PC Performance Questions

[JinRaflesia]

Let me start by saying that i am not too knowledagble on this topic, and only know superficial information about it. So here i am, humbled and asking for your help.

 

My PC specs are as my profile shows,
Asus H81M-D motherboard, 8GBs of RAM, a GTX-650

 

and a 4th gen 3.7GHz i3.

 

I really think that my processor is causing a bottleneck in my system and causing a performance decrease.

I can play games like Project CARS, and GTA V and Crysis 3 with 60FPS, but only after tweaking the settings a bit. The real problem though are in Fallout 4, Far Cry 3, Need For Speed Rivals and Advanced Warfare. Especially Fallout 4. I can actually manage to get it to 60, but it drops down to 30 and the like when in dense areas and in certain situations. I've tried almost everything, as a matter of fact my game looks so horrible in the effort of gaining frames right now. As in, i'm playing at half the resolution of my monitor, and i've modded the game and done things that would help. Yet i still get lag and framerate drops.

 

Well honestly i don't even know my components well. I don't exactly know how my video card compares to other products out there, and same with the rest. Do i have a system that's sufficient for the games i play? Or is there something wrong? Because i think this PC is not optimized properly. Are there things you guys could point out to me that i should do?

Thanks guys.

[obobski]

Everything in your PC is the problem, to put it bluntly. It can run all of the games you've listed but the performance limitations you're experiencing are exactly what I'd expect from a machine like that - a better processor wouldn't be where I'd start though; replacing that GTX 650 with something faster would be a much better use of funds. The 650 itself isn't a bad card, but it wasn't a monster when it was new (and its time came and went years ago) - something like an R9 280 or GTX 960 would be a significant upgrade over what you have.

 

Give this a look and see if it helps put things into better perspective:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/fallout_4_pc_graphics_performance_benchmark_review,7.html

 

That's running the game fully maxed at 1080p; the GTX 770 is equivalent (more or less) to the GTX 680, which is a number of "levels" above your 650.

 

However when it comes to the CPU side, it isn't gaining much with more cores (which is basically your only real upgrade path from that i3):

http://us.hardware.info/reviews/6416/7/fallout-4-tested-with-22-gpus-cpu-core-scaling

 

Before you run off to buy a new graphics card, however, ensure that your system's power supply is up to the task.

[CaptainSlaymore]

There are a lot of mods that improve textures and frame rate while using lass ram. I use a MSi GT80 gaming laptop that runs most game at decent frame rates, but I still use performance mods in my games. It might be worth looking into.

[JinRaflesia]

Everything in your PC is the problem, to put it bluntly. It can run all of the games you've listed but the performance limitations you're experiencing are exactly what I'd expect from a machine like that - a better processor wouldn't be where I'd start though; replacing that GTX 650 with something faster would be a much better use of funds. The 650 itself isn't a bad card, but it wasn't a monster when it was new (and its time came and went years ago) - something like an R9 280 or GTX 960 would be a significant upgrade over what you have.

 

Give this a look and see if it helps put things into better perspective:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/fallout_4_pc_graphics_performance_benchmark_review,7.html

 

That's running the game fully maxed at 1080p; the GTX 770 is equivalent (more or less) to the GTX 680, which is a number of "levels" above your 650.

 

However when it comes to the CPU side, it isn't gaining much with more cores (which is basically your only real upgrade path from that i3):

http://us.hardware.info/reviews/6416/7/fallout-4-tested-with-22-gpus-cpu-core-scaling

 

Before you run off to buy a new graphics card, however, ensure that your system's power supply is up to the task.

Thank you for the reply. I really did not expect my graphics card to be first thing i would have to replace with my system. I've always thought it's the best part of my PC but well, i guess i thought wrong. Do i have other choices than replacing my video card? Or at least, are there things that i can do to somewhat maximize what i have for now, other than overclocking (which is not on my list by the way)?

 

There are a lot of mods that improve textures and frame rate while using lass ram. I use a MSi GT80 gaming laptop that runs most game at decent frame rates, but I still use performance mods in my games. It might be worth looking into.

Oh yes i've already resorted to modding, in fact i think i have every performance-increasing mod i could possibly get and my game looks quite horrible already. Yet i get frame dips when in urban areas. Plus i've got a problem that cannot be solved, which has pushed me away from the game. It looks like that problem with wetness/rain occlusion but it's not. It's also not an imagespace modifier problem. It seems to have something to do with certain objects in the game, as well as lighting.

[obobski]

 

Thank you for the reply. I really did not expect my graphics card to be first thing i would have to replace with my system. I've always thought it's the best part of my PC but well, i guess i thought wrong. Do i have other choices than replacing my video card? Or at least, are there things that i can do to somewhat maximize what i have for now, other than overclocking (which is not on my list by the way)?

 

 

 

Modding, as CaptainSlaymore suggests, or lowering IQ settings, would really be the only course available if you're not going to upgrade hardware. Overclocking would help a little bit, but honestly the days of "buy cheap parts and overclock them into a high end system" are squarely a thing of the past.