Computer upgrade advice

[Dum Ass 1991]

Hi my computer is getting some low frame rate,around 20 and I need some advice on what to upgrade next.

I have:
asus m5a97evo
AMD FX(tm)-8120 Eight-Core Processor
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
creative blaster audigy value
corsair tx650
ACO u2868-1
ViewSonic vx2739wm
4x corsair vengeance 4gb ram
2x hitachi HDs72101cla332 sata disk device
Razer BlackWidow Ultimate
Razer Naga Epic Chroma
Razer Nostromo
Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma
Saitek X52 Pro Flight Controller
TrackIR 5

 

[SeungRyul]

I would suggest trying out an SSD before anything and then if you can spare 8gb of ram.

 

[mromutt]

I would suggest trying out an SSD before anything and then if you can spare 8gb of ram.

I think hes saying he has a 4 stick kit (16 gb) but I agree an ssd would be where I would start too.

 

[EnclaveZombie]

I would definitely support an SSD as the first step. Back up any personal or media files you want to save and then do a clean install. You may have malware or just other underlying OS issues that may be causing problems. Or... and I hate to say this but turn down settings just a smidge. I know I know blasphemy but sometimes older hardware may not perform quite as strong as day one. But yea clean install on an SSD would be step one.

 

[Wolf Lord Caldersson]

an SSD isn't going to improve his frame rate.

What settings are you playing at? That 970 should be able to handle at least medium graphics.

TBH the only bottle neck i see is your cpu/mobo. AMD doesn't support PCIE 3.0, so you are running on PCIE 2.0 x16, which is the same as PCIE 3.0 x8. It's not a major bottleneck with the PCIE support, but the cpu might not be that great, I don't have any experience with the 8120 though.

 

[mromutt]

an SSD isn't going to improve his frame rate.

What settings are you playing at? That 970 should be able to handle at least medium graphics.

TBH the only bottle neck i see is your cpu/mobo. AMD doesn't support PCIE 3.0, so you are running on PCIE 2.0 x16, which is the same as PCIE 3.0 x8. It's not a major bottleneck with the PCIE support, but the cpu might not be that great, I don't have any experience with the 8120 though.

the 8120 is pretty good, the only thing I saw in his build that needed an upgrade was an ssd, may not increase FPS but overall it would make for for a smoother experience (load screens are really short now in SC with ssd)

 

[dubbzy]

Upgrade the 970. It sucks. Give it to me!

 

[aftershock2100]

You need at least 8 gigs of ram for star citizen, start there. An SSD will not improve your framerate. Edit: Disregard if that is a 4gb per stick kit. Also, are you running any system monitoring software? If so, shut it off before running any games, it destroys frame rates.

 

[KingNerd]

Okay with the system you have absolutely add an SSD but why are you getting 20fps? That should not be happening with your build. When you said upgrade build I laughed when I saw how powerful your rig is. Get the SSD for overall quality of life improvement, make sure your drivers are up to date and nothing is eating all your CPU process in the background. You should be running beautifully my friend, you don't need an upgrade but some troubleshooting it sounds like to me.

 

[Elac]

Your MOBO and CPU looks a bit dated but i would wait with upgrading those untill closer to launch. In the mean time i would go for an SSD.

 

[glockjs]

uhhh the rig looks fine. if anything i would suggest upgrading drivers lol. also in the past AMD has been weak on 4 slot memory. their memory controllers have been bad :( try taking out two sticks and leaving two in the main slots and see what happens. also do a full clean of you computer with ccleaner and malwarebytes then do a defrag and see what happens.

imo your rig is decent.

 

[Harkuno]

uhhh the rig looks fine. if anything i would suggest upgrading drivers lol. also in the past AMD has been weak on 4 slot memory. their memory controllers have been bad :( try taking out two sticks and leaving two in the main slots and see what happens. also do a full clean of you computer with ccleaner and malwarebytes then do a defrag and see what happens.

imo your rig is decent.

I would have to agree, make sure everything is up to date first before buying anything. The GTX 970 should be enough to run Star Citizen fine. I have a GTX 980 and looking at the stats, your card shouldn't be too far off.

Also, I would recommend upgrading your RAM to a higher capacity kit, unless it's a 4x 4gb (16gb) kit.

What cooling system are you using? I don't see it listed?

 

[rogesh]

What cooling system are you using? I don't see it listed?

That is a valid point. My system was overheating and limiting itself so maybe it's too hot in your case? Or could dust be your problem?

Well I don't exactly see any other problems with your system, it's good. Though I prefer less sticks with higher capacity

 

[glockjs]

I would have to agree, make sure everything is up to date first before buying anything. The GTX 970 should be enough to run Star Citizen fine. I have a GTX 980 and looking at the stats, your card shouldn't be too far off.

Also, I would recommend upgrading your RAM to a higher capacity kit, unless it's a 4x 4gb (16gb) kit.

What cooling system are you using? I don't see it listed?

actually to think about it we didn't ask the most important question...what resolution. i guess we all assume 1080p but what if he's trying to run it at 4k?? then lol

 

[Harkuno]

actually to think about it we didn't ask the most important question...what resolution. i guess we all assume 1080p but what if he's trying to run it at 4k?? then lol

Looking at what he's given in his specs, it seems that he has 1 4K monitor and 1 1080p monitor. I would have to agree that, if running the game on the 4K monitor, the resolution would have an effect on framerate.

Edit: Monitor is 4K, not 2K... oops :)

 

[glockjs]

Looking at what he's given in his specs, it seems that he has 1 2K monitor and 1 1080p monitor. I would have to agree that, if running the game on the 2K monitor, the resolution would have an effect on framerate.

actually now that i looked at it closer yeah the aoc is 4k. then lol. need a major gpu upgrade probably followed by psu upgrade

 

[Harkuno]

actually now that i looked at it closer yeah the aoc is 4k. then lol. need a major gpu upgrade probably followed by psu upgrade

I agree, he could get a second 970 and run SLI. However, I don't really know about GPU performance when it comes to 4K resolution as I only have a 1080p monitor :)

 

[glockjs]

I agree, he could get a second 970 and run SLI. However, I don't really know about GPU performance when it comes to 4K resolution as I only have a 1080p monitor :)

i'm at 1440p and watching it. the new flagships handle 4k ok but you are paying a premium for it.

 

[Ichiru]

If running in 4k resolution then the issue with frame rate will definately be due to running on only one card. Even with a 980Ti I plan to SLI before even thinking of going 4k.

Take a look at Horizonz's benchmarks (https://testsquadron.com/threads/star-citizen-benchmarks-r9-fury-x-vs-980ti.4891/) from when he ran 4k on a single 980Ti and he was only getting an av of 28fps in hanger.

980TI - G1 Gaming Edition by Gigabyte: (single card) - 4K Resolution

STAR CITIZEN FPS MEAN RESULTS "G1 Gaming 980TI"
(benchmarks were taken 5 times for each and then mean times were taken from results)

Star Citizen ( Hanger - Retaliator - walk around ) = Avg: 28.3 --- Min: 25 --- Max: 32
Star Citizen ( Broken Moon - Gladiator - fly around) = Avg: 26.5 --- Min: 24 --- Max: 31.4
Star Citizen ( Dying Star- Gladiator - fly around ) = Avg: 26 --- Min: 23 --- Max: 29.6

Temperature degrees *C - 58

 

[glockjs]

If running in 4k resolution then the issue with frame rate will definately be due to running on only one card. Even with a 980Ti I plan to SLI before even thinking of going 4k.

Take a look at Horizonz's benchmarks (https://testsquadron.com/threads/star-citizen-benchmarks-r9-fury-x-vs-980ti.4891/) from when he ran 4k on a single 980Ti and he was only getting an av of 28fps in hanger.

980TI - G1 Gaming Edition by Gigabyte: (single card) - 4K Resolution

STAR CITIZEN FPS MEAN RESULTS "G1 Gaming 980TI"
(benchmarks were taken 5 times for each and then mean times were taken from results)

Star Citizen ( Hanger - Retaliator - walk around ) = Avg: 28.3 --- Min: 25 --- Max: 32
Star Citizen ( Broken Moon - Gladiator - fly around) = Avg: 26.5 --- Min: 24 --- Max: 31.4
Star Citizen ( Dying Star- Gladiator - fly around ) = Avg: 26 --- Min: 23 --- Max: 29.6

Temperature degrees *C - 58

basically we are not ready for 4k. close but a gen or two off. 4k=4x 1080p weeeeee

dear OP. dont build around a game that's not finished yet.

also down the resolution or pay out the ass :D end message.