28 replies to this topic

[WanaBK8]

So, I've loved playing MWO, I have about 150~ hours or so on it. However for some reason, regardless of what I do, I am getting low FPS, as in 21 fps MAX on Low, Medium, High, and Ultra.
Are there any possible fixes or will I need to buy a new videocard? If so, RX480, GTX 970 or GTX 1070/1060?
(Preferably whichever is easiest on my wallet).
My Specs:

Processors: AMD Athlon X4 860k

RAM: G.Skill 2x4 8GB DDR3-1866

Video Card: MSI R9 280 Twin Frozr 3GB

Mobo: ASUS A88X-PRO

PSU: Thermaltake 750W 80+ Gold

Hard Drive MWO Installed on: 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Blue 7200 RPM

Monitor: Acer XF240H @ 144Hz

[Quinn Allard]

You're probably gonna catch some flak for that Athlon.

[ebea51]

Don't upgrade if you are happy with your machine and the way it performs playing everything else.
MWO is in DESPERATE need of cryengine optimisation - it must be the way its coded.
I recently upgraded my old HD6870 to a R9 380... made pretty much NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL.

... the Scaleform HUD is still sapping 50% of my FPS.
Turn the HUD off - awesome FPS. HUD on. 35-40 FPS the entire time.
Pathetic >

[Tarl Cabot]

What do you have that Athlon OC to? MWO loves Intel more than AMD, then it loves higher CPU speed.

32bit or 64bit OS? Running game dx9c or dx11? Anti-aliasing turned off or on?

[LordLosh]

i agree i hate your processor. new video card is where i would start for sure

[Samedi Wretch]

Yeah I don't think you're going to see much/any boost from upgrading the gpu. Can you fit a faster cpu in your mobo?

[ImperialKnight]

get an i5 or i7 first. then consider a GPU upgrade

[Sparky314]

WanaBK8, I have a very similar system but with an i7 processor at 3.8 ghz I think. I was getting about 80 fps and something in this patch killed it I think. I now get about 50 fps max now. The Crimson drivers do suck for this game for sure. Also make sure AMD Gaming Evolved is not running. It causes issues with MWO. My advice, and what I'm going to do, is upgrade to a Nvidia card. Like knightsljx said, for you I would first get an Intel processor, then a GPU. That's my 2 cents on it.

Edited by Haley2054, 21 July 2016 - 03:11 AM.

[xWiredx]

Ladies, step aside.

That Athlon. It's basically a cut-down version of the FX series, which we already know performs pretty badly in MWO until you greatly increase the clock speed. Even then, it's known to be more fickle and framerate is less stable than Intel counterparts. Using a cut-down version of that is... well, we've got problem #1 out in the open. You'll need an Intel chip to replace that with. I recommend the i5 6600K.

Now onto the GPU. The 280 will perform well. Will it max out the game? I don't think so. I don't think we have a lot of data from 280 users, though we have certainly suggested it in many cases where budget is a constraint. The important thing to know here: MWO is CPU bound, so upgrading the GPU should be your second priority, not your first. Still, I would imagine with the GTX 1060 performing so close to the GTX 980, a 1060 should allow you to crank the settings -ONCE THE CPU IS ALSO UPGRADED-.

Now back to the CPU for a second. The thing here is that MWO is indeed CPU bound (mentioned above). Particles, shadows, and environment settings all up the amount of draw calls, which means the CPU needs to work harder. Particles specifically are also done entirely on CPU time rather than GPU time so they hit it pretty hard. If you want to crank the settings and get good framerates in the 60+ realm, you will definitely need a 6600K at somewhere around 4.3 or 4.4GhZ. In comparison, we have observed that 5GhZ on Piledriver-based AMD CPUs is still not as fast as a Haswell-based CPU at 4.3GhZ.

[Quinn Allard]

I wouldn't go Skylake CPU's yet (which will require a mobo and possibly ram upgrade), unless you've got a healthy budget and are going 4K soon. Look for a Haswell i5 like the 4690, a compatible mobo, everything else you have is fine. I am running a machine i got a KILLER deal on, and get superb performance. 140FPS with drops into the 90's during heavy firefights, which is more than acceptable and playable. Core of my system is a Core i5 4690 with Corsair H100i, a standard MSI mobo, 8GB of 1600mhz DDR3 ram, a Radeon R9 290 4GB GPU, a 750Watt Corsair PSU, and a SSD for my OS.

[tripcat1021]

I had that issue on a 2.7Ghz i7 chip, but I had an older GPU. I upgraded to GTX 950 and it solved my issue. I have performance monitor up and my CPU is not hit that hard. I follow NGNGTv settings and it has been fine. Getting 60 - 70 fps, some times is sags but very rarely now.

[Windscape]

i have been having fps problems aswell.. running an i5 2500 and a gt430. I used to get about 50fps with everything on low and all special effects off. Now i only get 20-30 fps and in fw it can dip down to 10. People have suggested o check to see if my cpu is using all of its cores, but i also suspect something may be wrong with my GPU

[Tarl Cabot]

Windscape, on 05 August 2016 - 02:22 PM, said:

i have been having fps problems aswell.. running an i5 2500 and a gt430. I used to get about 50fps with everything on low and all special effects off. Now i only get 20-30 fps and in fw it can dip down to 10. People have suggested o check to see if my cpu is using all of its cores, but i also suspect something may be wrong with my GPU

Is that just a plain i5-2500 and not the K version? It really would not matter, the GPU came out in Oct 2010, making it almost 6 years old, and even then it was the 2nd from the bottom in its series, denoted by the second number (3). To put it in a better perspective, the bottom one is a GT405 (OEM) then followed by the GT430. The highest card in that series is the GT480.

Double check your slot capabilities of your motherboard (PCI express) and the PSU before considering upgrading to a newer GPU.

[Dead Life]

Here's what I had to do, a family member told me this and it works.
1) Get the client running when its at the login screen or any time after go to the task manager.
2) Right click the client process in the process tab select Set Affinity.
3) Uncheck the cores till you only have 4 cores selected for me the first 4 cores 0,1,2,& 3 run it best for some reason it can't run on all 8 at once for me.
Sad thing is I have to do that every single time I run the client. I've had the fps issue since about the 2nd patch of November 2015.

Edited by Dead Life, 05 August 2016 - 06:03 PM.

[Tarl Cabot]

Quote

Sad thing is I have to do that every single time I run the client. I've had the fps issue since about the 2nd patch of November 2015.

I saw your post and remembered using 3rd party program to get EQ to run on a single core or multiple cores, troubleshooting performance issues/crashes for other players before SOE added a command line to the eqclient.ini. Without using a 3rd party program, you can have windows due it for you.

http://www.eightforu...te-windows.html

This will only work when bypassing the patcher. Patch, then close it and run the shortcut. Two versions - 32bit and 64bit for MWOClient.ini, each in its own folder. This would work for Steam and Standalone games.

The hexadecimal for 1/2/3/4 cores are listed below.

1st core = 1.....first two cores = 3.....first three cores = 7.....first four cores = F
or
on 3-6 core set hexa = 3C

This is where my MWO is located, yours will vary. This is what my shortcut info looked like after creating and testing it. Tested on Win 8.1 and Win 10

Below is the shortcut to launch the game using first 3 CPU cores WITH the 32bit version of the game.

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c start "Mechwarrior Online" /affinity 7 "F:\Games\Piranha Games\MechWarrior Online\Bin32\MWOClient.exe" -nopatch

*************
Below would be my shortcut running MWO on 4 cpu cores WITH the 64bit version of the game.

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c start "Mechwarrior Online" /affinity F "F:\Games\Piranha Games\MechWarrior Online\Bin64\MWOClient.exe" -nopatch

It is important to note the apostrophes being used, as they are needed.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 06 August 2016 - 07:48 AM.

[SCHLIMMER BESTIMMER XXX]

xWiredx, on 21 July 2016 - 05:01 AM, said:

Ladies, step aside.

That Athlon. It's basically a cut-down version of the FX series, which we already know performs pretty badly in MWO until you greatly increase the clock speed. Even then, it's known to be more fickle and framerate is less stable than Intel counterparts. Using a cut-down version of that is... well, we've got problem #1 out in the open. You'll need an Intel chip to replace that with. I recommend the i5 6600K.

Now onto the GPU. The 280 will perform well. Will it max out the game? I don't think so. I don't think we have a lot of data from 280 users, though we have certainly suggested it in many cases where budget is a constraint. The important thing to know here: MWO is CPU bound, so upgrading the GPU should be your second priority, not your first. Still, I would imagine with the GTX 1060 performing so close to the GTX 980, a 1060 should allow you to crank the settings -ONCE THE CPU IS ALSO UPGRADED-.

Now back to the CPU for a second. The thing here is that MWO is indeed CPU bound (mentioned above). Particles, shadows, and environment settings all up the amount of draw calls, which means the CPU needs to work harder. Particles specifically are also done entirely on CPU time rather than GPU time so they hit it pretty hard. If you want to crank the settings and get good framerates in the 60+ realm, you will definitely need a 6600K at somewhere around 4.3 or 4.4GhZ. In comparison, we have observed that 5GhZ on Piledriver-based AMD CPUs is still not as fast as a Haswell-based CPU at 4.3GhZ.

BOHOOO !OO! finally! A threat to fire up his geek skills!

WanaBK8, on 20 July 2016 - 03:55 PM, said:

So, I've loved playing MWO, I have about 150~ hours or so on it. However for some reason, regardless of what I do, I am getting low FPS, as in 21 fps MAX on Low, Medium, High, and Ultra.
Are there any possible fixes or will I need to buy a new videocard? If so, RX480, GTX 970 or GTX 1070/1060?
(Preferably whichever is easiest on my wallet).
My Specs:

Processors: AMD Athlon X4 860k

RAM: G.Skill 2x4 8GB DDR3-1866

Video Card: MSI R9 280 Twin Frozr 3GB

Mobo: ASUS A88X-PRO

PSU: Thermaltake 750W 80+ Gold

Hard Drive MWO Installed on: 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Blue 7200 RPM

Monitor: Acer XF240H @ 144Hz

No really, you be better with an i5.Whatever model you pick you will see great improvement.From average 35 fps to the unknown, depending on what you invest.I can tell you i have 1st generation 2,8ghz i5 and i get 45-60fps on mostly very high
settings with DX11.But i also have to admit since the last patch my frames become unstable and a bit less around 35-50 fps.

[Paleface Voodoo Jedi Ninja Magic]

Try reinstalling the Direct X.

I don't know if this will help you, but this is what worked for me back in May this year, when my FPS dropped from 30-50 down to 9-20 FPS.

Here are my in game video settings:

CUSTOM - Sys. Spec
1920 x 1080 - Screen Res
FULL WINDOW - WIndow mode
DX11 - Direct X
OFF - Motion Blur
ON - V-Sync
OFF - Damage Glow

ADVANCED OPTIONS
Set Object Detail and Texture to MEDIUM and everything else is set to low.

MY Laptop Specs

Upgraded to Win10
Intel i72630QM 2.0GHz
Gforece 560M 3GB
12GB memory

[Oderint dum Metuant]

When will people learn. His problem is that Athlon is worse than the already terrible FX series of chips.
This has been proven many times over and over in various threads.

Replace the cpu and board for an Intel i5 and watch that fps rocket.

[Dead Life]

Tarl Cabot, on 06 August 2016 - 07:25 AM, said:

I saw your post and remembered using 3rd party program to get EQ to run on a single core or multiple cores, troubleshooting performance issues/crashes for other players before SOE added a command line to the eqclient.ini. Without using a 3rd party program, you can have windows due it for you.

http://www.eightforu...te-windows.html

This will only work when bypassing the patcher. Patch, then close it and run the shortcut. Two versions - 32bit and 64bit for MWOClient.ini, each in its own folder. This would work for Steam and Standalone games.

The hexadecimal for 1/2/3/4 cores are listed below.

1st core = 1.....first two cores = 3.....first three cores = 7.....first four cores = F
or
on 3-6 core set hexa = 3C

This is where my MWO is located, yours will vary. This is what my shortcut info looked like after creating and testing it. Tested on Win 8.1 and Win 10

Below is the shortcut to launch the game using first 3 CPU cores WITH the 32bit version of the game.

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c start "Mechwarrior Online" /affinity 7 "F:\Games\Piranha Games\MechWarrior Online\Bin32\MWOClient.exe" -nopatch

*************
Below would be my shortcut running MWO on 4 cpu cores WITH the 64bit version of the game.

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c start "Mechwarrior Online" /affinity F "F:\Games\Piranha Games\MechWarrior Online\Bin64\MWOClient.exe" -nopatch

It is important to note the apostrophes being used, as they are needed.

I'll check that out.

Oderint dum Metuant, on 06 August 2016 - 11:20 PM, said:

When will people learn. His problem is that Athlon is worse than the already terrible FX series of chips.
This has been proven many times over and over in various threads.

Replace the cpu and board for an Intel i5 and watch that fps rocket.

Well my cpu was having this issue and its listed as an Intel® Core™i7-4790 CPU @ 3.60GHz 3.60GHz. Only saying what I had to do thought it could help. I talked to tech support for 2 different game companies no ones could figure it out. I had to have a chat with a nephew inlaw that is a software engineer to get what I had posted. He said the game was bouncing between the cores too much so it had to be forced to only run on 4 and it could happen to older games that weren't made to make use of all 8 cores he said.

Edited by Dead Life, 09 August 2016 - 03:09 AM.

[Tarl Cabot]

Quote

Well my cpu was having this issue and its listed as an Intel® Core™i7-4790 CPU @ 3.60GHz 3.60GHz. Only saying what I had to do thought it could help. I talked to tech support for 2 different game companies no ones could figure it out. I had to have a chat with a nephew inlaw that is a software engineer to get what I had posted. He said the game was bouncing between the cores too much so it had to be forced to only run on 4 and it could happen to older games that weren't made to make use of all 8 cores he said.

It is likely not that it is 4-8 core but it is how Turbo Boost works, where the game is running at different speeds, add in a 4 physical core + 4 hyperthreading cores things would get interesting. And Turbo boost itself is meant to be a poor man's temp overclocker but is not applied across all available cores, nor is it meant to be ran at higher speeds continuously, only for short bursts.

When those bursts happen and extra power/increase in base speeds is increased on fewer and fewer cores. But that also means those cores are also running hotter. For laptops due to their cooling design that generally means it will hit the heat threshold which then drops the cpu speed below baseline to allow the CPU cores to cool down, then back up, causing a yo-yo effect. Many would not notice it on most programs, but for twitchy games it is noticeable if it happens enough. Desktops can run into the same issue but it may not happen enough or as drastically.

And for the i7, it is has 4 physical core and 4 hyperthreading cores. So you would want to keep the game on the 4 physical cores.


Base speed 3600 MHz

Turbo frequency
3800 MHz (4 cores)
3900 MHz (3 cores)
4000 MHz (1 or 2 cores)

http://www.cpu-world...%20i7-4790.html

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 09 August 2016 - 06:51 PM.