Question Is AMD driver overhead still a problem with lower end cpus?

[SteveGrabowski]

I remember in the R9 200 series AMD had huge problems with driver overhead when using lower end cpus. It was so bad I remember Digital Foundry doing a video with an i3-4130 + GTX 750 Ti outperforming an i3-4130 + R9 280 by an embarrassing margin in one of the COD games, and this showed up in many other AAA games as well. Which is crazy since 750 Ti was always a very low end card while R9 280 was a pretty good midrange card at the time. I ask because I'm looking to buy a gpu before the year ends, but my cpu is a little towards the lower end now (Xeon E3-1231v3, basically an i7-4770 non-K minus 100 MHz). And I'm not going to replace the cpu yet. I was kind of sold on the GTX 1660 Super for $230 until seeing how RDR2 devours that gpu, so I'm worried that 1660 Super would also get wrecked by Cyberpunk and Dying Light 2 next year. So now I'm thinking I should probably go a little higher with an RX 5700, RTX 2060 Super, or RTX 2070. My psu is a little low power for looking at the RX 5700 XT (it's a Bitfenix Formula 450 Gold ). Now from benchmarks and prices 5700 seems like the obvious choice, but I'm worried about the driver overhead being a problem like it known to be in the GCN cards. Does anyone know if this is a problem with current gen AMD gpus?

 

[TheELF]

But you are right, an RX580 is a lot faster than a 1050Ti. Do you notice this in all games, or just some games?

That's also something gamers nexus touched on in the video,faster GPU means you hit the game engine "barrier" that makes the game stutter and perform worse.It's the same for a lot of games,there is a reason why so many console games come with a locked vsync,it's to hide these issues.

 

[noscop3]

I don't know about warframe but your GTA5 comment sounds like it is stuttering when trying to load new areas of the map and you are traveling fast enough that the game/hardware can't keep up. Is this on an SSD?

Was going to ask the same thing. GTA is very hard on a PC's storage system. A Fast SSD is a requirement to help prevent hitching.

No it's not on my SSD and that's not a possibility either because I have an 128GB SSD.Even if I should probably change it and it isn't that expensive,I don't think it's worth it just for GTA.Also same thing here,my friends are running it on a HDD too and they can use high settings even on FiveM(gta mod with a lot of extra resources just in case you haven't heard of it)...i don't know what to say

 

[nurturedhate]

No it's not on my SSD and that's not a possibility either because I have an 128GB SSD.Even if I should probably change it and it isn't that expensive,I don't think it's worth it just for GTA.Also same thing here,my friends are running it on a HDD too and they can use high settings even on FiveM(gta mod with a lot of extra resources just in case you haven't heard of it)...i don't know what to say

What are your full system specs? Mobo, ram, everything. Seen plenty of prebuilts w/ SSDs and terrible 5400rpm drives.

 

[noscop3]

What are your full system specs? Mobo, ram, everything. Seen plenty of prebuilts w/ SSDs and terrible 5400rpm drives.

My PC is NOT prebuilt and I will never buy such a thing.The only problem is that i built it in 2015/16 can't remember exactly and back then the SSD was decent.Idk what you mean by full specs but i'll do my best:
i5-6500
rx 580 8GB
motherboard:Z270-HD3P
8GB ram(2x 4GB but still trying to figure out if it's dual channeled or not)
Samsung SSD 750 EVO 120GB
all I could find on the HDD is: WDC WD10EZEX-08WN4A0
750W PSU
If you need something else lemme know

 

[Hitman928]

My PC is NOT prebuilt and I will never buy such a thing.The only problem is that i built it in 2015/16 can't remember exactly and back then the SSD was decent.Idk what you mean by full specs but i'll do my best:
i5-6500
rx 580 8GB
motherboard:Z270-HD3P
8GB ram(2x 4GB but still trying to figure out if it's dual channeled or not)
Samsung SSD 750 EVO 120GB
all I could find on the HDD is: WDC WD10EZEX-08WN4A0
750W PSU
If you need something else lemme know

That HDD is a 7200 RPM drive with 64 MB of cache. I don't play GTAV but a combination of 8 GB of RAM with a HDD might be enough for the hitching as you described but again, not familiar enough with the game to really say.

 

[noscop3]

That HDD is a 7200 RPM drive with 64 MB of cache. I don't play GTAV but a combination of 8 GB of RAM with a HDD might be enough for the hitching as you described but again, not familiar enough with the game to really say.

is my HDD decent?I'm not really experienced with drives..

 

[Hitman928]

is my HDD decent?I'm not really experienced with drives..

In terms of desktop HDDs it's average. Pretty much any SSD would be significantly faster.

 

[nurturedhate]

What ram and what slots

My PC is NOT prebuilt and I will never buy such a thing.The only problem is that i built it in 2015/16 can't remember exactly and back then the SSD was decent.Idk what you mean by full specs but i'll do my best:
i5-6500
rx 580 8GB
motherboard:Z270-HD3P
8GB ram(2x 4GB but still trying to figure out if it's dual channeled or not)
Samsung SSD 750 EVO 120GB
all I could find on the HDD is: WDC WD10EZEX-08WN4A0
750W PSU
If you need something else lemme know

HDD is fine. Do you know what speed ram and do you have it in mem slots 1/3 or 2/4?

https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-z270-hd3p_e.pdf - link to owners manual, ram install on pg.9

 

[noscop3]

What ram and what slots

HDD is fine. Do you know what speed ram and do you have it in mem slots 1/3 or 2/4?

https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-z270-hd3p_e.pdf - link to owners manual, ram install on pg.9

 

[Shmee]

The 7200 RPM Blues are decent. Obviously SSDs are faster though. 8GB @ DDR4 3200 is good speed, but more RAM may help for some games. 16GB seems to be the sweet spot.

 

[noscop3]

The 7200 RPM Blues are decent. Obviously SSDs are faster though. 8GB @ DDR4 3200 is good speed, but more RAM may help for some games. 16GB seems to be the sweet spot.

but is my ram dual channeled or not?Also if I were to buy a new SSD let's say a 500GB one,should I use the new one for the system or should I leave the system on the old one and use the large one for games?

 

[nurturedhate]

View attachment 13257

If they are really in slots #1 and #2 then no it's not in dual channel. 1 and 3 or 2 and 4. There should be an empty ram slot between the two sticks.

 

[nurturedhate]

but is my ram dual channeled or not?Also if I were to buy a new SSD let's say a 500GB one,should I use the new one for the system or should I leave the system on the old one and use the large one for games?

I personally like having my OS on a separate drive. If I have to wipe my OS for whatever reason I'm not messing with the rest of my data. Speaking of that I'd try to go larger than 500gb. Shoot for either a 1tb or a 2tb. Game sizes are huge and it's 2019 and my base GTAV install is 83gb. Black Friday/Cyber Monday is coming up, see if you can get a decent 2tb SSD for $150 or less. Should be doable. Granted, your finances are your finances.

 

[noscop3]

I personally like having my OS on a separate drive. If I have to wipe my OS for whatever reason I'm not messing with the rest of my data. Speaking of that I'd try to go larger than 500gb. Shoot for either a 1tb or a 2tb. Game sizes are huge and it's 2019 and my base GTAV install is 83gb. Black Friday/Cyber Monday is coming up, see if you can get a decent 2tb SSD for $150 or less. Should be doable. Granted, your finances are your finances.

I'm afraid I live in a country where black friday is on a different date,and amazon is not a possibility because it would take like 1-2 months to deliver+who cares about me once it's delivered??
Also,even if it's doable I don't want to spend almost the same ammount of money I spent for my GPU on a SSD.But i'll think about it.

 

[nurturedhate]

I'm afraid I live in a country where black friday is on a different date,and amazon is not a possibility because it would take like 1-2 months to deliver+who cares about me once it's delivered??
Also,even if it's doable I don't want to spend almost the same ammount of money I spent for my GPU on a SSD.But i'll think about it.

Completely understandable and even more of a reason to leave your OS on the current drive. Did you get a chance to check your ram?

 

[Magic Carpet]

Now from benchmarks and prices 5700 seems like the obvious choice, but I'm worried about the driver overhead being a problem like it known to be in the GCN cards.

You need to stop worrying, imo. 5700 is a good DX12 card going forward and that ageing Haswell is still fine. If you're concerned about the resale value, get a Geforce card. At any case, your CPU is more than adequate if you don't shoot for top fps.

P.S. Looks like the OP has been missing in action ever since, lol.