It turns out that the setup of an x4 750k and an rx460 nitro is worse than I had previously thought it to be. I can really only play like two games in my library well, and the rest are a miserable bunch. With the GPU constantly throttling between 100% and like 30% usage, my frame times are garbage even though my frames may be at 60. Luckily I have a motherboard on the way so I can get my new i5 3470 rolling. After I get my new CPU in, I am hopeful that I will be able to have a very playable experience in my games once again.
Which games and settings?
The ones that are bad, or the ones that are good?
It all depends on your games. Honestly many games will not really be great on 460, no matter the cpu.
If you ask me you have an issue somewhere.
I am rocking 760K with a bit more powerful 270X for the last couple years, and honestly, whatever I tried to run on it - run fine. There was no game, that didn't want to run, nor had issues when I put the settings a bit lower...
So I would say you have issue somewhere in the system.
Because I mostly play overwatch and I play it at high/ultra, but in any other mode but 3v3 my frame times are too bad to play.
Both.
I upgraded from a 260X to a 480. The limiting factor for me seem to be my i3-4130 (2 cores/4threads) and 8GB DDR3 (the RAM only because I like to have FF with a few tabs open on my second monitor, so games that require 6-8GB will either not even start or crash unless I lower the settings).
Well, I have tried many different things, and I can tell you that if my CPU is at 100% all the time, while my GPU struggles to keep even a decent 80%, then I would say that I am being held back. The last card I had was a 650ti, and it ran just fine with my CPU, and would get up to 100% all the time. And just after that upgrade it has gotten bad, so that is the only thing I can see that would make sense to me.
What speed RAM do you have? I used to run 1333Mhz and the frame times were atrocious and it even made some games unplayable. But you will probably be looking at CPU bottlenecks really.
I have 1600mhz RAM, so I don't think that would be giving me trouble really. I think it's truly just my CPU haha.
Yeah, I have 8Gb as well. I think that my CPU is just not playing well with the system anymore, hence my wanting to upgrade it haha.
What games are you playing? 460 is way more powerful than 650Ti...
Reinstall your drivers or something... Use DDU and try the latest ones...
The system should run fine absolutely everything. Seriously... There is some issue somewhere else.
Overwatch, witcher 3, and some other not really graphically intense games. Yeah, it's a good step up from what I had. Trust me man, I've tried everything, from drivers to anything else you can try. I just haven't seen anything that would be it but my CPU.
This tells me that, although your CPU is getting worked, there is something else causing an issue. Unless of course you upped the settings a ton in which case yeah there's a good chance the CPU is your limiting factor and if that is truly the case then wait for Ryzen, lower your settings a tad for now to make games playable and enjoyable (but not have as much eye candy) because that will give you a better experience in the long run. Unless of course you already have the 3470... then go with that as it's still a great CPU for gaming because anything Ivy bridge or later is pretty stagnant in terms of gaming performance, an extra few frames here and there usually but nothing significant.
The thing is that no matter what settings I have it at, it runs the same, and that is true for all the games that don't run well right now. I do already have that CPU, and I have a motherboard that will be here on Monday.
Yeah this to me sounds like something a little deeper than a simple CPU upgrade... Nvidia is notoriously difficult to switch away from (one of the reasons I like to call them the Apple of the GPU market...) because there's usually something left over from the old drivers which messes with your gaming performance. You did a driver sweep with a program like DDU? There are others out there but idk exactly what they are... someone here could tell you what else is available just to make sure it got it all out of your system.
If that doesn't work you could always try a fresh install of your os.
I had done something like that, but I will try that program specifically! Yeah, I was going to do that, but I will wait to go to that extreme after I try a new CPU.
Had to turn down the settings in Lords of the Fallen for it to not crash during the intro sequence (6GB RAM required, 8GB recommended). Playing the game and having some other program open was outright impossible.
With Saints Row 4 it seemed to be an issue with the game during a specific mission. Also had to lower the settings so it doesn't crash on me.
Diablo 3 and WoW are RAM hogs too, got constant warnings ("not enough RAM available because of game "xyz""). I'll definitely get 16GB RAM with my next CPU/mobo upgrade.
From what I've read The Witcher 3 doesn't really care much about RAM and CPU (i3 vs i7 same performance with a 480).
Just curious, what made you decide to get the 460 instead of a 470? I got the 260X back then cause a 270/270X just didn't fit into the budget. I still regret not sticking with the i3's iGPU for a few weeks and getting a better GPU from the start. Buying low-end and upgrading only after a little while makes you pay twice (unless you plan on using the previous part for another rig).
Well the 460 was the only card really in my range, and I think that it really does me a good service for the few games that I tend to play on a regular basis. Though, with how my card has been doing I have not wanted to play those games because it is so unplayable.
Even after doing all of that, my games still do not want to play nice with me. I do not think that the issue is the drivers any longer. I went and completely cleaned out the system of any graphics drivers, and then I went and re-installed everything that I needed. The games all still have the odd choppyness that they had before, and its just no fun at all.