After spending +7,000 dollars there is still something bottle-necking my build, please help!

Skycosmos

Commendable
Jun 6, 2016
7
0
1,510
Hi guys.

My pc parts: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/MjtV3F

This is my 1st post on this forum. Very glad I joined.

Some of the oldest parts of my rig were bought at the end of 2013 (the PSU, Motherboard, Processor and one of the monitors). Over the years I have been upgrading each part that I have thought convenient.

Recently I bought a 4k monitor along with 2 x Nvidia GTX 970's thinking they could power this beast of a monitor.

Well to make myself short, these days I play Tom Clancy's The Division and these are my issues:

First, the game cannot be run at native monitor resolution (3840x2160). I tried using my second monitor which only runs on 2560x1600 and frame rates went up considerably with everything on high (not ultra). I accepted the suggestion of the Nvidia Experience App and lowered the resolution to 2560x1440 with settings on High but frame rates never went up from 40, in occasions dropping to 25-30.

At last, I lowered the resolution to 1920x1080 and the following settings where the ones that made me accomplish 50-60fps:

Ambient oclusion: Medium
Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
Contact shadows: All high
Depth of field: medium
Display mode: full-screen
Enable wind-affected snow: yes
Extra streaming distance: 50%
Local reflection quality: medium
Object detail: 60%
Parallax mapping: low
Particle detail: high
Post fx AA: SMAA 1x low
Reflection quality: medium
Resolution: 1920x1080
Shadow Quality: high
Shadow resolution: medium
Spot Shadow Count: medium
Spot shadow resolution: medium
Sub-surface Scattering: yes
Temporal AA: supersampling
Volumetric Fog: Medium

As you can see, these are really poor settings which barely run the game at 50-60 fps. Imagine after spending a bunch of money into my PC it performs poorly with the games I want to play. Not to mention that these settings make the game run really crappy, beginning with the fact that this is not the monitors native resolution.

I have thought about changing my monitor to a 1900xx resolution one =(
I have thought about changing my motherboard, ram and processor altogether
I have thought about changing from PC to PS4 or Xbox (I just hate controllers for FPS or TPS)

Also may I mention, BIOS is stock. I have not changed anything for RAM timing (which I know nothing of. One time I tried and the computer stopped booting, even though I was inputting the correct timings and frequency). Nvidia options are stock, the only thing I changed is the Sli configuration option in which i have it set to Maximize 3D performance. PhysX settings are auto-select.

Please help! Thanks in advance for your time and diligence.
 
Solution


Well the FX 8350 is an older CPU but is still perfectly acceptable . Running SLI is fine, and dual 970s should definitely be better than a single in 4K. I'm running a single 970 on a 4K right now and getting decent frame rates, but would definitely be better with a stronger GPU.

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator


Well the FX 8350 is an older CPU but is still perfectly acceptable . Running SLI is fine, and dual 970s should definitely be better than a single in 4K. I'm running a single 970 on a 4K right now and getting decent frame rates, but would definitely be better with a stronger GPU.
 
Solution
Try underclocking the FX-8350 down from 4 ghz to 3.5 and see if the frame rates fall. If they do then you are CPU limited. If the frame rates hold as you underclock your CPU then you have GPU issues.

Try dropping out of SLI and see the performance. Some games are not optimized correctly for SLI. There are threads like this one, but I don't know how accurate they are: https://steamcommunity.com/app/365590/discussions/0/405694115209878557/ and you can find comments like "same with one card as with SLI" in various threads -- e,g this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ObHKajRHkU
 

Skycosmos

Commendable
Jun 6, 2016
7
0
1,510


What motherboard, ram and processor do you recommend in this case?
 

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
I'd say two options, if you like AMD and want to stick with them, wait for Zen and see how it actually shapes up, or go Skyake. Something like a 6600K and a Z170 mobo (I wentr with theHero, though their are lower and higher cost mobos). I've got a nice 8370 rig, I built primarily for helping people here in the forums and for reviewing hardware, and to be honest it didn't really even match up well with my long gone 2500K or 3570K builds. And doesn't come close to my Haswell or Skylake rigs. I've thrown a pair of 290Xs in it in XFire and the CPU bottlenecked, it also bottlenecked a pair of 780s and even more so a pair of 980s.
 

hatib

Reputable
Jun 21, 2015
722
0
5,060
to safe u from spending extra the i7 4790k and asus z97 pro will work and if u buy new skylake u have to buy ddr4 and u paid so much for them so its better to get 4790k links to parts
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($318.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus Z97 PRO GAMER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($125.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $444.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-07 08:29 EDT-0400
 

Skycosmos

Commendable
Jun 6, 2016
7
0
1,510


Well, when i bought these parts they where not as cheap as they are right now. My Dell monitor was 2150 usd. I also live outside of the US, which makes me spend more money in shipping and customs (but this is not included in the 7k I spent).

The samsung monitor was not 500 USD when it first came out. Neither where the 970s 360 usd when they came out. I remember paying 389 dollars for the RAM only which today is only like 140 usd total.

The case was a bit expensive and the motherboard also was fairly expensive. Performance parts are not the only thing included in the build. There is also a titanium monitor mount that was custom made for both monitors, that to the dollar change was about 700 usd.

Not being very abundant on the subject since this is not a discussion about pricing, but there you have it.
 

Skycosmos

Commendable
Jun 6, 2016
7
0
1,510
Anyways, I will do the CPU test suggested by Tsnor. Already did the SLI test and frames were slightly better (from 44 to 48). If the CPU test proves to be the issue, I will am thinking about getting these parts:

CPU: Intel i7 6700k
Motherboard: MSI Z170A Krait Gaming
RAM: 16GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX

Maybe could change the 6700 for a 6600. Or wait for the AMD ZEN to get out in october.

Anyways, I WILL GET A 1920x monitor. Which one you guys RECOMMEND for GAMING?

This way I can hold on to this setup until I can see if ZEN is worth the shot. Run Multiple monitors and use the smaller one for gaming.

24" or 28" would be nice. I don't know as of yet if there are monitors these big with such a low pixel count.
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator


That setup is fine but avoid the KRAIT boards. The Z170 Gaming series are much better. Also I would get G.Skill TridentZ instead of Corsair Vengeance LPX. Zen might be here sooner than October but I haven't heard anything on availability or pricing yet. You will also need a cooler since the 6700K doesn't include one. I would suggest going with Noctua, Phanteks or Cryorig.

Anyways, I WILL GET A 1920x monitor. Which one you guys RECOMMEND for GAMING?

That depends on how much you want to spend on a monitor. IPS or VN panels generally have the best viewing angles, TN panels don't.

This way I can hold on to this setup until I can see if ZEN is worth the shot. Run Multiple monitors and use the smaller one for gaming.

24" or 28" would be nice. I don't know as of yet if there are monitors these big with such a low pixel count

That setup is fine. 1080P right now is the standard for monitors - you can find that resolution on almost any size monitor you want. Of course if you go with a higher ratio, 1440P or 4K then it would cost more.
 

Skycosmos

Commendable
Jun 6, 2016
7
0
1,510
This is the motherboard I found:

http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-LGA1151-Intel-Motherboards-GA-Z170X-Gaming/dp/B012IBPJ6I?ie=UTF8&keywords=Z170%20Gaming&qid=1465330671&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Also, the monitor has to be 1080p. But as big as possible. (not a 21" or I will die from depression).

Please recommend one. I have no experience with monitors whatsoever.

It would be nice if the form factor of the monitor is as minimalist as possible. I also prefer whites to be real whites. Not yellowish whites.

Thanks!
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator


Yeah that will be a much better purchase than the MSI Krait boards.

Also, the monitor has to be 1080p. But as big as possible. (not a 21" or I will die from depression).

How much do you want to spend on a monitor? And why 1080P? If you are willing to spend a bit more you can get a higher quality 1440P panel and you will get the most you can out of those dual 970s. Like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014383

Or if you want "as big as possible" then this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014372
 

Skycosmos

Commendable
Jun 6, 2016
7
0
1,510
The budget should be <300 USD.

Since this would be a monitor that will only serve the purpose of running games and not my working monitor (which i have 2 right now.)

Thanks guys for all your help!