CPU bottleneck-# of cores or frequency

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varundevan
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CPU bottleneck-# of cores or frequency

Post by varundevan »

Hi,

I am playing factorio for quite a while now, I use core i5 6300HQ running at 2.9GHz.
as i have noticed the fps in the game drops below 60, even though the game uses around 40% of CPU.
my base is getting bigger and the update screen (f5) is shown below
pppp.png
pppp.png (54.86 KiB) Viewed 3575 times
if someone knows, what affects the performance in the cpu, does the game needs higher frequency or greater number of cores , what characteristic of the cpu responsible for factorio performance. And, can you suggest a good cpu for the game.
Last edited by varundevan on Fri Jul 24, 2020 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Rseding91
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Re: CPU bottleneck-# of cores or frequency

Post by Rseding91 »

As with virtually every game out there: newer manufacturing processes and higher clock speeds are what makes it run fastest.
If you want to get ahold of me I'm almost always on Discord.
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Re: CPU bottleneck-# of cores or frequency

Post by Koub »

You need a few cores-high-frequency, but most important, you need low latency access to memory (so a fast memory, and intel is still better than AMD up to now).

There are several threads on this topic if you're willing to make a search.

Or if you're too lazy to search, you can read more here :

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=42165
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=39893
viewtopic.php?f=49&t=71956
viewtopic.php?f=49&t=62582
Koub - Please consider English is not my native language.
varundevan
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Re: CPU bottleneck-# of cores or frequency

Post by varundevan »

Koub wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2020 1:22 pm You need a few cores-high-frequency, but most important, you need low latency access to memory (so a fast memory, and intel is still better than AMD up to now).

There are several threads on this topic if you're willing to make a search.

Or if you're too lazy to search, you can read more here :

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=42165
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=39893
viewtopic.php?f=49&t=71956
viewtopic.php?f=49&t=62582
when you say about low latency , are you talking about cas latency in RAM ?
does it have anything to RAM memory frequency ?
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Re: CPU bottleneck-# of cores or frequency

Post by Koub »

Actually I went a little too fast. I should have written that what matters is memory bandwidth and latency for RAM (in that order).

For CPU, single threaded speed, and cache performance matter. When I say cache performance, it's a mix of latency and size. High latency cache access (which is an inevitable consequence of current AMD "zen" architecture) can be mitigated in some way byt a bigger L3 cache. Intel CPUs are still better for megabase UPS than the same tier AMD CPUs as I'm writing this.

so the optimal machine would have :
- the best single core speed intel CPU (all the fastest single core CPUs will have enough cores). Here's a rough hierarchy of CPUs :
- the fastest memory possible, and at that speed, the one with the least latency (and enough of it obviously)
- enough vram for HD graphics (any mid-end video card should do the trick)

Find the highest configuration that's compatible with your wallet, and you'll have the best PC money can buy for megabasing Factorio :).

[Edit] way too many typos.
Koub - Please consider English is not my native language.
varundevan
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Re: CPU bottleneck-# of cores or frequency

Post by varundevan »

Rseding91 wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2020 1:18 pm As with virtually every game out there: newer manufacturing processes and higher clock speeds are what makes it run fastest.
would you recommend a CPU (desktop), that would handle the game very well
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Re: CPU bottleneck-# of cores or frequency

Post by Koub »

varundevan wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:13 pm
Rseding91 wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2020 1:18 pm As with virtually every game out there: newer manufacturing processes and higher clock speeds are what makes it run fastest.
would you recommend a CPU (desktop), that would handle the game very well
i9-10900K > i9-9900K > i7-10700K > i7-9700K > i5-10600K > i5-9600K
(these are the recent ones, some older generation CPUs can be competitive, as my i7-8700K for example). All of these will handle Factorio very well.
Koub - Please consider English is not my native language.
varundevan
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Re: CPU bottleneck-# of cores or frequency

Post by varundevan »

Koub wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:12 pm Actually I went a little too fast. I should have written that what matters is memory bandwidth and latency for RAM (in that order).

For CPU, single threaded speed, and cache performance matter. When I say cache performance, it's a mix of latency and size. high latency cache access (which is an inevitable consequance of current AMD "zen" architecture) can be mitigated in some way byt a bigger L3 cache. Intel CPUs are still better for megabase UPS than the same tier AMD CPUs as I'm writinf this.

so the optimal machine would have :
- the best single core speed intel CPU (all the fastest single core CPUs will have enough cores). Here's a rough hierarchy of CPUs :
- the fastest memory possible, and at that speed, the one with the least latency (and enough of it obviously)
- enough vram for HD graphics (any mid-end video card should do the trick)

Find the highest configuration that's compatible with your wallet, and you'll have the best PC money can buy for megabasing Factorio :).
Thanks a lot , that was very much useful for configuring my next update
Last edited by varundevan on Sun Jul 26, 2020 2:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
varundevan
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Re: CPU bottleneck-# of cores or frequency

Post by varundevan »

Koub wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:32 pm
varundevan wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:13 pm
Rseding91 wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2020 1:18 pm As with virtually every game out there: newer manufacturing processes and higher clock speeds are what makes it run fastest.
would you recommend a CPU (desktop), that would handle the game very well
i9-10900K > i9-9900K > i7-10700K > i7-9700K > i5-10600K > i5-9600K
(these are the recent ones, some older generation CPUs can be competitive, as my i7-8700K for example). All of these will handle Factorio very well.
i would pick 10600 non k variant as the z series motherboard cost a lot ..
and also the 10600k has only a few hundred hz boost ..
overclocking is not my cup of tea .. :? .. suggestions are welcome
thanks again
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