CPU and video card

[worldofneil]

Your CPU is generally not to blame for this, the GPU handles all of that assembly.

I can see my CPU usage spike whilst in Idyllshire (this is as easy to verify as simply loading Task Manager whilst the game is open).

the only thing that fixes the issue for me is a good full defrag.

Then with all due respect you have a different problem, which would affect all areas, not just Idyllshire. This also isn't applicable to anyone running the game on a SSD as we have no need to defrag (nor should it be attempted as it's just shortening the life of the SSD if you do).

[Shunittseru]

I have an AMD FX 8350 which is 1.3GHz faster and has 8 cores and Idyl still does this on occasion to me. Your CPU is generally not to blame for this, the GPU handles all of that assembly. I have 2 GTX 970s, also and the only thing that fixes the issue for me is a good full defrag.

Lol.... Your AMD FX is not as good as an i5. It don't have cores, it has "modules", which need way more energy and doesn't have that power.
And you can say that your FS "1.3GHz" faster, but very low IPC.


Back to topic:
If you really wanna find out, which one is the limiting part, you need to check your hardware on the fly.
... If your GPU runs at 99% workload, your GPU is limiting your FPS.
... If your GPU runs not at 99% workload, your CPU is limiting your FPS.
--> Even if your taskmanager says that your CPU is not at 100% load, you're in CPU limit, if GPU wont have 99% workload.

P.S.: With GTX 1080, i7-4770k, got 49-65 FPS (3440x1440, maxed settings) in Idyllshire... (CPU limit)
Edit: 67% GPU workload in Idyllshire...

[Kosmos992k]

The original PS4 HDD is pretty crappy. Replaced mine with a higher performance 2TB drive (HDD since that size in Hybrid or SSD is not something I'm going to pay for right now... >.>). Easy enough to put in a PC, but I still only recommend SSDs for system drives right now as the high volume of Read/Writes on a game drive will reduce its lifespan. A decent 7200RPM drive on a 6Gb/s SATA will give you plenty of performance, though a hybrid would indeed be better.

People would be well advised to check the drives own cache size as well. a drive with a 64MB cache/buffer will peform better regardless of rotation speed. If you can get a 7200rpm drive with larger cache, double bonus. I'm not arguing that the HDD in the PS4 isn't crap it's costed very tightly so it's not going to be a premium drive, just like most PCs.

Also, unless you have specific evidence of SSds actually wearing out, you might want to re-examine the technology. I know very well the limitation of flash memory cells, but that's not the whole story for SSDs, at least not modern ones. With a larger drive and decent wear leveling, the lifespan of an SSD even in gaming can exceed the MTBF for 99% of HDDs.

[Kosmos992k]

Back to topic:
If you really wanna find out, which one is the limiting part, you need to check your hardware on the fly.
... If your GPU runs at 99% workload, your GPU is limiting your FPS.
... If your GPU runs not at 99% workload, your CPU is limiting your FPS.
--> Even if your taskmanager says that your CPU is not at 100% load, you're in CPU limit, if GPU wont have 99% workload.

Unless your memory, or more likely your system drive, cannot keep up. CPU and GPU are not the only bottle-necks in a PC.

[Ghastly]

Hmm mixed signals here...but I appreciate all the help.
I'm thinking that maybe the video card doesn't have enough memory for idyllshire (4GB?)
But then people say the cpu has to handle all those 30+ people at idyllshire...


Confusing! We need more research/clearer answer :3

[ManuelBravo]

It can also be a matter of your Direc X version, refresh rate, and bandwith. lately there has been a lot of issues with it. Sometimes when you warp in just wait a few minutes before moving. Or lower some setting. If your system isn't a 64 bit system....yeah like Yoshi said in FanFare. "Yeah we can look into it, but if you can get it 64-bit that would help performance a lot." Also check your refresh rate on your monitor as well.

[Shunittseru]

Unless your memory, or more likely your system drive, cannot keep up. CPU and GPU are not the only bottle-necks in a PC.

Thats true. But if you just stay still in idleshire, and no new people coming to you, you dont load new things...

Hmm mixed signals here...but I appreciate all the help.
I'm thinking that maybe the video card doesn't have enough memory for idyllshire (4GB?)
But then people say the cpu has to handle all those 30+ people at idyllshire...


Confusing! We need more research/clearer answer :3

Lets get started! You need to look at your hardware, cause we dont have your hardware!
VRAM usage above 3.5 GB?

[Malzian]

Lol.... Your AMD FX is not as good as an i5. It don't have cores, it has "modules", which need way more energy and doesn't have that power.
And you can say that your FS "1.3GHz" faster, but very low IPC.

If you compare it on a single core, yes, the i5 has better performance at that granular level, however the FX still benchmarks better than the i5. So better or worse depends entirely on which metric you're choosing to focus on.

[Averax]

If you compare it on a single core, yes, the i5 has better performance at that granular level, however the FX still benchmarks better than the i5. So better or worse depends entirely on which metric you're choosing to focus on.

That's all 8 cores of your FX versus the four cores of the i5. That's why it benches better, but in real world performance, no game uses all 8 cores. AMD tried to sell the high base clock speed and the multiple cores, it looks extremely good on the surface, but nothings going to use all the cores, and the IPC is so low it doesn't measure up in MMOs.

MMOs are extremely dependant on single core performance, since most everything is done on one thread. And the FX series of CPUs were extremely lackluster in that performance even when they were new.

[Malzian]

Hmm mixed signals here...but I appreciate all the help.
I'm thinking that maybe the video card doesn't have enough memory for idyllshire (4GB?)
But then people say the cpu has to handle all those 30+ people at idyllshire...


Confusing! We need more research/clearer answer :3

I think the best thing you can take away from this is that there are a large number of reasons why this could be happening and you should take steps to isolate exactly where the issue is coming from. Here are the steps I would follow, some will seem superfluous, but it's still good practice to check:

1) Do your best to start off with the best system state that you can. This means running virus scans, defrags (only on HDDS, do not defrag SSDs), chkdsks and potentially RAM diagnostics (unlikely, but a RAM issue is always possible). Also make sure your drivers are all up to date.
2) Check that no services or other software is causing you to slow down. These can be virus scans, Windows search and Superfetch or background updates.
3) Check your pagefile settings and usage along with other usages such as CPU, RAM and Disk access with the Performance monitor to check for anomolies.
3) Benchmark your system and compare it to benchmarks of comparable systems. Passmark has a good free software that will do this for you: https://www.passmark.com/products/pt.htm
4) Identify possible bottlenecks based on those benchmarks and components that are performing sub-optimally.
5) Remedy your bottlenecks wherever possible with new hardware if need-be.

Good luck and hope you figure it out.