19 replies to this topic

[Grimm Peaper]

Looking for some suggestions from the community on what Video card or cpu is necessary to run MWO smoothly on high or very high settings. I'm planning on upgrading the video card because I get stutter when I take missile/AC fire and I get smoke, but I'm concerned that I'll upgrade and I'll still stutter. So I wanted to poll the community and ask:

Do you still get stutter from smoke even with a $300+ video card?
What HW is needed to run on high or very high smoothly without stuttering when you're under fire?
Is it mostly the video card or the cpu?

For reference, I am using an intel I7 atm (the original I7, 1st generation) and a 8800 gtx. Any input would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Edit: The cpu is a nehalem based bloomfield Intel I7 using a socket 1366:
Intel® Core™ i7-940 Processor (8M Cache, 2.93 GHz, 4.80 GT/s Intel® QPI)

http://en.wikipedia....croprocessor%29

Edited by Grimm Peaper, 07 July 2014 - 10:51 AM.

[Livewyr]

Whatever they are using for the Hadron Collider.

[EgoSlayer]

Grimm Peaper, on 07 July 2014 - 08:47 AM, said:

Looking for some suggestions from the community on what Video card or cpu is necessary to run MWO smoothly on high or very high settings. I'm planning on upgrading the video card because I get stutter when I take missile/AC fire and I get smoke, but I'm concerned that I'll upgrade and I'll still stutter. So I wanted to poll the community and ask:

Do you still get stutter from smoke even with a $300+ video card?
What HW is needed to run on high or very high smoothly without stuttering when you're under fire?
Is it mostly the video card or the cpu?

For reference, I am using an intel I7 atm (the original I7, 1st generation) and a 8800 gtx. Any input would be much appreciated. Thanks.

In your case, it's the Video card. The 8800 GTX is positively ancient in GPU terms, it's 8 years old and several generations behind the current level cards. Your Intel i7 CPU should be fine assuming it's a quad core version.

For a recommendation on video cards based on price, I would suggest this link Toms Hardware Best Graphics Card for the money

I am running an i7 (3rd gen) with an ATI HD7950 @ 2550x1440 res and get 50FPS on average.

Edited by EgoSlayer, 07 July 2014 - 11:06 AM.

[Vassago Rain]

Something like what I have. Both MSAA and TXAA are really bad in this game, and drop my FPS to 50.

Yes, you still get stutter from smoke and missiles. I also go to 10 FPS when the blurms start raining. MWO is just poorly optimized.

[CygnusX7]

I have an I5-2500K at stock speeds with a 6970 vid card. Runs with most stuff way up on a single screen. With triple screens (5760x1080) do I need to start backing things off.

[Warblood]

I'm running windows8.1 w/ I-3, 8GB mem and a R-7 260x vid-card, have the game running at 1920x1080 with all setting on high except for shadow n shading they are on low cause its not something im looking at while im playing. I never dip below 30fps.

[DAYLEET]

Warblood, on 07 July 2014 - 09:39 AM, said:

I'm running windows8.1 w/ I-3, 8GB mem and a R-7 260x vid-card, have the game running at 1920x1080 with all setting on high except for shadow n shading they are on low cause its not something im looking at while im playing. I never dip below 30fps.

I can't tell you how many times i see the shadow of a mech camping on a corner. That gives me(versus one who dont use shadow) a distinct advantage. Crimson River tunel for exemple, you can see if a mech is in the middle door waiting for you before you get line of sight.

What i do disable is the post processing because it blurs the image at medium/long range, solo id use it, it does make the scene more dramatic but in multiplayer it's out the door.

I also disable all kind of Anti Aliasing because beside the huge perf hit it it does blur the texture and the "faster" kind of AA you use the worse it is.

Edited by DAYLEET, 07 July 2014 - 09:55 AM.

[The Amazing Atomic Spaniel]

Have the debs ever given us a breakdown as to what settings cause the biggest FPS hits? I've played around a bit with the in-game settings and tweaked then a bit, but it would still be good to have some advice from those in the know.

For info, I am running an i7 920 @ 3.8 GHz with a 2GB 6970 card at 1080p and get playable but unimpressive FPS, maybe 30 - 40 FPS with occasional dips.

[Jeb]

I have a low end system so I won't comment on what you should get to run on high detail, but I am pretty sure I have seen people posting that MWO is also CPU heavy... so you may run into both the CPU and Video Card being bottlenecks... (I have been trying to decide what to upgrade too... almost thinking a ROG laptop, but I am a bit disappointed in the newest Nvidia 880M cards as they are pretty much the same as the 780M cards...

[Roadkill]

I have a Core i7 2600 (I think... it's pretty old). I was running a GTX 285 2Gb but was starting to have heat problems, so I just upgraded to a GTX 770. Heat problems vanished.

I could run the GTX 285 with game settings on High, but ran it on Low instead to help with the heat. Switched to Very High for the GTX 770 and it's smooth as butter.

As EgoSlayer said, your problem is your video card. I had an 8800 GTX prior to my GTX 285, and while it was a smokin' video card back in its day it's a fossil now. Upgrade to a GTX 650 or so if you want to keep things inexpensive. You can probably find one of those for around $100.

Edit:after looking at the links in Grimm's edit, my CPU can't be an i7-2600 and is most likely the older i7-920. Circa 2008 is much closer than circa 2011.

Edited by Roadkill, 07 July 2014 - 11:22 AM.

[Goose]

• This should'a been in Hardward
  
• Before you spend any money, get a copy of FRAPS, HWiNFOxx, make a log file, then view it with GenericLogViewer: See where your bottleneck is
  
• "It's'a i7" isn't very informative, but HWiNFO will clear that up
  
• Smoke is particles, which is a CPU issue

Edited by Goose, 07 July 2014 - 10:38 AM.

[Xenon Codex]

I'm sure this thread will get moved eventually.

FWIW, I used to have a Phenom 4X 955 @ 3.4GHz and HD7950 (oc to 9770 speeds). At 1920x1200, it would average 40-50 with slowdowns into the 20's during heavy fights. Playable, but not perfect. No improvement after lowering the resolution, which is a sure sign of being CPU limited.

Upgraded the CPU to in i5-4760K @ 4.2Ghz (a bit overclocked but was able to reuse the Corsair watercooller from my Phenom setup so no heat issues), and have not seen much under 60fps. I haven't taken a detailed log of framerates, but do not notice any slowdown during gameplay, it's always smooth.

I run V-sync on because I found that even getting over 100fps the game plays smoother with V-sync on.

AA OFF
Damage Glow ON
Particles and Post Processing at LOW, everything else at VERY HIGH.
Disabled DOF, film grain, and cockpit glass in my user.cfg:

Spoiler

gp_option_ShowCockpitGlass=0
r_DepthOfField=0
r_HDRGrainAmount=0.0

[Peter2k]

I have an i5 ivy bridge, overclocked to 4.2, 16gigs of RAM
A gtx 780 , at stock, but it does boost nicely since it runs cool and MWO taxes you're CPU

If I set Particels to very high I drop to around 10-15 fps, that's with bugged effects
Setting them to low and I have constant 60 to 75 fps, even in combat, running everything on very high with 2560x1080 res (well except Particels)

Particels are still bugged, like smoke from LRM's and steam of hot mechs; in DX 9 and 11


But like the first response mentioned, the gtx 8800 is kinda ancient
You're CPU should be fine for this game and all others
At least until AMD or Intel make some actual big leaps again

Hell my ivy bridge is only like 10% slower then the current models (given same the same clock, and I could squeeze out that % simply per oc'ing some more), and u might not even notice that in games

New nvidia cards are coming out soonish, probably dropping price on this gens cards from both AMD and nvidia
If u can wait that long then you're golden for you're 300 bucks

Smoke gives trouble in this game for everyone, haven't seen stated otherwise yet

[Gyrok]

FX8350 w/R9-290X pegs me at 60 FPS pretty much no matter what...except the damage glow...that screws with my FPS in thermal.

[Sandpit]

My laptop is:
Core i7 481MQ
16GB Ram
GTX 870M 5GB video card.

I can run on the highest settings and maintain 50+ fps

hope that helps

[Monkey Lover]

i5-3570, 560boost videocard.

I can run highest settings but I still get some slow down every so often. Im guessing its more of a programming issue.

[Sandpit]

The only time I get stuttering involves smoke.

[Jazzbandit1313]

Roadkill, on 07 July 2014 - 10:08 AM, said:

I have a Core i7 2600 (I think... it's pretty old). I was running a GTX 285 2Gb but was starting to have heat problems, so I just upgraded to a GTX 770. Heat problems vanished.

I could run the GTX 285 with game settings on High, but ran it on Low instead to help with the heat. Switched to Very High for the GTX 770 and it's smooth as butter.

As EgoSlayer said, your problem is your video card. I had an 8800 GTX prior to my GTX 285, and while it was a smokin' video card back in its day it's a fossil now. Upgrade to a GTX 650 or so if you want to keep things inexpensive. You can probably find one of those for around $100.

Edit:after looking at the links in Grimm's edit, my CPU can't be an i7-2600 and is most likely the older i7-920. Circa 2008 is much closer than circa 2011.

I have the same card. (EVGA GTX 285 2 GIG) and i can'ty play in my room for more than an hour because my computer turns into a space heater.

[Dakkath]

The biggest slowdown for this game is the HUD.

Very High for all except shadows on High, and AA off
Core I7 3770K
16GB RAM
Samsung SSD 840 Pro
GTX 770

When I am piloting a mech I hover around 60FPS.

As soon as I go spectate mode, I am around 90 FPS or higher. It's ridiculous that the HUD slows the GPU down so much.

Also moving to hardware.

[Barbaric Soul]

Vassago Rain, on 07 July 2014 - 09:29 AM, said:

Something like what I have. Both MSAA and TXAA are really bad in this game, and drop my FPS to 50.

Yes, you still get stutter from smoke and missiles. I also go to 10 FPS when the blurms start raining. MWO is just poorly optimized.

Really? I get a min of 50fps @ 2560*1600 with my signature rig and the following settings-

Edited by Barbaric Soul, 08 July 2014 - 04:03 AM.