What’s the bottleneck here?

yellowputty · 29 Jan 2021 at 19:04

Planet Zoo at full settings for 1080p. Very jerky at times.

I’m in a time loop running an FX-8350, 8GB and ASUS HD7950 3GB.

I think this roughly meets the minimum requirements so presumably I shouldn’t expect smooth play at the top settings (although I’ve just come out of hibernation and learned about 1440p and 4K gaming so hardly seems top). Reckon I can just switch out the GPU and leave the CPU alone for now?

Thanks.

yellowputty · 29 Jan 2021 at 19:23

Thanks both. Perhaps the first step is indeed to up the RAM... DDR3. Is it OK to mix as long as they have the same timings? I think I have this Corsair 1.5v 9-9-9-24.

How do I test at 1440p JohnG7 if I’m limited by my monitor?

yellowputty · 29 Jan 2021 at 19:25

Quartz said:
That's positively ancient! The best way to find out is to run MSI Afterburner with Rivatuner. Monitor CPU usage, GPU usage, VRAM usage, and RAM usage.

Oi

Will do, thanks.

yellowputty · 29 Jan 2021 at 19:55

Thanks. What’s the idea then, if it doesn’t keel over at 1440 it solidifies the bottleneck at the CPU?

Also I’ve just seen OC sell exactly the same RAM I bought 8 years ago, and is now £10 more. Nuts. Is that just legacy inflation?

yellowputty · 30 Jan 2021 at 18:40

Well the answer seems to be exactly what you all said... hugely CPU & RAM limited. Switching between low and ultra settings and maintaining a joyful 13 fps was a clue too.

Given the cost of even second hand DDR3 it's time to upgrade I think!

I think my PSU is OK (Corsair TX 650W).
I have an old Samsung SSD (840 Series Basic) which I assume is OK.
I was hoping to reuse Hyper 212 EVO but I can't find any replacement plates.

Time to look for CPU / Mobo / RAM combo. Coolermaster 690 II can take full ATX - not sure I need to change that.

yellowputty · 30 Jan 2021 at 19:24

mickyflinn said:
£300 should get you a 6 core cpu ,16gb ram and motherboard.

That's good, I can easily stretch that to £500, although it might be nice to save back for future GPU change.

yellowputty · 30 Jan 2021 at 20:44

I’m more than happy with the 10400f. Will any of the chipsets run 11th gen? Would be nice to have an upgrade path for when things settle down. Also if I’m not planning on overclocking, is there really much difference between them that I should know?

yellowputty · 31 Jan 2021 at 01:07

Thanks all. Settled on the 10400f, Crucial 16gb and MSI Tomahawk B460... £295, what great value!