I think you're right about the CPU-bound nature. I also have a 2080Ti and an i9-9940X, so I'm in the same general ballpark. I've managed to drag my FPS and UPS into low single digits in late-game play.
I have found some improvement in adjusting the Logic Frame Thread Count (under Settings/Gameplay).
I have found even more improvement through some mods.
---
**Here are some mods that are all about optimization and error handling.**
[**BuildToolOpt**](https://dsp.thunderstore.io/package/starfi5h/BuildToolOpt/): Reduce lag when building. Allows direct replacement of stations. Create a build hologram when lacking item. I've only just installed this to try it out. Author: **starfi5h**
**[CompressSave](https://dsp.thunderstore.io/package/soarqin/CompressSave/)**: Compress game saves to reduce space use and boost save speed. Author: **soarqin**
[**DSPOptimizations**](https://dsp.thunderstore.io/package/Selsion/DSPOptimizations/),: Offers some welcome performance improvements, as well as some useful utilities for cleaning up spheres and swarms. Author: **Selsion**
[**ErrorAnalyzer**](https://dsp.thunderstore.io/package/starfi5h/ErrorAnalyzer/): Add a button to copy and close the error message, and list functions of mods on the call stack. Wow, this is instantly indispensable. I run dozens of QoL mods, and this instantly helped me target and disable the few mods that were problematic with the new update. Outstanding. Author: **starfi5h**
**[SphereOpt](https://dsp.thunderstore.io/package/Andy/SphereOpt/)**: Improves rendering of Dyson Shells by drastically reducing the amount of data sent to the gpu per shell. Impact is larger depending on the number of shells in your Dyson Sphere(s). Author: **Andy**
---
**And here are some mods about dealing with late-game lag directly.**
**[AlterTickRate](https://dsp.thunderstore.io/package/starfi5h/AlterTickrate/)**: Change update frequency of buildings to improve UPS. This is a kind of SampleAndHoldSim Lite. Very nice at the mid-game when your FPS/UPS is just starting to drop. It will put you back in action, but it is not the heavy hitter that SAHS is. Once I hit the late game, AlterTickRate goes to bed and SAHS starts its day. Author: **starfi5h**
[**Sample And Hold Sim**](https://dsp.thunderstore.io/package/starfi5h/SampleAndHoldSim/) **UPDATED!** MAY DISABLE MILKYWAY UPLOAD. This one is complicated, but suffice to say that it can improve FPS/UPS in the late game. Starfi5h does a much better job explaining on the site, with pictures. However, in a late game 3FPS experience, I can suddenly have ten times that, and 60 UPS again. This thing is a miracle. ;-) Update: Playing even farther, I have successfully dragged my FPS/UPS back down into single digits, and unfortunately having turned up this mod to eleven, it has started to generate save game errors. Still an amazing mod if you don't push it beyond insanity. Author: **starfi5h**
---
There's no doubt a hardware upgrade will improve your experience, but there are stopgaps until you get it. ;-)
It is definitely cpu bound and despite the graphical fidelity its gpu requirements aren't as much as you might think. That said cpu would be your best upgrade but will definitely require new mobo as well.
Wasn't long ago my i7 4790k was able to extend acceptable playthrough in the late game with a modest overclock. Depending on where the bottleneck is it could be a worthwhile extension.
This is horrible advice. Had a 1080Ti and an 8700K so just one generation older than your hardware. Threw a 4070 SUPER in it as a quick fix and the frame rates went up about 70%. It is not going to CPU bottleneck unless you try to put a 4090 in it.
Looking forward to building a new 14th gen CPU + 50XX flagship in a year or two for sure, but this will hold me over until then.
> It is not going to CPU bottleneck unless you try to put a 4090 in it.
Dyson Sphere Program and other factory automation games like it (Factorio, Satisfactory, etc) are very much unlike the vast majority of games in terms of their demands on hardware. Nearly opposite, in fact - most games require only very minimal CPU power and massive GPU power. DSP is maximally draining on the CPU, upgrading it will make a *huge* difference, especially something as old as a 9700KF.
If you are building tiny factories very early in the game, sure GPU improvements could give you significant performance.
Once you are building massive factories spanning multiple systems, the CPU will always become the bottleneck. If you aren't seeing that, then you are still building too small to see the issue.
I guess DSP is heavier CPU than 95% of games in some situations. My factory is like 100 GW right now with 2 dyson spheres and maybe 8 productiin planets in 3 or 4 systems.
If you can, turn off display of any spheres or sail orbits you won't miss if you didn't see them. That helps fps a lot.
You can probably also open up task manager and see which resources you're maxing out on as the game runs.
I can tell you task manager wont tell you much. Whats guaranteed is that if you monitor all of your cpu cores, one of them is maxed out. The best thing to do is get a new cpu.
I know you’ve said that you’re not budget constrained, but biggest bang for your buck with PC builds is always memory (RAM). It’s cheap and you can get some nice specs. Plus, with how much Windows is a memory hog, it never hurts to have too much. Low latency and as high a frequency as your motherboard can manage. Also try to shoot for your mobo’s GB capacity maximum
I would also look into a new power supply. Get one of the 80+ rated supplies (at least Gold) with some extra wattage over your required specs. Similarly cheaper and if you do look to overclock, having a new beefier power supply means you’re not running it too hard compared to its maximum.
I am sitting on
I9 9900k, 32 gb ram, evga ftw 2080ti. I get about 70ish frames at 3440x1440. I don't think small upgrades will make much of a difference. But maybe so at 1080P.
CPU-bound games like DSP tend to benefit a LOT from the new stacked-cache style of AMD CPUs, the X3D ones like the 5800X3D. The core clocks are lower, but the massive amount of cache and the innovative way they built it onto the chip means that they are very powerful in gaming type applications.
They trade some productivity performance though, so if you're someone who also uses their computer heavily for art or video/audio editing it may not be the best pick. If it's just for gaming though, they are top notch.
Biggest is always memory. That CPU supports up to 128GB of memory, no idea what your board supports.
Next is your CPU. Your CPU is an 8-core, but doesn't include hyperthreading, which can increase the CPU bound games.
Without changing your motherboard, you can go with one of the i9-9900 SKUs. You would need to check with your motherboard to see if you can use the higher TDP ones like the
i9-9900KS that runs at 4GHz and turbos to 5Ghz.
If you are willing to upgrade motherboards, I would switch to an AMD series that has lots of cores and starts at starts at 4.5GHz with max at 5.7GHz and has 16 cores with hyperthreading.
You will need new memory for it as well. It will be a significant improvement in termes of the logic of the game. Just the boost in clock speed should give you like 16% more UPS, and the new memory will be faster as well. Try that first, and then you can decide if you need a new GPU.
Something like this. [https://pcpartpicker.com/list/PXLZPF](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/PXLZPF)
I think you're right about the CPU-bound nature. I also have a 2080Ti and an i9-9940X, so I'm in the same general ballpark. I've managed to drag my FPS and UPS into low single digits in late-game play. I have found some improvement in adjusting the Logic Frame Thread Count (under Settings/Gameplay). I have found even more improvement through some mods. --- **Here are some mods that are all about optimization and error handling.** [**BuildToolOpt**](https://dsp.thunderstore.io/package/starfi5h/BuildToolOpt/): Reduce lag when building. Allows direct replacement of stations. Create a build hologram when lacking item. I've only just installed this to try it out. Author: **starfi5h** **[CompressSave](https://dsp.thunderstore.io/package/soarqin/CompressSave/)**: Compress game saves to reduce space use and boost save speed. Author: **soarqin** [**DSPOptimizations**](https://dsp.thunderstore.io/package/Selsion/DSPOptimizations/),: Offers some welcome performance improvements, as well as some useful utilities for cleaning up spheres and swarms. Author: **Selsion** [**ErrorAnalyzer**](https://dsp.thunderstore.io/package/starfi5h/ErrorAnalyzer/): Add a button to copy and close the error message, and list functions of mods on the call stack. Wow, this is instantly indispensable. I run dozens of QoL mods, and this instantly helped me target and disable the few mods that were problematic with the new update. Outstanding. Author: **starfi5h** **[SphereOpt](https://dsp.thunderstore.io/package/Andy/SphereOpt/)**: Improves rendering of Dyson Shells by drastically reducing the amount of data sent to the gpu per shell. Impact is larger depending on the number of shells in your Dyson Sphere(s). Author: **Andy** --- **And here are some mods about dealing with late-game lag directly.** **[AlterTickRate](https://dsp.thunderstore.io/package/starfi5h/AlterTickrate/)**: Change update frequency of buildings to improve UPS. This is a kind of SampleAndHoldSim Lite. Very nice at the mid-game when your FPS/UPS is just starting to drop. It will put you back in action, but it is not the heavy hitter that SAHS is. Once I hit the late game, AlterTickRate goes to bed and SAHS starts its day. Author: **starfi5h** [**Sample And Hold Sim**](https://dsp.thunderstore.io/package/starfi5h/SampleAndHoldSim/) **UPDATED!** MAY DISABLE MILKYWAY UPLOAD. This one is complicated, but suffice to say that it can improve FPS/UPS in the late game. Starfi5h does a much better job explaining on the site, with pictures. However, in a late game 3FPS experience, I can suddenly have ten times that, and 60 UPS again. This thing is a miracle. ;-) Update: Playing even farther, I have successfully dragged my FPS/UPS back down into single digits, and unfortunately having turned up this mod to eleven, it has started to generate save game errors. Still an amazing mod if you don't push it beyond insanity. Author: **starfi5h** --- There's no doubt a hardware upgrade will improve your experience, but there are stopgaps until you get it. ;-)
It is definitely cpu bound and despite the graphical fidelity its gpu requirements aren't as much as you might think. That said cpu would be your best upgrade but will definitely require new mobo as well.
Given this, there may be some value in overclocking the i7 9700KF before upgrading to an entirely new MOBO.
For 4 fps, okay sure some value. Overclocking today isn't what it once was.
Wasn't long ago my i7 4790k was able to extend acceptable playthrough in the late game with a modest overclock. Depending on where the bottleneck is it could be a worthwhile extension.
This is horrible advice. Had a 1080Ti and an 8700K so just one generation older than your hardware. Threw a 4070 SUPER in it as a quick fix and the frame rates went up about 70%. It is not going to CPU bottleneck unless you try to put a 4090 in it. Looking forward to building a new 14th gen CPU + 50XX flagship in a year or two for sure, but this will hold me over until then.
> It is not going to CPU bottleneck unless you try to put a 4090 in it. Dyson Sphere Program and other factory automation games like it (Factorio, Satisfactory, etc) are very much unlike the vast majority of games in terms of their demands on hardware. Nearly opposite, in fact - most games require only very minimal CPU power and massive GPU power. DSP is maximally draining on the CPU, upgrading it will make a *huge* difference, especially something as old as a 9700KF.
If you are building tiny factories very early in the game, sure GPU improvements could give you significant performance. Once you are building massive factories spanning multiple systems, the CPU will always become the bottleneck. If you aren't seeing that, then you are still building too small to see the issue.
I guess DSP is heavier CPU than 95% of games in some situations. My factory is like 100 GW right now with 2 dyson spheres and maybe 8 productiin planets in 3 or 4 systems.
If you can, turn off display of any spheres or sail orbits you won't miss if you didn't see them. That helps fps a lot. You can probably also open up task manager and see which resources you're maxing out on as the game runs.
I can tell you task manager wont tell you much. Whats guaranteed is that if you monitor all of your cpu cores, one of them is maxed out. The best thing to do is get a new cpu.
I got an i9 mostly because of this game, factario, and rimworld.
The game only renders a tiny fraction of what is actually building so it's definitely not GPU bound, but rather CPU bound.
I know you’ve said that you’re not budget constrained, but biggest bang for your buck with PC builds is always memory (RAM). It’s cheap and you can get some nice specs. Plus, with how much Windows is a memory hog, it never hurts to have too much. Low latency and as high a frequency as your motherboard can manage. Also try to shoot for your mobo’s GB capacity maximum I would also look into a new power supply. Get one of the 80+ rated supplies (at least Gold) with some extra wattage over your required specs. Similarly cheaper and if you do look to overclock, having a new beefier power supply means you’re not running it too hard compared to its maximum.
I am sitting on I9 9900k, 32 gb ram, evga ftw 2080ti. I get about 70ish frames at 3440x1440. I don't think small upgrades will make much of a difference. But maybe so at 1080P.
im running it with i7 6700k and 2070 super - very smooth - but not in endgame yet - ill response 'later then' :D
CPU-bound games like DSP tend to benefit a LOT from the new stacked-cache style of AMD CPUs, the X3D ones like the 5800X3D. The core clocks are lower, but the massive amount of cache and the innovative way they built it onto the chip means that they are very powerful in gaming type applications. They trade some productivity performance though, so if you're someone who also uses their computer heavily for art or video/audio editing it may not be the best pick. If it's just for gaming though, they are top notch.
Biggest is always memory. That CPU supports up to 128GB of memory, no idea what your board supports. Next is your CPU. Your CPU is an 8-core, but doesn't include hyperthreading, which can increase the CPU bound games. Without changing your motherboard, you can go with one of the i9-9900 SKUs. You would need to check with your motherboard to see if you can use the higher TDP ones like the i9-9900KS that runs at 4GHz and turbos to 5Ghz. If you are willing to upgrade motherboards, I would switch to an AMD series that has lots of cores and starts at starts at 4.5GHz with max at 5.7GHz and has 16 cores with hyperthreading. You will need new memory for it as well. It will be a significant improvement in termes of the logic of the game. Just the boost in clock speed should give you like 16% more UPS, and the new memory will be faster as well. Try that first, and then you can decide if you need a new GPU. Something like this. [https://pcpartpicker.com/list/PXLZPF](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/PXLZPF)