Anyway, I'm looking at what I could upgrade to get some better performance.
My current rig is
i5-3570K
8 GB DDR3 1333 system memory, was some basic cheap Adata RAM (I'm keen to up this to at least 16GB, but depends on when I plan to swap cpu / mobo etc)
ASUS P8Z77-m https://www.asus.com/nz/Motherboards/P8 ... fications/
GTX 970 4GB
Couple of crucial SSDs for disk, probably going to pick up a Samsung EVO 1TB at some stage so I have more space for games
I'm thinking maybe my CPU is OK, but my RAM is a little on the low side. GPU would probably make the most difference, and I can sell my GTX 970 because its still worth something even though it's not super fast.
What would you upgrade if it were you? (I prefer nvidia drivers when it comes to gpu). Budget wise, I would be open to 1080ti if I thought it was worth it. Not sure how well it would fit on this little micro ATX mobo
I also have a fairly beefy Noctua NH-D14 cooler mounted on CPU so i assume overclocking is possible to some extent but I never tried it. I mainly got it because it has 120mm fan
If upgrading memory what would you get?
Heres a specification of supported motherboard memory;
4 x DIMM, Max. 32GB, DDR3 2400(O.C.)/2200(O.C.)/2133(O.C.)/2000(O.C.)/1866(O.C.)/1800(O.C.)/1600/1333 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory
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A quick update on what I have found so far
- The bottleneck appears to be CPU, often usage will sit around 80% but when things load in or enemies are near it maxes out.
- Memory doesn't appear to be a bottleneck, probably because I am using low graphic settings. Usage tops out around 6.7GB when most of the island is visible, but majority of the time sits lower at about 5-5.5GB usage quite comfortably
- Overclocking to 4.2Ghz feels like it makes the FPS a bit smoother overall, and reduces the severity of the lower fps moment. CPU still does max out fairly similarly even with the overclock, but overall fps feels a bit smoother and less prone to dropping. I haven't got any actual conclusive benchmark numbers to prove it but thats how it feels