Want to upgrade my computer for this game, need some advice.

[Judge_Xero]

Yeah, that's why I wanted to emphasize to the fact that even with my i7 4790k and a GTX 980 I have FPS dips due to the way this game is coded.

In open areas I get like 150 FPS and in congested areas I still see dips close to 30 FPS while my GPU is hovering around 20-25% usage.

That's why I've played around with the settings to get a solid 60+ FPS. It's just not efficient coding for rendering other players since it'll max a single core while the others are like 30% usage.

I'm not convinced that the Titan Plumes are effected by a GPU issue, since I've run Titan EX on my laptop with a GTX 740m and the gameplay is still fluid (+30 FPS) and a GTX 660 is lightyears ahead of a mobile 740m.

Other systems I've run this game on with 1080p resolution

Phenom II X4 + GTX 550ti (20-30 FPS)
Intel Core 2 Quad + GTX 550ti (20-30 FPS)
FX 8350 + R9 290
Pentium G3248 Dual Core + R9 290

the only system that had any significant issues was the Dual Core Intel as it was pegged at 99% usage. I had to turn the # of Rendered Objects to the minimum to get nice even frames.