Very disappointing FPS on Sandy Bridge

[Axelb9 10]

Hello Guys - my first post and I need help,

I believed I have a pretty adequate system running this game with an FPS between 30-50. Instead I am getting 11 FPS at stock clock and only 15-16 sometimes maybe 19-20 when overclocked to 4,5 GHz.

I have used some very reasonable video settings based on the guid here in the forums where my view distance is only 7 miles, object draw distance is 6 miles, PiP off, antialiasing low, etc.

I definitely do not want to compromise on the 3D rendering settings as the monitor I am using is 1980*1020 HD and the object, texture and terrain quality which are all on high or very high.

My system is the following:

System Information

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Operating System: Windows XP 32 bit

Memory: 4096 MB RAM

CPU: I5 - 2500K Ocd to 4,5 Ghz

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Display Devices

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Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285

Display Memory: 1024 MB

Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)

Monitor Name: Benq

Output Type: DVI

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Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives

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300Gb Veliciraptor

All in all it should be good even though I know that there are some compromises in the system eg. XP32 bit, the videocard maybe or that I run a pretty ancient Nvidia driver namely 182,50.

I have so far not defragged the disk but actually this is the first game I have put on the Velociraptor after a fresh format.

What do you think is bottlenecking me and would eliminating one of the abovementioned issues take me up to 30-40 fps? The game is so jerky and stuttery at 16 FPS that it takes any enjoyment out. At totally desolate areas it goes up to 40 and that is the type of smoothness I am used to from XPlane or other sims.

Thank you for all your help,

Alex

[sickboy 13]

Drivers from 2009? I'd start with upgrading those.

You're also better off with Win7 x64, at least memory-allocation wise.

Turn some of the options on/off, down etc, and you should see the influence the settings has on the FPS right away, perhaps that gives some insights into the bottlenecks.

[MD500Enthusiast 10]

also try upgrading your video card, it's... old...

[scarp 10]

As MD say's, your vid card cant keep up with the rest of your system. I have a identical CPU (@ 4.8 GHz) and a gtx460. And card is breathing heavily under load and it is definitly the bottleneck in my system. Not only regarding TKOH, but also other graphically intense programs.

:)

[Axelb9 10]

Ok thanks for the suggestions. Is there really that big of a difference between a GTX285 and say a GTX570 for TOH? I mean for Xplane or FSX it is defenitely not that huge that FPS would double. Somehow I thought that TOH was more CPU intensive just like the mentioned sims.

Somehow I would really like to make sure that the vidcard is the reason before spending the money.

Alex

---------- Post added at 11:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:03 AM ----------

As MD say's, your vid card cant keep up with the rest of your system. I have a identical CPU (@ 4.8 GHz) and a gtx460. And card is breathing heavily under load and it is definitly the bottleneck in my system. Not only regarding TKOH, but also other graphically intense programs.

:)

What sort of FPS you are getting if I may ask? Is the game totally fluid?

Thanks,

Alex

[scarp 10]

I wouldn't know..but it's definitly fluid with crisp gr.textures and a visibility of 12000. But as with everything else, there's no problem to "optionize" my system to a crawl if I was to set everything on full :D .

But Im happy with the current settings, but I am considering a new card for sure tho.

The game is CPU intensive, but if I can make a pharable; what good does it do to have a 600 BHP engine in a Lada if you can't transfer all that power to the wheels? Yeah you're right, you'd still be doing 60 MPH and your accelleration will at best still be the same.

The keyword here is to have a balanced system throughout the 'chain of command' :)

As far as memory and OS, I'll leave that to those who knows coz I dont know myself how TKOH relate to memory (RAM) and say a 64 bit system vs 32 bit.

But as far as video card goes, a gtx570 would be a good choise, I have only heared good things about them :)

[bobocz 10]

See below my signature, there is my rig and link to my settings in TKOH. Don't expect that you can set all settings to max, I think that such PC doesn't exist yet ;), still the game looks beautifully.

My fps is all time +24fps (occasionally for second not, damned needle-leaved trees :)), average fps is around 40fps. Good test is hoovering near 'three towers', this is one of the most demanding place in Seattle. There you should set your minimal desired fps, everywhere else it should be better.

Disable PIP detail (if you don't need it), it is fps killer and of course try not overdo object view distance. Also post process effects can be quite demanding when is set to high/very high.

Why I'm explaining you how you should set your game, when we have nice RoyaltyinExile's Take On Video Settings thread :p.

Edited November 9, 2011 by BoboCZ

[kotov12345 10]

as others people said slightly weak graphic card and outdated os/drivers.Try win7.

[Axelb9 10]

See below my signature, there is my rig and link to my settings in TKOH. Don't expect that you can set all settings to max, I think that such PC doesn't exist yet ;), still the game looks beautifully.

My fps is all time +24fps (occasionally for second not, damned needle-leaved trees :)), average fps is around 40fps. Good test is hoovering near 'three towers', this is one of the most demanding place in Seattle. There you should set your minimal desired fps, everywhere else it should be better.

Disable PIP detail (if you don't need it), it is fps killer and of course try not overdo object view distance. Also post process effects can be quite demanding when is set to high/very high.

Why I'm explaining you how you should set your game, when we have nice RoyaltyinExile's Take On Video Settings thread :p.

Thanks a lot. Our system is pretty similar apart from the video card and the SSD and my game settings are actually lower... I have pip disabled and the view settings are the same as yours with a lower AA setting in my case.

I never would have thought that the GTX 285 could be such a huge bottleneck nowadays as back in the FSX forums everybody is talking about the videocard effect being more or less negligible and even people with the 285 GTX are getting huge performance boosts with an overclocked i5 2500K.

I am really scratching my head now. It would be nice to see someone with a card similar to mine to compare fps. I understand the bottleneck concept but as I said I did not see the 285 GTX to be such a bottleneck in flightsims while other games were running very good with it (well apart from GTA IV) maybe.

I will try to update the vgs driver as the very first and free measure.

Alex

[Derbysieger 11]

also try upgrading your video card, it's... old...

Can't be the reason. My graphicscard is slower than the GTX 285 and I run TKOH on higher Videosettings than him just fine.

fps 25-50 depending on Map/situation ...

I'd say it's the drivers and maybe Win XP 32Bit^^

[Axelb9 10]

That is my feeling somehow also. I would not think that the GTX285 would cause such a bottleneck. I also do not think that the OS would have anything to do with it as TOH is a 32 bit game if I am correct. What is left is the driver (testing tonight) and maybe the SSD but my freshly installed WD Velociraptor is one of the fastest devices after an SSD. I do not know about any game that would rely on an SSD for performance.

What worries me a lot is that for all other games my driver was perfectly fine...

Alex

[MD500Enthusiast 10]

he also didn't state what brand/speed his ram is. if you're running your ram at like 600mhz (just an imaginary figure) then that might be your problem too. also you might want to try at least raid 0 with 10k rpm hd setup for gaming now adays if not ssd.

[Derbysieger 11]

A SSD has only little effect on fps (given you keep your HDD defragmented) but great effect on overall performance ingame because the RV-engine streams a lot of data.

When I first moved Arma 2 to my X25-M (after reading about SSDs here on the forums) I was stunned how much better the game ran (10k VD on Chernarus here I come!).

Last year I bought my second SSD because I was running out of space.

I only use HDDs for storage and other games that don't rely on SSDs. Important Programs like e.g. Lightroom are installed on my SSDs

I don't know how much difference is between a SSD and a Velociraptor performance wise.

Edited November 9, 2011 by Derbysieger

[Axelb9 10]

I do not quote your posts as for some reason the forum engine sends my posts to moderation so forgive that:

MD500: I have 1600 Mhz Mushkin Blackline RAM at 6-8-6-24 timings. Pretty fast in its class and cannot be the bottleneck. And as I said I have a 10,000 rpm Raptor...

Derby: the performance difference is immense but as you said it is not really an FPS limiter at least not in this magnitude that effectively my fps is 16 instead of the expected 32. If the driver alone can cause this I will hit myself in the head really.

[MD500Enthusiast 10]

i just did a quick google search ssd vs 10000rpm and the census says that ssd are much faster than anything else out there.

[Axelb9 10]

i just did a quick google search ssd vs 10000rpm and the census says that ssd are much faster than anything else out there.

Yes I agree. See my comment above though

[MD500Enthusiast 10]

I do not quote your posts as for some reason the forum engine sends my posts to moderation so forgive that:

MD500: I have 1600 Mhz Mushkin Blackline RAM at 6-8-6-24 timings. Pretty fast in its class and cannot be the bottleneck. And as I said I have a 10,000 rpm Raptor...

Derby: the performance difference is immense but as you said it is not really an FPS limiter at least not in this magnitude that effectively my fps is 16 instead of the expected 32. If the driver alone can cause this I will hit myself in the head really.

i did noticed you OC your rig quite a bit, are you sure you oced it correctly? i know with my i7 920 i had to turn off a few features in bios etc. most likely it's your video card, i have a 580gtx and i run all of my settings on very high except for aa and af those are on normal and it's on 1920x1080 resolution. right i read about the 10k rpm drive but i assume you didn't mean raid 0 config right?

Edited November 9, 2011 by MD500Enthusiast

[Axelb9 10]

i did noticed you OC your rig quite a bit, are you sure you oced it correctly? i know with my i7 920 i had to turn off a few features in bios etc. most likely it's your video card, i have a 580gtx and i run all of my settings on very high except for aa and af those are on normal and it's on 1920x1080 resolution.

Yes I was thinking about that as well but on stock setup the FPS is 11!!! The stock setup of the I5 -2500K is 3,7 Ghz and it should still fly. The OC to 4,5 Ghz only increases the FPS by 5-6 which is not much as it is still very jerky at 16-17. What I want is 30-40 all over really. The I5-2500K is really easy to OC and basically you need to leave everything but the clock multiplier and the core voltage on AUTO. There is nothing to it really apart from a good cooler but my temps are more than OK with my Corsair H60. I will check the issue with the driver in the evening for sure but somehow I doubd that the trusted driver that was OK even in the most recent games such as the latest Op Flashpoint would cause me to halve my FPS...

[MD500Enthusiast 10]

what about your power supply how many watts does it support?

[sickboy 13]

Problem really should be drivers (what's the issue of trying a new driver, it's a 5 minute job!), and or old card. You can have a monster of a CPU but if it's not the bottleneck it won't change much.

GTX 580 is like 6 times (or so) faster than a GTX 285 :O

[Axelb9 10]

what about your power supply how many watts does it support?

Its a 750W Corsair - no issue there I guess:)

[MD500Enthusiast 10]

and my gtx580 is factory oced from evga LOL.

---------- Post added at 01:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:26 PM ----------

yeah 750watts is good, yeah so drivers but probably you need to ugprade your card.

[Axelb9 10]

Problem really should be drivers (what's the issue of trying a new driver, it's a 5 minute job!), and or old card. You can have a monster of a CPU but if it's not the bottleneck it won't change much.

GTX 580 is like 6 times (or so) faster than a GTX 285 :O

Agree and I will try a newer driver this evening and report back. Regarding the videocard I know it is 6 times faster but the question really is whether the game uses that graphics rendering power or relies rather on the CPU. I thought TOH was more CPU dependent just like FSX or Xplane

Alex

[froggyluv 2136]

-I'd change to 64 bit as depending on your Mobo -you may only be using 2.7 gigs of that ram on XP32.

-Ram is dirt cheap so pick up another 4 gigs.

-Grab a 560 ti.

:)

[MD500Enthusiast 10]

Agree and I will try a newer driver this evening and report back. Regarding the videocard I know it is 6 times faster but the question really is whether the game uses that graphics rendering power or relies rather on the CPU. I thought TOH was more CPU dependent just like FSX or Xplane

Alex

it seems your result indicates otherwise though.