What are your expectations when upgrading GPU?

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by sustainedfire, Feb 17, 2016.

  1. sustainedfire

    I have been playing with an asus 6870 1G. for a few years. It made games playable, at medium - high settings.

    I saw an Asus R9 270x 2GB on craigslist for $80.

    I sold my 6870 for $50, and with only $30 invested, I have what I thought would be a decent upgrade.

    I'm a bit disappointed.

    In Planetside, I'm still GPU bound, and average 70fps, with higjs in the 80s and so far have not dropped below 30 in high density fights.

    My resolution is higher, and settings on all high.

    With the 6870, settings were medium to high, and performed similarly, with the exception of some small stagger stutters that would occur on occasion - probably loading in new assets while was flying or etc.

    Overall, the playability seems somewhat increased, with a generally smoother fps, and a nicer resolution. I went on a few decent streaks, probably due to the relatively smoother input. So that shows some benefit.

    Though still, I hoped for more noticeable change.

    I have yet to play anything else, so perhaps it's just the best to expect from AMD and PS2.

    What are your expectations when upgrading GPU?
  2. sustainedfire

    Hazy flu written summation:

    I went from an hd 6870 1GB , to an r9 270x 2GB.

    I experienced really only in my opinion, very much moderate gains. Some more smoothness to the fps, though still ranging from 70 - 30 fps.

    Am I crazy for hoping to be able to play and never dip below 60fps ?
  3. Krinsee

    PS2 seems to have issues with utilizing multipule cores on anything, I have a GTX 750 Ti a huge upgrade from my last card and even with 4 gigs Ram on the card I still get GPU bound, I'm thinking it is either an issue with the software or possibly BUS speed on motherboards.
  4. sustainedfire

    I find myself wondering how much more performance I would get by further upgrading to an asus r9 280x.

    The bandwidth is higher, and it has 3gb.
  5. Zero Cool

    your cpu is more important with this game. I run a 280x and get 150-200fps, but I didn't see that until I went OC on 4790k.
    Whats weird, is my other computer with a R9 Nano and a 6700k@5g runs the game slower. This game is just weird
  6. Pfundi

    Okay, are we talking Ultra (so 5 in the .ini) on 1080p? Because 150 would make me wonder what Im doing wrong...
  7. Blippy

    Throwing VRAM on a GPU does not directly increase performance. It allows you to render at higher resolutions and use post-processing effects like anti-aliasing while maintaining a stable framerate, but if a game only requires 1GB of VRAM at a given resolution, then there will be no performance difference between two otherwise identical cards that have 2GB or 4GB of VRAM.

    OP: My expectation is that I receive a big enough increase in performance to justify the money spent. I bought a GTX 960 a few weeks ago to replace my GTX 750, and I gained a 40 FPS improvement in PS2, or identical performance with settings cranked higher.

    $80 for a GPU is a step below an entry-level budget card, so allowing you to crank up your settings while keeping the same framerate for that price is still a very good deal.
  8. MikeyGeeMan

    I would get Gpuz and make sure your pcie is set to 16x

    You need to look at the entire system. Cpu memory mobo hdd or ssd.

    You need to see where your bottle neck is what your goal is and investigate what parts are required for the next update. Your better off upgrading all your hardware a little bit than get a gpu one year and a cpu the next.

    You should be identifying your next bottleneck and looking at how to solve it.
  9. sustainedfire

    I am maxed out in the GPU and memory that my board will take- GPU is my last upgrade option.

    I think I will stay on the lookout for a r9 280x, but only in the price point of $150.

    Then I will sell the 270x for 100, and have $80 total invested.

    Ultimately, I would like to know what to expect when going from a 270x to a 280x.

    Roughly would +10 frames be expected, or should I see more then an additional 10fps?

    I'm considering if paying out an additional amount of money would be worth while. This will be my last upgrade before an entirely new build.
  10. Moz


    What CPU do you have?

    Chances are you could put a 980TI in there an see little to no difference if your CPU is dated.
  11. Towie

    The R9 270X is considerably faster than the 6870 (78% faster overall in combined benchmarks) - but then, you've increased the settings too, so much of the boost will be eaten up by the eye candy and resolution. In my mind, your 30fps min when busy - 70fps average - sounds pretty good so i'm not sure what would ultimately satisfy you ?

    One thing to note - adjusting the graphics setting doesn't always have the expected results due to the way PS2 offloads various tasks to the GPU (ie. setting something on ultra may actually boost performance). There was a GPU optimisation guide posted a while ago, worth checking out...
  12. sustainedfire

    I have a 3.6 1090t. (Six core amd)

    By my investigating, the r9 cards I'm further considering were mostly rebadged versions of the mid- high range cards of the same generation of my cpu.

    I think an r9 280x will net about 10 frames, after some searching and watching side by side comparison videos.

    So, it's up to deciding if the 10 frames are worth the additional $50. I think so, only when also considering that it will probably help my computer extend it's usefulness for a little longer.
  13. sustainedfire

    I suppose I just have the upgrade bug.

    The overall performance is better, though after further plates ting in dense fights and flying pulling fast maneuvers, sometimes it still pulls down to 17 fps for a moment in extreme dense areas.

    I think the upgrade from 6870 - r9 280x was acceptablely noticable - though it has made me more interested in how much more I can actually pull from my computer with a r9 280x.

    (And I think about an average of 10 more frames seems likely.)
  14. Moz

    And here lies your issue....

    AMD CPUs don't seem to do to great with PS2 (do a google search).

    Your CPU is bottle necking your GPU for Planetside (wont be the case for most of your other games).

    Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but i would spend your money on a new mobo and CPU (for upgarded performance in PS2). If you do, i would recommend an I5 to keep the cost down over an I7.

    There are a few guides out there to try to "optimize" PS2 with an AMD CPU. You could try those...? Google search will find them for you.
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  15. Pfundi

    • Up x 1
  16. sustainedfire

    PS2, I have essentially beat the game. Though I was using it as a baseline / test platform for my minor upgrade - mainly because it's the only "demanding" game I have and play currently.

    If I did decide to get a new board, it would be with a new processor and memory, and an SSD. It would cost a lot more than my deal seeking $100 total upgrade cost.

    Thank you for the thoughts, I have decided that I will go with the r9 280x, and I'm sure it will improve my performance and help postpone building a whole new computer.
  17. Moz


    Well good luck bud.

    Hope it works out OK!!