BF4 CPU, or GPU holdback?

Gaming
1

Hi guys!

 

I've just received BF4 as a Christmas present, installed it all, started playing on multi-player and it was unplayable, even on the lowest settings I could not play it at all, fps is way to low, to play comfortably. So I thought, I'd better load up the single player see if its the same story, its not, its smooth, even on medium its completely playable compared to multiplayer, with an occasional dip which is hardly noticeable, maybe a couple of fps, not much really, but its nothing I cant live with. So my main question is, which component is creating the horrific performance for multi-player, my CPU or GPU? Which needs upgrading the most?

 

Specs:

Motherboard - Asus M5A97

CPU - AMD FX-4170

GPU - GTX 560ti

Ram - 16gb Kingston DDR3 1600mhz

 

If you need any more specs then please let me know!!

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

2

I think it may be the CPU, it may not be fast enough. The graphics card seems to be fine in the sense that it is capable of running BF4. 

You could either get a new CPU or overclock the FX 4170. 

I've had a similar problem with a pentium and a 7790, the game ran smoothly on single player but the multiplayer was unstable and would lag a lot.

3

I've been posting this on other forums and been getting the same response that it seems to be the processor, i was thinking about upgrading my whole system later in the year, but i might have to just upgrade my cpu and motherboard earlier and everything else later on. I was thinking about upgrading to the I5 4670k with this motherboard, any other recommendations?

4

I am going to have to disagree. BF4 doesn't use much cpu power at all. It would really help if you monitored your cpu/gpu usage and figured it out that way, but from these benchmarks, it seems like it would be your gpu holding you back, not the cpu. That is at least in BF4.

 

gpu usage: http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page3.html

cpu usage: http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page6.html

5

I've been monitoring my CPU and its been pretty much in the 90's the whole time, and i think that those benchmarks have been in single player... which is not where im having the issues

6

It is only in the multiplayer? Then that would seem to point to the cpu being the problem. A 4670k or 8350 ought to solve your problem.

7

Yes, it seems to run absolutely fine in single player, ive been playing on medium, with occasional dips by maybe a couple of fps which isnt that noticeable, but i can live with it. Compared to multi-player which is unplayable, constant jittering, and its not a pleasant experience. So you would recommend me upgrading my CPU? I was thinking of upgrading my whole system later next year, so I could do my GPU at a later date anyway, is this a good idea?

8

I would have to agree with it being the cpu.  It must be having trouble with all of the players on the screen.  So I would upgrade your CPU or try to overclock it first to save some money.  Only buy if overclocking does not work.

9

Try different video drivers, BF4 is very picky with drivers. To this day with an FX-6100 @ 4.5GHz and a GTX 760 I average about 20fps in BF4 multiplayer. No matter what settings. This is after trying every NVIDIA driver from the past 6 months and several reinstalls of Windows. I got a refund.

10

It even seems to lag when the server isnt that full, even with a couple of people, its the same story.

11

I was thinking about upgrading later next year anyway, I was thinking of a 4670k but dont know what motherboard to get. Any recommendations for CPU or motherboards?

12

I would think that it is the CPU. Your GPU isn't great, but then again there is a lot worse.

13

I've had my PC coming on two years now and i was working on a budget so.... yah :D , im upgrading everything at some point this year (hopefully) but would it be better to upgrade the cpu first?

14

I'd update your drivers.

15

Already have done, even upto the newest beta drivers, and no luck

16

I respect DICE for all of the hard work involved in creating such a huge and complex game, but to be fair, the game still isn't exactly optimized yet.

They've already halted all of the DLC development and other projects like Mantle until they can get the game completely straightened out.

I have a buddy with SLI 760s and an i5-3570 who can't even get a constant 60 fps on certain maps, even on lower settings.  My 7870 and i5-3570 also dips into the 30s on Siege of Shanghai and Zavod 311 on medium and low settings.

So, while I feel an upgrade would definitely help, don't be surprised if you still can't get decent framerates after some new parts are installed.

17

Well I'm sure this had been said but it's definitely on the cpu side of things.  I came from a phenom ii 965 x4 (oc 3.8ghz) to a fx 6350 and it made worlds difference with bf3.  If you play 64 player maps it will use a good amount of cpu power.  I use a hd 6850 for my graphics card.  Once i made the cpu switch I barely ever see random frame rate drops.

18

Yes its been completely aimed at my CPU, and i've decided that the 8350 is the only viable option to be honest. Single threaded performance isnt really a big issue seeing as my 4170 has been done me well, and surely thats worse than the 8350 with single threaded performance, older games have ran completely fine! So for me the 8350 is the way forward, plus it saves me nearly £200 which could go towards a new graphics card :)

19

upgrade to 8320- 8350 if you have a decent mobo get another 560 ti for sli and you should be ok  for medium settings untill they fix the game of its current broken state. in all honesty the game should not have been released until feb of 2014. as it stands it is a live beta that is highly unstable poorly optimized if at all, and has about as many bugs as an alpha release.

20

My motherboard doesnt support sli...