How much would the MSI Radeon RX 480 4GB impact my game performance?

[Lonnehart]

At the moment I'm running an R7 240 (the Gigabyte 2GB Overclock version). When planets load up in my game my frame rates slows to a crawl... and sometimes it's in SPF (Seconds per Frame instead of FPS (Frames per Second). Not related to Starmade I went and ordered the MSI RX 480 (4 gigabyte version) because a lot of games I want to play won't run on my current graphics card.

So how much improvement can I expect with this upgrade when I get it in about two weeks? Anyways...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KIZUF7Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I was VERY lucky to get mine at $219 and it was apparently the last one at that price because it went up as soon as my order was placed...

Current Specs:
CPU: AMD FX 8350 (stock not overclocked)
GPU: Gigabyte Radeon R7 240 2GB OC Edition
System RAM: 8GB

 

[Calhoun]

The 480 is far and away faster than the R7 240.

See this for an Idea how much faster it is: UserBenchmark: AMD R7 240 vs RX 480

 

[Qweesdy]

At the moment I'm running an R7 240 (the Gigabyte 2GB Overclock version). When planets load up in my game my frame rates slows to a crawl... and sometimes it's in SPF (Seconds per Frame instead of FPS (Frames per Second). Not related to Starmade I went and ordered the MSI RX 480 (4 gigabyte version) because a lot of games I want to play won't run on my current graphics card.

So how much improvement can I expect with this upgrade when I get it in about two weeks?

For "benchmark performance" see a benchmark. For "end-user perceived difference"....

What will actually happen is that it will seem better than what you're used to now, but "what your used to" changes over time. In less than 1 month your computer will seem exactly the same as it does now.

 

[Panpiper]

For "benchmark performance" see a benchmark. For "end-user perceived difference"....

What will actually happen is that it will seem better than what you're used to now, but "what your used to" changes over time. In less than 1 month your computer will seem exactly the same as it does now.

Well, I can understand why you would say this, but it is not entirely true. I too a year ago was playing Starmade on a seriously substandard computer. (I was running it with a GeForce 210.) I too would have my framerate slow to a crawl if I got too near a planet. I too lived in fear of a large ship showing up at spawn, etc.

Then I got a halfway decent computer with a GeForce 970 (only slightly better than an RX 480), and a cloud was lifted. Planets posed no more problems. I could do a flyby of a titan and while I could see a drop in FPS numbers, it did not actually harm the experience of my flyby. To this day a year later, I still remember the pain my machine would share with me whenever we tried anything beyond solitaire with small ships.

It is true that now I push limits in a different way, and likely that is what Qweesdy means. But now, pushing it does not mean flying close to a planet or visiting spawn. Now pushing it means trying to fight a titan with a large fleet of destroyer scale drones orbiting your homebase with your battleminer docked.

 

[SmilingDemon]

that depends if your CPU is actually able to handle planet generation fast enough for the GPU to have stuff to do.

it is fairly useless to have a GPU that sits there and waits for the small moment it actualy has to work
a well rounded package of CPU-GPU is the proper way to go with starmade. with high single core performance on the CPU as far as i did understand.

 

[Lonnehart]

So what you guys are saying is that when I install that graphics card into my system I should expect to be amazed... Since the card is VR ready I wonder how Starmade would look through those headsets...

 

[Panpiper]

So what you guys are saying is that when I install that graphics card into my system I should expect to be amazed... Since the card is VR ready I wonder how Starmade would look through those headsets...

Games have to be written specifically so as to be VR compatible. Starmade 'could' be in theory, but I have no idea how much extra work it would be. I am quite certain that if you play Starmade with a VR headset, you will see 2D, not 3D, assuming you see anything at all.

 

[Lonnehart]

Games have to be written specifically so as to be VR compatible. Starmade 'could' be in theory, but I have no idea how much extra work it would be. I am quite certain that if you play Starmade with a VR headset, you will see 2D, not 3D, assuming you see anything at all.

Well... maybe it'll be VR ready by the time I'm able to afford a VR headset (which won't be for a VERY long time)...

 

[jayman38]

At one point, I think middle versions of Starmade (those available when I first came on the Starmade scene a couple of years ago) had an early Occulus Rift mode. However, it hasn't been addressed since then, with no updates for new OR SDK versions, and no mention of VR in any release notes since then, that I have seen.

In terms of raw coding, it would be a matter of creating a split-screen, two-canvas video output, with the two virtual cameras being locked near the original camera point, positioned side-by-side in-game. The two cameras probably need to converge in the same way that beam outputs converge on a single object, allowing players to "focus" on objects, so that they don't develop headaches.

Has anyone seen or heard of any recent murmurings about VR development among the dev team?

 

[StarWars1981]

Not a bit about VR. Didn't even know it was ever compatible, lol.

 

[Calhoun]

Then I got a halfway decent computer with a GeForce 970 (only slightly better than an RX 480)

Sorry Pan, but you're a bit off here. The RX 480 is about 10-15% faster than a 970 in DX11 titles, and significantly faster in DX12.

 

[Tydeth]

that depends if your CPU is actually able to handle planet generation fast enough for the GPU to have stuff to do.

His listed current CPU is an 8-core/8-thread powerhouse that runs at 4.0 GHz, with 4.2 GHz boost clock and 8MB L2 cache. It rivals the Intel i7-6700K CPU.


Lonnehart With that CPU, the RX 480 will easily handle StarMade. Expect to see a crazy FPS number if you don't use the settings to limit the FPS to what your monitor(s) can handle.

 

[Calhoun]

His listed current CPU is an 8-core/8-thread powerhouse that runs at 4.0 GHz, with 4.2 GHz boost clock and 8MB L2 cache. It rivals the Intel i7-6700K CPU.

Actually, the 8350 isn't overly powerful. In most games it's performance is similar to an i3.

 

[Tydeth]

Calhoun Oh? That is interesting.

 

[Lonnehart]

Calhoun is right. The AMD FX 8350 is not great with single core performance (which is apparently important when gaming). But I'm guessing with Starmade I'll get better performance when the RX 480 is installed (the worst part is the wait... and that it's being shipped with USPS). I mean... Starmade at the moment requires an AMD 6XXX at the minimum so I'm going to assume the game uses more than one core.


Yeah... I'm like a little kid anticipating recieving one of the coolest toys on the block, and have gone so far as watching unboxing vids. Mind you I don't upgrade very often, but when I do I try to future proof my machine so I don't have to upgrade for a long time...

And I'm going to guarantee that my reaction to opening the box won't be like this guy...

Spoiler

 

[Lonnehart]

Well... the card's installed and it performs beautifully. Lowest FPS hovers above 70. Just one snag though (could be Windows 10 related)... When I'm flying around and the game is loading planets as I come to them my system gets a BSOD "System Service Exception". This only happens when I play Starmade in Windows 10. I've already replaced Java, done various scans (which for some reason can't remove some corrupted files), and even tried a repair using the ISO I downloaded onto a flash drive with no luck.

I can play the game in Windows 8.1 and it has yet to crash on me, but it's annoying to have to switch my OS just to play. At this point I may just reformat my Windows 10 system drive and reinstall everything...

 

[SmilingDemon]

BSODs are usually a sign for driver problem if they are not harware related.
as it is working fine under win8.1 i would rule our hardware issues.
are you sure you did use the latest AMD driver ?

 

[Lonnehart]

BSODs are usually a sign for driver problem if they are not harware related.
as it is working fine under win8.1 i would rule our hardware issues.
are you sure you did use the latest AMD driver ?

Already found the problem (took me a day of troubleshooting though). I've got a couple of corrupt SYS files that are associated with the AMD drivers thanks to a few bad sectors. Nothing a full reformat shouldn't fix...

-edit-
I really REALLY lucked out. Had I waited a bit too long to order the card, it would've been out of my reach pricewise and I would've had to settle for the RX 460 or 470. Thank you, price gouging resellers...

-edit 2- Spoke too soon. Error's still there, even with the reformatting. I guess I'll be switching the OS if I want to play Starmade...