Max HT help for higher fps :)

[DRaZZ]

Hi guys, as you can see i have my Phenom II at 4ghz but im currently running my ht at stock, having just got Metro last light and finding my rig unable to run this game even close to max settings and knowing my cpu is the bottleneck in this rig, what sort of speed should i be running my ht at and will increasing it give me a noticable improvement in frame rates? My rig is in my signature. Any help increasing the output of my lil cpu would be greatly appreciated
Cheers guys.

 

[Johan45]

Not sure if that'll helpmuch Drazz Metro Last light is a pretty intense game. I think it may be the card holding you back. I played maxed but with 2 GTX 580's backing me up.
One thing I do know that will help with an AMD card is to make sure that the Physx is turned off.

 

[DRaZZ]

Yea i have the physx off mate. I have had to crank it to normal tesselation, 1280x720, high graphics, 4x af, no aa........ its the first game in a year i havent been able to max lol. Its crysis 1 all over again!!! The 5870 is pretty beefy, thats what was leading me to believe the cpu is the bottleneck in this sytem, i may just buy another 5870 if i can find anyone that stocks them now, its a toss up between flashing my bios n throwing an 8 core in it or buying another gpu. If i get the gpu im guna have to water cool both gpu's which will add another 180 quid to the cost. Also need a full cover mobo block as the stock cooling for the crosshair requires a heatsink on the cpu blowing air over its northbridge heatpipe, since i have watercooling, iv had to mod in a 60mm fan over the northbridge just to keep it below 50c fully loaded. Im guna play around with some settings, see how i get on but looks like a new gpu is called for, might buy a top end dual card rather than mess around with more water blocks. xbox owners dont have these troubles ya know lol

 

[Johan45]

You should monitor the CPU and GPU while playing to find out exactly where the bottleneck is. If you do upgrade the CPU, I just picked up a fx-6350 on sale and it's pretty awsome. You wouldn't have as much heta to fight off and games won't use 8 cores any way. here's some performance shots I posted.http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7543193&postcount=336
Like I said find your weakness first then go from there.

 

[DRaZZ]

Nice chip n nice oc dude. Just looked on my usual sellers site, 100 quid i can get the 6350. They have the 9590 for £280, 4.7ghz and 2mb more L2 cache, not worth 180quid more imo, not unless it overclocks to 5.5Ghz or more...... Guna have a look at ov stats for both. If i dont go for the cpu, i will buy a 7970 unless 2 5870's gives more power. iv spent a hell of a lot recently upgrading this rig, got it looking amazing and untill i installed this bloody game, it was running perfectly too lol. I was planning on selling it and building an absolute top end gaming / multi media rig, looks like iv gota get the graphics side up tho, maybe buy a 7970 and 6350....... which ever way i go, im not guna see much change from 600 quid : /

 

[Johan45]

Have you tried different drivers yet?
Ya it's one sweet chip and in my opinion would be great for gaming. You can get higher clocks with a six core vs eight with a lot less heat.

 

[RGone]

Not a gamer here myself but looking at plenty of peeps talking about running the game well and not just getting by; these look like a stout rig is needed.

Recommended

Windows: Vista, 7 or 8
CPU: 2.6 GHz Quad Core e.g. Intel Core i5
RAM: 4GB
Direct X: 11
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 580/660 Ti (or AMD equivalent e.g. 7870) or higher

For 3D Vision Support:

NVIDIA GTX 580/660Ti or higher
120Hz Monitor
NVIDIA 3D Vision kit for Windows Vista, 7 or 8

Optimum

Windows: Vista, 7 or 8
CPU: 3.4 GHz Multi-Core e.g. Intel Core i7
RAM: 8GB
Direct X: 11
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 690 / NVIDIA Titan

For 3D Vision Support:

NVIDIA GTX 690
120Hz Monitor
NVIDIA 3D Vision kit for Windows Vista, 7 or 8

 

[Mandrake4565]

Drazz, I own a 5850 which I am able to run overclocked to 900/1140 while playing BF3 and playing metro. I also have a GTX 580 I run @ 900/1100 while playing BF3, I haven't played metro with it. I play at 1680/1050 resolutions and see about a 60-80% gain in FPS with the 580 over the 5850. I doubt you'll find a new 5870 for a decent price and I believe they go for around $90-$110 used. You could pick up a 580 for around $200 used and sell the 5870, or just get a new high end Gpu and sell the 5870.

 

[caddi daddi]

having the ht and cpu/nb should help in the mean time as will clocking up the ram.

 

[DRaZZ]

Id be more inclined to go with a higher end card matey, im not a huge fan of nvidia, they are good cards but imo they are a rip off. way too expensive, plus staying with ati i have the xfire option down the line. Appreciate the info tho matey

 

[DRaZZ]

Yea this is what i was thinking about originally mate, inceasing the ht and nb speeds, iv balanced my ram with speed / timings, i could go faster but would have to losen the timings and that loses me performance. I just need to increase the ht and nb and find the right speed for them, until i buy new hardware that is.
I have to say though, altho nice looking, i dont see why last light hammers the hardware so much, its nice looking but nothing way above anything else out atm, im guessing like the original crysis its just badly written from a performance point of view!

 

[caddi daddi]

then get a 7970 and call it all good.

 

[RGone]

Original question: Max HT help for higher fps and will increasing it give me a noticable improvement in frame rates?

Answer: In general most that run for the biggest numbers have said they see no real benefit from higher HT speed unless there are multiple video cards in crossfire or sli. The 8xx chipset does not allow native SLi so that multi card setup is out.

 

[caddi daddi]

with my 7770 cards I can't say I get a better frame rate, but it's just much more pleasant and less jittery for lack of a better word.
I have also found that where and how I store the games and operating system has an effect.

 

[DRaZZ]

Well i have Windows 7 Ultimate and its a pristine install on to a brand new 120gb SSD 525Mb/s read - 500Mb/s write, the only things installed are drivers and CoD MW2 & Metro Last Light, so where things are installed couldnt be more perfect atm so messing with anything there wont give me any performance boosts. Im guna read up on how high my ht should be set considering my cpu is at 4ghz, next month i may just bite the bullet and buy the 7970 6gb and hope my cpu wont hold it back too much. Then get the whole system sold and build a new rig with 8core, 32gb ram, 7990 and the best mobo i can find lol.