Hardware problems with Rift, help appreciated.

[Torian kel]

Hi everyone.

I have recently started playing Rift, enjoying it very much at the moment (plenty of things I find awesome, like artefacts, puzzles, zones events etc .. ).

Anyway, I have a hardware problem with the Game, I generally have around 20-30 fps, and if freezes often when spinning the camera. It is even worse in dongeons, where I find myself lagging behing the group at 2-5 fps.

Now, I tuned EVERYTHING down, I even selected the "low configuration" button at the top( But I do play Windowed fullscreen). As for my computer specs, I have 8 gigas of RAM, and a Nvidia 560 GTW graphics card.

I compare to Wow, that I still play full time, where I have everything at maximum (exept shadows), windoewed fullscreen, and never go under 40 fps, 20 at minimum in raids (but i go higher if i tune down the ultra specs on particules).

I have no idea why Rift keeps freezing that much, and it really pisses me off.

Does somebody have a solution ? Thanks very much

[Lathais]

What is your CPU? You gave RAM and Video Card but, as with most MMOs, Rift is more CPU intensive than anything else. Once you tell me what CPU you have I can try to help find a solution for you.

I do want to mention though, Rift requires quite a bit more system than WoW. People that can run WoW on Ultra with no problems(me in Cata, not sure about MoP) have to run Rift on medium or lower depending on activity. Dungeons and especially 20m Raids and Zone Events I turn on low quality renderer too. In 20m I get down to 15-20 and zone events 3-10.

[Torian kel]

Yes sorry ! Forgot about that

Here it is : Intell(R) Core (TM) i5 CPU 650@3.20 GHz

[Lathais]

Yes sorry ! Forgot about that

Here it is : Intell(R) Core (TM) i5 CPU 650@3.20 GHz

There is your problem right there. They stopped even making that CPU about 3 years ago. I'f not sure if you can OC it or not but that will help Rift tremendously if you are comfortable doing so. The really disappointing part is that particular CPU is a socket LGA1156, current CPUs are Socket LGA1155, so to upgrade you are going to need a new MoBo as well. You could still get a decent upgrade for around $200 though, if you want to go $350 you could get a killer CPU/MoBo combo and be in very good shape for the next 2 years at least and at that point what you would be looking at upgrading is a Video Card.

[Torian kel]

Oh.

Well thank you for your answer, I was already saving up for a high end rig in three months, I guess it's just an other incentive to put on the pile !

Have a good day!

[Lathais]

Oh.

Well thank you for your answer, I was already saving up for a high end rig in three months, I guess it's just an other incentive to put on the pile !

Have a good day!

Not a problem. If I may ask were you going to be buying pre-built or building yourself? Either way, when you go to make the purchase, before you do, I highly recommend posting in the Computer sub forum here on MMO-C for extra opinions. The guys in that forum are extremely knowledgeable and helpful when it come to buying systems.

[Torian kel]

I'm mooving in with a friend, Ingenieur in Computing (I don't know if that is the correct term, "Ingénieur en Informatique"), anyway, we ave it all planned, buying all the parts seperatly on amazon. I'll specificly ask him to take one of the best CPU available ^^

[Lathais]

I'm mooving in with a friend, Ingenieur in Computing (I don't know if that is the correct term, "Ingénieur en Informatique"), anyway, we ave it all planned, buying all the parts seperatly on amazon. I'll specificly ask him to take one of the best CPU available ^^

Be careful with best CPU available. The best is currently i7-3770k however the only difference between that the i5-3570k is Hyperthreading, which very few games support and those that do the increase in performance is nominal. It's also $100 more for little to no increase in gaming performance, so be careful when buying the "best".

[DeltrusDisc]

There is your problem right there. They stopped even making that CPU about 3 years ago. I'f not sure if you can OC it or not but that will help Rift tremendously if you are comfortable doing so. The really disappointing part is that particular CPU is a socket LGA1156, current CPUs are Socket LGA1155, so to upgrade you are going to need a new MoBo as well. You could still get a decent upgrade for around $200 though, if you want to go $350 you could get a killer CPU/MoBo combo and be in very good shape for the next 2 years at least and at that point what you would be looking at upgrading is a Video Card.

No, that CPU is quite good, actually. He doesn't need to upgrade his CPU.

LGA 1156 is not that much worse than 1155.

What I'm interested to know is what GPU driver he has installed... so OP, what is your NVidia driver? Rift hates some of the older ones.

Obviously an upgrade in CPU will do some good: http://anandtech.com/bench/Product/144?vs=701

However based on his problem, I think he has the same issue with his GPU that I had with older drivers installed. Since he has a 500 series card, it's very possible he has the same issue where his card clocks down at random, and then requires a restart. It was something that caused me issues for a long time until last year they finally put out a driver that fixed the 500 series, this was the big issue for factory-overclocked cards. OP, I'd suggest making sure you are running the latest driver, that being 314.07.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/win8-wi...ql-driver.html

Choose advanced installation and go for a clean install so it fully cleans up your computer of the previous driver (don't worry it will save any multi-monitor setup you have) and update everything. This should help, hopefully!

[Cupcaek]

No, that CPU is quite good, actually. He doesn't need to upgrade his CPU.

I was going to say the same thing. If an i5 from three years ago is a problem, then it must be a miracle that my home server running a Core 2 Duo can handle Rift just fine. An i5, regardless of it's production time, is more than sufficient enough to run Rift.

@ OP: Don't waste your money on unnecessary upgrades for a CPU/Mobo. You DO NOT need to upgrade anything. See if Deltrus' reply will help alleviate the FPS issues you're experiencing.

[DeltrusDisc]

I was going to say the same thing. If an i5 from three years ago is a problem, then it must be a miracle that my home server running a Core 2 Duo can handle Rift just fine. An i5, regardless of it's production time, is more than sufficient enough to run Rift.

@ OP: Don't waste your money on unnecessary upgrades for a CPU/Mobo. You DO NOT need to upgrade anything. See if Deltrus' reply will help alleviate the FPS issues you're experiencing.

Depends on the graphics level someone wants, and resolution though.

My i5-2500K@4.6GHz struggles in some parts of Rift if I have settings turned up, specifically around lots of other players/mobs, while my 560 Ti overclocked to 950MHz gets up to 100% load out in some zones where there is a lot of visual stuff, especially off in the distance to be seen. This is at 1920x1080.

If I ever go up to 2560x1440, for instance, I know I'll need a new GPU, no doubt at all, especially just for more VRAM to handle all of that.

People who run the game at 5760x1080 or worse yet, 7680x1440 (rich folk lol) have to have serious GPUs and CPUs, or need to keep the graphics low.

[Torian kel]

My card should be updated (I think), but still going to re-install the update, just in case.

Thank you for the answers!

[vickus420]

I've always had FPS problems with rift. No idea why. I have a GTX 670 and I7 2700k

[DeltrusDisc]

I've always had FPS problems with rift. No idea why. I have a GTX 670 and I7 2700k

Can you give the rest of your system info?
What is Rift installed on? (As in, what HDD -brand, speed, size or SSD, brand, size, specific version.)
How much RAM do you have?
What motherboard do you have?
How well is everything cooled?

[philefluxx]

There is your problem right there. They stopped even making that CPU about 3 years ago. I'f not sure if you can OC it or not but that will help Rift tremendously if you are comfortable doing so. The really disappointing part is that particular CPU is a socket LGA1156, current CPUs are Socket LGA1155, so to upgrade you are going to need a new MoBo as well. You could still get a decent upgrade for around $200 though, if you want to go $350 you could get a killer CPU/MoBo combo and be in very good shape for the next 2 years at least and at that point what you would be looking at upgrading is a Video Card.

Im glad others have come in and helped the OP because holy crap is this some piss poor information. Considering I was running Rift:SL on a Q6600 (thats a 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Quad) with no trouble, Im pretty sure an i5 1st gen at 3Ghz+ is not the problem....

[theWocky]

No, that CPU is quite good, actually. He doesn't need to upgrade his CPU.

LGA 1156 is not that much worse than 1155.

Yeah, that CPU is not that bad. I was running Rift ok on a 1st gen i3 with a 460, so I fail to see why you're having issues.

What make 560 and model are you using? I saw gtw - I don't think there is a card like that?

I had an issue with a Gigabyte 560ti that was factory Super over-clocked. I set the GPU clock down 15 MHz and it made everything work better.

That PC of yours isn't "that" bad. Also, how much video memory you got? If you've only got like 1Gb, you may have issues at 1080p res.

I would perhaps - if you're going to test the upgrade path - upgrade the video card card first and go from there - may save you a bit of money.

Then again, my i5 at 3.1GHz 2400 pumps out almost 75% more performance than your CPU, but your issue still sounds like a GPU /or driver issue you're having. Also, set shadows to environment and switch off AA.

I'm more of a server guy, but if you don't come right, I'll bump it off one of my techies. Need more info, though. Deltrus seems to be on the right path, however.

[Lathais]

Well, if the CPU is not his problem I am at a loss as to what is slowing him down so bad. I play with a worse GPU and get similar numbers, so I know it is not his GPU. I guess we'll see if re-installing the drivers help, otherwise, what's left? I did mention that OC it would help tremendously, though I guess I should have spelled out that I would try that first before thinking of upgrade. I also run Rift "fine"(if 15ish FPS in raids is "fine", which I don't think so.) on a worse CPU, but it is my CPU that is holding me back from getting better numbers or numbers similar to what I get in WoW.

[DeltrusDisc]

@theWocky, I bet he meant the EVGA GTX 560 FTW card.
1GB of VRAM is enough for Rift at 1920x1080, however anything higher and I would suggest more VRAM (thus a different card altogether).

@OP, I'd actually also like to know how cool you keep your components. Do you monitor temperatures?

If not, for your CPU, download and install Real Temp 3.7.0 from here.

For GPU, I suggest GPU-Z, download and install it from here.

Play Rift a bit and then tab out/exit out (might be a better idea) and check these two programs. If your CPU is going upwards of 70 Celsius, I'd start wondering if it is trying to downclock. Above 80 Celsius I'd definitely say you may want to get a new cooler for it. GPU can handle higher temperatures, but if it is going above 90 Celsius, that's cause to be worried.