Ok so I'm bad at computer stuff and....

[KisaiTenshi]

I was wondering if any could provide some tips for me getting my computer to run a bit better for Stormblood. I got about 8300 for my score ...

The three things you can do to improve the score marginally (like in maybe double digits)

1. Turn off the computer wait about 30 minutes, blow the dust out with compressed air, slowly. Don't use a vacuum, and don't hold compressed air down too long or it will freeze components. If anyone smokes, has pets, or just has an exceptionally dusty environment, you need to clean it out more often.

2. Just close the web browser honestly, when you leave it running, things like ads, videos, and javascript (eg twitter, tumblr, reddit, disqus) will just keep bleeding your computer for memory. If you have a mobile phone or tablet and need to keep checking things, use that instead.

3. Uninstall software overlays. Geforce Experience, Steam, MSI Afterburner, etc. Basically anything that overlays also adds input latency due to the compositing requirement. It's very tiny, but noticeable when you turn on video capture.

More to the point, if you are trying to squeeze more out of the same hardware, just upgrade the cooling system. Most OEM systems (Dell, Alienware, etc) use the cheapest parts possible, that's why they make so much noise. If your system doesn't sound like a jet engine, then you're good. If it sounds like a jet engine taking off when the game runs, then the CPU/GPU is working too hard and probably needs a better cooler. That's the cheapest thing you can do.

Anything else involves replacing the GPU. That then may require replacing the Chasis and PSU if you pick something too big.

You can get a little more performance if you use a tool to change the CPU affinity for the game to avoid hyperthreaded cores, but that's so trivial that it barely matters except for people on i3 systems.

[File2ish]

More to the point, if you are trying to squeeze more out of the same hardware, just upgrade the cooling system. Most OEM systems (Dell, Alienware, etc) use the cheapest parts possible, that's why they make so much noise. If your system doesn't sound like a jet engine, then you're good. If it sounds like a jet engine taking off when the game runs, then the CPU/GPU is working too hard and probably needs a better cooler. That's the cheapest thing you can do.

Upgrading the cooling system in an OEM built computer isn't always feasible, many OEM motherboards don't use the standard mounting brackets for the CPU heatsink that are generally found per socket type on ATX and ITX motherboards. Also Dell owns Alienware :P



On a separate note, after looking at the computer specs again when not dead tired after work; it seems he's playing on a laptop (I don't recall there ever being an AMD HD 8870 video card, and the i7 3820 fits Intel's naming scheme for mobile CPUs).

There is no easy upgrade path for a laptop, the best way to get more performance out of a laptop would be to install an SSD (if you have a free 2.5" drive port) as your game drive to improve loading times. And, going back to my previous comment about thermal paste: if you know someone tech savvy enough THAT YOU TRUST WITH YOUR EQUIPMENT to tear down your laptop, you can have them clean off and replace the thermal compound on the heatsink copper pipe brackets mounted to the CPU and GPU. This will help with the thermal issues when running games on a laptop and likely help it so the cooling fan isn't ramped up to 100% all the time. Neither of these will give you direct performance gains, but it will help your laptop in the long run.

That's the best advice I can offer outside of purchasing a new laptop outright. But your benchmark score is good for the game, no need to upgrade unless you really really want to play with higher settings.

[Yurimi]

Snippity

Based on the naming and configuration he is running an Alienware Aurora R-4 Desktop PC, which is their "top end" desktop model and not a laptop. The 8870 was included in some OEM cards

Edit,

upon quick glance it seems this was the top end PC of theirs from 2013 though with the Radeon card rather than the GTX series (most likely for cost reasons?)

Looking up specs from the time it seems these were the mid range options of the R4 initial lineup from early 2013

[Aethaeryn]

On a separate note, after looking at the computer specs again when not dead tired after work; it seems he's playing on a laptop (I don't recall there ever being an AMD HD 8870 video card, and the i7 3820 fits Intel's naming scheme for mobile CPUs).

Nah, there's a desktop version of the 8870. They basically just went in Dell's computers (and he has an Alienware - Aurora R4 is a desktop PC). Performance wise, it's basically an HD7950 with higher clock speeds but less memory and memory bandwidth.