Wondering what I should upgrade in my PC

[Marius42]

I've been playing Oblivion for.... a while now. But my graphics card(s) still struggle somewhat with some of the mods I have installed, like Better Cities. But I also get slowed FPS when lots of actors are onscreen, more than if it was just monsters like goblins, or trolls.

 

So I'm not sure whether a GPU or CPU upgrade would benefit more. I know Oblivion is not super multi-threaded but I'm sure it would help somewhat.

 

My graphics cards are 2x 9600 GT 1gb in SLI (If I upgrade, I'm going to 1.5 or 2 GB VRAM)

 

My CPU is a Q6700 @ 2.67 Ghz (quad core. An upgrade here would just be to a faster processor, with hyper-threading probably.)

 

Which upgrade here would lend the most benefits?

 

I run at 1600x1200, with lots of texture mods and RAEVWD, and body replacers.

 

EDIT : Also, no physical sound-card. No room on my MOBO due to the 2x cards. If I upgraded CPU, mobo would probably also be upgraded and I have sound cards that I could fit in there.

[GiraffeMonster]

I don't have a high-end computer myself, so I might not be precise on my statements. However, I believe that two 9600 GT's are more than enough.

 

If actors really slow you down, then I'm going to say to upgrade the CPU. As you said, you would probably upgrade your motherboard as well, making room for a dedicated sound card, which can further take load off the processor.

 

( Also, I could never run that Oblivion setup on my computer. Nevaar. )

[Marius42]

Well I'm just not sure where the bottleneck is with Oblivion. Since you can't Alt-Tab, I can't monitor usage of components while I'm playing....

 

EDIT : I think its the GPU though. In FO3 I would get ~40-50 FPS, but there was also a lot less vegetation in FO3 and a lot less graphic enhancement mods.

 

Once I switch to a single GPU though I'll be able to put a sound card in and that will also help, I think.

 

But still, if anybody can help shed some light or has opinions of what to buy, comments are appreciated. It's all up in the air still.

[ziitch]

That's just how Oblivion is - Its NPC and cell management absolutely sucks in terms of resource handling. if you really want to nearly eliminate the slowdown with NPCs in greater numbers (twelve or more), you're best off getting the higher-end equipment currently on the market, end expect to spend around $1700 (US) just for such an upgrade.

 

You might also try Oblivion Stutter Remover (OSR), or Streamline too; I myself found that OSR can really cut down on the atrocious memory and processor use, even though places like Waterfront and Market District still tend to be a bit of trouble.

[Tomlong54210]

Oblivion is CPU-intensive. Your GPUs are fine. Tons of current GPUs these days are overkill for Oblivion. FO3 is quite a different game, so making the performance comparison is pretty useless. Get a newer processor, a newer quad-core with better architecture would make a significant difference. The AMD Phenom II Black 955 and 965, any of the i7 9XX intels or any of the quad Lynnefields would be quite a step up. A sound card would help too, by taking some of the load off the CPU. For Oblivion, it is all about the CPU (especially, when your GPU capacity is overkill for the game.)

 

 

Edit: Oblivion is not optimized for multi-threaded processing (for the most part.) The direct benefits of multi-core processors for Oblivion is the capacity for Oblivion to have a dedicated core. The benefit of a CPU with better architecture is simply better performance across the board. http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts-update-1/3DMark-Vantage-1.0.2-CPU,1398.html

[Marius42]

if you really want to nearly eliminate the slowdown with NPCs in greater numbers (twelve or more), you're best off getting the higher-end equipment currently on the market, end expect to spend around $1700 (US) just for such an upgrade.

 

See, that's what I was thinking. If I buy a new mobo, cpu, and graphics card standalone.. that will be ~ 200+200+500=900.. I'd also want a bigger case to stuff it all in... and at this point it begins to become more economical to just buy a whole new system prebuilt.

[Tomlong54210]

Your graphics cards are fine. All you need is an upgraded CPU and MOBO. That is $500 at most, unless you are thinking about getting one of the better i7s, and then you'll be spending a lot of money whether you get a new system or not. Spend whatever you want though...

[captainhalfajob]

To give you an example which may help you here's my spec, q9550 @3.6ghz, 8gb corsair xms2, sapphire hd 4890 @940/ 4300, ocz stealth xtreme 600w psu, and i play in 1920 X 1200 res, i get a solid 60 fps indoors and about 25 to 60 fps outdoors with vsync on, in my opinion your gpus are fine the 9600gt is basically a re-marketed 8800gt and you have them in sli this should be ample, before you spend any money try oc'ing your cpu or maybe by some more ram.