Impact of CPU speed on FPS

[punkerich]

Hi Commanders,
i have a small and simple question regarding performance:
how big is the impact of the CPU regarding FPS, specifically in Horizons / planets?
I have an outdated, but still decent setup:

AMD Phenom II 720, oced to 4x3.43ghz
8GB RAM
PSU 730W ANTEC
Radeon R9 280x 3GB

Believe it or not, i can play smooth on triple-mon with textures on high(planets low), SMAA, most other on high, shadows off.
Smooth, but visuals sure could be way better.
I'm planning to upgrade the platform to an i5 or i7, 32gb ram.
But i'd like to keep the R280X for a while...

So, anyone of you basically did the same, upgrading CPU while keeping the graphics card?
Saw a big difference in FPS?

 

[dementia]

As far as I can tell from my system at least, ED is not massively CPU heavy but it demands a lot of work from your GPU. I could be wrong as my use case is different to yours. Instead of monitors I use a DK2 and VR so the demand profile could be different.

 

[nosscar]

I believe ED is not demanding on the cpu, a good gpu is more in important, i can get over 100fps in space, 75 in stations with my fx 6300, but x rebirth for example, a known cpu hog, goes down to 10 or less in places, one reason i no longer play that game.
my r9 280 is ample for this game in space, even planets are ok with around 35-46, you should be ok with your card, unless you want 60fps on planets.

 

[dementia]

The problem becomes a lot more acute if you move to playing ED in VR as you need a very beefy system for that as your system needs to be able to maintain 75fps minimum (per eye).

The requirements for just playing using monitors is substantially less.

 

[kalniel]

A quick test is to try changing resolutions. If you lower resolution and the FPS doesn't improve then you were CPU limited and would benefit from a faster CPU.

 

[shadragon]

An AM3+ FX processor will help, but if you are in the market wait for the new AM4 Zen line coming later in 2016.

If you do want to buy now, get an FX-8370. Better OC than the 9xxx series and a lot cheaper. It's what I run today with my GTX 970. I get almost 200 FPS in most situations.

 

[Kerrash]

From experience I can say, that upgrading from a 1st Gen i7-920 to a 6th Gen i5-6600K; massively improve the variation in FPS for me.
FPS is now typically solid around 60, rather then varying anywhere from 30-60.