Corrections and tips:
1) Bottleneck amount VARIES significantly from minimal to around 40% (in comparison to what a good i5/i7 would do with same GTX970)
2) FX-8350 is not better than an i5-3570K except a few scenarios (if referring to Tek Syndicate's video that caused a stir then note they were doing software-based RECORDING so the extra cores of the FX-8350 helped... this confused a lot of people to this day)
3) Low res CPU bottleneck:
Raising the resolution MAY shift the bottleneck to the GPU, however the frame rate still drops. The CPU does more processing. The GPU does more processing. What happens in this scenario is that the GPU is required to do PROPORTIONALLY more processing by an amount that it now becomes the choke point and the CPU is no longer the weakest link.
4) Adjust the settings allows you to reach your frame rate goal. If for example, you want a solid 60FPS using VSYNC (60Hz monitor, don't want screen tearing) and drop to about 50FPS then adjust your settings.
5) NCP-> Adaptive VSYNC
This allows you to toggle VSYNC ON or OFF automatically. It's very useful. For example:
a) Game has screen tearing so want VSYNC ON
b) Start game and FRAPS (or Steam FPS monitor)
c) turn VSYNC OFF
d) Tweak game settings until you almost always stay above 60FPS (60Hz monitor)
e) force on Adaptive VSYNC (NCP-> Manage 3D settings-> add game.. save)
f) confirm you cap at 60FPS, and that you get occasional screen tearing
(Using VSYNC causes screen tear to be eliminated, however you will get STUTTERING due to mixed frame times if you drop below the FPS target. If the next frame isn't ready for the monitor to display then it waits for the next frame to be created so you can get a mixture of 1/60th second, 2/60th second or higher frame times which appear as a quick stuttering)
144Hz monitors-> use the "HALF" adaptive VSYNC method as appropriate (want VSYNC to avoid screen tear but can't maintain 144FPS)
Example game for Adaptive VSYNC (or Dynamic with AMD/radeon pro tool).
AC Brotherhood:
I could mostly hit 60FPS (60Hz monitor) solidly, but the game would occasionally have really annoying stuttering. Stuttering happens for several reasons, but in this case turning VSYNC off eliminated this particular stutter. However... screen tear was really, really bad most of the time.
So I had two choices:
a) drop settings even more to minimize drops below 60FPS, or
b) use Adaptive VSYNC and get occasional screen tear instead of stuttering
I applied Adaptive VSYNC, then later on dropped anti-aliasing down to 4xMSAA because screen tearing got too frequent. To me, this was the OPTIMAL setup for this game and my hardware.
(It will cause screen tear for pre-rendered videos if they are below the target such as 30FPS video and 60FPS game play. So don't apply this globally for all games. It will replace VSYNC in-game settings in most (all?) games like most NCP-> Manage 3D settings. I think it works even if game has no easy to access setting like VSYNC for Skyrim done via the config file. It works for some at least.
On a side note, a couple titles like F3, Fallout NV are much, much smoother using the ifpsclamp=60 fix)
Other:
- DX12 will help eliminate the CPU bottleneck when optimized correctly (more threads of CPU used, whilst using more efficient code)
- GSYNC (NVidia) or Freesync (AMD) asynchronous monitors are awesome though expensive. When prices drop, it may make sense to buy a MONITOR as your next upgrade instead of replacing your PC.
- replacing the CPU also means: motherboard, Windows, and possibly the DDR memory (i.e. DDR4). That can get quite expensive, so knowing how to TWEAK your games is pretty important as the same system can give a better EXPERIENCE.
- game tweaks or fixes. Here's an awesome site->
http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Category:Windows
Summary:
*The most important thing when starting a game is to set your tweaking GOAL then tweak to optimize that. Most people do not. That is:
VSYNC ON,
VSYNC OFF,
Adaptive VSYNC,
(or asynchronous mode for GSync/Freesync)
The CPU bottleneck again simply means you'll get lower frame rates in some games. You can still have a great experience, in fact for games you want to run at say 60FPS solidly on max or near-max settings a better CPU makes little difference.
Final summary:
#1 - set tweak goal
#2 - apply settings to reach goal
#3 - investigate other game fixes or tweaks (above PC gaming wiki or other)
#4 - re-tweak settings later in game if needed
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