Squeezing extra performance from your specs?

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

Hey guys, I'm just wondering why I'm having to play a lot of games on medium settings. If I try and play BioShock Infinite on max settings on my desktop then it just lags, badly. (I get 15fps and that's even before we start getting into a gunfight). I'm running an i5-2400 at 3.1GHz and an AMD Radeon HD6770 (my motherboard only supports one graphics card). I can't get any new parts yet. And I also can't get a new graphics card or anything yet. I'm just wondering what I can do to squeeze out extra performance from my games?

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[jojoe42]

Hey guys, I'm just wondering why I'm having to play a lot of games on medium settings. If I try and play BioShock Infinite on max settings on my desktop then it just lags, badly. (I get 15fps and that's even before we start getting into a gunfight). I'm running an i5-2400 at 3.1GHz and an AMD Radeon HD6770 (my motherboard only supports one graphics card). I can't get any new parts yet. And I also can't get a new graphics card or anything yet. I'm just wondering what I can do to squeeze out extra performance from my games?

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Perhaps look at overclocking? Have you got a sufficient amount of cooling/have you cleaned out your computer lately? When I switched desktop cases for more breathing room, and added two more fans it made a heck of a difference.

 

[gedzum]

Yeah if you can, try and overclock and see if there are any improvements. You could also turn down/off some settings like AA. Maybe even bumping the resolution down a notch, but generally I prefer to play at native res and knock down settings.

 

[Keith Wallace]

You can't overclock non-K processors, such as the i5-2400. You could look into overclocking the GPU, but that's a topic I've never really researched. The thing is, you're playing a new-ish game on hardware that is 2-3 generations behind, so you'll have to expect some required trade-offs.

 

[QwarkDreams]

The GPU looks like it's below the ones recommended (HD 6950 and above). So your GPU might be the reason why it's running at such low FPS.
http://systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/bioshock-infinite/11557/?p=r

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

You can't overclock non-K processors, such as the i5-2400. You could look into overclocking the GPU, but that's a topic I've never really researched. The thing is, you're playing a new-ish game on hardware that is 2-3 generations behind, so you'll have to expect some required trade-offs.

The game still runs absolutely fine at Very High with something like 40fps. So to say it's "old" hardware, it's still bloody good. But I was worried that it was the hardware at fault.

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[QwarkDreams]

Have you updated all the drivers? Is there a new patch out there for the game? Have you experienced this phenomenon in other games too?

 

[Keith Wallace]

Well, the hardware IS legitimately old, Infinite just isn't the most-taxing of games. You had asked about options for improved performance, and that's about all I could suggest, trying to overclock the GPU.

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

Have you updated all the drivers? Is there a new patch out there for the game? Have you experienced this phenomenon in other games too?

Yes, FFXIV:ARR, Guild Wars 2, WoW, all have these issues (though with those 3 games it's more lag spikes during graphics intensive parts, such as massive fights, as opposed to a cold hard concurrent lag, Guild Wars 2 on medium-high settings, WoW on medium settings, FFXIV on standard settings). League of Legends, I can play at max settings with no lag, ever. Same for SMITE I believe. And my Sonic games work perfectly fine on medium-high settings as well (some can even play at max!)

As for driver updates, aren't they managed by the AMD Catalyst Control center? And for game updates, Steam manages those for me. For those not managed by Steam, they have their own auto-updating processes before letting me play the game.

Well, the hardware IS legitimately old, Infinite just isn't the most-taxing of games. You had asked about options for improved performance, and that's about all I could suggest, trying to overclock the GPU.

We did try overclocking the GPU, all it did was cause lots of screen flicker And when I made my last post, I was admitting that I was expecting it to be the hardware being old, and you just confirmed it. Sorry, coulda phrased it better though!

 

[Keith Wallace]

OK, so the problem is in MMOs, then? They're CPU-intensive games, not GPU-intensive. That's the thing that WoW is known for, being tough on CPUs. I mean, it's a low-clocked i5 from 2011, so it's hard to say that it's surprising to see those types of games give it trouble. I don't have a WoW sub to see how my Haswell would run the game with a 5850, but turning down the spell quality and ground clutter, the little things you're unlikely to notice, would do you good on that front. I usually kept my stuff in the medium-to-low on my Phenom II, while only worrying about having the important stuff like sight distance cranked up.

By the way, what are the scenarios in which WoW lags? 25-man raids are where it gets bad. On my Phenom II and 5850, I was still running at a decent FPS with my mismatch of settings, but like I said, I can't check them now.

 

[QwarkDreams]

Sounds like the only options would be a new GPU or playing with lower settings.

But it's strange that you have those fps drops even in WoW, which isn't that demanding on hardware.

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

OK, so the problem is in MMOs, then? They're CPU-intensive games, not GPU-intensive. That's the thing that WoW is known for, being tough on CPUs. I mean, it's a low-clocked i5 from 2011, so it's hard to say that it's surprising to see those types of games give it trouble. I don't have a WoW sub to see how my Haswell would run the game with a 5850, but turning down the spell quality and ground clutter, the little things you're unlikely to notice, would do you good on that front. I usually kept my stuff in the medium-to-low on my Phenom II, while only worrying about having the important stuff like sight distance cranked up.

By the way, what are the scenarios in which WoW lags? 25-man raids are where it gets bad. On my Phenom II and 5850, I was still running at a decent FPS with my mismatch of settings, but like I said, I can't check them now.

So the AMD octo core processor I will hopefully be getting off my friend is the best option for me? And I found it even affected me in Darnassus (when it was empty). That was with the settings cranked right up. If I kept the game settings to about medium I never ever noticed lag, even when I was raiding.

Sounds like the only options would be a new GPU or playing with lower settings.

But it's strange that you have those fps drops even in WoW, which isn't that demanding on hardware.

Yeah, seems like it. Ah well, at least we tried. I'm hoping the AMD octo core and twin Radeon 7770s will fix that problem.

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[QwarkDreams]

So the AMD octo core processor I will hopefully be getting off my friend is the best option for me? And I found it even affected me in Darnassus (when it was empty). That was with the settings cranked right up. If I kept the game settings to about medium I never ever noticed lag, even when I was raiding.

Yeah, seems like it. Ah well, at least we tried. I'm hoping the AMD octo core and twin Radeon 7770s will fix that problem.

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Motherboard: unknown

So, you'll get a new MoBo too, right? Well, you have too, since it's not only a different chipset but a different manufacturer too.
Make sure your PSU has enough power for the new parts (dual-GPU and AMD CPUs are very hungry for power :wink: ).

 

[Keith Wallace]

So the AMD octo core processor I will hopefully be getting off my friend is the best option for me? And I found it even affected me in Darnassus (when it was empty). That was with the settings cranked right up. If I kept the game settings to about medium I never ever noticed lag, even when I was raiding.

It probably would improve performance. Thing is, WoW is not much for threading, so its main desire from a CPU is single-thread performance. AMD's been getting kicked in the **** in that for some time now, so it could even be than an FX-8320 (just guessing on which pseudo-octa-core you're talking about) won't be a substantial upgrade. However, it will give you the option to overclock the CPU (AMD isn't a jerk like Intel on that front), so if you get decent cooling on that thing, you should get MUCH better performance than your Sandy with a good overclock.

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

So, you'll get a new MoBo too, right? Well, you have too, since it's not only a different chipset but a different manufacturer too.
Make sure your PSU has enough power for the new parts (dual-GPU and AMD CPUs are very hungry for power :wink: ).

850w would cut it right? Also he'd be including the motherboard with the package. It's an Asus one (my current one is by GigaByte)

It probably would improve performance. Thing is, WoW is not much for threading, so its main desire from a CPU is single-thread performance. AMD's been getting kicked in the **** in that for some time now, so it could even be than an FX-8320 (just guessing on which pseudo-octa-core you're talking about) won't be a substantial upgrade. However, it will give you the option to overclock the CPU (AMD isn't a jerk like Intel on that front), so if you get decent cooling on that thing, you should get MUCH better performance than your Sandy with a good overclock.

Closed loop water cooling also included. Would that be enough?

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[QwarkDreams]

850w would cut it right? Also he'd be including the motherboard with the package. It's an Asus one (my current one is by GigaByte)



Closed loop water cooling also included. Would that be enough?

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Just look for a psu wattage calculator (The one from extreme outervision is good), choose your parts and let ir calculate the estimated power consumption ��

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I did a quick calculation (maybe I didn't get everything right what your exactly parts are) but you should be fine (about 400W).
I picked these parts: AMD FX-8320 (no OC), 2x HD 7770 in SLI, 2 sticks DDR3 RAM, 1 regular SATA HDD, 1 ODD, 3 fans and 4 USB devices (better more than than not enough).
The thing that's missing is the MoBo (can't be picked).

 

[Keith Wallace]

850W will be fine, yeah. And basically any non-stock cooling will work, it's just a matter of the degree to which it will work. If you're using a mini water loop, that's great. Even an air cooler like the Hyper 212 EVO could get you a decent OC, I imagine, but water will mean you get a good one for sure.