Need help identifying a bottleneck - Fallout 4

[LukeSykpe]

Greetings everybody.

 

Here's a little bit of background information, before I jump right into the topic. I bought fallout 4 on release, knowing full well my PC couldn't handle it, simply because I'm a very big fan of the series. I know it was stupid, but imagine that, the only reason I build a gaming PC to begin with was because my mother's netbook couldn't run fallout 3 when it came out. So now, a couple months later, after some dreadful 20 FPS-lowest-settings-possible shenanigans, I got a budget together for an upgrade. Now, my problem is, what should I upgrade? It mostly looks like a CPU bottleneck to me, but it could be something as simple as RAM. The game is rated for 8GB, while I'm running it with 4. Also, yes, I know my CPU bottlenecks my card pretty hard either way, even if it's not my issue in this particular case. Without further ado, the details. My system is as follows: Intel Pentium g620 @ 2.6GHz | Sapphire r9 270x dual-x 2GB | 4GB ddr3 @ 1333Hz. My GPU rarely hits above 40% usage in any area of the game that's not interior, where I see a very choppy 30FPS, with the game being nigh unplayable inside the city, where the FPS is close to 12-15 and dips to 1-2 every couple minutes. CPU is pretty much at 100% load all the time, for both cores. Memory is also fully loaded. 

 

My apologies for asking something so quite stupid as this, in spite of suspecting the answer already. I'd like to get an opinion from somebody else too though, especially someone with more experience in this than I.

[RuLeZ]

CPU for sure.

[thenotoriousone]

CPU!!! 

[LukeSykpe]

Guess that's that then. Of course, that's what I expected, but you can never be too careful.

 

@thenotoriousone Already planning on that. Will be happening soon.

[Ryoku]

Greetings everybody.

 

Here's a little bit of background information, before I jump right into the topic. I bought fallout 4 on release, knowing full well my PC couldn't handle it, simply because I'm a very big fan of the series. I know it was stupid, but imagine that, the only reason I build a gaming PC to begin with was because my mother's netbook couldn't run fallout 3 when it came out. So now, a couple months later, after some dreadful 20 FPS-lowest-settings-possible shenanigans, I got a budget together for an upgrade. Now, my problem is, what should I upgrade? It mostly looks like a CPU bottleneck to me, but it could be something as simple as RAM. The game is rated for 8GB, while I'm running it with 4. Also, yes, I know my CPU bottlenecks my card pretty hard either way, even if it's not my issue in this particular case. Without further ado, the details. My system is as follows: Intel Pentium g620 @ 2.6GHz | Sapphire r9 270x dual-x 2GB | 4GB ddr3 @ 1333Hz. My GPU rarely hits above 40% usage in any area of the game that's not interior, where I see a very choppy 30FPS, with the game being nigh unplayable inside the city, where the FPS is close to 12-15 and dips to 1-2 every couple minutes. CPU is pretty much at 100% load all the time, for both cores. Memory is also fully loaded. 

 

My apologies for asking something so quite stupid as this, in spite of suspecting the answer already. I'd like to get an opinion from somebody else too though, especially someone with more experience in this than I.

 

 

CPU for sure.

 

Agreed, you'll likely need to upgrade your motherboard as well.

[thenotoriousone]

Guess that's that then. Of course, that's what I expected, but you can never be too careful.

 

@thenotoriousone Already planning on that. Will be happening soon.

Nice. And try adding another 4GB of RAM.

[RyanoStorrs]

Yes, it is definitely a CPU bottleneck. You might consider going for a quad core around the i5 2400 mark, as Fallout 4 scales well with multiple threads.
I would also suggest upgrading to at least 8GB of ram when you can, as I know that I rarely see my ram usage dipping below 4GB while playing FO4.

[LukeSykpe]

I know fallout 4 is pretty good at using multiple threads, but I cannot get my hands on anything but an i3 3240 or 3250 for my socket, without going into the used market. Would investing in the 3250 be a good choice, rather than going for an AMD solution? I'm basically asking i3 3250 vs FX 83xx here, which I know sounds like a ridiculous comparison, but I'm only interested in gaming on this machine.

 

Swapping the socket, unless I go for AMD, is way outta my budget.

[Bugs-bunny]

Yeah i'll just repeat everyone and say cpu but in the long run that gpu aint gonna hold it  

[LukeSykpe]

Yeah i'll just repeat everyone and say cpu but in the long run that gpu aint gonna hold it  

 

I know. I'm planning to x-fire it within the next year or two.

[Castdeath97]

I know fallout 4 is pretty good at using multiple threads, but I cannot get my hands on anything but an i3 3240 or 3250 for my socket, without going into the used market. Would investing in the 3250 be a good choice, rather than going for an AMD solution? I'm basically asking i3 3250 vs FX 83xx here, which I know sounds like a ridiculous comparison, but I'm only interested in gaming on this machine.

 

Swapping the socket, unless I go for AMD, is way outta my budget.

Go for the i3 and get additional memory.

[Castdeath97]

I know fallout 4 is pretty good at using multiple threads, but I cannot get my hands on anything but an i3 3240 or 3250 for my socket, without going into the used market. Would investing in the 3250 be a good choice, rather than going for an AMD solution? I'm basically asking i3 3250 vs FX 83xx here, which I know sounds like a ridiculous comparison, but I'm only interested in gaming on this machine.

Swapping the socket, unless I go for AMD, is way outta my budget.

Or can you afford this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($126.98 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($61.97 @ Newegg)

Total: $173.95

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-21 03:33 EST-0500

Or even this

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($61.97 @ Newegg)

Total: $231.96

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-21 03:35 EST-0500

Though going with the i3 2000 would give you more value

[LukeSykpe]

Not in my country. The cheapest LGA1150 setup goes for 200€. My budget is more along the lines of 160.

 

As for the second setup, it doubles my budget. The 4460 is 240€ by itself. 

[Bugs-bunny]

I know. I'm planning to x-fire it within the next year or two.

X-fire is not forth it you will be better of buying one more expensive gpu

[comicsansms]

Get a LGA 1155 i3, i5, i7 or Xeon off ebay and possibly an extra 4GB of Ram.

[LukeSykpe]

X-fire is not forth it you will be better of buying one more expensive gpu

I already have a 270x. I'll just be getting another one. That would be the case if I was debating whether to get a single card, or two of them.

[Guest]

Well in fallout 4 on ultra settings sometimes I get 5GB ram useage. 

[LukeSykpe]

Get a LGA 1155 i3, i5, i7 or Xeon off ebay and possibly an extra 4GB of Ram.

Here's the thing though - I don't want to get used. Don't get me wrong, I know full well the value far outweighs the risks, but I'm not in a position to be taking any such risks at the present moment.

[comicsansms]

Here's the thing though - I don't want to get used. Don't get me wrong, I know full well the value far outweighs the risks, but I'm not in a position to be taking any such risks at the present moment.

Just pay using paypal, if the CPU is faulty, complain and get your money back.

[LukeSykpe]

Just pay using paypal, if the CPU is faulty, complain and get your money back.

Well, first off, I can't pay using paypal. I live in Greece, and due to capital controls, getting money outside the country can be difficult, if not impossible, unless I had already paired my paypal account with a bank account - which I haven't. Furthermore, I don't think ebay's gonna care much in a year or two's time if I complain. I'm looking for a fairly permanent upgrade, that's why I'm not risking used.

[Guest HyppoCube]

how about 2gb of used ddr3 1333 and used i7 2700 locked one is fine and you know it wasnt abused

 

even just used quadcore would raise your fps by 10fps

 

also look for xeons, but i dont know witch models