What component should I upgrade?

ArielElia95 · Sep 1, 2017

Hello,
I own my PC since about 2008, but upgraded the GPU, ram, SSD ans such.
My build in general is:
i7 860 @ 2.8GHz
Sapphire R9 390
16GB Ram DDR3
750W

Of course, the oldest component is the CPU (and motherboard).
On GTA V for example, on max settings in most options, I get 25FPS avg (more or less), off road is 19FPS avg.

Is this low FPS caused by the CPU only?

The problem with upgrading the CPU is that I'll need to upgrade the motherboard and ram to DDR4 as well which means a pretty big amount of money.

Thanks

nitinvaid20 · Sep 1, 2017

Yes its the CPU mostly
and if you are gonna upgrade the CPU then you have to change all motherboard CPU and Ram

ArielElia95 · Sep 1, 2017

nitinvaid20 :

Pretty big upgrade haha, costs alot of money.

Thanks

SgtScream · Sep 1, 2017

You should be getting more than 25 fps with those specs and it sounds like your system isn't getting adequate power.
If both your cpu and gpu load is really low, then it is likely your power supply needs to be replaced. Especially due to the fact that it's nine years old. Power quality degrades over time, so it'd be worth a shot investing in a new power supply. If you need to purchase a whole new system, you could use the new power supply used for testing, for that build. Your dated hardware the power efficiency won't be as good as newer system components. For this reason you'll need a 600w psu as a bare minimum, especially due to your power hungry r9 390. If the cpu load is constantly pegged at 100% then your cpu is most likely the cause, as it's a bottleneck for the graphics card.

feelinfroggy777 · Sep 1, 2017

You need a CPU. You have a decent GPU. I would look at a Ryzen 1600 or one of the new Intel 8600k when they are released. Unfortunately, there is not a cheap upgrade path here. You will need a new CPU/Mobo/Ram for that upgrade. As also said above, you may want to consider getting a new PSU as well. A poor quality PSU can damage your components. I would look at a PSU from EVGA, Corsair, or Seasonic.

ArielElia95 · Sep 1, 2017

SgtScream :

feelinfroggy777 :

For both - forgot to mention that I upgraded my PSU with the GPU so it's ok.

I think it worth waiting for the CPUs no? Especially if I'm starting university and won't be ablt to work in the close year or more.

InvalidError · Sep 1, 2017

You could keep the RAM if you upgraded to a Haswell/Haswell-R CPU like the i7-4790(k). Anything newer requires DDR4.

For the very few people who own DDR3L memory or are willing to risk standard DDR3, Skylake would also be an option.

ArielElia95 · Sep 1, 2017

InvalidError :

I think that if I'm upgrading my system then I better upgrade to the newest components available.

nitinvaid20 · Sep 1, 2017

ArielElia95 :

Yes that will be good and will lost for longer time

neiler0847 · Sep 1, 2017

You don't really have any options to upgrade without replacing the motherboard. The 1156 socket is really dated. You could possibly save your memory if you upgraded to a 4th gen CPU and motherboard (possibly used), but you are also likely using fairly slow DDR3 RAM.

I think it might be time for some new stuff. Ryzen 5 1600 + B350 motherboard + 16GB DDR RAM can be had for ~$500 CDN. Tack on another $100 CDN for a good PSU.

SgtScream · Sep 1, 2017

If you have had that windows installation since the time of purchase in 2008, it might be worth using driver guru to clean of remnants of other past video drivers:
http://www.guru3d.com/content-page/guru3d-driver-sweeper.html
Note: First make sure you uninstall irrelevant past video drivers in control panel before installing a new graphics card. Lastly install the latest video drivers from the manufacturers website (Saphire), not AMD.

Also verify your windows power settings are set to High Performance:
http://www.computersolution.tech/windows-7-performance-tips-enable-high-performance-mode/

If all else fails try formatting and reloading the operating system. You should be able to yield more than 25 fps with that rig. If this as a last resort doesn't work, I'd try installing the 390 and new PSU into another build to ensure your new components are working properly. Especially if it is still under warranty so you can make use of it if needed.

ArielElia95 · Sep 2, 2017

neiler0847 :

I'm more of an intel guy than AMD so I prefer getting an i7 but thanks anyway.
BTW maybe you know a site that ships internationally?

SgtScream :

My computer has been formatted since the upgrade, power settings are on high (Samsung SSD high as it says) and everything is at it should. The problem is probably with a relatively weak CPU..

ArielElia95 · Sep 2, 2017

I tried to disable MSAA on GTA V and now I get about 50-60FPS on a regular drive, sometimes a bit less.
The overall FPS is better.
I opened the Task Manager and chose the performance tab to see how the CPU is handling and it was about 50-60% in use.
Is that good? Upgrading to 7700K will get me more FPS?

neiler0847 · Sep 2, 2017

ArielElia95 :

If your CPU is only at 50%, then that doesn't seem to be the bottleneck; at least in this game.

Can you view other utilization measures at the same time? Memory, HDD/SSD, GPU. I can't remember if GTA V is one of those games that consumes a lot of VRAM.

InvalidError · Sep 2, 2017

neiler0847 :

You can run into a CPU bottleneck at as little as 12% CPU usage when running games that rely heavily on a single performance-critical thread on a 4C8T CPU. A more accurate "CPU bottleneck test" would be to either overclock or underclock the CPU to see if that has an effect on frame rate: if the game is indeed bottlenecked by single-threaded performance, it'll be directly affected by clock frequency either way.

neiler0847 · Sep 2, 2017

InvalidError :

Ahhh, I didn't realize that. My view of bottlenecking has been too simplistic. Thanks for that insight

ArielElia95 · Sep 3, 2017

InvalidError :

I never OC anything in my computer by myself, everything is stock from factory or OC by factory like the Sapphire GPU.
I have a cooling on my CPU with those metal ribs and a fan, I don't know if it fits for OC.
Can you help me with OC?

InvalidError · Sep 3, 2017

As I wrote earlier, underclocking to check for CPU bottleneck works too and the simplest way to do that is to reduce the maximum CPU state in advanced power management settings from 100% to 90% or less while keeping an eye on what clock frequency that translates to in Task Manager's CPU performance tab or some other equivalent software. If you reduce the CPU clock by 10% and lose nearly 10% in fps, then you know you have hard CPU bottleneck.

ArielElia95 · Sep 3, 2017

InvalidError :

I tried starting the game with 90% as you said, I'm pretty sure there was a small drop of maybe 5 fps.
Then I lowered it to 70% while in game and it was another 5FPS drop (did a drive in the same place) and when I got it back up to 100% it was maybe a 5-10FPS raise.
Overall it was hard to tell if there's a difference.

In the task manager, it was on 50-60% used with core speed of around 2.8-2.9GHz

What component should I upgrade?

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