Possible new/retro-fit computer.

[Assist]

My performance is complete dogshit in PS2 right now. Unfortuantely it's the only game I want to play but I get wicked headaches from playing with 12-25 FPS is large fights.
So my solution is to upgrade, if it will help. I think the major weakpoint in my system is the CPU.

Currently I have:
CPU: i7 960 Bloomfield ~3.5ghz (LGA 1366)
MOBO: Gigabyte x58A-UD5
MEMORY: 12 gb DDR3 1600 (triple channel 3x4 :\)
GPU CARD: GeForce GTX680 2GB
HDD: 2x OCZ SSD 128 gb
CASE: CoolerMaster HAF 932
PSU: Corsair 1000w
HEATSINK: Coolmaster 212 Hyperthingerguy


What I want:
High sustainable FPS in Planetside2. Really that's all I want, I'd be happy with 60-80 in large fights with the game looking good. If you have a rig that does it, let me know what it is and if you would upgrade anything in it, what would that be! I'm to the point that I'm considering buying an entirely new computer but I think I could also salvage some of my current computer to build a new one.
I know that intel has new chips coming out, I don't know much about them but from what I can gather they are supposed to have an increase for gaming but nothing too dramatic? If it's worth waiting for something new coming out in the next 3-4 months, then I'd certainly consider waiting unless of course it's simply a matter of popping out the old stuff and putting in the new when it releases.
I'm not looking to make the top of the top of the line, but I do want something semi-future proof. Money is not much of a concern, as long as it's not going excessively overboard.



Questions answered from the thread above:
1. Are you building this computer yourself or having one built for you (Like HP, Alienware, or even a small shop)?
I could do either. I've built them in the past, the last one I bought from ibuypower. If it's a cheap price difference for someone else to go through hiding wires and not having to deal with any RMA, I'm willing to just have someone else build it. I can do it myself though.

2. What is your budget and does that include shipping/taxes?
Budget is completely negotiable. I wouldn't so much call it a budget as it's money not going into my motorcycle this year!

3. Where do you live (Please list town, state, and country)?
Town! We don't gots no towns out here! I live in Landenberg, PA - USA. Where Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania come together, I'm about a mile from there.

4. What do you need this computer to do (like gaming, Photoshop, and so on)?
Gaming. Pure gaming. If I'm not gaming I'm not on the computer, unless I'm at work and being unproductive.

5. What parts will you need for the computer? List what parts specifically, saying you need everything will not do.
Went through this above. Depends completely on what's more viable - Completely new build or re-using some of the old.

6. Are you reusing any parts for this computer? If so say what parts (make and model).
Things I know I can reuse are the video card and power supply. I could probably reuse the case and hdd, but I would also like a larger SSD.

7. What kind of monitor/resolution do you have or want to get to use for the computer?
Don't need a monitor, unless it's a good deal for a 120 hz one? I've never researched the 120 hz monitors but I know some people swear by them for gaming. I use a 23" 2ms Samsung Syncmaster PX2370

8. Do you have already have a OS or do you need one? What OS is that?
I use windows 7 and would prefer to stick with windows 7 unless you have a good argument to go to windows 8.

9. What are you looking for the motherboard to have feature wise? Like SLI, Crossfire, Firewire, USB 3.0, Sata 6.0 Gb/s, and so on.
SLI? Maybe? I don't know. This falls more into the 'tell me what I need' category that I'm hoping you guys can answer for me.I don't have any special devices that plugin. I use USB keyboard/mouse/mic/phone. Typical audio 3.5mm plug? I think for headphones.

10. Any plans to overclock the CPU or GPU?
If you can walk me through it, sure. Will I do it myself? Hells no. I've learned from work that me and electric don't go together and the first word you read about overclocking is voltage.


11. What time kind of time frame are you planning on ordering these parts?

Depends, I could order today. I could order in 3 months if it's worth waiting for something fancy coming out.


Thanks for any help!

[Goku]

EDIT: I saw your other thread. Your performance issues are related to the current/last patch that went out? TBH I haven't played recently, so I don't know how bad the hit is or how widespread it is. However judging from that thread its even making people with 2500K and 3570K suffer performance issues be it overclocked or not. May have to ride it out and hopefully SOE will fix the issue. They REALLY need to test this shit before rolling out these updates.

In terms of new processors coming out on the horizon. Intel is bringing Haswell out in June. Its expected to have about a 10% increase in performance over the current Ivy Bridge processors. TBH I don't know how much of a boost you will see going to the current models like the 3570K leaving them at stock. They are about 15%-20% faster clock for clock compared to your 960. The big boost comes from actually overclocking the CPUs to 4.5GHz+.

I'm more concerned with finding what is limiting your current performance however verse you going out and buying a 3570K. See if we can get you to have a more playable experience and wait out for Haswell.

You say your 960 is at 3.8GHz. That means its overclocked. Did you or your ibuypower do that overclock?

[Electrofreak]

I would kill for your rig, Assist. I'm getting about the same FPS on low graphics using an Intel Pentium E2160 (Allendale), a dual-core processor from 2006 that has both cores clocked at 1.8 GHz stock @ 200 MHz FSB, which I've OCed to 3.0 GHz @ 333 MHz FSB, and paired with an (overclocked) ATI 5770 GPU and 4 GB of RAM on 32-bit Windows XP.

Yeah, your problem lies elsewhere. I think the fact that I maintain a 0.8 K/D with frame rates in the teens or lower proves that I'm not a bad player.

If your rig is dog shit, mine is dinosaur shit!

[Rbstr]

It's hard to really upgrade in a significant way from what you've got. 60-80fps in a big fight just doesn't seem possible right now.

For sure wait for haswell in June and see what happens.
Maybe an Ivy Bridge-e chip when those come out?

[Assist]

You say your 960 is at 3.8GHz. That means its overclocked. Did you or your ibuypower do that overclock?

It's at 3.5, and they did it. I think it was supposed to be 3.8, but i just checked and it's 3.5 I'll edit OP

I've run everything I can think of to make sure I got nothing odd running in the background. I do have Norton360, but it doesn't have anywhere near the cpu hit it Norton used to have.
I just crashed due to such shit fps i think. Tried fighting a Platoon at Mani Bio Lab and was in the teens until Planetside2 finally just 'stopped working'.
I also don't think it's as much my computer as it is the game. I can run SimCity with everything cranked and the only noticeable fps drops I get are those odd angles that it seems everyone gets fps drops at.

The problem I have is there are people who swear they're getting 60+ fps in battles. I want a computer that does that :P I'm struggling to even get 20 right now lol
I get 100+ in the Warpgates when I first login, second I move it drops to 70. Then in fights down to 20. I'm always [CPU] in game, other than when I first login it says [GPU]. When I attempted to run with settings all the way down on Low, I got worse performance. It seems like no matter what I do I just can't get better performance - It's like all the settings do is make it look better/worse and don't actually effect my performance at all.

[Rbstr]

Well, if you turn off shadows and particle effects and just about anything that uses CPU you'll see some gains.

Trying deleting your useroptions.ini and open up the game again.

[Goku]

I'm pretty sure this is due to the recent patch and even with a new rig it won't be a total proper fix for your current issues. Especially the kind of frames you are talking about is not possible atm IMO.

Seeing as how you have a semi capable heatsink I think its worth trying to overclock what you have now to see if you have any kind of improvement. Who knows maybe you can hit a bit above 4 GHz. I recommend looking around for Core i7 920/Nehalem guides as to how to do it. If you have any questions you can post in here and we can try to help.

If you really want to I can help put together a new CPU and mobo for you. Everything you have right now can just be switched into that. You are probably looking at about $350-$400 depending on mostly the board you want.

[Ailos]

Your performance issues are due to the most recent patch. Personally, I run an i5-3570K@ 4.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR3-2133 RAM, GTX 680 4 GB, and I went from a constant V-synced 60 FPS before this last patch to 20 FPS in the middle of battle in the recent patch.

Open a tech support ticket and give them your MSInfo and DxDiag files with it. Make them pay attention to this problem, if folks with hardware like ours can't run this game at a consistent 60 FPS, they've no hope of making this game successful.

[Assist]

If you really want to I can help put together a new CPU and mobo for you. Everything you have right now can just be switched into that. You are probably looking at about $350-$400 depending on mostly the board you want.

This is what I've been thinking about. Honestly there was a Dell XPS refurb for sale that looked had a new i7 3770(wasn't a k-version), 16gb ram, and had a 256gb SSD for ~750. I was thinking to basically end up with two boxes by spending that. I'd have a beast of a computer with a new processor, my 680, 1000w PSU, new SSD, new RAM. Then I can swap the video card from the new dell into my old pc, ATI 7770 etc.

But I'm still stuck deciding if I want to go that route or not. I know it's the game and maybe I should just wait until the new Haswell's come out. Also, what about SLI with the 680's? Will that do anything for me?

[Goku]

Do you really need another computer? If you want new stuff just swap in a mobo and cpu into your current rig. Sell off your 960 and X58 to help go towards the newer stuff also.

Like I said before to truly notice the boost going to the Ivy Bridge series you need a 3570K and overclock the processor to 4.5GHz plus (be it PS2 or other games). Otherwise I can tell you right now you won't notice the difference. The K versions are needed to overclock with Intel these days. Also the 3770K and 3570K perform the same in games, HT does nothing the majority of the time to help game performance.

I don't know how successful SLI is with this game. I recommend doing your own research to see how much of a potential boost you can get.

Look at Ailos' post. He has a 3570K @ 4.2GHz with a GTX 670 4GB his system is less CPU bound then yours and the GPU is just about as strong. He is also struggling with performance with the latest and greatest. The current performance issue is due to SOE's recent patches and getting new hardware isn't going to solve the issue.

[Electrofreak]

Yeah, don't waste your money on new hardware, it won't help any.

Or, rather, please do waste your money on new hardware, I can give you an address to ship all of your awes- uh, crappy components to. ;)

[Lorak]

Upgrade won't do much for you.
I'm running ;
I53570K at 4.4
16gb ram
560ti evga superclocked

I run ultra settings on everything, with physx on just have shadows on low.. And I am still cpu bound everywhere in game, except for the warp gate.

Game appears to be totally cpu dependant even with my old cheep gpu. Was going to buy a 670 or 680, but don't see the point until the game starts being gpu limited.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

[Assist]

Do you really need another computer? If you want new stuff just swap in a mobo and cpu into your current rig. Sell off your 960 and X58 to help go towards the newer stuff also.

Like I said before to truly notice the boost going to the Ivy Bridge series you need a 3570K and overclock the processor to 4.5GHz plus (be it PS2 or other games). Otherwise I can tell you right now you won't notice the difference. The K versions are needed to overclock with Intel these days. Also the 3770K and 3570K perform the same in games, HT does nothing the majority of the time to help game performance.

I don't know how successful SLI is with this game. I recommend doing your own research to see how much of a potential boost you can get.

Look at Ailos' post. He has a 3570K @ 4.2GHz with a GTX 670 4GB his system is less CPU bound then yours and the GPU is just about as strong. He is also struggling with performance with the latest and greatest. The current performance issue is due to SOE's recent patches and getting new hardware isn't going to solve the issue.

I've had low FPS since release and it doesn't appear to be getting any better. I can watch people on twitch pulling 60+ in big platoon fights which is all I want :P

What about a i7 3930k ? Does it have a larger performance increase over the 3570k or not really?

Also, my ram is triple channel, so I assume I'll probably be needing a new ram as well? Or do they still make triple channel mobos? Assuming I need new ram, and I go 16gb, should I go for 4x4 or 2x8 ?

Ok, so for the hell of it I took a look at newegg - Looking for your thoughts/opinions/changes etc

item (reason) - link

RAM 16 GB G.Skill, 2x 8GB (Timings looked good?) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231623
SSD 500GB Samsung (Well reviewed most places is all I know) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147187
I plan on purchasing new ram/ssd for either setup, so the above applies to both.
----
CPU/MOBO Option1:

i7 3930K - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116492
Asus Saberooth X79 (Well reviewed) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131801

TOTAL: $1419.96

---
CPU/MOBO Option2:

i5 3570K - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
Asus p8Z77 (reviews + cost) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837

TOTAL: $864.96
GeForce GTX 680 4GB (I can SLi!)- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130801
TOTAL: $1464.95

Am I losing my mind? :|

[Assist]

After reading the other SLi thread on this forum I guess I'll be scaling that 680 4GB back to a 2GB. I was under the same impression that the vram was only used on the primary slot card.

[Goku]

3930K is a total waste of money for gaming, so don't bother with that CPU.

3570K is only dual channel, so you only need two dimms of ram.

Personally I would go for the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128544).

I think you are wasting money on that 16GB of ram. Won't really help you with anything at all. Better off just getting 2x4GB 1600MHz. You won't tell the difference.

Have you looked into SLI to see if it will bring much of any gains to your FPS to PS2? Other games you will see a boost for sure. Jesus $600 for a 680? I almost fell lout of my chair.

[Assist]

3930K is a total waste of money for gaming, so don't bother with that CPU.

3570K is only dual channel, so you only need two dimms of ram.

Personally I would go for the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128544).

I think you are wasting money on that 16GB of ram. Won't really help you with anything at all. Better off just getting 2x4GB 1600MHz. You won't tell the difference.

Have you looked into SLI to see if it will bring much of any gains to your FPS to PS2? Other games you will see a boost for sure. Jesus $600 for a 680? I almost fell lout of my chair.

I have not looked into what it will do.
But I know if I go get a 3570, new ssd, and new RAM the only thing left to stop my world domination is a second card for SLi!

[Assist]

I'm shelving this idea/thread until the new Intel chips come out. Ailos' thread helped me a ton with performance.
I'm running quasi Ultra settings, with PhysX, getting 35-45 in large battles!

[DirtyBird]

I'm probably one stage ahead with my PC and have an opportunity to hand mine on.
Some good points here to note when looking at an upgrade, thanks.
Gotta check when those new intel chips are due.