Clocking advice?

[Valsako]

I've been dealing with a lot of lag issues with games (Assassin's Creed II, Crysis 2, etc), even though my hardware is perfectly capable of running these games. So I've decided it must be something to do with the clocking, but I'm unsure what exactly would be safe levels, and what what wouldn't, and I don't want to fry the computer. So, I'm asking for advice from those more knowledgeable on this subject than I am.

My specs are already in my profile, but for convenience, I'll list them here as well:

CPU: AMD FX 8350 8-core processor overclocked @ 4.52 GHz

GPU: AMD 7970 3 GB graphics card overclocked at 925 MHz GPU clock, 1,375 MHz Memory clock.

PSU: Corsair 850 Watt.

Is there anything I should change, or maybe increase voltage? I've read before that it can improve the performance significantly, but it's risky.

For reference (if it provides any useful info at all):

These were taken from the AMD Engine Control Center.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

I would make sure you're running the latest graphic's drivers and leave your OC alone. It isn't responsible for any lag, it will be other resources being used or a driver issue or just the way the system is interacting with that game, IMHO. Is your OC tested stable?

 

[kbrady1979]

I would make sure you're running the latest graphic's drivers and leave your OC alone. It isn't responsible for any lag, it will be other resources being used or a driver issue or just the way the system is interacting with that game, IMHO. Is your OC tested stable?

It's not likely that the CPU has anything to do with lag.

 

[Mark Phelps]

I may get arguments for saying this -- but really, there aren't any hard and fast "safe" overclocking levels. I did overclocking for YEARS, back when it was a lot of work involving making detail changes in BIOS setting screens and there weren't any cool GUI tools like you have today.

It was worth it back then because you could get serious (as in 50% or more!) speed improvement. And, if you went too high, the PC would simply crash, you would restore BIOS defaults, and start again.

It looks like you're doing considerable overclocking of your GPU, so nothing comes immediately to mind that would explain the lag in the gaming.

What could be the case is that you've got background tasks running that are consuming resources. But, that's just a guess.

Again, I know this "dates" me, but back in the "old days", we would manually shut off all but critical processes to get serious speed improvement. It might be work you're running Task Manager to see what's using resources and shutting down services you don't need.

 

[Valsako]

I would make sure you're running the latest graphic's drivers and leave your OC alone. It isn't responsible for any lag, it will be other resources being used or a driver issue or just the way the system is interacting with that game, IMHO. Is your OC tested stable?

Drivers are up to date and installed properly, perhaps it could just be a resource drain. And yes, the OC is stable.

I would make sure you're running the latest graphic's drivers and leave your OC alone. It isn't responsible for any lag, it will be other resources being used or a driver issue or just the way the system is interacting with that game, IMHO. Is your OC tested stable?

It's not likely that the CPU has anything to do with lag.

I had thought it might be the CPU due to the fact that this lag isn't persistent, it just randomly hits on and off. I had considered that maybe the CPU was draining too much power by being set in the BIOS at 4.52 GHz when the regular setting is 4.2 GHz. It was the only reasonable guess after dealing with lag when my hardware far exceeds the requirements for the game's recommended settings, plus the fact that the games I'm running are not that old, so there's no reason for my card to already be too advanced to run them properly.

I may get arguments for saying this -- but really, there aren't any hard and fast "safe" overclocking levels. I did overclocking for YEARS, back when it was a lot of work involving making detail changes in BIOS setting screens and there weren't any cool GUI tools like you have today.

It was worth it back then because you could get serious (as in 50% or more!) speed improvement. And, if you went too high, the PC would simply crash, you would restore BIOS defaults, and start again.

It looks like you're doing considerable overclocking of your GPU, so nothing comes immediately to mind that would explain the lag in the gaming.

What could be the case is that you've got background tasks running that are consuming resources. But, that's just a guess.

Again, I know this "dates" me, but back in the "old days", we would manually shut off all but critical processes to get serious speed improvement. It might be work you're running Task Manager to see what's using resources and shutting down services you don't need.

I figured there wasn't anything guaranteed, but I was more or less just wondering if there would be a general 'safe' level that would not have so many FPS drops at random moments.

Yeah, now if you go too high it fries your hardware from what I've read.

It's not persistent lag, probably should have noted that, it's these random drops that occur quite often. It's not so annoying when it's in a part of the game where you're just sort of walking around, but when it occurs in a part where you're supposed to react quickly and accurately, it's a much bigger annoyance.

Could be.

I've used PCs for awhile (since 1998), I've just never gotten into overclocking until just a few months ago, so it's just something I'm not entirely familiar with. But I will try what you suggested.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

If the over clock was done in bios and tested fine then your good to go. I would look to background resources and other conflicts like running two AV's together and things like that. With the spec's of this rig I doubt it's the hardware but maybe placing all back to stock default bios setting is a smart idea. Write down where you got to with all settings or save in bios and then go back to default and run you games to see if you perceive a difference.

 

[Solarstarshines]

I would make sure you're running the latest graphic's drivers and leave your OC alone. It isn't responsible for any lag, it will be other resources being used or a driver issue or just the way the system is interacting with that game, IMHO. Is your OC tested stable?

Yup Drop the overclock and go to AMD Catalyst

I have the same set up I had micro stutter in the very beginning with 2x 7970's after a few drivers kicked in it was fixed ,if you are using the drivers that came on the disc then there is the issue those drivers sucked

Try putting on V-sync to see if it controls the dips and stuttering if not then update the drivers you have a Corsair 850w i'm assuming AX850 more than enough to power it