CPU bottleneck-# of cores or frequency

[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 (54.86 KiB) Viewed 3536 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.

[Rseding91]

As with virtually every game out there: newer manufacturing processes and higher clock speeds are what makes it run fastest.

[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

[varundevan]

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 ?

[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.

[varundevan]

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

[Koub]

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.

[varundevan]

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

[varundevan]

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