[SOLVED] CPU bottleneck RTX 2080

[jeroen.beunckens]

Build:
I5 7600K
GTX 970 4GB
ROG Strix Z260H
DDR 4 16GB

Situation:
My friend wanted to build his own gaming desktop. I decided to donate him my GTX 970 so I could upgrade mine so I could get some better performance. Wanting to game 144hz 1440p was a desire so I decided an RTX 2080 should be able to achieve that.

Once I received it, reinstalling the correct drivers and deleting the old once’s, my desktop seemed to run worse on games like Battlefield V and R6 Siege. Seems that my CPU was maxing out at 100% while my GPU was sitting at 50%. Making changes to my settings did not make a huge difference.

Steps taken:
To try and fix this issue I downgraded my driver (15 Jan. release) to one of the earliest RTX 2080 drivers. This seemed to fix it by quite a bit but still not enough.

I then decided to overclock my CPU to 4.7 GHz, and now it’s running kinda great. The CPU is still maxing out at 100% but the GPU is now at 70% avg.

Questions:
1. It seems pretty logical that my CPU is bottlenecking my system here, although I thought the I5 7600k was a fairly good CPU? To start with a “simple” question: Will upgrading my CPU fix my problem?

2. If the answer to my previous question is Yes, which CPU would be sufficient? Intel preferebally since I don’t want to swap out motherboards.

3. If my bottleneck gets fixed, will my setup be able to handle 1440p 144hz in some titles? I don’t want to throw almost a grand at a good 1440p monitor when my desktop can’t even supply it with enough frames.

Input is highly appreciated

 

[theonerm2]

1.Yes. Upgrading the CPU will fix the problem but I recommend at least a Core i7 8700 non k CPU.
2. You will need a new motherboard to upgrade to the CPU I suggest. The i7 7700K is your best option without a new board. It may not completely fix your problem though. The reason being is that Battlefield V is Core hungry and the i7 7700K only has 4 cores + hyperthreading which at best equals another 1.2 Cores. I've heard even the 6 core i5 8600K has issues with that game and it's a bit ahead on the core count.
3. It depends on the games you like to play and the settings you like. Very demanding games especially if they are hard on the CPU will likely not see 144FPS. Most games will work though at Ultra 1440p 144FPS.

I am a hobbyist game developer, Computer hardware enthusiast, and I know 3 programming languages Qbasic, Visual Basic, and C#.

 

[jeroen.beunckens]

1.Yes. Upgrading the CPU will fix the problem but I recommend at least a Core i7 8700 non k CPU.
2. You will need a new motherboard to upgrade to the CPU I suggest. The i7 7700K is your best option without a new board. It may not completely fix your problem though. The reason being is that Battlefield V is Core hungry and the i7 7700K only has 4 cores + hyperthreading which at best equals another 1.2 Cores. I've heard even the 6 core i5 8600K has issues with that game and it's a bit ahead on the core count.
3. It depends on the games you like to play and the settings you like. Very demanding games especially if they are hard on the CPU will likely not see 144FPS. Most games will work though at Ultra 1440p 144FPS.

I am a hobbyist game developer, Computer hardware enthusiast, and I know 3 programming languages Qbasic, Visual Basic, and C#.

Thank you for your answer!

Seems like I have to upgrade my setup if I want to make use of the RTX 2080. Since I have to upgrade my motherboard anyway, is Intel still the way to go, or is Ryzen a better option (performance wise, not budget)?

 

[theonerm2]

1.Yes. Upgrading the CPU will fix the problem but I recommend at least a Core i7 8700 non k CPU.
2. You will need a new motherboard to upgrade to the CPU I suggest. The i7 7700K is your best option without a new board. It may not completely fix your problem though. The reason being is that Battlefield V is Core hungry and the i7 7700K only has 4 cores + hyperthreading which at best equals another 1.2 Cores. I've heard even the 6 core i5 8600K has issues with that game and it's a bit ahead on the core count.
3. It depends on the games you like to play and the settings you like. Very demanding games especially if they are hard on the CPU will likely not see 144FPS. Most games will work though at Ultra 1440p 144FPS.

I am a hobbyist game developer, Computer hardware enthusiast, and I know 3 programming languages Qbasic, Visual Basic, and C#.

Thank you for your answer!

Seems like I have to upgrade my setup if I want to make use of the RTX 2080. Since I have to upgrade my motherboard anyway, is Intel still the way to go, or is Ryzen a better option (performance wise, not budget)?

I wouldn't go with Ryzen this close to the Ryzen 3000 series release. Intel is generally better at gaming. So I would go with Intel now if FPS is what matters most to you. And if you want a high refresh rate monitor FPS is very important. It seemed like Battlefield V was working fine not long ago with 4 cores and 8 threads. I have an older i7 4790K and it plays pretty badly. I imagine it wouldn't be much better on a 7700K seeing as the main difference is a 10% higher ipc improvement.

 

[norcalsc]

If you can get a cheap 7700k@4.8-5.0ghz it will hold you over for the life of the 2080, it will make a big difference over the 7600k due to the HT. For now it is still a fully capable gaming cpu as games still can't utilize all these cores for the most part. This would only apply if you could get one for a good price, otherwise just go big and upgrade platforms

 

[theonerm2]

I just ran a test on my 4790K with GTX 1080 ti. I got over 120fps most of the time. Not sure what was wrong before but it does seem to work decently now on my CPU. So yeah. You should be able to do fine with a Core i7 7700K.

 

[jeroen.beunckens]

The I7 7700k is 400€ in my region NEW. This is probably too high?
The I7 7700k second handed is 300€.
The I7 4790k second handed is 200€.

I have another question for you guys:
If I upgrade my monitor to 1440p, will my cpu suffer from the load?
If I'm not mistaking, wont only my GPU be loaded?

 

[Gmoney06ss]

The I7 7700k is 400€ in my region NEW. This is probably too high?
The I7 7700k second handed is 300€.
The I7 4790k second handed is 200€.

I have another question for you guys:
If I upgrade my monitor to 1440p, will my cpu suffer from the load?
If I'm not mistaking, wont only my GPU be loaded?

I've also been looking for a new or used 7700k, coming from a 6600k. They are no cheaper here in the U.S. best I've found is $350 new and 250-300 used. If I could find one for a lower used, I may get it. If not I'll keep the 6600k until ryzen 3000 comes out and make an upgrade decision then.

Going to 1440p will reduce cpu load and increase gpu load. I just recently went from a 1080/144 to a 1440/144. I may not max out at 144, but GTA V does 90-120, and BF 1 does 60-75 and sometimes higher depending. I have a 1070 right now and will be picking up a 2080 in a month or so.

 

[boju]

It is a dilemma right now. R3 coming out soon and 7700k is quite expensive. Can get Ryzen 2600 + mobo for that price.

8 threads would help a lot, 4 cores just doesnt cut it anymore at high frame rates. Keep in mind the cpu pre-renders each frame so the more the gpu can do the more cpu needs to work. These cards have no problems running high enough frames in 1440p to also cause high cpu usages.

What you could do for now is limit your fps to a comfortable level if you're getting stutters. If you're not getting stutters then cpu is just keeping up not to be an issue besides limiting the gpu as you're already aware.

 

[jeroen.beunckens]

One is saying going from 1080p to 1440p will decrease CPU load and the other one says it will increase.

Who is correct?

 

[boju]

One is saying going from 1080p to 1440p will decrease CPU load and the other one says it will increase.

Who is correct?

Fps is of course.

Argument regarding resolution and increased gpu load is correct but not so much with 1440p. 4k yes because you're not getting 100+ fps still in most titles.

Watch this video to get an idea what fps does
[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo3EJzHuXok"][/video]