Bottleneck and need for upgrade?

A

antipunt1

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 30, 2008
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Hi Hardforum. Was wondering if someone could update me on the knowhow in hardware nowadays.

After playing Rise of the Tomb Raider and getting a terrible FPS, I realized it might be time for an upgrade.

My build is in my signature. I was wondering if I could get advice. Is the video-card the bottleneck here? Is my processor is the problem? Do i need to overhaul my mobo and start from scratch (hopefully not)?

I don't need a top of the line system, but I would like to play current gen games on high settings. My budget is flexible-ish, but I never really get high tier materials. Sorry if that's somewhat vague, but I hope it makes sense

Thanks!
 
No mention of resolution but its most likely your video card.

Also, get an SSD, they're super cheap these days and have such a dramatic impact on boot, load times, level changes, etc.

With as little info as you've given I'm just going to say that a 1060 would be a huge upgrade for you.
 
have you tried OCing at all? I play everything at 1080p/60 high or better with a bit of tweaking on a pretty comparable system but OCd. if you do just want to upgrade, a new gpu, a 1060 or a 480 would be a big improvement for little money and no need to do anything else. I do agree with ultima99 that a ssd will make a HUGE improvement too! maybe double your ram down the road. but if you aren't now, look at OCing your cpu to at least 4.0-4.2GHz and it will still game for a while.
 
Thanks a lot you guys! I'll take a look at that video card.

Also, sorry, I forgot to update my sig, but I do actually have a SSD. I updated it.
 
I'm looking on Amazon right now, is there any 1060 that's most bang for your buck. I have trouble differentiating between them. Thanks in advance!
 
antipunt1 said:
I'm looking on Amazon right now, is there any 1060 that's most bang for your buck. I have trouble differentiating between them. Thanks in advance!
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yeah, it's called Radeon RX 480... I would start there if looking the best bang for the buck at GTX 1060 levels of performance (better most of the time).. but as everyone else said above, don't forget to overclock your CPU or you are not going to have huge improvements specially in Rise of the tomb raider that eat easily that CPU at 4.5ghz. overclock is basically a need actually to enjoy the most of any recent GPU in the market.
 
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antipunt1 said:
Also a quick note, I learned how to overclock video cards, and tried it on mine.

I'm not sure if it's just pushed to its limit already, or if the card is just old and worn, but it can't get past 1070 (core clock) and 1538 (memory clock) without crashing, even with power output up 20%. I'm just saying this because one person recommended trying to overclock if it could fix the fps issue, but I think it's fair to say we can rule that out. (note: default for my card is 1050/1500 respectively, with updated drivers)
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that sucks! try leaving the vram speed at 1500 and see if you can get a bit more out of the core. what program are you using to OC? also, as asked before, what setting are you using? maybe try lowering your settings a bit?! with your system ROTR at 1080p with high settings should get you 40-60FPS if not more.

what about your cpu, did you try OCing it yet?

ps: you should delete you other duplicate thread...
 
How hot is the video card getting under load when overclocking? When was the last time you cleaned the dust out of your system?

You will want to up the video card fan speed (custom fan curve with MSI Afterburner) in order to keep it a lot cooler.

What speed is the system RAM you are running? If you are running it at 1333 or below that could have a huge negative impact on performance.

What load is the CPU at when gaming? If even one core is maxing out then that is part of your problem.
 
Hi, thanks for the responses! I haven't tried OC-ing cpu yet, because I'm not sure how hard that would be. I used MSI Afterburner for video card overclocking. The card gets to around 71 degrees before it goes out.

It might be a lazy way out, but I'm willing to spend the money for a new card at this point, given that the upgrade would be substantial/worth it. Is the Radeon RX480 a better buy than the 1060, and would either's gains justify its price compared to my current card? If recommendations are made, can I get an amazon or newegg link so I can see exactly which model is recommended? :unsure:

As for my CPU, should I keep it and/or learn to overclock it, or is that antiquated too?

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it :shame:

PS: Or should I just wait and not buy anything at all. I recall hearing about how timing matters with regards to purchasing these things sometimes

PSS: I don't know how to delete threads, that's why the other one is still up there
 
Rise of The Tomb Raider really should run fine on your current system. You may want to try turning shadows down to low though. Shadows generally kills performance and sharp shadows look lame to me anyway.

It ran fine on mine when I was running a single 7970 (280x).

Check what your RAM is running at with CPU-Z.

What CPU cooler do you have? Since you have a k model CPU, as long as you don't have the crappy stock Intel cooler, you should be able to bump up quite a bit without even having to change the voltage. All you would have to do is up the CPU multiplier in the BIOS. 4.0-4.4Ghz (40-44 multiplier) is a good bet at stock voltage with an ok cooler.
 
Hi, unfortunately I'm not really an overclocker, so I only have stock Intel equipment (for my CPU). I'm not really well versed in CPU-Z so I ran the game for about 1 min with MSI afterburner (at stable settings) and generated a report, which I attached here
 

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I started reading some of the other threads and am getting an impression that upgrading the CPU soon might be necessary to prepare for the next wave of new games? But then I'm not sure if that means I'd have to get a new mobo. Which would mean I'd essentially be building from scratcho_O
 
antipunt1 said:
I started reading some of the other threads and am getting an impression that upgrading the CPU soon might be necessary to prepare for the next wave of new games? But then I'm not sure if that means I'd have to get a new mobo. Which would mean I'd essentially be building from scratcho_O
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No, not yet. Stock clocks, the Core i5 2500k still gets 50fps min. 70fps average on Rise of the Tomb Raider:

Rise of the Tomb Raider PC Graphics and CPU Performance

And overclocking will make that last even longer, because most 2500k processors can be overclocked by 30-40%! Just imagine those i7 6700k numbners in EVERY GAME, and you're on the right track.

You're definitely GPU-limited on this one. They had to crank settings down to High and turn off PureHair to get frame rates MINIMUM well over 30fps at 1080p. You'll have things a bit easier at 1650 resolution, but will definitely not get playable frame rates without tweaking the settings the same as they have it, or LOWER:

Rise of the Tomb Raider PC Graphics and CPU Performance

You can fix 'THAT ISSUE easily with a video card upgrade. Or you can just live with tweaking the settings, since I'm sure the game still looks fantastic on high. Your call if it's bad enough yet to buy a faster card.

Never be afraid to play around with the settings. You can find out awful quick if you're GPU-limited by turning down the video settings or the resolution.
 
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Thanks so much for the information! I think i have a good grasp of my situation now, and with prior help, which video cards i should be eyeing

Thanks !
 
Personally, I think you'll see more practical performance out of getting the new CPU/Mobo first (due to the slow SATA etc) but more gaming performance out of a new GPU. Honestly, neither are very outdated. The 4570 or 4670k would be great, it just depends on how much you want to spend - if you get the 4570 you can get a board without overclocking support which would be cheaper, or if you went with the 4670k it would be more expensive but with an edge on performance.
 
About the overclocking is that i never did it before but maybe i'll do it this time. The GPU that i have now is working but a week ago while i was browsing the web the fan went to the max, can't control it with any software i think the temp sensor is broken(-127º C/-128º C depending on the program to monitor), i can use it but it sounds like a jet engine is next to me.
 
JasmineJasmine said:
Personally, I think you'll see more practical performance out of getting the new CPU/Mobo first (due to the slow SATA etc) but more gaming performance out of a new GPU. Honestly, neither are very outdated. The 4570 or 4670k would be great, it just depends on how much you want to spend - if you get the 4570 you can get a board without overclocking support which would be cheaper, or if you went with the 4670k it would be more expensive but with an edge on performance.
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This is the most confusing post ever. I would suggest you ignore it.

I already showed you benchmarks showing your 2500k is fast enough (even at stock clocks), and Sandy Bridge has two native SATA 6 ports. SATA6 is plenty enough for fast game load times:

X99 NVME / RAM Drive / RAID / SATA III SSD Game Load Time Comparisons

And antipunt, if you can tell us the resolution or model number of your monitor, we can suggest a video card.
 
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defaultluser said:
No, not yet. Stock clocks, the Core i5 2500k still gets 50fps min. 70fps average on Rise of the Tomb Raider:

Rise of the Tomb Raider PC Graphics and CPU Performance

And overclocking will make that last even longer, because most 2500k processors can be overclocked by 30-40%! Just imagine those i7 6700k numbners in EVERY GAME, and you're on the right track...
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LOL you keep telling yourself that an overclocked 2500k is as fast as a 6700k... a guy on youtube did clock for clock comparison and the 6700K sometimes getting 30 more fps in games like GTA V and much higher Mins
 
defaultluser said:
...And overclocking will make that last even longer, because most 2500k processors can be overclocked by 30-40%! Just imagine those i7 6700k numbners in EVERY GAME, and you're on the right track.
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LOL 2500K can't touch a 6700K period.
 
silent-circuit said:
You run SLI with mid-range GPUs. This renders any and all opinions you may have about hardware performance irrelevant.
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My cards are faster than yours what's your point??? Your 2500K bottlenecking (cough) I mean paired with 980tis in SLI makes your opinions about hardware irrelevant. LOL

I'm not responding to any more 2500K owners...u keep doing what u do which is hold on to old hardware and tell yourself its as good as current hardware.
 
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