Which graphics settings to turn down for a CPU bound PC

Reaper 392

Reaper 392

Reaper 392

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I've just bought this GTX 970, which was a much needed upgrade over the 768MB GTX 460 but will leave me with quite an unbalanced PC in terms of CPU power. Can anyone suggest which settings are best to turn down to help the CPU along without making things look too much worse, since upgrading it really isn't an option for a little while.

I did have a quick look online, but after finding three different sites which all contradicted each other I figured it was best to just ask.
 
Don't think that will help.
The CPU will still be the bottleneck, but you'll be seeing worse visuals due to turning the graphic settings down.

I would let the GPU push as much as it can and try overclock the CPU as much as you can.
 
I will probably be doing that anyway, I was just wondering if some things, such as different AA methods or whatever, would help the CPU more than the GPU.
 
JustCallMeVlad said:
You need to replace that X4 OP. Nothing you can do will alleviate the problem. Why would you pair a 970 with a 2009 processor?
Click to expand...

Because the plan is to replace it, just not for a while. I wanted an upgrade, and the 460 is the bottleneck in every sane situation (700+ part rockets in KSP being the insane situation where the CPU complains). As far as I was concerned, the two options were:
1. Buy a mediocre CPU and GPU upgrade for £300. That would have got me a decent performance increase, but would leave me needing to upgrade everything again very soon
2. Buy a big GPU and hope my current CPU doesn't complain too much before I eventually replace it with a big CPU. While it leaves me with a very unbalanced PC now, it will give me a good performance upgrade and will last for a long time.

In my opinion, option 2 is the best in the long run (and will probably give me more of a performance boost than option 1 anyway since any new CPU would require a new Motherboard anyway).

*edit*
Just to make it clear, I haven't actually got the GPU yet so I have no idea how much or little of a problem the weak CPU will be, but I fully expect to be CPU bound to some extent with this upgrade, hence asking for suggestions to minimise the problem as much as possible
 
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If you could overclock the CPU then I wouldn't think it would bottleneck to much, I wasn't looking at specs in 2009 so know nothing about your X4. IRRC there was a guy on here who had a R9 290 with a 955 x4 and he said that with his overclock and mantle on BF4 he was fine.
 
I'd start by over clocking that CPU, as high as safely possible.

As for KSP specifics things:
Why such a large craft? Not multiple launches.
Look at the sky when launching, the sky box is just a texture, while Kerbin has lots of geometry to calculate = better fps while looking at sky.
Lower debris number to 50. Will use less memory and should improve fps.

That's all I think. Happy launching an enjoy the GPU. :)
 
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