Friend has nearly same PC specs, gets more framerate than me

So a friend of mine just built a new computer, and it uses very similar specs as mine, except the GPU, and gets double framerate. My specs are below:

CPU: Intel i5-6400 @ 2.7GHz
GPU: NVidia GeForce GTX 960
RAM: 16GB DDR4

The only difference is the GPU, which my friend has the RX 480 instead of the GTX 960.

In a (48-96) (24-48) fight, my framerate hovers at around 30-45 fps and sometimes dips below 30fps. My friend though gets consistent 60 fps with zero drops. Bear in mind we were both CPU bound during the fight from /fps. We also both ran every settings at its highest i.e. shadows, flora, effects. For perspective, in a 96+ fight (Both sides), I barely break 20 fps.

Is the GPU enough of a difference to where it actually gets 60 fps, or is something else wrong with my machine? I have tried every possible solution thus far; reinstalling, .ini tweaking, setting modification, you name it as far as the game goes.

Any (relevant, up to date) information to solve this problem would be very appreciated!

Maybe PS2 is running with your intigrated GPU?
I had problems getting PS2 to use my normal nvidia GPU instead of the intigrated GPU and i would get horrible fps.
I had to force it in the nvidia control panel, but even then it took a few tries to get it to work.

Your fps sounds similar to what i had.

Only 30-40 fps. I use I5 4590 and old graphic card HD 7950 , I have 70fps, 96+ vs 96 +battels .

@FieldMarshall, How would I go about doing this then? I can not seem to find the setting.

if the problem with the integrated GPU. you go to the bios and turn off the integrated GPU

Right click anywhere on desktop and open Nvidia control panel.
Open 3d settings, manage 3d settings or something like that (can't check i'm not at pc).
Look for global settings and change graphics processor from "auto detect" to "high performance graphics".
Click apply, save, ok or something like that.

Or just disable integrated graphics in bios or device manager if you're never going to use them which you probably won't.

Just checked the bios; the iGPU is disabled by default, so the problem is not there. I could not find that option in the control panel though. I guess it would be there if the iGPU was enabled in the BIOS.

Any more ideas? Thank you all for your help thus far!

Sorry i took so long to reply and that it didnt work.

Hope you find a solution. I have no idea what it could be.

Try to unpark cors

Perhaps you should look into overclocking? Might not be the best solution but it could do the trick

I should have clarified this in the OP but I cannot edit my OP anymore so I will amend here:

My friend and I also use Windows 10; My cores do not show as parked and all of them are working equally. and with usually >80% usage just sitting at the menu screen. Plus isn't core parking more of a Win7/8/8.1 thing?

My friend has the same CPU as I do. He does not overclock his CPU. So he gets 60 fps in large fights without overclocking, and I want to be able to get the fps without OC. Besides, I do not have the funds to shell for an Intel K CPU + the setup for it.

I would rather have overclocking be a last resort. Is there anything else I can try?

You need faster CPU speeds, overclock that pupper up. Turn off flora and shadows, lower your render distance to ~1500. Let me know if that helps.

SSD or HDD ?

Cedd is right. 2.7ghz is barely enough so turning off flora and shadows (or atleast turn them down) will help out your CPU.

Gtx 960 low fps fix
https://www.google.rs/amp/s/amp.red...omments/2vf2ia/fps_fix_for_some_nvidia_users/

It doesn't matter to much when it comes to FPS. Faster drives allows for shorter loading times, but that's about it.

What's your CPU usage with no open programs? Something nasty might be running in background.

Holy people! Thank you all for coming out of the woodwork to help me with this!

@wolf113 I installed the game on the SSD. Though as said before, it does not matter that much. Also I did the NVidia fix before hopping into game a few moments ago. That seemed to help a bit.

@Kanuelbullen300, @ceddZzmeowmix turning off Flora, Shadows, and Fog Shadows helped A LOT. Jumped into a 48-96/96+ fight and I sustained FPS! It was the one fight though, I will have to find other big fights and report back, but that change alone improved things for the one fight alone.

An interesting side effect is my ping tripled to anywhere from 250-600 for both network and server latency. I do not know if this change was the cause, but I will wait for the the internet here to settle before trying again.

@ObiVanuKenobi Right now my CPU usage is anywhere from 4%-8% usually. This is with Chrome, Steam, Resource Monitor, Logitech G, and NVidia with nothing else running.

control panel - power management - "high performance"

honestly its the game more than anything right now. the optimization has been all over as of late. ive had the same system for about a year now and i used to get upwards of 120 fps in smaller fights, 40-50 in very large fights (on max settings mind you), now im forced to play on low and even then sometimes ill drop into the 30s.

A reinstall of the game might do you some good though, with all the recent patches and "performance improvements" something is bound to have broke, and i question validate game files effectiveness at.....well validating.

oh btw my specs:
i5-4440 @ 3.2GHz
GTX 960 4GB
8GB DDR3