Calling All Computer Gurus! - Some Assistance

[Kittra]

I'll just say, that a new CPU (something in the i-series range) would unlock that video card's potential quite a bit. At the moment it looks like you're "CPU bound" meaning your system can't excel any further because the CPU is a bottleneck on performance.

That being said, in the end you'd probably end up replacing the Motherboard and Memory at the least with a new CPU which is almost equivalent to buying a new PC these days.


*EDIT* If you can afford it (and a new PC is in your future anyways) I would highly recommend an i5 with a motherboard and memory to support it. I have some friends who swear by the i5s and from what they've shown me, their performance is equal or surpasses my i7 systems. An i5 will also unlock that GTX 760 and allow it to push it's limits to the max.

I don't actually find that much of a difference in game play with a SSD over a Mechanical other than loading times, and it shouldn't effect your fps at all so if you want to skimp somewhere, this isn't a bad place to do it. Although others are right when they say that a cheap 40 or 60 GB SSD, just for the game, is pretty nice if loading times bother you.

*EDIT#2* Just for clarity, I wanted to say that unless you're going to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $4000 on a PC, you will always experience fps drops in extremely crowded areas of the game. No matter how good you consider your PC, it's just something about the way this game is coded that will always cause a performance drop under certain circumstances.

You'll definitely see an improvement with a new system, I just don't want you to be under the illusion that upgrading will suddenly fix "all" of the problems you experience. It will just improve your situation and provide a "richer" experience than you're currently experiencing.

The only other thing I can think to recommend is to maybe wait a couple months for when the PS4 comes out, and then just start searching for FFXIV:ARR PS4 review videos and see how it's graded on performance. In the long run, a PS4 is going to be way cheaper than buying a new PC to play this game.

[Gonzothegreat198]

if you're spending 4k on a computer, you are overspending. The only way you're looking at 4k is if you plan on running dual titans, which in today's world is plain overkill.

[ntall1]

if you're spending 4k on a computer, you are overspending. The only way you're looking at 4k is if you plan on running dual titans, which in today's world is plain overkill.

Lawl.. seriously. To build a totally amazing gaming PC all you need is about 1300 for a mid range beast, and 2k for a super beast. 4k and your graphics card should produce graphics so real you could eat a picture of pancakes.

[KisaiTenshi]

Lawl.. seriously. To build a totally amazing gaming PC all you need is about 1300 for a mid range beast, and 2k for a super beast. 4k and your graphics card should produce graphics so real you could eat a picture of pancakes.

Just to play the "who would pay 4K legitimately" on a computer:
Alienware Aurora
$4,149.00
That's picking the maximum settings for CPU, RAM and Video card which works out to
i7-4960X Extreme (Sandy Bridge-E Socket 2011)
32GB ram
2 x NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780 graphics with 6GB total (2x 3GB) GDDR5 - NVIDIA SLI® Enabled

Keep in mind that last option alone is a 1200$ upgrade from the GeForce® GTX 760 with 1.5GB GDDR5

If you were to build a system with 4 GTX Titans (6GB each), that's 1,100 per GPU. That is the absolute maximum possible configuration without switching to DP Xeons and... well that's not even a gaming computer at that point. Even building SLI/Crossfire systems are considered somewhat of a joke right now because the power usage and processing power is nearly double of the next card (eg 2x Radeon 7770(99$/ea) = 7780(199$), 2x 7870=7970 (399$))

btw AMD has some 30% off promotions right now, look at ncix, newegg, etc

The game, at it's present state will make 100% use of the GPU up till you have a video card around a 3000 passmark score ( http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html ) Then past that point you need a monitor with more than 1920x1200 resolution.

[Trancery]

I'll just say, that a new CPU (something in the i-series range) would unlock that video card's potential quite a bit. At the moment it looks like you're "CPU bound" meaning your system can't excel any further because the CPU is a bottleneck on performance.

That being said, in the end you'd probably end up replacing the Motherboard and Memory at the least with a new CPU which is almost equivalent to buying a new PC these days.


*EDIT* If you can afford it (and a new PC is in your future anyways) I would highly recommend an i5 with a motherboard and memory to support it. I have some friends who swear by the i5s and from what they've shown me, their performance is equal or surpasses my i7 systems. An i5 will also unlock that GTX 760 and allow it to push it's limits to the max.

I don't actually find that much of a difference in game play with a SSD over a Mechanical other than loading times, and it shouldn't effect your fps at all so if you want to skimp somewhere, this isn't a bad place to do it. Although others are right when they say that a cheap 40 or 60 GB SSD, just for the game, is pretty nice if loading times bother you.

*EDIT#2* Just for clarity, I wanted to say that unless you're going to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $4000 on a PC, you will always experience fps drops in extremely crowded areas of the game. No matter how good you consider your PC, it's just something about the way this game is coded that will always cause a performance drop under certain circumstances.

You'll definitely see an improvement with a new system, I just don't want you to be under the illusion that upgrading will suddenly fix "all" of the problems you experience. It will just improve your situation and provide a "richer" experience than you're currently experiencing.

The only other thing I can think to recommend is to maybe wait a couple months for when the PS4 comes out, and then just start searching for FFXIV:ARR PS4 review videos and see how it's graded on performance. In the long run, a PS4 is going to be way cheaper than buying a new PC to play this game.

Kittra, you are quite right and I appreciate the "bringing me back down to earth" points you make. A new system with all the bells and whistles will still have some fps drops in cities and crowded areas.

In any event, it looks like eventually I'll upgrade this PC. I might overclock this E8500 to 4.0ghz from 3.2 and see what kind of difference that makes.

Thanks again peeps

[Gonzothegreat198]

Kittra, you are quite right and I appreciate the "bringing me back down to earth" points you make. A new system with all the bells and whistles will still have some fps drops in cities and crowded areas.

In any event, it looks like eventually I'll upgrade this PC. I might overclock this E8500 to 4.0ghz from 3.2 and see what kind of difference that makes.

Thanks again peeps

Yah, once i get closer to atleast december i may try to push my cpu higher, but it runs fine and stable as it is, and i'd rather not run the risk of burning something out until i have to money to replace it if necessary.

[Astralen]

I also strongly recommend that you buy an SSD. Once you go SSD you never want to go back to HDD. Plus the joy of not hearing the constant HDD sound is bliss

I personally got one SSD for OS and two for games. In almost all cases the loading times of games is improved...except for FFXIV I cannot explain this in any other way than that the game checks for data to the server and that the downloadspeed is slow. I previously had the game on my external HDD (USB 3.0) and didn't notice as big a difference like what I noticed when I moved my WoW folder from a HDD to an SSD. Loading times regarding WoW were cut in half! But regarding FFXIV they are just slightly improved.

This is no reason NOT to buy an SSD since you benefit so much from it in Windows and other games.

[Gonzothegreat198]

I also strongly recommend that you buy an SSD. Once you go SSD you never want to go back to HDD. Plus the joy of not hearing the constant HDD sound is bliss

I personally got one SSD for OS and two for games. In almost all cases the loading times of games is improved...except for FFXIV I cannot explain this in any other way than that the game checks for data to the server and that the downloadspeed is slow. I previously had the game on my external HDD (USB 3.0) and didn't notice as big a difference like what I noticed when I moved my WoW folder from a HDD to an SSD. Loading times regarding WoW were cut in half! But regarding FFXIV they are just slightly improved.

This is no reason NOT to buy an SSD since you benefit so much from it in Windows and other games.

Already on the list, but i figure, with it being this close to Black Friday/Cyber Monday imma just wait until then. Get a 250GB Samsung 840 EVO for windows and gaming and a 2TB Seagate Desktoop SSHD for everything else.

[Astralen]

Already on the list, but i figure, with it being this close to Black Friday/Cyber Monday imma just wait until then. Get a 250GB Samsung 840 EVO for windows and gaming and a 2TB Seagate Desktoop SSHD for everything else.

What an excellent choice! I hope you're satisfied with your new SSD when the time comes.

[Trancery]

Thanks Astralen, I will definitely get a SSD as soon as possible. I'm sure I'll love the speed and the improvement on loading times as well as the quietness.

In terms of loading FFXIV ARR on my regular HD right now...it takes about a solid minute+ to get into the game. Which to me seems kinda ridiculous!