU did not supply enough power you would either not get a boot up, or you would have a crash when the GPU tried to draw the power that wasn't there.

[geared 316]

Cheap way to test that is take the side of the case of and direct a desk fan inside the pc.

 

If it stops all the issues than it's a heat problem.

[tzijlstra 11]

Cheap way to test that is take the side of the case of and direct a desk fan inside the pc.

 

If it stops all the issues than it's a heat problem.

 

Or just download the appropriate software available for all modern CpUs and GPUs that tells you