R9 390 low FPS, Suspect CPU Bottleneck, Upgrade Recommendations Welcome

sustainblue

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Aug 4, 2015
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I've been purchasing some modern games recently (H1Z1, BFHL, ARK, GTAV) and have noticed that my rig wasn't keeping up my FPS counts like it did with Skyrim era games. In response, I decided to upgrade my GPU from a 2GB HD 7850 to an 8GB R9 390. I've seen a modest increase in FPS but nothing like I expected. Ratcheting graphics settings from Ultra to Low results in a negligible increase in FPS.

Currently running 6 GB of DDR2 and an AMD Phenom II X4 965 OC'd to 3.7 Ghz. CPU utilization is maxed and RAM is close to being completely used when in a game. Any ideas on how I can alleviate the issues I am having? Am I completely CPU bottlenecked? I'm thinking it may be time for a new mobo, CPU, and RAM. I'd like the most bang for my buck and would appreciate any ideas you would have.

Been thinking i5-4590.
 
Solution

The 4790K has a turbo speed of 4.4 witch makes it faster but not the best buy when considering you can buy a 100 buck cheaper 4690k clock it to 4.4 and get the exact gaming performance in 99% of games and in the few you don't it's only a few FPS differance.
Buying a new motherboard for your processor is not something I would even consider, it keeps you locked into the FX line of chips and...
...Ratcheting graphics settings from Ultra to Low results in a negligible increase in FPS.

That could be a driver issue, too.

6 GB of DDR2 = 3 x 2GB sticks ? That third stick effectively dings dual-channel and reduces memory performance. I'm not sure it would be worth it to purchase another 2GB stick unless you got it on the cheap.

... I'd like the most bang for my buck and would appreciate any ideas you would have.
Move your 965BE into the Gigabyte 970A-UD3P AM3+ with 2x4GB of DDR3 1600. It should be a simple OC beyond 4GHz with good air.

 


Great package and a very attractive price! Thanks! Friends keep telling me to get the i7-4790k and be done with it. Is there really that big of a difference between these processors?

 
That could be a driver issue, too.

6 GB of DDR2 = 3 x 2GB sticks ? That third stick effectively dings dual-channel and reduces memory performance. I'm not sure it would be worth it to purchase another 2GB stick unless you got it on the cheap.

I thought the same regarding the drivers at first given all of the, "AMD drivers are awful" posts. The issues I am seeing are very specific to the most modern games. H1Z1 actually sped up a lot and is very playable now. Worth noting, my CPU utilization in H1Z1 looks reasonable 60%-70% making me think cpu bottleneck.

2 x 2GB and 2 x 1GB both pairs of slots are listed in dual channel mode.

Move your 965BE into the Gigabyte 970A-UD3P AM3+ with 2x4GB of DDR3 1600. It should be a simple OC beyond 4GHz with good air.

Very clever suggestion! When I purchased my 7850, I looked at this mobo in the hopes that I could to jump to the cheaper DDR3 standard but I didn't pull the trigger. Now I think it might be best to spend some more money and get away from needing to overclock an aging CPU just to get by. I'd like to stick with AMD, but I haven't found an offering that is performance and price comparative with Intel's offerings. Never thought I would say it, but my next CPU will be an Intel.


 

The 4790K has a turbo speed of 4.4 witch makes it faster but not the best buy when considering you can buy a 100 buck cheaper 4690k clock it to 4.4 and get the exact gaming performance in 99% of games and in the few you don't it's only a few FPS differance.
Buying a new motherboard for your processor is not something I would even consider, it keeps you locked into the FX line of chips and the CPU you have pretty much hits a wall in the 4.0 area and still would give worse performance than a stock i5 by a big amount.
 
Solution