Upgrade time?

[TheVirusNX]

I'm not sure if it's time for an upgrade or not, most of my games are playable on high, but I do not get stable 60fps, sometimes I get as low as 20fps. I'm thinking it might be the graphics card but not really sure. 

Specs are,

CPU: i7-4790K "stock"

HEATSINK: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo

MOBA: Asus Maximus VII Formula

RAM: 32GB Corsair Dominator 1866MHz DDR3

GPU: R9 290X Lightning "stock"

PSU: Corsair RM850X

SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 256GB

 

Titles I play are ARK, Assassins Creed Unity, Fallout 4, Gold Rush The Game, Star Citizen, Space Engineers.

[3 Lions]

Overclock the CPU and GPU  first, if you are still not happy then I'd say upgrade the GPU. 

Edited March 10, 2019 by LinusTechTipsFanFromDarlo

[BetterThanLife]

What country do you reside in friend?

[TheVirusNX]

2 minutes ago, LinusTechTipsFanFromDarlo said:

Overclock the CPU and GPU  first, if you are still not happy then I'd say upgrade the GPU. 

Is my CPU cooler good enough to overclock? I think, could be wrong but my temps are too hott on the high end. Highest that I have seen my CPU get is 72-75C, and GPU I have seen from 75-82C.

[3 Lions]

Just now, TheVirusNX said:

Is my CPU cooler good enough to overclock? I think, could be wrong but my temps are too hott on the high end. Highest that I have seen my CPU get is 72-75C, and GPU I have seen from 75-82C.

It's not the greatest cooler ever but should be okay for a small OC. 

[PrinnyExplodes]

Your computer should have no problem playing 1080p 60 fps all day in any game. 

 

Also a i7-4790k is still very good at gaming. It is very close to the R5 2600 in terms of gaming performance.

Also 290x is very close to the RX 580 in terms of performance. 

 

So here are some questions:

 

• What resolution are you gaming at?
• What games see bad performance?
• Did you update windows recently? (there is a recent windows update bug which kills performance in some games).

 

[Fasauceome]

3 minutes ago, TheVirusNX said:

Is my CPU cooler good enough to overclock? I think, could be wrong but my temps are too hott on the high end. Highest that I have seen my CPU get is 72-75C, and GPU I have seen from 75-82C.

The 4790k and all the other haswell CPUs have an integrated voltage regulator so they usually run hotter at stock. A 4.5GHz or even 4.6 at around 1.21 volts would be possible for you on that cooler with decent temps. I used to do 4.7 on my 4790k with the 212 but I was lucky to get a very low voltage.

[MeatFeastMan]

I'd go for cpu upgrade. Your 290x should be okay for now. Stay with the 290x until navi to see what it has to offer in terms of price.

 

Those games you mention are mainly about the cpu. Star Citizen is one of those that likes it's cores, and the assassins creed games have been all about the cpu recently so I expect unity to be the same.

 

Ryzen 7 2700x would be perfect for your needs if you don't want to pay the intel tax. If you have the extra money the intel i9 9900k is also an option.

 

[mxk]

overclock the 4790k

[TheVirusNX]

2 minutes ago, PrinnyExplodes said:

 

 

What resolution are you gaming at? 1920x1080

What games see bad performance? Gold Rush, Assassins Creed Unity, Space Engineers ( 20 to 30FPS on High Settings )

Did you update windows recently? I do all updates.

 

[BetterThanLife]

I would move to a more efficient cooler and GPU.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U14S 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler  ($68.71 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX - Radeon RX 590 8 GB FATBOY OC+ Video Card  ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $288.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-10 16:43 EDT-0400

 

 

Faster GPU much more power efficient and you get free AAA games with it.

Cooler is very silent, and hugely capable of great OC's.

 

[mxk]

Just now, BetterThanLife said:

I would move to a more efficient cooler and GPU.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U14S 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler  ($68.71 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX - Radeon RX 590 8 GB FATBOY OC+ Video Card  ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $288.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-10 16:43 EDT-0400

 

 

Faster GPU much more power efficient and you get free AAA games with it.

Cooler is very silent, and hugely capable of great OC's.

 

That's a decent sale on the 590. 

 

The 212 evo isn't a great cooler but I think it's enough for the 4790k. I could be wrong.

[PrinnyExplodes]

Space Engineers you should be getting  roughly 35-65 fps (I am just going with what my wife gets with a GTX 1060 3GB which is pretty close to your cards performance, might even be less. i7 4770k @ 4.3, 32 GB DDR3-1600, GTX 1060 3GB).

 

Depending where you are it would drop like a potato though. Space Engineers isn't the best optimized game.

 

Assassins Unity you should be getting 50-70 fps at ultra high, soft shadows and FXAA

 

What I suggest:

• Check the temps on your i7 4790k and r9 290. If either is hitting like 85-90C, it might be throttling.
• Open up case and give it a good clean. I just cleaned my blower 1080ti and it had like a pound of dust lol, dropped temps by 7-9 C (i seriously need dust filters)
• See if you need to reapply thermal paste. I just did on my wifes computer a year ago because I noticed it was running 10 C hotter than usual (the paste that came with the heatsink must have been pretty crappy. It was like burnt crispy paste haha)

 

 

[Mister Woof]

38 minutes ago, TheVirusNX said:

 

AC games run like trash on everything FYI

[HoneyBadger84]

Having upgraded from an R9 295x2 to a GTX 1080 Ti a little over a year ago, I can tell you your GPU is the biggest bottleneck in your system. The raw throughput of the 290/290X architecture is just antiquated especially for larger resolutions. A newer cpu setup would help as well, but the GPU is your main crutch.