Help with Minecraft PC options

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Smack2k

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Aug 14, 2016
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I am trying to possibly beef up my older (2009) built computer with some additions to get Minecraft working better with mods and be able to turn up the graphics somewhat to look better but not crash or lag seriously. My son and I love playing but things like the Localized Storms mod crash or hang the game when we get near tornadoes or I try to turn up the graphics levels on them. Right now we can play OK with a bunch of mods loaded (over 20 in 1.7.10 and 1.8.9) but I do have to turn down various settings using Optifine for performance. I want to give my son a better experience overall! Looking for advice if I could do this with what I have and upgrade some of it or should I scrap the idea and build new? Price is the issue here as if I can upgrade this for cheaper than a new machine and get good performance I'd rather do that unless it's just not worth it. I am not looking for pristine mine craft with all settings / shaders running (unless possible!) but I'd like to have things like the grass flowing / water look nicer / texture packs used to their potential. Also would appreciate any advice on what to upgrade to if possible and any settings changes you could recommend

My current monitor is only 60hz so my FPS aren't normally high and usually run in the 30s.
I set the FPS to VSync.
I keep the render distance view in the normal range (lower end of normal) and put most graphic settings at fast with no smooth lighting.
Full screen at 1600 x 900 setting.
Chunk loading is at 3.
All settings for the world (clouds / grass / Eric) are set to normal.
Enable the options that say they stabilize FPS

Would like to up these obviously to give my son a cooler look.

Heres what I have with what I'd think to upgrade beside it

ASUS M3N72-D Mobo - can take PCie x16
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition CPU
6 GB DDR2 RAM - would want to up this to 8 or 16 GB. Site says mobo can do 8 but manual says 16
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT card - would definately want to upgrade this, but to what? - thinking a GTX 660 2 GB - or would different cards in SLI be better?
Windows 7 64-bit
Java 64-Bit
Have the game capped at using 2 GB of available memory as once it takes more the system starts to slow down.

Thanks ahead of time for any help. Much appreciated.
 
Solution
James Mason


Well, like how much money do you want to spend? because a $500 new computer would stomp your current one in MC performance. The problem is your computer is poorly designed for minecraft, as minecraft cares most about, in order:

1: CPU single core strength (yours is fairly bad, doesn't matter how many cores you have, minecraft wants single fastest cores possible)
2: Ram quantity and speed (Minecraft looks simple...
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TDHBP_Messed

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Dec 27, 2015
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Okay you got specs better than my laptop's but my laptop runs Minecraft at 60-80Fps with most video settings on high and draw distance at 16 and sometimes I adjust draw distance to 32 with slight Fps change, shaders with HD textures on 25-30Fps!

I noticed above that you said chunk loading : 3? If you have a low-end PC why 3? Adjust it to 1 and your game should be fine!

V-sync? I say adjust the Fps limit to 60 Fps.

The performance settings you checked them? Fast math : On, Smooth Fps : On and I think that is all I can do for you unless you use mods change the trees, grass and all that stuff I say turn them off for good!
 
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Smack2k

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Aug 14, 2016
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I upgraded my system to 8 GB as I found 2 GB of RAM in a box that I thought only had older 72-Pin / older RAM in it. It was 1066 to boot, which matched the 6 I had in it. With that installed, I have seen a nice bump in performance in terms of the tornadoes mod being totally useable with no lag seen when running them and actually getting inside of them, spinning them up / etc, so that was a step in the right direction.

Going to build a brand new computer in about 6-8 months but wanting to get this one a little more beefed up in the meantime to allow for more mods to run at once and to also try and get some of the texture packs running...now that I have the 8 GB's of RAM, would adding the GTX 660 allow me to run some of these and also up some of my graphics settings?
 
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Smack2k

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Aug 14, 2016
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It may be old as dirt, but I want to make it as good as I can for the time being. The build I plan on doing in 6-8 months isnt something I am worried about money wise to be honest, as I plan on making it as good as I can, but right now I want to give my old as dirt rig a little more Umph for Minecraft specifcally...
 
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James Mason

James Mason

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Jan 2, 2014
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Well, like how much money do you want to spend? because a $500 new computer would stomp your current one in MC performance. The problem is your computer is poorly designed for minecraft, as minecraft cares most about, in order:

1: CPU single core strength (yours is fairly bad, doesn't matter how many cores you have, minecraft wants single fastest cores possible)
2: Ram quantity and speed (Minecraft looks simple, but has to track tons of data so a large(ish) amount of fast ram will help the most.)
3. Disk Read/Write Speed (Recording and keeping track of data and being able to retrieve it quickly, so an SSD helps quite a lot)
4. Graphics card (Minecraft has some high settings, but they aren't really capable of putting much strain on the GPU.)

Your biggest problem with upgrading your computer are points 1 & 2.
#1 can be addressed by buying a good CPU heatsink (that you can very possibly transfer to a new build, as long as you save the box and the accessories that come with it) and overclocking your CPU, but that's only if your motherboard supports OCing and is good enough to actually allow it.
#2 you can't do anything about because you're crippled by slow DDR2 ram.
#3 you can get a good SSD and transfer that to any new computer you get, and will provide a fairly large improvement to general desktop performance.
#4 You don't need a good GPU for minecraft, so if you wanted you could buy the GPU you want to put in your new build now (since most of the new ones are out and we won't really see any more powerful ones for another year) and again transfer it to your final new build.

 
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Smack2k

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Aug 14, 2016
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I really appreciate your answer there and the detail...its helps out a LOT!

Like I said, things are running good enough for now with the 8 GB of RAM so unless I can find the card I wanted on the cheap, I guess I will stay away from it...my current setup allows for the tornadoes to run effectively, with no lag, in one profile and i can have my profile with 20 or so Mods in it for creative building...just without the details of higher graphics. Those can come with the new build.

When I do go for the new build, what would you recommend in terms of what I get for it to keep from becoming "old as dirt" quickly. I know obviously technology continues to improve and speeds / graphics continue to increase, but I'd want to build something I could at least be safe knowing this game (Minecraft) and others that my son may get into will still be useful a year or two afterward!

I really only need the MOBO / Proc / Cooling Fan / RAM / HDD as I have a PC Case I can use (I can use my current one as I dont care how it looks, as long as it holds the parts, I'm fine) as well as a good 700W Power Supply. What would you recommend for me to get a great Minecraft experience with lots of Mods / Shaders?

Your advice is again greatly appreciated!
 
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Smack2k

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Aug 14, 2016
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So I found another PC that I have (used as a media PC basically to house emulators and videos) that I completely forgot had some better specs than my rig I am currently using...curious if I hooked up a better graphics card than the 9800 GT in this if things would be much better:

The MOBO is a Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P
The Processor is a AMD Athlon II X2 250 AM3 Processor (Dual 3.0 GHZ)
8 GB DDR3 1333 RAM in it.

If I were to get the better graphics card in this (for now) would things be better than my other setup? I know its still older but curious which setup would be better.....or would adding a better proc (For this generation) also help out? I dont know much about this particular processor and how it fares with / against the other one I have...
 
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hdgaming

hdgaming

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Nov 2, 2015
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I think your current cpu is actually better than the other one. You better just get a cheap second hand gtx 660 for the time being like you said, you gonna build a new pc after a few months. Make sure you get something like an i3 6100 for example, minecraft likes it single threaded power.
 
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Smack2k

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Aug 14, 2016
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Would taking the CPU and putting it into the newer MOBO give me any little bump as well? Just curious if it would be a help or not as I have it already and could set it up!
 
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