Help with frame rate issues?

So I am fairly new to PS2 and I am really enjoying it...
...when I have more than 20 fps.

My specs are as follows:
GPU: Nvidea GTX 970
CPU: AMD A8-7650K Radeon R7, 10 Compute Cores 4C+6G
(I am aware that the game does run better on Intel processors, but I have what I have)
RAM: 2x 8GB DDR3 @ 1600
OS: Windows 10 pro 64 Bit

(Let me know if any other specs will be useful for solving my problem)

I consistently run the game at around 40 fps at the lowest settings which is okay, except this is without a battle. In the largest battles I run at around 10-15 fps which is unplayable.
I am really enjoying the game so far but would like to be able to play it at a consistent and tolerable fps. Any help or advice that you could offer me to improve my frame rate, and game play experience in turn, would be greatly appreciated

The CPU is very weak.
I used to have a AMD A8-5600k, which had okay performance back then but is now just obsolete. I replaced it with an i5-4590 which has roughly 2x the performance.

The A8-7650k is not much better. With the i5-6600k you should be able to double your performance.
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i5-6600K-vs-AMD-A8-7650K


However because your Framerates are very low, even for this CPU... are you running the game with the integrated GPU of the APU?

Do you have the Monitor cable (DVI/HDMI) plugged in your mainboard or your GTX 970?

and a small thing: How did you place the RAM-Bars on your Mainboard?
Just randomly or were you aware of using your MB's Dual Channel configuration?

Dual channel RAM configuration will increase your CPU performance by ~5%. Not much, but a beginning...

Thank you for the reply!

I am using the Dual channel (it is the default config on my board) for my RAM.
My HDMI cable is plugged into my GTX 970 directly.
I am not sure if I am running the game with the integrated GPU of the APU. How can I check that?
(PC Gaming newb here, I am sorry)

Should be able to right click your desktop, select "nVIDIA Control Panel", and in the control panel should be the option to use either the integrated graphics, or use your GTX 970.

Learning the forums, I did not see the reply button. Ignore this posit....

Thank you. It looks like I am running my regular GPU

Two other things except for the CPU that come to my mind:

How is your PC-Cooling? if there's a thick layer of dust on your CPU/GPU-Cooler, you should clean it.
Also can your PSU deliver enough power for your PC? How many Watts does it have?

Some things came to mind when I read your post, because even though AMD isn't the best choice for gaming, you should still be getting decent performance in this game with that setup. Yes, your CPU is weak for this game, but not 20 FPS weak.

Sometimes new PC gamers will go all out on their settings to see how good th game looks on their new hardware, and accidentally hamstring their rig. So? A couple suggestions:

First, go into your Nvidia settings and make sure everything is set to "use application settings." Not all settings will have this as an option, but the goal is to turn over as many computer resources as possible to the game. You want the game to get whatever it needs, instead of the settings telling the game what it can have at the OS level.

Second, you might have enabled every graphics option in the game--we all do, it's why we play on PCs--unfortunately there is one option that *will* grind your frame rate to a crawl: Fog Shadows. Check to make sure you don't have fog shadows on. If you do turn those off, off, off.

Third, reduce shadows to low, or disable them completely. Shadows use a lot of resources. I suggest low instead of off first because shadows do help you play. I can't tell you how many times a player's shadow has given them away, giving me the drop on them.

PC Specification is actually very good with the exception of the processor but even that isn't exactly bad, you should definitely be seeing more than 20FPS.

As a suggestion - turn all the graphics options down to low and see if that gives a significant performance boost. It shouldn't as the GTX 970 is very good so if it does, there is something else up.

Also - you should press Alt+F to bring up the FPS counter - it will also say what is limiting it, either CPU or GPU.

Disable shadows or set them to low, it's the most CPU hungry setting.

Why would a 4 years old game choke a top line CPU 2 years younger than the game?!?!?!?

Anyway, I am having similar issues. Frames drop to 40ish at big fights, the bottleneck are always the CPU, which roofs to 100% usage, 90%+ of it consumed by planetside. Makes infantry in big zerg nearly unplayable.

I use i5 3570k. With R9 380. 16G ram. I monitor the resource state on my other monitor and GPU are rarely taxed above 50%. But CPU are always full.

What gives?!? Already followed the tutorial and changed all the settings I was supposed to change, cut the shadow etc. Many of the GFX settings seems irrelevant as it is not bottlenecked by GFX. What the heck is using all that CPU cycles!?!

Sorry to say, but at some point this game destroys any hardware thrown at it.
You could Overclock your CPU if you havent done this already. Other than that theres nothing to be done really apart form some tweaks. You can find a nice list here: planethead.info/performance

People tend to forget, that this game is a goddamn miracle from a technical point of view.

When running on lowest settings I don't get any better performance, sometimes even worse. At all times it says my CPU is my bottleneck for performance when I use the Alt+F command. That being said, it seems my CPU is just outdated. So an upgrade would probably be worthwhile?

Man i can help you!
Why? Becouse i have 7850k in FHD with 96+ 30fps+ in FHD(1920x1080 with 100% rendering)
My config
A10 7850k OC to-4.3Ghz
HD7770 ddr5 2gb
Ram 2400 - change from 1333 to 2400 gaves me +5-7 on 96+ (i mean when your fps is minimal)
NB 2000 - make it 1st. becouse in real it doesn't! And turn off all C6,AMP and others modes!
Game on SSD.
And turn OF HPET! -<It gives a real boost and SMOOTH.

USe this - https://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/43evnl/planetside_2_performance_guide_wip/

My INI
OverallQuality=-1
GraphicsQuality=1
TextureQuality=0
ShadowQuality=0
LightingQuality=3
EffectsQuality=1
TerrainQuality=3
FloraQuality=4
ModelQuality=3
RenderDistance=1063.000000
Gamma=0.520000
VerticalFOV=85
ParticleLOD=0
ParticleDistanceScale=0.50000
FogShadowsEnable=0
VSync=0
AO=0
MaximumFPS=70
UseLod0a=1
BloomEnabled=0
MotionBlur=0
Smoothing=1
UseAspectFOV=1
[Terrain]
RenderFlora=Off

P.S. Use always Ultra textures! becouse to resize them in minimal(it is ridiculous but true, it uses your CPU!!) SO if you have at least 1GB Vram -use ultra!

To notice some changes in perfomance you can use Cinebench R15.

Yes.
Your motherboard features a FM2+ socket, so the best CPU available for you would be the AMD Athlon X4 880k or 860k, both being quad core and running at 4.0 and 3.7 GHz. Theyre the same CPUs used in your APU, but they dont throttle (APU CPUs throttle no matter how good you cool them). The upgrade with a X4 860k would cost you 75€, the CPU normally overclocks to around 4.4 GHz.
The performance increase will be very noticeable but not super big. You could as well try to disable the GPU in your APU (so it doesnt throttle anymore) and overclock the CPU. Will be the same result if it works.

Next step would be the i3 6100 with an "old" Z170 motherboard (they can flash old BIOSes that can overclock non k Skylake CPUs), the i3 6100 should reach 4 GHz as well. But with superior performance.
The processor will be like 120€ and the mainboard like 80-120€ as well.
The combo would be ~220€

Next step would be the same Mobo but an i5 6400 (should easily reach 4 GHz as well). The i5 6400 is available for around 175-190€.
The performance of this processor will be really great!
The combination would be like 280€

If you want a plug and play experience, you need a i5 6600k because it can overclock by default. But its 250€.
So the combination would be 350€

If money is not an issue the choice is the i7 6700k. The processor is 350€ alone. So 500€ for the combo.

Of course you can pick a cheaper Mainboard for like 75€ but then you cant overclock.

I wouldnt pick an AMD CPU atm. Theyre just old and the intel CPUs are better at the same price (other than the mentioned X4 860k, that one is better than the Pentium because Quad Core).

You could just as well wait for AMDs new architecture and Zen CPUs, those are supposed to be on par with all intel can offer but at a much better price. But god knows when they come and if they actually perform anywhere close to whats been promised. So AMD for CPUs is just no.

I have already wroted how to get on FM2+ in battles 96+ 30+fps.
It working! Becouse i using it.

The tip with the RAM is legit. But dont go over the max your CPU/Mobo can handle (usually 2133 MHz DDR3). Faster RAM helps with CPU bottlenecks. And in Battlefield 4 for some reason.

I built an A8 7600 system not long ago and ended up selling it on Craigslist, it was an underwhelming CPU but nice that it can run at 45W setting to cnoserve power- good for desktop daily use. The A8 is likely bottlenecking the GTX970.

You bring up a good point, I've had people ask me for help with their PC sometimes and notice RAM is placed in the 1-2, 3-4 slots instead of 1-3, 2-4 slots either they put the system together or had some amateur do it.

I'm currently using an i3 6100 myself and it plays PS2 very well, but unfortunately my motherboard doesn't have the overclock non-K BIOS anymore (newer revision). lol I'm waiting to buy the i7 6700K soon since my budget is tight atm.

none of the hardware listed here should be a problem, i've ran this game on a phenomII x6 with a 5870 vga... that's 2010 technology. and lets face it, the claim that planetside 2 is a demanding game on the hardware is kinda outdated, any potato pc can run it perfectly nowdays. just don't over do it with the the settings, specially the shadows.