Best settings for a bottleneck PC

Jon Cole

Honorable
Apr 13, 2013
4
0
10,510
Hey,

I have a bottleneck PC with a HD 7750 and a Intel E5200 2.5GHz Dual Core.
I am upgrading my CPU, Motherboard and RAM soon, but in the mean time I was wondering how I can optimize the games to look their best by turning down CPU demanding elements and turning up those that only use the GPU, this includes making changes in config files and in game settings.

I am running all the games at 1280x1024 60Hz, and CPU usage is constantly at 90-100% whilst GPU usage is around the 50-60% mark, depending on the game.

Here is my system spec:

  • - Dell Monitor with 1280x1024 max resolution
    - Corsair 450Watt PSU
    - 2.5GB DDR2
    - Intel E5200 (Can't overclock because of Dell motherboard in Vostro 220mt)
    - Trust 5.1 Surround Sound Card
    - Windows 8 32Bit (Few programs running in the background)

Here are the games I would like to optimize:

  • - Battlefield Bad Company 2 (Lags slightly over a big area of a map)
    - Crysis 2 (Runs at about 35-60 FPS with V-Sync)
    - Alice Madness Returns (Runs at about 35-55 FPS)
    - Tomb Raider Reborn 2013 (Slightly low FPS outside)
    - Test Drive Unlimited 2 (Playable, but low FPS)
    - Metro 2033 (Low FPS, especially during gun fire)
    - Saints Row 3 (Horribly laggy)

Any help is much appreciated, including recommended upgrades,
Jon
 
Solution
TressFX is a GPU compute thing, not related to the CPU. Though would turn it off anyway, the 7750 isnt exactly a powerhouse and that GPU grunt can go toward other things.

The rest I believe is all GPU.

Disable PhysX in games, that simple. Though chances are since you dont have an Nvidia card, it just wont even enable it or give you the option unless (I think, not sure on this) you have the CPU driven PhysX drivers.

Jon Cole

Honorable
Apr 13, 2013
4
0
10,510
Thanks, for the replies,
How can I optimize Avast Free to use less CPU?
And also, do any of the following use the CPU?
- TressFX
- FXAA
- SSAO
- Depth Of Field
- Shadows

How can I stop games using PhysX? I understand that is CPU heavy with AMD cards.
 
TressFX is a GPU compute thing, not related to the CPU. Though would turn it off anyway, the 7750 isnt exactly a powerhouse and that GPU grunt can go toward other things.

The rest I believe is all GPU.

Disable PhysX in games, that simple. Though chances are since you dont have an Nvidia card, it just wont even enable it or give you the option unless (I think, not sure on this) you have the CPU driven PhysX drivers.
 
Solution