Why Is My Gaming Rig Not up for the Task?

[vlad.soroceanu]

Hi,

My gaming rig is probably 4 years old and obviously is bit outdated, but I always assumed that most of the brunt is taken by the GPU and as such I expected to get some good visuals from most games. Thing is I don't remember ever getting amazing visuals from my rig for most games. Some games rendered pretty well some of them not so well. I have the following rig:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/venian/saved/#view=FYcTBm

The CPU and memory are a bit old, but the GPU is a medium-range card (rx 580) which I saw used for several games in gameplay trailer that always rendered much better than what I get. The target resolution is 1080.

I have a good knowledge of computer hardware and software and as such I built my own PC while trying to get a decent setup for a medium price. So nothing is top of the line, but they aren't the cheapest components either.

1) To get the visuals I see in gameplay trailers do I need to buy top of the line graphics cards?
2) Do I need a 1080ti or a vega to get ultra settings + 60fps?
3) How much does the CPU matter in getting 60fps with very high settings?


Thank you!

 

[rhoban]

Your GPU should handle 60 FPS ultra settings on 1080P on most of the modern games. It's comparable to a GTX 1060 in performance.

A CPU matters to some degree. It gives you better minimum frame rates and should allow the GPU to work at maximum potential.
Having a weak CPU can limit the GPU, which means you don't get the performance you should.

But in your case, the CPU should be fine with that GPU. Both should be working at full potential.

What are the games in question?

 

[EquineHero]

Hi,

1) To get the visuals I see in gameplay trailers do I need to buy top of the line graphics cards?
2) Do I need a 1080ti or a vega to get ultra settings + 60fps?
3) How much does the CPU matter in getting 60fps with very high settings?


Thank you!

Your CPU is fine, your GPU is fine. I don't see any problems. Try a fresh Windows install and play with overclocks a little. Try 4.6Ghz at 1.28v. If that works, try lowering the voltage or raising the overclock to 4.7ghz, Make sure your cooling is also adequate.

To answer your questions:

1) No, the RX580 can handle 1080p60 with zero problems with most games at the highest settings possible.
2) Absolutely not. I have a GTX 1070 and am pushing 80+FPS at 1080p and upper 40s at 4K.
3) Gaming is equally CPU and GPU. Toss some OC at your CPU though, free performance won't hurt. Your CPU is definitely adequate for 1080p60 gaming. Hell even some of the older i5s from Sandy Bridge still do 1080p60 just fine.

 

[norcalsc]

you need 8gb more ram

 

[smorizio]

8g a few years ago was the min. if your building a new rig today you want 16g of ram and newer cpu with a lot of cores. to the op i would wait a bit then upgrade your gpu to one of the newer nvidia or amd gpu. if your rig is still having issue it would be time to replace the cpu.

 

[vlad.soroceanu]

Thank you guys! I'll have a play with it and maybe freshly install Windows? I think Windows fine, but who knows. I did have it installed for almost 5 years with no refresh.

For example:
- Assassin's Creed Origins had no issues to run around 60fps most of the times with high settings
- Kingdom Come Deliverance really screwed up the rendering and no driver install fixed it, and the same game with the same GPU looked stunning in YouTube gameplay videos.
- Hunt: Showdown looks poor and has performance issues

These are just some example, but I'll try to keep a list of them and how they perform.
Most of the games work fine, but I feel I rarely reach steady 60fps, usually is around 55 which you can immediately feel. Also I often need to turn down AA which is really visible once you do it.


The question was also about do I need to get high-end GPUs to render games like in the demos? For example what will it take to render Doom Eternal the way it looks in the demo video at QuakeCon?

 

[dontlistentome]

If I were in your position I'd first try to establish that my computer was functioning normally, and do not use games for this purpose. There are benchmarking tools that after you run them, you'll get some kind of score or scores. Most of these programs allow the user to then see the scores of others with similar systems. Your scores should be at least kind of close to theirs. If you can run these benchmarks with no problem, and your scores seem okay, then you know your computer is working right.

At that point you can start testing games. If the game isn't working right then you know you have a problem with that game and not with your computer. I use MSI Afterburner to give me an onscreen display of CPU and GPU usage and clockspeeds while I'm playing. This information helps diagnose the problem.

If you have a problem with a specific game, like Kingdom Come Deliverance, sometimes it's better to go to the game's main forums 'troubleshooting' section to see if it's a known problem and if there's a known solution. I've found many solutions for problem games this way in the past.

No one really knows what upcoming games will specifically require for maximum image quality. For cutting edge games the answer is almost always a general "more than what today's games require". How much more is anyone's guess.