Gaming system and its performance

[comda]

So about 3 years ago i made this purchase. FYI yes i know computers age, but age isnt my issue.

ASUS M5A97
AMD FX8120 (8 Core CPU)
Black Night CPU cooler
8GB RAM
1Tb WD black and Secondary Seagate Barracuda 1TB Drives
MSI Hawk R6870 Twin Frozer GPU

Anyways, my issue is that i get lag on certain games, especially older ones that my old system could handle without a problem. For example, the computer has random FPS drop in Grand Theft Auto Sand Andreas, Split second runs with low FPS and a game called LASAR lags bad when i turn into a corner.

What ive already done is:
Checked all drivers
Made sure nothing is overheating
Im Virus and malware free
All games are legit disks NO Cracks here

 I only have FPS lag with older games. GTA IV and Even GTAV plays like a charm, So does Just Cause2, Need for Speed on the Run, and TrackMania Nations forever. 
I suspect its my CPU. I was told multiple times that i should disable some Cores in my CPU and over clock it. I was thinking maybe disable 4 cores, leaving 4 and over clock. But how to do that?

Any other suggestions? Thanks In advance

[Geek-9pm]

Is your OS Windows XP? The 32 bit version? 64 bit?
Sorry I do not have a answer for you. But  you might consider doing an upgrade to your Operating System. At this point in time, your best choice  is to get Windows 8.1 and find the performance is much better.
That is not my opinion, it is what others are saying. Microsoft has directed all the attention to Windows 8.1 and the coming Windows 10 version. There were/are things in XP that were never resolved. MS is never going to fix those issues.

Your hardware really looks impressive. Windows 8.1 does very well on older hardware. Your hardware is not too old. Here is an item about  new features and  support.

How many features  in Windows 8

Another good link:
http://www.windows8core.com/

Posted by Ahmad Wahid on May 18, 2015 in Latest News, Related News, Windows 10, Windows 10 RTM, Windows 10 Upgrade, Windows 7, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 RTM, Windows 8.1 RTM | Comments 0 comments   

Microsoft previously announced that the Windows 10 upgrade will be offered for free to all Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 users and now, Microsoft has shared more details about this offer. The upgrade to Windows 10 will be free but, you won’t be able to get a legitimate version of Windows 10 if you upgrade from pirated Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1. Microsoft’s Operating System Division head, Terry Myerson has revealed that the free...

You have lost of drive space, so you can easily partition a drive and install Windows 8.1 as an alternative OS.  That way you can experiment with both systems on one computer. Dual-boot works good. But takes just a bit longer for XP to come up.

[DaveLembke]

Are you really running that system on XP?

[comda]

Is your OS Windows XP? The 32 bit version? 64 bit?
Sorry I do not have a answer for you. But  you might consider doing an upgrade to your Operating System. At this point in time, your best choice  is to get Windows 8.1 and find the performance is much better.
That is not my opinion, it is what others are saying. Microsoft has directed all the attention to Windows 8.1 and the coming Windows 10 version. There were/are things in XP that were never resolved. MS is never going to fix those issues.

Your hardware really looks impressive. Windows 8.1 does very well on older hardware. Your hardware is not too old. Here is an item about  new features and  support.

How many features  in Windows 8

Another good link:
http://www.windows8core.com/
You have lost of drive space, so you can easily partition a drive and install Windows 8.1 as an alternative OS.  That way you can experiment with both systems on one computer. Dual-boot works good. But takes just a bit longer for XP to come up.

Sorry i did not make things clear. I am Using windows 7 Professional with the Latest updates installed. This machine isn't old at all. Well 3 yeras maybe plenty for a computer but i spent $1100 then and its still rather an impressive and fast computer. I used to run a dual boot with XP 32bit SP3 and 7 but XP didnt much like this CPU and board where things where really slow and the machine hiccuped a lot.

[comda]

Are you really running that system on XP?

No. I did Dual boot it XP and 7 when this machine was new, but its been 2 years since i had XP. Not sure why XP was assumed here, because i never mentioned it but nonetheless I am Running windows 7.

Im wondering if the AMD's 8120 8 core has a bad effect on these older games because all my newer games do run fine. Just the lightly older ones. Their boxes say windows vista/7 compatible though. So I know its not a software issue.

[bromtheman]

um...

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[Geek-9pm]

OK, got it. You have Windows 7 with updates.
Older games are not going to do well with multiple cores. But I don't know how you adjust that sort of thing.
Having 8 cores is unusual. Quad core is more common. Here is a article about quad core and older games.
Issue with game and quad core...  Tom's Hardware.
Search for "Old games and quad core" and find results like this:
Google search.
Maybe that will help. 

[patio]

um...

Thats his profile...doesn't mean he's runnin XP on said PC...

[DaveLembke]

I questioned XP because of the profile listing just as bromtheman pointed out.

I have seen XP run into issues with CPU's that are too new for it so thats why it was asked.

For the fact that he is running 7 thats great. Also the 8-core is common for those who have AMD setups. I have the AMD FX-8350 4Ghz 8-core and its a sweet CPU, although overkill for my needs.

Getting back to his inquiry here now that the OS has been disclosed...

I would use core affinity settings for the games to see if they run better on 2 of 8 cores or 4 of 8 cores etc. I havent run into any issues with games and the 8 core, although Unreal Tournament 99 doesnt like any multicore CPU thrown at it and so I have to set core affinity to just 1 of 2 cores on even my Athlon 64 x2 4450B CPU overclocked to 2.53Ghz to get the game intended for single-core processors to run without issues.

I wouldnt shut off cores and drive 1/2 the CPU harder. Core Affinity adjustments should be all you need if you feel that the 8 cores are tripping up the games.

More info here: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/windows-and-office/change-the-processor-affinity-setting-in-windows-7-to-gain-a-performance-edge/

[comda]

I looked at the above article and tried setting the affinity for the game LASAR (aka Overspeed) and it refused because the application was already running. I then tried right clicking on the actual file in its directory and finding that setting before it was being used and no luck.

[BC_Programmer]

it refused because the application was already running.

This is not an error message or error state that prevents it from happening.

You might get permission denied if you didn't use "Show Processes from All Users", though.

[comda]

Setting the CPU affinity didnt do anything. Im playing Lasar and the game will work fine then when i go around a corner i have LAG