GPU, CPU, or RAM?

Zenetrax

So I recently bought a new GPU which increased my in game performance quite a bit but still doesn't work out well for me. Anyone would recommend if I should upgrade my CPU or RAM? Or buy a much more better GPU? Any suggestions would be of great help. Thank you for the response(s).

GPU: AMD R7 240
CPU: Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E6500 @ 2.93Ghz
RAM: 4 GB

Aiming to run ESO with a decent FPS during large teamfights to be able to see what's going on in and out of fights.

WalkingLegacy

Right now ESO is very CPU dependant and your CPU is old and time to retire.

If you upgrade your CPU you need to upgrade your mobo too. This is what I would upgrade first. If you get a current gen mobo, you will most likely need to upgrade your RAM as well.

Get at least an i5 quad core. With a new mobo and RAM this would be around 400-600 bucks depending on how fancy of a mobo you pick and sales.

Your rig could probably just be replaced if you don't be build from scratch.

After upgrading all these, I would invest in a SSD and newer GPU. An R9 240 is bottom of the barrel. At least an R9 270 or 280x or Gtx970.

Edit: saw wrong gpu

Wreuntzylla

Right now ESO is CPU heavy. However, ZoS recently announced that they have been working on offloading some tasks from the CPU to the GPU. Generally, my advice is to wait and see.

However, as a general statement, your running on a model T Ford across the board. You could probably spend $300-$400 and buy something quite a bit better. If you have the money, there are some decent systems out there for about $1k. Right now it seems cheaper to buy the entire system than the individual parts.

IcyDeadPeople

If by large teamfights, you mean large PVP battles, these are very demanding on the client hardware, both CPU and GPU. The only setups I've seen that can still deliver at least 30-40fps in this kind of battle at 1080p, max settings are rather high end systems, for example 980Ti and i7-5820K.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skOHswEcVt4

idk

4gb ram is low. With 8 the ram will be heavily used and page faults will occur to assist. 16 gb (or 12) is ideal as the computer will use a full 8gb at this point and not put a squeeze on memory.

Enemy-of-Coldharbour

CPU's and RAM are really cheap now. Upgrade both.

IcyDeadPeople

If you can wait a couple months, Pascal and Polaris cards will launch soon, likely driving the price of older cards way down.

Audigy

Without knowing your full specs, a complete overhaul seems likely. If you get a new CPU, then you also need a new mainboard and RAM, but also PSU. We are talking of an investment of about 200$ CPU, 100 Mainboard, 50 RAM, 70 PSU. But then you also need a better GPU, which easily means another 150+.

Depending on the settings you aim to play in, quite some money will be required. As a basic advice, go for an Intel CPU not older than Haswell. While Sandy Bridge is good enough to play recent games, you will miss out on quite a lot in future and the price is very similar to the newer CPU´s. Skylake is the current top chipset, but not yet required for gaming, yet pretty decent if you want to invest into the future.

As for RAM, the clock doesn't matter much, just buy what your CPU supports and go for 8 GB or 16 GB (dual channel). GPU is tricky, as even the best won´t help you much these days, as games are very CPU bound with DX 11. DX 12 will change this, but when ESO goes DX 12, we do not know.

If you buy a new GPU, make sure you have a decent PSU as well, be-quiet is a good brand or corsair. Do not go for low budget PSU´s, a good PSU will cost it´s price, but it´s the most important part in your PC, as without a steady power supply, your PC will crash a lot.
The GPU itself should be compatible with DX 12 and I mean really compatible. Older Nvidia cards are not fully supported, so do not buy them. Anything from 2015+ should be ok though and go for 4 GB VRAM. I would advice to stay away from overclocked cards, they are hit and miss and you might only gain 3-5 FPS.

What parts you pick, fully depends on your budget that´s why I did not list any examples. If you picked some, feel free to post them here or give us a budget

Rune_Relic

Technology is going to change a lot when DX12 drops.
Anything that isnt multicored to the max will be left behind.
You should just keep an eye on the tech news for another 6-12 months.

AMD tech was crippled by software designed for Intels powerful cores with few threads upto and including the DX11 era.
With DX12, new software will make full use of AMD sytems and they will surpass Intel.
We are moving from the poweful but limited core era to the less powerful but mutiple core era.

Only way intel gets a look in is releasing xeons to the mass market....ie affordable

Robbmrp

With how out dated your system is, you will get a lot more bank for your buck if you upgraded the whole thing. How much do you want to spend on an entire computer setup and I can offer you some idea's on what to go with. This is just the cost for the computer and all components within it, no monitor or anything else.

You could even get a system from Best Buy that would run circles around your existing one with a dedicated video card for less than $600 easy.

Marktoneth3

I'm using

I3-4150

Mobo H81 msi

R7 260X

16 ram dd3 1600

Galax gamer ssd 240 GB

Run high setting at 90-100
in town 45 - 60+ also pvp

Loading time much faster than before (less than 10 second)

IcyDeadPeople

Marktoneth3 wrote: »

I'm using

I3-4150

Mobo H81 msi

R7 260X

16 ram dd3 1600

Galax gamer ssd 240 GB

Run high setting at 90-100
in town 45 - 60+ also pvp

Loading time much faster than before (less than 10 second)

Can you record some video of large PVP battles at 1080p max settings?

Marktoneth3

IcyDeadPeople wrote: »

Marktoneth3 wrote: »

I'm using

I3-4150

Mobo H81 msi

R7 260X

16 ram dd3 1600

Galax gamer ssd 240 GB

Run high setting at 90-100
in town 45 - 60+ also pvp

Loading time much faster than before (less than 10 second)

Can you record some video of large PVP battles at 1080p max settings?

I'm using 1360*768 monitor bro (7-8 years old)

that's why I get a lot of fps

Zenetrax

Thanks for the responses Forgot to mention I only want max on subsampling and others low/off with 30-40 fps max on large fights and am using a 1280x1024 monitor. Not the best, but I can call it decent Can recommend what to upgrade to get run these? Thank you!

Elder_III

Zenetrax wrote: »

Thanks for the responses Forgot to mention I only want max on subsampling and others low/off with 30-40 fps max on large fights and am using a 1280x1024 monitor. Not the best, but I can call it decent Can recommend what to upgrade to get run these? Thank you!

Unfortunately you won't get what you want without a new (much more powerful) CPU. That means a new computer, although you might be able to salvage a few components. Overall the base of your rig is very outdated and just can't handle large scale MMO battles. Your motherboard has a LGA 775 socket, which debuted well over a decade ago and even the best quad core CPU that fits that socket is many years outdated and orders of magnitude worse then what's available now.

What kind of budget do you have to spend on a new computer and are you able to do the work yourself? There are people here that are happy to help with choosing components if we have a general budget to go off of.

Oh_Skrivva

If you have the finances to, I would say build a new rig. You can get a ok set up for 600 (excluding peripherals)

Zenetrax

Ummm around $200?

mtwiggz

Will be honest, I built a darn near top of the line PC about 6 months ago for the sole purpose of making my ESO performance better. After about $2,500 my performance is a tad better than it was on my 2011 iMac.

I would recommend upgrading for sure, but don't think throwing a bunch of money at ZoS poor optimization is going to be a night and day difference.

greylox

I play on i5 6300hq, gtx 960m (4gb) and 8gb ram. I can play everything on high/on, 1080p execpt pvp when I turn off shadows. I'd say with 64 bit client 8gb is a must. 8gb ram should be standard anyway

I get 25-60fps in dungeons (25 lowest I ever saw with a bajillion spell effects going off)
28-52fps around hubs in town (this is all with shadows on)

with shadows off in pvp it's butter 45-60fps until mass zergs and the lowest I caught was 22fps...still not stuttering but not well optimized.

considering it's a laptop and its price (£680) the performance of the nvidia and the i5 are amazing.

hamgatan

IcyDeadPeople wrote: »

If by large teamfights, you mean large PVP battles, these are very demanding on the client hardware, both CPU and GPU. The only setups I've seen that can still deliver at least 30-40fps in this kind of battle at 1080p, max settings are rather high end systems, for example 980Ti and i7-5820K.

not necessarily.

on my main desktop I get 60fps solid in PvE cruising.. (limited by the monitor @ 60Hz)

that's an eVGA GTX770, an i7 4790K Devils Canyon CPU, 8GB of Corsair DDR and a Sabertooth Z97. Running at 2.5K Resolution native. My laptop does even better.. up to 80-90ish FPS in PvE (ASUS RoG Lappie) and I've never extensively tested it in PvP but usually its around 40-50 solid from the little PvP I've done on it.

PvP I get on average 40fps except in those gigantic Zergball fests where it drops to 20-30.. but that's at 2.5k. the problem isn't the machine spec its the Server end lag. Once that sound drops, boom.. doesn't matter how good a machine you have or if you have a 100mb pipe..

Elder_III

Zenetrax wrote: »

Ummm around $200?

What Case (and how many fans), PSU, HDD, ODD, and OS do you have? Those are the components that you may be able to salvage for a new PC (combined with your current GPU). The components that must be upgraded no matter what are you Motherboard, RAM, and CPU. If you live near a MicroCenter store it may be possible to get a worthwhile upgrade for $200, provided that you can transfer all of the other components to your new PC.

Mojmir

pcpartpicker.com

sirrmattus

IcyDeadPeople wrote: »

If by large teamfights, you mean large PVP battles, these are very demanding on the client hardware, both CPU and GPU. The only setups I've seen that can still deliver at least 30-40fps in this kind of battle at 1080p, max settings are rather high end systems, for example 980Ti and i7-5820K.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skOHswEcVt4

I love that video

WalkingLegacy

Zenetrax wrote: »

Thanks for the responses Forgot to mention I only want max on subsampling and others low/off with 30-40 fps max on large fights and am using a 1280x1024 monitor. Not the best, but I can call it decent Can recommend what to upgrade to get run these? Thank you!

Zenetrax wrote: »

Ummm around $200?

200 bucks will not get you a new build going.

You need to spend 150-250 just on a new processor. You can cheap out on the motherboard since you're not an enthusiast and get a 50-75 dollar one.

Sounds like you're not able to build your own? So you'll have to buy a premade one that will cost a few more dollars than you're willing to spend.

You could buy the best GPU on the market right now and your processor/mobo is going to bottleneck any performance gains you'll think you will get.

Like we've all said, ESO is CPU dependant right now but with DX11 and DX12 they hope to push more load to the GPU. Your CPU is holding you way back for any current game. Your saving grace is the low resolution you play at.

IcyDeadPeople

hamgatan wrote: »

IcyDeadPeople wrote: »

If by large teamfights, you mean large PVP battles, these are very demanding on the client hardware, both CPU and GPU. The only setups I've seen that can still deliver at least 30-40fps in this kind of battle at 1080p, max settings are rather high end systems, for example 980Ti and i7-5820K.

not necessarily.

on my main desktop I get 60fps solid in PvE cruising.. (limited by the monitor @ 60Hz)

that's an eVGA GTX770, an i7 4790K Devils Canyon CPU, 8GB of Corsair DDR and a Sabertooth Z97. Running at 2.5K Resolution native. My laptop does even better.. up to 80-90ish FPS in PvE (ASUS RoG Lappie) and I've never extensively tested it in PvP but usually its around 40-50 solid from the little PvP I've done on it.

PvP I get on average 40fps except in those gigantic Zergball fests where it drops to 20-30.. but that's at 2.5k. the problem isn't the machine spec its the Server end lag. Once that sound drops, boom.. doesn't matter how good a machine you have or if you have a 100mb pipe..

From what I've seen so far, as of the last few updates post Imperial City, the highest spec rigs with youtube videos of large ESO pvp battles drop down to 30-40fps @ 1080p max settings (that's sirmattus video above with i7-5820K and 980Ti), while anything weaker drops much lower, as you mentioned you are getting 20-30fps with 4790K+GTX 770, and for me I can barely achieve 5-10 fps if I'm lucky in that situation, even on lowest possible settings, 1024x600 resolution.

Jared Carr mentioned at PAX East that frame rate drops are due to your client hardware struggling (it's an extremely demanding game in certain circumstances, even high end systems cannot maintain steady 60fps at 1080p max settings in large battles).

Otherwise, if your latency is high and you experience rubber banding / unresponsive abilities / weapon swap delay etc, but your frame rate remains high, this would be exclusively server performance issue. (Obviously, for most of us we are often seeing both of these problems at the same time.)

Paulington wrote: »

RL: I would rather fix the performance issues than lower the cap on the number of players in there. We’re addressing those issues right now, we’re kind of attacking it at two angles; we’re attacking it from the latency, or the server performance side, we’ve got a pretty big fix for optimisation going in for how we manage giant lists of data and target sets, to make that a lot more efficient, and then we will talk a bit about the client side and framerate issues.
JC: When we talk about performance there is a clear distinction between latency and framerate, framerate is on the client side. The first change that we made to address issues was moving strictly to DX11. We’ve had support from both DX9 and DX11 but neither were optimal because we were supporting both. That’s why we shifted to exclusively supporting the DX11, optimising that code. We do have another bugfix that’s going in on the next live push, which is May 2nd, and that is going to address the framerate issues some people have been having where you hit a low framerate and just stay there. We’re going to get some better performance on the GPU with the DX11 change and now that we’re on DX11 the client graphics engineers feel like they could now take advantage of that and do something additional, off the grid, in the future. Further, we think we can also move some processes off the CPU onto the GPU.

Eshelmen

I recommend posting this question on a forum dedicated to computer parts/upgrades. Some of these descriptive replies seem harmless, but to get the specifics down, I would highly recommend asking the experts on this matter.

With that being said-
Intel i5 , 12 gb ram, GTX 960,would be the minimum I would want to play on with this game.

phairdon

https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3313/~/what-are-the-minimum-system-requirements-for-the-elder-scrolls-online:-tamriel

rfennell_ESO

Rune_Relic wrote: »

Technology is going to change a lot when DX12 drops.
Anything that isnt multicored to the max will be left behind.
You should just keep an eye on the tech news for another 6-12 months.

AMD tech was crippled by software designed for Intels powerful cores with few threads upto and including the DX11 era.
With DX12, new software will make full use of AMD sytems and they will surpass Intel.
We are moving from the poweful but limited core era to the less powerful but mutiple core era.

Only way intel gets a look in is releasing xeons to the mass market....ie affordable

Heh I've heard this very argument for years.

All I'm going to say is AMD tends to fail and the hope of it's devotees is rarely met.

WalkingLegacy

rfennell_ESO wrote: »

Rune_Relic wrote: »

Technology is going to change a lot when DX12 drops.
Anything that isnt multicored to the max will be left behind.
You should just keep an eye on the tech news for another 6-12 months.

AMD tech was crippled by software designed for Intels powerful cores with few threads upto and including the DX11 era.
With DX12, new software will make full use of AMD sytems and they will surpass Intel.
We are moving from the poweful but limited core era to the less powerful but mutiple core era.

Only way intel gets a look in is releasing xeons to the mass market....ie affordable

Heh I've heard this very argument for years.

All I'm going to say is AMD tends to fail and the hope of it's devotees is rarely met.

Keeping an eye on their new CPU as they brought their heavy hitter back in. The first run may not be as powerful as an Intel i7 but I'm willing to bet the reiteration after will.

They're moving from their poor choice of clustered multithread to symmetric multithread (which is the route Intel went)

This will increase each cores performance and AMD said it's a 40% improvement over bulldozer. (Take it with a grain of salt, but it's over their own chip, not a competitors)

I've never owned an AMD CPU, so I'm no fanboi and I understand without AMD succeeding, Intel would milk our wallets empty releasing actual upgrades slowly (remember who made Intel get it's butt in gear with 64bit processing)