Question Need advice for CPU upgrade with Destiny 2 in mind

[nickporter0016]

Guys my PC master race sensibilities have been violated and I need help, especially if you have experience with Destiny 2.

TL;DR: I've been getting into Destiny 2, a game that even with OC and tuned graphics settings is maxing out all 4 cores on my CPU and causing unacceptable frame drops as a result. GPU is not a problem. Looking for upgrade suggestions. See "Getting to the point" section at the bottom to skip the lengthy discussion, specs are at the top.


First of all my (current) specs:
CPU: i5 4690k @ 4.0ghz/1.15v
Cooler: Zalman CNPS5X (I currently have a better 212 Evo but it won't fit in the case I have by a margin of 4 mm :/)
Mobo: Asus Z97p
Ram: 16gb
GPU: MSI GTX 1080
PSU: Corsair 600w
Storage: 3x assorted size SSDs
OS: Windows 8.1
Monitor: I am a 1080p 60hz noob

So on to the problem at hand. Destiny 2 went free 2 play in the beginning of Oct and I've been getting really into it and plan on staying with it long-term. The problem I've been experiencing is that the game was loading up all 4 cores on my poor 4690k @ 3.5 ghz and I started noticing some intrusive frame drops down into the low 30's (only in the most demanding situations). GPU is only at ~60% usage. I decided to OC and realized some increase in fps stability, but not enough.

Spoiler: CPU/GPU usage graphs and discussion for S&G's

Using afterburner I was able to find that the frame drops always coincided with all cores at 100% while the GPU usage was under 50% so it's a simple CPU bottleneck. I overclocked to 4.0ghz, the max stable OC with acceptable temps on my admittedly sub par cooler, i.e. ~75C avg (pushing 4.2ghz was requiring 1.25v and 83C+ temps so I backed off idk if bad chip, bad cooler or both). I researched all CPU intensive settings and lowered them to minimum or turned them off. I also have VSync on (otherwise there is horrible tearing) and framerate cap at 60. The performance is noticeably better after OC but there are still occasional drops ~45fps and I had a 1-time 28fps drop (which I'm chalking up to having chrome open with like 15 tabs eating CPU).

These are the CPU/GPU usage graphs from afterburner in a scene that runs reasonably well with a couple drops to 45- 50fps and I would say is average for Destiny 2 in terms of CPU demand.
The only reason the GPU usage even exceeds 50% is because I have resolution scale at 200% which I have found to have no noticeable impact on CPU but utilizes more of the gtx 1080s power while making up for the fact that the antialiasing in Destiny 2 is garbage. Lowering res scale to 100% did not lower CPU usage, nor did it improve performance.

After doing some research I've found that Destiny 2 should make use of more than 4 cores (maybe it will use 8, not sure). With that in mind, I've been looking at ryzen CPUs and I'm really not sure where I should spend my money. I'm kinda stuck between 2700x, 3600x, and 3700x. I know people who stand by the 3700x and some say it has as much as 10-15% real world fps increase over the 2700x. I don't understand how since the clock speeds and core count are similar (I know that's not everything and maybe someone can enlighten me). With the minor real-world performance difference aside, the 2700x is nearly half the price ($189 vs $329) so I'm inclined to go that route. The main disadvantage I think is TDP, but should I really care? Ultimately what I'm concerned about is increasing my core count so I'm not fully loading all cores. Per-core frequency is useful but I don't think that's the main issue in this scenario.

Getting to the point:

• I would like to get the upgrade done ~$400 (case, mobo, cpu, ram) but I can be flexible if better components are worthwhile (I'm looking at you 3700x)
• Should I go with Ryzen 2700x, 3700x, or something else entirely? I'm looking to only spend money for reasonable performance gains.
• What are recommendations for a reasonably priced new mobo (I am partial to Asus, but open to anything non-MSI. Also I am a storage hog so the more SATA/M.2 slots the better)
• Any thoughts on good priced 2x8 GB RAM kit with appropriate speed the CPU can take advantage of?
• Once I have the parts ready, I know I will need to upgrade to Win 10. Once I do that, any tricks to booting an existing OS with a new mobo/CPU installed?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated. I've put in several hours researching already but would like second opinions so I can avoid making mistakes.

Cheers,
Indy

 

[bmockeg]

So 3000 series has better IPC, instructions per clock, than 2000 series. That is why there is a performance increase between a 2700x and a 3700x. Even a 3600 will get better FPS than a 2700x, HOWEVER, you are losing 2 cores in that situation which will most likely be better long term. If you want the best long term upgrade I’d go 3700x but a 2700x would serve you well for years. AMD has stated it is releasing 4000 series in the Spring so if you wanted to wait there is that option, depending with how soon you need to do this.

Motherboard is mostly preference but I’d recommend a X570 if you are getting a 3700x. Get a 2700x and a b450 would be fine. The money spent will pay off with the new features in the X570, pcie4 and wifi6.

DDR 3600 MHz with a CAS of 16 is my recommendation. Ryzen has a slower memory controller than intel and therefor benefits from increased memory speed and reduced latency. Even for intel 3400-3600 MHz is the sweet spot for performance.

 

[nickporter0016]

So 3000 series has better IPC, instructions per clock, than 2000 series. That is why there is a performance increase between a 2700x and a 3700x. Even a 3600 will get better FPS than a 2700x, HOWEVER, you are losing 2 cores in that situation which will most likely be better long term. If you want the best long term upgrade I’d go 3700x but a 2700x would serve you well for years. AMD has stated it is releasing 4000 series in the Spring so if you wanted to wait there is that option, depending with how soon you need to do this.

Motherboard is mostly preference but I’d recommend a X570 if you are getting a 3700x. Get a 2700x and a b450 would be fine. The money spent will pay off with the new features in the X570, pcie4 and wifi6.

DDR 3600 MHz with a CAS of 16 is my recommendation. Ryzen has a slower memory controller than intel and therefor benefits from increased memory speed and reduced latency. Even for intel 3400-3600 MHz is the sweet spot for performance.

I just found a Destiny 2 tech support subreddit and kinda reposted on there. It seems like Destiny 2 has well-known performance problems with Ryzen CPUs (not that they are bad enough to be a deal-breaker) so I might have to consider team blue after all. It seems like Intel's best competitor to something like a 3700x would be the i7 9700k. For only $20 more than the 3700x the i7 boasts turbo up to 4.9ghz and OC to 5.1ghz and beyond. Then there's the i5 9600k in a similar price range to the 2700x. It has only 6 cores, but significantly better per-core frequency. Any thoughts on going Intel?

 

[bmockeg]

I use a 9900k and love it, however if I was buying today it would be a Ryzen 3900x. I’m not a fan of the 9600k or 9700k since they both lack multithreading. For the long term I’d go Ryzen for the price/performance.

 

[mdd1963]

4c/4t CPUs have been being blamed for tanking frame rates for well over two years now, especially when equipped with very good GPUs...

TIme to plan your exodus to a DDR4 rig...

B450/R5-3600 or 3700 (I'd go 3700, two extra cores for any potential 'core need growth' with newer games later!)
Z390/i7-9700K (Intel's 9700K may only have 8 threads, but, frame rates obviously show that they are darn good ones!)

 

[nickporter0016]

I use a 9900k and love it, however if I was buying today it would be a Ryzen 3900x. I’m not a fan of the 9600k or 9700k since they both lack multithreading. For the long term I’d go Ryzen for the price/performance.

For strictly gaming, I don't know that I could justify the $110 price difference between the 9900k and the 9700k. I don't really plan on doing any workstation/productivity tasks that would benefit from multithreading. If I planned on streaming or doing content creation it would be different.

 

[bmockeg]

Depends how long you plan to use this CPU. I wouldn’t spend $400 myself for a CPU without 16 threads when I could get one.