What upgrades will help performance most

[RavinReno]

Hi all, I am looking for advice on upgrades for my system. It is running ok at the moment on medium settings but I have no mods or DLC and in what I assume is early to mid-game. (This being my first play-through). I would like to add some DLC and possibly some mods and think that my current set-up may struggle when I start building large fleets.

I know I will not get amazing or in any way guaranteed results with this game so I am only looking for options. Firstly My GPU is due an update so what I am looking for is opinions on what specs to look for in a GPU that will best benefit the game.
Should I look for a higher V-Ram or higher speed and other specs or will the money be better spent elsewhere?

Current set up-
12100f
RX 580
2 x 8GB DDR5 -4800

looking at ~ £500 for the GPU upgrade. I guess my ask is basically AMD or Nvidia but where the 2 cards differ is what I am interested in in-game performance for x4.
Also, I have a Freesync monitor (1018p) so I was leaning towards an AMD but if that makes little difference then I would move to another card. I may even upgrade the monitor at a later date

Thanks in advance.

[CBJ]

Moved over to Off Topic, where hardware recommendations belong.

In general, game performances scales the most with CPU core speed, then with RAM speed. GPU performance is a factor, especially in busy locations, but you can turn graphics settings down, which isn't an option for the game elements that make use of CPU and RAM.

[-=SiR KiLLaLoT=-]

My advice is this CPU and this RAM.

Check if your motherboard supports 6400mhz DDR5 CL32 memory without having to resort to special settings.

Otherwise you can opt for these RAM (6000mhz CL30 are most compatible).

The important thing is that the rams have a very low access time, the only statistic that makes them really fast.
The calculation to know this is: 2000 * CL / MHZ. In the case of the ram mentioned above the value is 10 nanoseconds.

By replacing these two components you should get a nice improvement in the overall performance of the game without having to change everything.
If you decide to change video card, I'd say go for an used RTX 3080 or a new 4070.

[Maze Morgenstern]

Hi RavinReno,

looking at your System, i would upgrade that 6 year old GPU first. Any new GPU will be significantly faster.

Your CPU/RAM is quite modern, it should run the game fine most of the time.

Seeing your pricing over in Brexitland, i'll go with a RX 6700 XT for 300-350£ and take that Starfield Promo-Code for free with it
That card takes about es much power as your RX580, so your PSU should be fine.

A RTX 4060 is an option too, Freesync Monitors are supportet since the 3000 Series, and its (as well as AMD's newer RX 7600) more energyefficient, if that matters to you.
Anything bigger would be overkill for X4 on a 1080p Monitor and may require a PSU upgrade as well. Better save the money for a CPU upgrade.

[burger1]

Focus on other games performance. Have you tried tweeking settings? There might not be a cpu currently built that can do what you might have in mind? With large fleets and stuff you will probably drop below 60 fps. In some other areas of the game your fps might also be below 60.

Going from 4800 mhz ram to 6400 might not produce a great fps difference. Should be videos on ddr5 ram speed comparisons. Your mainboard might also not support the ram speeds or be stable at that speed. Also might be quite costly.

[RavinReno]

A RTX 4060 is an option too, Freesync Monitors are supportet since the 3000 Series, and its (as well as AMD's newer RX 7600) more energyefficient, if that matters to you.
Anything bigger would be overkill for X4 on a 1080p Monitor and may require a PSU upgrade as well. Better save the money for a CPU upgrade.

Yes GPU is the next purchase for me, the current one is a leftover from a previous build.
My board is a ROG STRIX Z690-G and psu is TX550M.

So your saying don't go much higher than the RTX 4060 or RX 7600 in terms of memory size. My current card has 4GB and both of those have 8GB. and spend it on a CPU upgrade in the future.
I was thinking of maybe waiting for the new AMD cards to be released, I think they will be 12GB and 16GB. would this only benefit from a higher resolution screen?

[Maze Morgenstern]

[...]

So your saying don't go much higher than the RTX 4060 or RX 7600 in terms of memory size. My current card has 4GB and both of those have 8GB. and spend it on a CPU upgrade in the future.
I was thinking of maybe waiting for the new AMD cards to be released, I think they will be 12GB and 16GB. would this only benefit from a higher resolution screen?

No, sry about that confusion. I meant the RX 6700 XT. That is good value for money and better than RTX 4060/RX 7600 in every way exept energyefficiancy.
Whith PC-Hardware, you can always wait for the next better thing to come out, it never stops^^
AMD's RX 7700 and 7800 are not even anounced yet, could be a while ore maybee never.

There isnt any reliable data for GPU's on X4 so i have to guess and extrapolate from other games.
RX 7600 should be as fast ( maybe a bit faster) as RTX 4060 while beeing a bit cheaper, but needs more energy
RX 6700 XT is at least 15% faster, but takes a lot more energy.
The energyefficianciancy on the RTX 4060 and 4070 is seriously good and the main reason i bought a 4070 myselfe (Germany shuting down Nuclear powerplants and stupid politics^^)
However my 4070 barely runs at 100% load in X4 and thats on 1440p with a AMD 5800X3D

Your PSU can handle the 230 Watt of a RX 6700 XT for shure.

"ROG STRIX Z690-G" thats an expensive MoBo for an i3, it begs for a 13700K^^

[burger1]

Youtube fps and comparison videos and tech spec sheets should give you quite a few answers to your questions.

What resolution do you play games at? Even at 1080p your cpu probably won't be the limiting factor. 12100f seems to handle a 4060 at 1080p with power to spare.

For station fps change in Documents\Egosoft\X4\53790910\config.xml and setting "<trafficdensity>0.01</trafficdensity>" from 0.50 and "<chardensity>0.20</chardensity>" from 0.50.

For mini map fps performance - disable trade, mining, think and other filters when not in use

Turn off the fog

Turn down to graphics. Some AA types are harder to run.

Old game versions cpu benchmark. Game seems to use more gpu now? Need to be cautious.

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