Question How to improving my rig to get a console like experience at 1080p

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Apr 14, 2021
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Greetings Guys,

I am a 1080p gamer. My current rig is an i3 10100, GTX 1660 Super, 16gb 2666mhz & MSI G27C4(monitor).

So far my gaming experience is smooth at ultra settings though games like Far Cry 5 won't go above 80 fps(Probably someone here could say why so and how to improve this situation). I don't know what is the cause, but at times I can walk through a wall like a phantom in the game, or in Far Cry 5, when driving I can see a delay in trees or the surrounding environment in being rendered. However there is no absolute stuttering nor shearing in the image quality.

I was recently playing Tom Clancy the division, and I could literally walk through another character's body, it feels weird. I am not sure if the CPU is causing such but I wanted to know if anybody else has experienced that and what is the solution. If anybody suggest an upgrade on the CPU, since intel's 11th gen is freshly out, I would really appreciate any recommendation in that generation bearing in mind I only play at 1080p ultra for the moment.

Sometimes I feel like I just want to move to consoles since I heard their games are optimized but end of the day you realize a console is just a PC. Kindly note I also bear in mind at times only AAA titles on PC are carefully developed to cater for perfection, but still I would love to hear opinions about this issue I am facing.

Thank you for any potential input.

Best regards.
 
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Make sure the new motherboard has the same XMP profile selected as before. Nvme drives for games tend to work better without the OS installed on them. This is because as you are playing whatever game it is at the time the OS is also constantly using the drive slowing it down a little for the game you are in. I personally have 2 Nvme drives. One 1tb drive for my OS and games that are not picky about loading and rendering ingame, and a 2TB game drive for all the other games. This is totally unnecessary though, just a nice small benefit of keeping an Nvme drive as a storage drive instead of the main OS drive and game drive at the same time. Something to think about.


The thing is before there was no xmp. It was just the 3600mhz sticks running at 2666mhz on the mobo. IDK what's wrong.

Concerning the nvme thing, I was smart enough to partition it before installing OS. You think it makes a difference to install games on the other partition without OS ?

Regards.
 
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Update :

I did two things that gave me what I was looking for but it was very brief. First I loaded the XMP II profile which loads fully default of the profile and lets the computer control nothing about the RAM. Secondly I OCed my GPU but it soon crashed. The performance was as I wanted, rendering was going fast and I could experience the level of realism I expected. But soon enough it crashed. I need to find the sweet spot of the OC which is quite a bit lengthy and painful. I also need to research better about my cooling just in case. will keep you all updated.
 
Concerning the nvme thing, I was smart enough to partition it before installing OS. You think it makes a difference to install games on the other partition without OS ?
Even if you partition the drive if the OS and games are on the same drive the OS is still going to use the resources of the drive. Partitioning unfortunately does not solve the underlying issue. But as I was trying to point out before this performance hit you take making it the OS drive and game drive is small. Only a few games that are particularly sensitive to drive performance will show signs of performance loss.
 
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Even if you partition the drive if the OS and games are on the same drive the OS is still going to use the resources of the drive. Partitioning unfortunately does not solve the underlying issue. But as I was trying to point out before this performance hit you take making it the OS drive and game drive is small. Only a few games that are particularly sensitive to drive performance will show signs of performance loss.
Okay, Glad I learned something. I do have to mention I still noticed incredibly faster loading time though.

Update : I manged to safely OC my GPU via MSI Afterburner 4.6.2. With the GPU & RAM OCed I am indeed experiencing a really good performance. Sometimes here & there I have a few glitch but I've managed to come far from where I was & nearer to what I desired. Soon enough if I could get hands on an 11400f would be still much better though.

Regards.
 
Okay, Glad I learned something. I do have to mention I still noticed incredibly faster loading time though.
That is what I believe Toms is all about. Keep updating us here if you want to.

Dialing in OCs to RAM and a GPU simultaneously can be difficult. Try doing the RAM OC and then run something like memtest86 for at least 4 complete passes with zero errors to test the OC. If there are any errors on the test then the RAM OC is unstable. Since it is an XMP setting Those steps above are only really needed if you have issues later and cannot figure out if its one OC or the other. With the gpu OC I would start by maxing the power limit of the card and start increasing the GPU core frequency in 15 mghz jumps doing testing for instability between steps. Do that until you get instability and then go back 2 steps from what you tried and found unstable. This is the tried and true way of ocing a decently stable clock on GPUs. Some games will CTD or crash to desktop as a sign of instability. Some games wont even like stable overclocks and you may have to put the card back to default for some games.
 
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Hey man, thanks for your time & input. Just to ask, don't you think I am better off with an 11th gen CPU ? My current board won't support a K CPU despite it is an LGA1200 socket.

Sorry i didnt read through all 5 pages of post but i did skim through it. As for your motherboard it does support K series CPU's, it just doesnt support overclocking them. While say a 10700K runs from 3.8GHz to 5.1GHz boost a 10700F only does 2.9Ghz to 4.8Ghz, so even sitting at stock settings on the 10700k it will boost and give better performance.
 
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That is what I believe Toms is all about. Keep updating us here if you want to.
For sure ! This is what I like about this community ! The sharing of knowledge.

Since it is an XMP setting Those steps above are only really needed if you have issues later and cannot figure out if its one OC or the other.
I've never OCed before and I don't like it neither, but this time I am having to in order to get the best performance out of budget rig. The XMP is a life saviour. Usually there is 2 profiles, number 1 has a few settings on auto while number 2 forces everything to be set as written in the profile. I selected profile 2 since I really want the best.

With the gpu OC I would start by maxing the power limit of the card and start increasing the GPU core frequency in 15 mghz jumps doing testing for instability between steps. Do that until you get instability and then go back 2 steps from what you tried and found unstable. This is the tried and true way of ocing a decently stable clock on GPUs. Some games will CTD or crash to desktop as a sign of instability. Some games wont even like stable overclocks and you may have to put the card back to default for some games.
Earlier shot +200mhz to my core and +800mhz to memory, but the game crashed within 5 mins ! Then I ran Afterburner and got a confidence level of 90% with 63 degrees stabilized. My time is limited these days, having to debug another guy's software ! Once I shift to the i5 11400f I will surely take time manually to OC the card. I try to keep it reasonable since I didn't invest in cooling at all, a regular heat sinker and a Noctua PMW fan all while case open.

Regards.
 
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Sorry i didnt read through all 5 pages of post but i did skim through it. As for your motherboard it does support K series CPU's, it just doesnt support overclocking them. While say a 10700K runs from 3.8GHz to 5.1GHz boost a 10700F only does 2.9Ghz to 4.8Ghz, so even sitting at stock settings on the 10700k it will boost and give better performance.
Hey man, yet its still amazing you took time to input something. I think yes you're right. I'm waiting a bit to see how deep my pocket can get. Because if not an 11th gen, I could simply pick an i9 of the 10th gen.
 

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10900F is on my short list of processors to buy. Just have to convince myself it is worth the effort to take my 7700k apart, probably need to clean out the loop anyway.

Since I won't be upgrading my GPU anytime soon, I don't think I would miss PCIe 4.0, but to go from quad core to 10 core, that will be something.
 
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10900F is on my short list of processors to buy. Just have to convince myself it is worth the effort to take my 7700k apart, probably need to clean out the loop anyway.

Since I won't be upgrading my GPU anytime soon, I don't think I would miss PCIe 4.0, but to go from quad core to 10 core, that will be something.
That will be an awesome upgrade. In 2019 I did basically the same thing. I went from a 3570k to a 3900x and the performance difference was crazy...
 
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10900F is on my short list of processors to buy. Just have to convince myself it is worth the effort to take my 7700k apart, probably need to clean out the loop anyway.

Since I won't be upgrading my GPU anytime soon, I don't think I would miss PCIe 4.0, but to go from quad core to 10 core, that will be something.
So all this time you've been playing on an OCed 7th gen and all has been fine ? Stable ? what's your GPU ?
 

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So all this time you've been playing on an OCed 7th gen and all has been fine ? Stable ? what's your GPU ?

Right there in my signature. 7700k at 5Ghz, EVGA GTX1080 SC, watercooled running around 2100Mhz. Honestly at 1440p there are quite a few games that push that pretty close to 60FPS, but I don't play a lot of the most recent games. I don't really like story mode questing RPGs of the more recent titles. I'll upgrade the GPU when I can, but that might be buying a used RTX3070 in a year or so. I am saddened a little, looks like XSPC isn't bothering with GPU blocks for 30 series, just have to get an alphacool or something.

My plan is to get a Z490 board and the 10900F, and force it to run 5.0, 5.1, or 5.2 all core, maybe fudge the cache a little, if possible.
 
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Right there in my signature. 7700k at 5Ghz, EVGA GTX1080 SC, watercooled running around 2100Mhz. Honestly at 1440p there are quite a few games that push that pretty close to 60FPS, but I don't play a lot of the most recent games. I don't really like story mode questing RPGs of the more recent titles. I'll upgrade the GPU when I can, but that might be buying a used RTX3070 in a year or so. I am saddened a little, looks like XSPC isn't bothering with GPU blocks for 30 series, just have to get an alphacool or something.

My plan is to get a Z490 board and the 10900F, and force it to run 5.0, 5.1, or 5.2 all core, maybe fudge the cache a little, if possible.
No interest in a 5600x, 5800x, or 5900x?
 
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Right there in my signature. 7700k at 5Ghz, EVGA GTX1080 SC, watercooled running around 2100Mhz. Honestly at 1440p there are quite a few games that push that pretty close to 60FPS, but I don't play a lot of the most recent games. I don't really like story mode questing RPGs of the more recent titles. I'll upgrade the GPU when I can, but that might be buying a used RTX3070 in a year or so. I am saddened a little, looks like XSPC isn't bothering with GPU blocks for 30 series, just have to get an alphacool or something.

My plan is to get a Z490 board and the 10900F, and force it to run 5.0, 5.1, or 5.2 all core, maybe fudge the cache a little, if possible.
That's awesome. Took me a while to understand, but i finally got it right. A good mobo and CPU can get to know 2-3 GPUs if well maintained and cooled respectively.
 

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No interest in a 5600x, 5800x, or 5900x?

That is where the pricing gets into it. I am even planning on keeping my old memory and adding to it (they still sell it surprisingly) But the big reason to stick with Intel is my CPU block being an Intel mount, and keeping the CPU about where it is so I don't have to re-run tubing, hopefully.

A decent Z490 board will set me back around $240, the CPU only $348.
With the CPU Z590 doesn't really gain me anything, and that is another $30-40 on top.

X570 board I would want would be around $210
5600X is $306 for 6 cores
5800X is $430 for 8 cores
5900X is not available, and would be quite a bit more.

10900F just makes a lot of sense for my gaming needs and a little future proofing on the core count.
 
That is where the pricing gets into it. I am even planning on keeping my old memory and adding to it (they still sell it surprisingly) But the big reason to stick with Intel is my CPU block being an Intel mount, and keeping the CPU about where it is so I don't have to re-run tubing, hopefully.

A decent Z490 board will set me back around $240, the CPU only $348.
With the CPU Z590 doesn't really gain me anything, and that is another $30-40 on top.

X570 board I would want would be around $210
5600X is $306 for 6 cores
5800X is $430 for 8 cores
5900X is not available, and would be quite a bit more.

10900F just makes a lot of sense for my gaming needs and a little future proofing on the core count.
That all makes complete sense,. It seems you considered it and the costs associated. It is alike to how I am heavily invested in Nvidia because I have G-sync panels, no need to change if the performance per dollar is within reason of the competition. For you its water blocks, fittings, and tubing woes keeping you comfortably intel. I am personally going to wait till I can snag either a 5900x or 5950x for my build because its EOL for AM4 and I tend to keep my hardware for 6+ years.
 

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There is a small gap between a 10900 running at 5.2Ghz and something like a 5600X running 4.8Ghz, but that is at 1080p with an RTX2080Ti (I'm not even there). When you jump in resolution it starts to matter less and less, and they trade some blows depending on the title.

But this has slid well off topic, but that might be why we have five pages here. One of the better threads to watch of late.
 
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@Eximo & @helper800 , just to ask, does the i7 need water cool ? My OCed RAM & GPU are giving me great performance to which I am satisfied but I am also wanting to move to a higher than quad core just to eliminate the small imperfections I have randomly. Would you guys advise getting an i7 ?
 
@Eximo & @helper800 , just to ask, does the i7 need water cool ? My OCed RAM & GPU are giving me great performance to which I am satisfied but I am also wanting to move to a higher than quad core just to eliminate the small imperfections I have randomly. Would you guys advise getting an i7 ?
It depends, I would probably get the 6 core 11400/f now and see how that performs. The differences between the 11400f and any of the i7s for games is slim 5-10% maximum. Since the 8 core parts are harder to cool in the smaller case you are planning on putting it in it will likely throttle itself causing reduced performance making it the same or potentially worse performing than the 11400f while costing more. On the upside it could just be better overall performance wise but just run 10-15c hotter. mITX and SFF builds are not something I am very experienced with I would defer to someone who is.
 
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Eximo

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At least for now a hex core is plenty and water cooling would help sustained clocks, but they are hard to cram into ITX builds. Certainly possible though. Not sure how to weigh a water cooled i5 vs an air cooled i7. Not sure I have any references to consult on that scenario.

I don't think an i7-10700F would do too badly under those conditions either, can't really speak for the 11700 though, I know it generally runs a little warmer. I think both would self-regulate and only pushing a heavy load for a good while would lead to throttling. Most gaming loads are not that.

Sadly I have really only built low-power ITX systems for my HTPC. Currently running an i7-4770k downclocked and undervolted with a Noctua NH-L9x65mm, think it runs at 3.2Ghz or something like that. Previously used an i3-4130T and the stock i7-4770k cooler. That worked quite well, but the dual core started showing its age when it came to web browsing. That system could be a gaming rig though as it sits, it is a Z97 board (was only $10 more at the time), but it runs a GT1030 for its HDMI 2.0 output.


I looked through the post, do you have the exact chassis you are wanting to use for potential water cooling?
 
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@helper800 & @Eximo Thank you both for your input.

@Eximo unfortunately not. My case isn't built at all for water cooling. If an i7 would require me water cooling, then I think I rather stay at i5. However I have a case in which I can fit a cooler master hyper 212 lying somewhere in my stuffs. Concerning the i5 11th vs i7, I don't know well what I should do. I keep thinking that more cores can be potentially a plus for my games since same as RAM people would say faster doesn't mean much, but i can tell you its a world of difference, I get more details, colours, better finish. Wondering if for the cores it will be same story.
 

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Well, having more memory would certainly let the game engine load more things into memory without having to pull from storage, but overall visual quality wouldn't change unless you changed the game settings. Your big change was going from single channel memory to dual channel, would give the CPU a lot more bandwidth to mess with.

For most games, your i3 is effectively the same rough speed as an i5. The two extra cores can take some of the burden away, but for most games the engine is still concentrated on a single core. The load does bounce around between cores to reduce local heating, and having two more cores do to that with is good. Also get more cache to store more directly useful data to the CPU.

I'm not saying that you have to water cool an i7, in fact I think it would work quite well with something like a 212 on it. A decent mid-range cooler, about the equivalent of a cheap 120mm water cooler.

If you are willing to move to a larger chassis, 11th gen would be fine too. Don't recommend going beyond the i7 though, the i9 are just slightly faster and have a more advanced boost profile.
 
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Well, having more memory would certainly let the game engine load more things into memory without having to pull from storage, but overall visual quality wouldn't change unless you changed the game settings. Your big change was going from single channel memory to dual channel, would give the CPU a lot more bandwidth to mess with.

For most games, your i3 is effectively the same rough speed as an i5. The two extra cores can take some of the burden away, but for most games the engine is still concentrated on a single core. The load does bounce around between cores to reduce local heating, and having two more cores do to that with is good. Also get more cache to store more directly useful data to the CPU.

I'm not saying that you have to water cool an i7, in fact I think it would work quite well with something like a 212 on it. A decent mid-range cooler, about the equivalent of a cheap 120mm water cooler.

If you are willing to move to a larger chassis, 11th gen would be fine too. Don't recommend going beyond the i7 though, the i9 are just slightly faster and have a more advanced boost profile.
@Eximo ,

Thanks a lot for the input. I have a few questions maybe you could help with. I have three criteria for the next processor I'm looking forward to invest in.

Firstly, a processor that can also handle 1440p gaming very well. My actual card the gtx1660S is probably one of the cheapest card at the moment for 1440p gaming. In the future I intend to go ultrawide, most probably 1440p because 4k is way out of my budget.

The second thing, I want to be future proofed enough. I want to invest in a processor that will last me for a min of 5 years just like as you with your 7700k.

Thirdly, do you think it will be beneficial to have the i5 11600KF since the base clock itself is 3.9Ghz though I am using the Asus Prime B560M ? In the future I might grab a used board and watercooler to juice it to its limits.

So far I have trimmed down to the i5 11600 & i7 10700 both KF versions.

Thanks for any potential input.

Regards.