Bottlenecked components - Suggestions on a CPU?

Aeriose · Aug 21, 2015

Hey all.

I've been using a bottlenecked setup for ages now, and finally have some money to spare in fixing the problem. I was told previously that my CPU was bottlenecking my graphics card, but at the time had no spare money to fix the problem. I am unsure of how much I would need to upgrade my CPU in order for my graphics card to be performing at its best.

My total budget at the moment is around £200, and of course the cheaper the better, within reason.

So my question is, what component/s should I upgrade with this money? I know that the CPU would definitely need an upgrade, but would there be any other components that I should look into upgrading after that has been done, in the future? (Bearing in mind this is a Gaming-Style rig.)

Any reasoning behind choices of upgrades would be nice! But of course, not mandatory.

Current Specs:
Processor : AMD FX-6100 (3.3Ghz)
Graphics Card: AMD HD7970 MSI Twin Frozr III Graphics Card
RAM: 8192mb (Unsure of Brand)
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64-Bit (10.0, Build 10240)
Motherboard: ASUS M5A99X EVO R1.0
Storage: 1TB HDD
PSU: Xigmatek NRP 700w

Also, a bit off topic, but has anyone noticed performance drops since moving to Windows 10? My browsers are constantly lagging, stop responding etc. navigation seems much slower than Windows 7 too.

Many Thanks, Jake.

Robert Cook · Aug 21, 2015

Uh, there is no bottle neck there. that CPU might not be the fastest around, but an old core two quad at 2.4 GHz can run that card no problem. have you had performance issues, or have people just said you have a bottle neck? because there should not be one there.

Aeriose · Aug 21, 2015

Robert Cook :

Hey, I've been having a lot of problem with render distance within games such as Crysis 2, and other large world games such as the Far Cry series / Skyrim. The game runs great when inside buildings and close up, covering up to 120+ fps on high ish settings, but whenever I reach the outside areas, my fps drops to around 25 - 30. To be totally honest I'm not sure if it is bottleneck, but from suggestions via friends and other forum posts on the CPU, it did seem that it was a bottleneck.

sora · Aug 21, 2015

I personally haven't noticed any performance drops after moving to Windows 10! It may be a glitch with AMD drivers though.

Robert Cook · Aug 21, 2015

The HD 7970 is like a two GB R9 280X. it is slightly slower too. Far cry demands a good amount of VRAM, and while that card has plenty of power, 2 GB is not really enough VRAM for games like far cry, and I have heard that Crisis 2 and 3 are like that too, this would explain the FPS drops slightly, because indoors you should not be rendering a large area. what settings are you playing at?

Wisecracker · Aug 21, 2015

... runs great when inside buildings and close up, covering up to 120+ fps on high ish settings, but whenever I reach the outside areas, my fps drops to around 25 - 30.

This is normally driven by 'field-of-view' or 'viewing-distance' settings.

Search for tips on how to optimize these settings on the games that give you trouble.

The only real issue with an old 'Bulldozer' FX-6100 is the low base-clock (3.3GHz). Some low-budget aftermarket cooling should allow you to bump those 6 cores to 4GHz or so with your motherboard. This could give you a little boost in titles which tend to be 'CPU-bound' (typically craptastic console ports).

madmatt30 · Aug 21, 2015

^ the 7970 is a 3gb vram card exactly like the 280x because it is a 280x with slightly lower clocks.

Aeriose - grab a decent aftermarket cooler & overclock the arse out of your 6100 mate.
Soon as you get up to 4ghz - which is easy because your board is quality - you'll get much better performance.

Robert Cook · Aug 21, 2015

^ yeah I was going to say, if you have the right motherboard you could always OC it never hurts.

madmatt30 · Aug 21, 2015

Beaten to it again ;-)

Aeriose · Aug 21, 2015

Robert Cook :

For Crysis 3, I am running at 1920x1080, High Texture Detail, and FXAA disabled, System spec set to Medium.
Sorry for the vagueness of the settings, but the Crysis 3 options don't seem like they give much room for change..

Seems like quite a large drop in fps though, didn't really seem right.

Robert Cook · Aug 21, 2015

ain't I always... you multi master people obviously have Toms hardware speed hacks. well soon I will!
because that is how it works right?

Aeriose · Aug 21, 2015

Thanks all for the info. Looks like overclocking might have to do for now! Are you sure that my motherboard could handle all of that? at the time that I bought it, it was more of just get the cheapest one available at the time, and didn't have many positive reviews.

Robert Cook · Aug 21, 2015

That is a pretty capable motherboard from what I am seeing, just take it slow to be safe. I assume you know how to OC?

Aeriose · Aug 21, 2015

Robert Cook :

I've read into it before, and on my course at college, but never actually done it practically, since I wasn't sure if my current rig could handle!

I know how to OC the CPU, but I'm a bit unsure of how to know when to stop increasing the clock speed etc, because by the looks of things, going up in small amounts is the way to go?

Edit: So overall, I know how to overclock it, but not really how to overclock it safely haha.

Robert Cook · Aug 21, 2015

just go up with the multiplier .5 by .5 when you need to add more voltage to keep it stable raise it by as little as possible, always keep an eye on the temps. My Phenom II X4 965 BE when OCed at 5.0 GHz is at 40C in the BIOS, and I would not want it much hotter than that. so try to keep temps below 40 in the BIOS. you will not want to raise voltage above 1.5, as 1.2-1.4 is stock on that chip, frankly keep it below 1.4 unless needed. Aim for 4 GHz, it should do that no problem if you want to go for a higher clock you can, but I would not run for daily use as it just makes more heat due to the higher voltage. (I run my phenom at 4.3 GHz on a normal day.)

madmatt30 · Aug 21, 2015

Aeriose - whoever told you your mb isn't good quality is pretty much talking out of his ass mate.

Its a rock solid board.

Bulldozer chips aren't great tbh - the fx visheras hold a 10% or so better performance at relative speeds & your 6100 is fairly low clocked anyway.
The turbocore function is also massively flawed (it still is one the visgeras but not to the same extent)

If you're running stock settings (& even with a stock cooler) id be 99.999% certain that dropping in bios ,disabing turbocore & setting your multiplier to 18 (3600mhz which is the 4 core turbo speed) will stop those fps drops being so dramatic straight away.You'll more than likely sit above 40fps constantly .
You might think about using 60fps vsync too mate ,if you're running a 60htz screen anything above that is wasted GPU resources anyway & a 60-40fps drop is much less noticeable.

Bear in mind that it takes a fairly high clocked i5 minimum to do a constant 60fps+ on crysis 3 - it may be a fairly old title but its very pretty & also very very demanding.

Aeriose · Aug 21, 2015

Would it be better to use the in-built overclocking of AMD Catalyst Control Center? or is manual overclocking the way forward?

Robert Cook · Aug 21, 2015

I prefer manual, but the built in one works well too.

Robert Cook · Aug 21, 2015

I prefer manual, but the built in one works well too.
in reply to madmatt30, I agree that is a pretty fine board, I use the M4A79XTD EVO AM3 board, which is sort of lie the older model and it allows 5.0 GHz at 1.7 volts. so It would b neat to know what that board can do.

Aeriose · Aug 21, 2015

Thanks, I think I will attempt to do it manually, feels more hands-on! Thanks for all of the help, will pop back here once i've messed around a bit, and pick a solution if it seems to have helped a bit.

Wisecracker · Aug 21, 2015

I suspect the best thing for you to do is to download AMD OverDrive (AOD). It will give you your most accurate voltage and temperature (*thermal margin*) readings.

The only 'real' requirement suggested is to disable the Turbo function -- this can be done from within AOD, too.

You may also use the Stability Test in AOD before an 'OCCT' CPU test run.

Monitor your temps ('thermal margin') and volts in the 'CPU Status' tab. (You may also monitor 'core-throttling' in the tab -- you will need to enter the BIOS at boot and disable 'APM' if this is an issue)

1) Use the volt & multiplier sliders in AOD under the 'Clock/Voltage' tab;
2) If you fail a stability test, it will either stop the test, hang or reboot with your original settings;
3) When you are comfortable with your stability and temps, under the preferences setting in AOD, you may lock them in for boot;

I would first find your lowest possible volt settings before raising the multiplier. It will likely be around 1.325v or so. You may then start raising your multiplier.

When you 'stub your toe' simply bump the volts +0.0125v and test again. It would not surprise me if you got 3.8GHz or more out of the stock AMD 125w cooler.

madmatt30 · Aug 21, 2015

Aeriose :

software based - no one uses catalyst mate - not for over 18 months

download amd overdrive - it has options for literally everything - I would still always use bios but it is a good tester to see what your board ( which is no concern at all with a 95w cpu) & cpu are capable of.

http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/software-technologies/technologies-gaming/over-drive

& prime95 for stress testing

http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=205

madmatt30 · Aug 21, 2015

jeesuuus ;-) wisecracker is 1 minute ahead of me every single time

Robert Cook · Aug 21, 2015

^ 3.8 with a stock cooler should be quite possible.

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