CPU vs. GPU Limited: Running Dragon Age Inquisition on an older powerhouse

I've been on cruise control with my PC hardware for many years now and, based on others' concerns in this forum and my experience, Dragon Age: Inquisition may force me to upgrade. When I run it at my monitor's native resolution (1920x1080) I am averaging around 20 FPS even with the "low" detail settings. While I can make it playable at lower resolutions, it pains me to do so.

I currently have an i7-950 running at stock 3.07 GHz, dual Radeon 5870s in Crossfire (1 gig each, Diamond branded), and 12 gigs of triple-channel ram. CPU-Z confirms Crossfire is functioning.

Before I start buying new parts, I'd really like to know if it is my CPU or GPUs that are the biggest bottleneck. DA:I seems to take advantage of multiple threads and I have read that it is extremely CPU intensive, but I am uncertain how to reliably measure if the CPU is maxing out. The horsepower of my GPUs has always been ample, but I do realize that the 5870 lacks many of the newer generation features that optimize performance (like specialized tessellation processing).

How can I determine if my CPU or GPUs are the bottleneck? I would like to run 30+ FPS at 1920x1080 with medium detail and not break the bank upgrading hardware. I know that this has been mentioned in many threads previously, but it's difficult to find specific recommendations.

dragon age inquisition

Anonymous
11 years ago
I have an i7 930 oc'd@3.5Ghz and a gtx980sc. I currently play with mostly ultra settings@60fps no AA. It is your gpu for sure, I recommend upgrading to a gtx970/980. Perhaps get a decent cpu-cooler and consider a small overclock, if your that way inclined. 😕mileyhappy:
One way to confirm it yourself. Turn your graphics resolution down. If your fps is still low it's your cpu, if it goes up then it's your gpu.

11 Replies

Anonymous
11 years ago
youll need at least a 600 series card and probably an i5 to run this game even on medium at 30 fps.
Anonymous
11 years ago
Can you be more specific regarding the 600 requirement? There are a tremendous variety of AMD cards in the Radeon 6000 range and many perform far more slowly than two 5870s in Crossfire. Also, what do you mean by i5? There have been four generations of Intel CPUs in that series. Although my i7-950 is a Bloomfield architecture processor, it dramatically outperforms many CPUs in the i5 product line.
Anonymous
11 years ago
I'm honestly afraid to give you an answer because i honestly know people with 980s who cant run this game on high at 60 fps.
Anonymous
11 years ago
Fair enough. It sounds like this game is really taxing even the best hardware. Perhaps a patch is in the works. Until then, if anyone knows a way to measure whether my CPU or GPUs are my first bottleneck, please let me know.
NonyoBizness
11 years ago
I don't have experience with your machine's specs however I can tell you that this game is NOT performing as it should on many powerful PCs.
I exceed the recommended specs and the game does not have that nice fluid feel to which most others do. There is another very new game out there that is having similar issues making use of hardware properly however it is nothing like DA:I.
The game runs well enough for me but some of what I'm reading from people exceeding minimum and recommended settings is pretty bad which means they need to make a major patch that actually addresses these issues ASAP.
Heck, I'd be okay with downloading another version of the game if they could make it more efficient. It's not right that PC gamers get shoved to the side and I'm sure Bioware knows that --- I have confidence in their company to address this ASAP as they are not known for letting down their consumers in such a manner.
ExcaliberSr71
11 years ago
Hey, my girlfriend has had similar issues running on her machine, which happens to have an HIS branded 5870. I'm fairly certain the issue lies mostly with the GPU. I had to do a bit of playing around four the game to run decently. The 5000 series cards don't handle anti-aliasing or post processing as efficiently as the newer cards do. I turned those kind of settings to low (or off entirely in some cases) with the medium texture setting selected. Noticed much less chop and an overall more stable experience. First game that has really challenged that computer, to be honest. I'm curious if the game is really that demanding or just poorly optimized.
Anonymous
11 years ago
I have an i7 930 oc'd@3.5Ghz and a gtx980sc. I currently play with mostly ultra settings@60fps no AA. It is your gpu for sure, I recommend upgrading to a gtx970/980. Perhaps get a decent cpu-cooler and consider a small overclock, if your that way inclined. 😕mileyhappy:
One way to confirm it yourself. Turn your graphics resolution down. If your fps is still low it's your cpu, if it goes up then it's your gpu.
MemoriesofIce
11 years ago
Crossfire are like cheating. Not only have I never understood why people do them when they don't give a necessary advantage at the time, and when they're outdated can be substituted cheaply with a single new card, (all that aside, best forget about it completely) but they don't exactly give a great and helpful indicator of how these old cards perform later on (since there's two of them, and the difference is naturally smaller).
Bottomline: I'd wish someone would test a single 5870 (notebook).
Edit: OK, I've read it, it doesn't even seem to work anyway...
Anonymous
11 years ago
Crossfire has served me well over many years. I recognize the shortcomings versus a single GPU card, but I was able to pick up my second 5870 at a very low cost used. It gave me a much needed boost at a much lower cost than a newer card.
To all who have posted: thank you for your input and advice. I have ordered a new R9 290 that should arrive in a few days. Upon further tinkering, it does appear that the graphics cards were my bottleneck. I look forward to seeing how it performs even with the older CPU.
Anonymous
11 years ago
An update: the Sapphire R9 290 came in today and I'm a happy camper. Dragon Age: Inquisition is running at 1920x1080 on Ultra presets in the 40-50 FPS range even in heavy action. The CPU is fine, it was the GPU. Only having the 1 gig of VRAM was likely a problem as well.