Quality of Life Upgrade for PC

Syribo

Syribo

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 9, 2008
Messages
1,515
My current system:
4690k at 4.0GHz right now
MSI 980ti
16GB DDR3 RAM
Crucial SSD + Samsung Evo 850 SSD
EVGA SuperNOVA 750w PSU
Win 10

I'm wondering what the best use of my money would be if I wanted to go about upgrading my current computer a bit. As much as I've wanted to grab a 1080ti, I feel like my main problems with this PC occur when in almost every game, my CPU shoots up to 100%. I like having some other things open when I game; Skype, Discord, Chrome, Twitch streams or Netflix... and if I even try to have open Netflix or Twitch, my game will begin to stutter.

It also depresses me that in order to achieve 144fps in Overwatch at 1080p, I have to turn every single setting off or low, and still barely can stay at 144 fps. I also got a 4k TV lately to play some stuff off of when I want to lay in bed and game, and achieving 60fps on the lowest settings is basically impossible too. I know I can't max out games at 4k but I thought I'd at least be able to hit a constant 60 in a game like Overwatch haha.

I'm just not sure if going for a better gpu, like a 1080ti, would give me the performance of, let's say, saving for a 7600k/7700l, motherboard and DDR4 RAM instead. I even debated trying to pick up another 980ti for SLI, since they're pretty cheap right now, but don't know just how much of a benefit it will give me in games that are optimized well for SLI. I haven't done SLI since my 8800GTS's back in the day.

I mainly use my BenQ monitor at 1080p for most games, for the 144hz. Sometimes I do like to play on my 1440p monitor at 60hz, as well as the 4k TV at 60hz.

I just can't decide what I should do next, and what would be the most bang for my buck.
 
Hmmm....

Honestly, your rig is pretty beastly.

I'm thinking your performance issues are software-related. Maybe drivers etc.

FYI, I get a SOLID 60fps on Overwatch at Ultra with High SMAA. (and my system is a dog compared to yours)

Also, check your CPU/GPU temps at load.

If all else fails, maybe do a clean format to Win 7?
 
Last edited:
horrorshow said:
Hmmm....

Honestly, your rig is pretty beastly.

I'm thinking your performance issues are software-related. Maybe drivers etc.

FYI, I get a SOLID 60fps on Overwatch at Ultra with High SMAA. (and my system is a dog compared to yours)

Also, check your CPU/GPU temps at load.

If all else fails, maybe do a clean format to Win 7?
Click to expand...
With Overwatch, is that at 1080p? Or 4k? I can do about 95fps with almost everything on ultra, but with noticeable screen tearing. So I play with everything as low as possible, and 100% scaling.

My temperatures are definitely great. I never go above 52C, in Overwatch it's usually around 45C. I have a pretty minor OC on my GPU right now. My processor temps idle around 25C, and when gaming it gets to 49C max. I have an Artctic Liquid Freezer on it, that thing is pretty nice!

I actually just "upgraded" to Win 10 a few days ago. I was still running 8.1, and ironically, my game performance is better on 10.. not sure how. Didn't do a clean install, just did the upgrade while keeping my programs and files. I actually didn't want to upgrade, but bought Win 10 to put on an old computer that still ran Vista (My father wanted a simple computer for some stuff, so I got out my old Q6600 system).. and turned out I could not get that computer to install Win 10 no matter what I did. So instead of wasting the key I had just bought, I put it on my computer and put 8.1 on the old one. I actually got WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better performance in some games, especially Battlefield 1.

I have the latest Nvidia driver. My PC innards are clean, barely any visible cables, and the temps are great.

I just always notice in games that my processor will always go up to 100% (And that's with closing every single non-gaming program), while I never ever ever ever see my GPU power go anywhere even close to 80% at any time, according to Afterburner. It seems to be around 50% a lot. Wildlands absolutely kills my system. I can barely achieve 60fps in that game steady, it makes my processor immediately go up to 100%... so I can't have a single other program running while I play it :/
 
My 60fps is definitely at 1080p lol

That 100% CPU usage is weird. If I were a betting man, I'd wager it has something to do with you upgrading from Win 8.1 to 10 instead of doing a clean install.

Just a guess though....
 
horrorshow said:
My 60fps is definitely at 1080p lol

That 100% CPU usage is weird. If I were a betting man, I'd wager it has something to do with you upgrading from Win 8.1 to 10 instead of doing a clean install.

Just a guess though....
Click to expand...
I wish that was it, but it was doing the same thing before I upgraded to 10 haha. It actually runs a little bit better with Win 10 than it did on 8.1. And I've checked my processes and such, nothing else running taking much of the processor. Just freaking games that take up all of it :( Every damn game, doesn't fail.. CPU goes right up to 100% every single time!
 
I'm gonna fire up Overwatch for a minute and see where my CPU usage is at....

EDIT: Ok, here's how it went:

CPU - Busiest Core hit 60% at 50c
GPU - hit 55c (can't read GPU usage cuz I have Kboost on)

So yeah, something weird is going on with your rig man.... :(
 
Last edited:
Shot in the dark here.... Maybe you have an infection or some kind of drive indexing weirdness.
 
What cooler do you have for your CPU? Bump that up to 4.4 or 4.5. Should be able to pretty easily on that. If you have 1600 DDR3 RAM, try bumping that up too. There's a pretty decent difference between 1600 and 2133 in some games. My Ripjaws 1600 kit was able to overclock from 1600 to 2133 by just letting it do timings on auto and setting the speed myself, I haven't tried tightening the timings auto has set, but it's faster overall than it was before.

With my system at 1080p epic settings no AA I get about 105fps in heavy fights for the low end up to 170fps running around. At 4k same settings I get 43-65. Generally the 980ti should be doing better than my FuryX so something seems amiss.
 
Last edited:
Are you running a third party anti-virus program?

Windows 10 built-in anti-virus is actually fairly decent and it's also not bad on resources.
It's pretty well integrated into Windows and behaves well.

Also, as said above, try some higher overclocking. I have a 4690K test system that runs very
stable at 4.4Ghz (not stable higher than that). The extra speed will help.

Honestly though, I think maybe you are just expecting too much in terms of multi-tasking.
Gaming takes a lot of system horsepower to run well. Turn off all of the other stuff while gaming.


.
 
I previously had a CM Seidon, and that thing began to suck majorly. Replaced it with an Arctic Liquid Freezer 120mm, and this thing is incredible. My gaming temps never go above 50C, idle temps around 28C. I've got two 140mm front fans, 3 120mm top fans, a push pull on the Arctic cooler, and a 120mm bottom fan. So my cooling situation is pretty good.
But you know, for some reason I had a really hard time getting my 4690K stable above 4.0. It used to be at 4.4, but then became unstable. I eventually just ended up using the OC Genie thing, and have had it at 4.0GHz and never had any crashes or anything again. I should try again. Do you think that extra boost will really help a good amount?

Crap, you know.. I don't know if my RAM is overclocked even at all right now. I think it's all set at default. And yeah, I have Crucial Ballistix Sport VLP 16GB 1600mhz RAM. I'll have to try that, along with overclocking the CPU a little bit more and hope for stability.


DrLobotomy said:
Shot in the dark here.... Maybe you have an infection or some kind of drive indexing weirdness.
Click to expand...
Man, I just opened up Overwatch just in the training area, and the game itself went up to 82%, which then brought my total up to 100% right off the bat, geez.
 
Well, I'm trying 4.4GHz with a 1.285 voltage.. I bumped the ram to 1866mhz to start. Now the testing. Running OCCT to start, processor temps just under 60C at the moment, so temps are still good, I believe?

Not gonna lie, after all these years I still get nervous when I do a new overclock haha.

Oh and yeah, I've been using ESET NOD32 for like 8 years now. Is it not really required then with Windows 10 now? I've paid for it year after year, always used that along with SuperAntispyware, and sometimes Malwarebytes if I think I've got a spyware issue, but have generally been fine.
 
60c is damn good.

Really, as long as it doesn't go over 70c, you're good to go. (most people on [H] tolerate even much higher temps than that heh)
 
horrorshow said:
60c is damn good.

Really, as long as it doesn't go over 70c, you're good to go. (most people on [H] tolerate even much higher temps than that heh)
Click to expand...
I have a feeling it will go way higher if I run Prime95 or something haha. Do people still use OCCT to stress test? It's been so long since I've really done this. Man, I remember my Q6600 used to hit 88C in Prime95, but that was on air haha used to scare me.

Now my cores are sitting around 65C which I assume is still pretty good for OCCT?
 
Syribo said:
My current system:
4690k at 4.0GHz right now
MSI 980ti
16GB DDR3 RAM
Crucial SSD + Samsung Evo 850 SSD
EVGA SuperNOVA 750w PSU
Win 10

I'm wondering what the best use of my money would be if I wanted to go about upgrading my current computer a bit. As much as I've wanted to grab a 1080ti, I feel like my main problems with this PC occur when in almost every game, my CPU shoots up to 100%. I like having some other things open when I game; Skype, Discord, Chrome, Twitch streams or Netflix... and if I even try to have open Netflix or Twitch, my game will begin to stutter.

It also depresses me that in order to achieve 144fps in Overwatch at 1080p, I have to turn every single setting off or low, and still barely can stay at 144 fps. I also got a 4k TV lately to play some stuff off of when I want to lay in bed and game, and achieving 60fps on the lowest settings is basically impossible too. I know I can't max out games at 4k but I thought I'd at least be able to hit a constant 60 in a game like Overwatch haha.

I'm just not sure if going for a better gpu, like a 1080ti, would give me the performance of, let's say, saving for a 7600k/7700l, motherboard and DDR4 RAM instead. I even debated trying to pick up another 980ti for SLI, since they're pretty cheap right now, but don't know just how much of a benefit it will give me in games that are optimized well for SLI. I haven't done SLI since my 8800GTS's back in the day.

I mainly use my BenQ monitor at 1080p for most games, for the 144hz. Sometimes I do like to play on my 1440p monitor at 60hz, as well as the 4k TV at 60hz.

I just can't decide what I should do next, and what would be the most bang for my buck.
Click to expand...

I think you're good.

Hookers & Blow !
 
Syribo said:
I have a feeling it will go way higher if I run Prime95 or something haha. Do people still use OCCT to stress test? It's been so long since I've really done this. Man, I remember my Q6600 used to hit 88C in Prime95, but that was on air haha used to scare me.

Now my cores are sitting around 65C which I assume is still pretty good for OCCT?
Click to expand...

I've never used OCCT.

Clearly, as you can see from my sig, I'm not an aggressive overclocker by any means heh.

All I test with is Prime95. I think my max temps after an hour or so peaked at around 68-69c.
 
Syribo said:
Well, I'm trying 4.4GHz with a 1.285 voltage.. I bumped the ram to 1866mhz to start. Now the testing. Running OCCT to start, processor temps just under 60C at the moment, so temps are still good, I believe?

Not gonna lie, after all these years I still get nervous when I do a new overclock haha.

Oh and yeah, I've been using ESET NOD32 for like 8 years now. Is it not really required then with Windows 10 now? I've paid for it year after year, always used that along with SuperAntispyware, and sometimes Malwarebytes if I think I've got a spyware issue, but have generally been fine.
Click to expand...

I'm an IT guy and I had all of my customers on NOD32. I started pulling off all of the NOD32 as their machines were upgraded to Windows 10.
So far so good with the Windows 10 anti-virus, no infections at all. Overall performance improved as well.

YMMV of course.

On my 4690K machine, CPU-Z shows 1.212v and it's rock stable at 4.4GHz.
I had to bump up RAM voltage (1866 RAM at 1866)) just a hair too.

.
 
Welp, my PC has been running fine all day with the overclock, stress testing and about 6 hours straight of Wildlands running. One thing, when I increased the RAM to 1833mhz, should I have messed with the timings? I didn't increase the ram all the way to 2133mhz because I was scared haha. I wonder if I should even bother with that now. My timings according to CPU-Z are 11-11-11-29. I don't believe I adjusted the voltage on it either. Just not sure if I should change the timings in any way.

Oh I should also add, interestingly enough... I've been playing Overwatch, while having a stream on Twitch open, and I'm not getting the stuttering issues in game at all while the stream is running. Maybe a coincidence? I don't know, but it's great haha.
 
I would just leave the timings on auto for now. Even if it does it a little looser than it can at the higher speed, it's still been an overall increase in performance. When you get a bit more comfortable then I'd suggest looking at lowering the timing a bit and dialing it in more.

I forgot to watch CPU usage, I just played around for a bit and at 4k epic settings I see 30-35% on the CPU and 60-90% at 1080 epic. If you are trying to push above 100fps consistently it makes sense the CPU is getting high usage, but you should be able to have the settings cranked like I have. Whereas at 4k the CPU isn't working as hard to supply that lower framerate so its got less use. So you have something software wise that's stealing a ton of performance while you are trying to game. If all else fails I would do a clean wipe and keep NOD and anything else other than games off it and then test your setup and see how the numbers are.
 
Samson4EiT said:
I would just leave the timings on auto for now. Even if it does it a little looser than it can at the higher speed, it's still been an overall increase in performance. When you get a bit more comfortable then I'd suggest looking at lowering the timing a bit and dialing it in more.

I forgot to watch CPU usage, I just played around for a bit and at 4k epic settings I see 30-35% on the CPU and 60-90% at 1080 epic. If you are trying to push above 100fps consistently it makes sense the CPU is getting high usage, but you should be able to have the settings cranked like I have. Whereas at 4k the CPU isn't working as hard to supply that lower framerate so its got less use. So you have something software wise that's stealing a ton of performance while you are trying to game. If all else fails I would do a clean wipe and keep NOD and anything else other than games off it and then test your setup and see how the numbers are.
Click to expand...
I might try that this week. The last time I did a clean install of Windows.... I can't even remember. I have four other drives in the PC, so backing up games and other important stuff is pretty easy. And yeah, if I want to get a steady 144fps, at 1080p, everything has to be on low :( my gpu usage is pretty low in Overwatch, but the processor just shoots up so high, every freaking time.

It's definitely a bit smoother now though, which is great. I'm surprised it's stable so far too.
 
Yeah man, it sounds like your due for a wipe.... (as I hinted at way earlier in the thread)

I'm SHOCKED I haven't had to format in almost 4 years. I suppose it's cuz I keep my rig tightly wound like a swiss timepiece.

Still crazy....
 
The only other thing I wondered about was my mobo bios. I know it's extremely out of date, but I always doubted that could really affect my performance much. I am just terrified of BIOS flashing haha so I never wanted to do it.
 
horrorshow said:
https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z97-GAMING-5.html#down-bios

Note the "CPU microcode improvements". That's def a good thing.

Really, flashing your BIOS via a USB thumbdrive is practically foolproof these days.

I had to update my BIOS several times due to being an EARLY i5 adopter back in '09.... Never once had an issue.
Click to expand...
I'm literally terrified lmao. I just checked and I'm only at the 1.4 BIOS ...but damn, it scares me. Last time I flashed a bios was my MSI P7N Diamond board, which I had a ridiculous amount of issues with, but managed to never brick the board at least.

I'm just so terrified I'll brick the board and be screwed haha.
 
Something is legit wrong... I get better numbers than that with a much, much older CPU and SLI disabled, and I run my cards stock in most cases. You're two whole socket generations ahead of me at this point.

Modern boards flash way easier than the MSI you and I both shudder at the memory of. It'll be fine.

If it's not hitting 80C under synthetic load (OCCT, etc) keep pushing! If you kill it you were going to replace it anyway, right?

Also... horror, she's ill-equipped to grow a pair... but I think we all know the applicable Betty White quote, here. ;)
 
Last edited:
silent-circuit said:
I get better numbers than that with a much, much older CPU and SLI disabled, and I run my cards stock in most cases. You're two whole socket generations ahead of me at this point.
Click to expand...

.... I KNOW RIGHT!!

Her rig should DEVOUR Overwatch with that 4690k/980ti setup.
 
silent-circuit said:
Something is legit wrong... I get better numbers than that with a much, much older CPU and SLI disabled, and I run my cards stock in most cases. You're two whole socket generations ahead of me at this point.

Modern boards flash way easier than the MSI you and I both shudder at the memory of. It'll be fine.

If it's not hitting 80C under synthetic load (OCCT, etc) keep pushing! If you kill it you were going to replace it anyway, right?

Also... horror, she's ill-equipped to grow a pair... but I think we all know the applicable Betty White quote, here. ;)
Click to expand...
LMAO. I truly don't have a literal pair, or a figurative pair. I'm a wuss. I think I have PTSD from that first build, and that P7N board.

I just did a quick arcade match in Overwatch, CPU for Overwatch alone was at 90% lol. My GPU usage is always around 50%.

Maybe if I push it too far and break everything.. then I truly will be "forced" to upgrade hahaha. My idle temps are 19C right now, only got up to 48C in game. I'm too scared to push it further than 4.4GHz though lmao. Though even just 4.5 is tempting.. but it's so nice and stable so far. I really don't want to a BIOS flash haha.
 
Update the BIOS and wipe your drive.

If that doesn't work, you have motherboard issues.

jewzbxJ.gif
 
horrorshow said:
Update the BIOS and wipe your drive.

If that doesn't work, you have motherboard issues.
Click to expand...
The funny thing is, I just believed this is how everything should run on this hardware haha. But when my best friend with his non overclocked 3470K and 970 has better performance in some games than me..... that's when I finally had to make a post about it lol. Well, he can't run, let's say, Wildlands on Ultra and get 60fps like me, he runs on Very High.. but his games don't automatically take up his entire processor. And he can leave open a Twitch stream and play at the same time.

So even though flashing a BIOS nowadays is generally pretty safe, there's still that CHANCE of bricking it... right? If I wasn't a crippled mess and could drive, I wouldn't care, because I'd drive over to our MicroCenter and buy all new parts on the credit card hahaha. But if I had to wait for a new mobo to come in from Amazon or something, I'd go crazy of boredom for the next few days hahaha.

...I am going to kick myself if flashing the BIOS makes my computer run totally different.
 
Use LiveUpdate.

Nike-Just-Do-It.jpeg

indiana-jones-leap-of-faith-o.gif


If it goes poorly, STAND ON ME.

I haven't heard of bricking a board from a BIOS update in over a decade....
 
It'll be fine. Most boards even have a way to revive themselves after a bad flash (extremely rare) or will take a new bios from a USB stick without any other hardware installed. Look in to the fail-safes built in to your board before going through with it if it will make you feel better.
 
silent-circuit said:
It'll be fine. Most boards even have a way to revive themselves after a bad flash (extremely rare) or will take a new bios from a USB stick without any other hardware installed. Look in to the fail-safes built in to your board before going through with it if it will make you feel better.
Click to expand...
Yeah I made the mistake of Googling it and finding a bunch of people that had their board bricked by doing the Live Update BIOS update haha. Maybe I'll do the M-Flash one with a USB drive. I haven't done this since the P7N problems, although somehow never bricked that annoying thing.. can't even believe that system is still running after 9 years in the first place haha.
 
Even my ancient board has a dual-BIOS for this exact reason.

It's a zero risk-type situation.
 
horrorshow said:
Even my ancient board has a dual-BIOS for this exact reason.

It's a zero risk-type situation.
Click to expand...
It's in the process of updating now, and I'm so nervous staring at the screen lmao. I'm a huge wuss.

Oh thank God it worked. So now I just have to back up my stuff and do a clean install of Windows 10. Ew.
 
Last edited:
horrorshow said:


I'm 33 years old, so yeah.

Finish the job.
Click to expand...

Hahahaha. Since I don't have a Win 10 CD, and my freaking USB drive isn't big enough for the setup, I wonder if the Recovery option "Reset this PC" and doing "Remove everything" works well in Win 10. That seems like a really easy way of doing a clean install now, but not quite sure how it works just yet.

Also, I'm dumb. I also had a pretty old chipset driver installed still lol...
 
Last edited:
Wipe the drive. Format the drive. Just wipe it....

Don't half-ass it.

Good Lord woman..
 
horrorshow said:
Wipe the drive. Format the drive. Just wipe it....

Don't half-ass it.

Good Lord woman..
Click to expand...
Leave it to a woman to make everything complicated, eh? lmao. I just need a bigger USB drive. Mine isn't big enough for Windows :'(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top