Graphics noob, question about my GTX 1060 6GB

[MattMayhem]

Okay, so first off, I want to say, I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to graphics. Settings especially. I know a few things, I know the basics, let's put it that way.

I'm also a fiend for graphics. My ultimate goal, is to be able to play my favorite games, on max settings, and get 60 fps minimum (on my current, 1920x1080, 60Hz monitor), keep that in mind.

So, I have a questions regarding my GPU.

I just recently upgraded to an EVGA GTX 1060 6GB card. It's not the overclocked, as it runs at 1.5Ghz (and boosts to roughly 1.8Ghz).

I read a lot of reviews of people claiming to play games at 1080p resolutions, on ultra settings, and are getting 60fps.

However, this is not the case for me. I have to turn graphics down to like medium to get those results. And my results aren't even consistent, I drop well below 60 fps during medium to large combats in games.

I have so many questions. Is it just the games I'm playing? Is it my Nvidia settings? Is it my hardware?

My system is:
CPU: FX 8320 (running at 3.7Ghz, boosting to 4.0Ghz)
RAM: 8GB at 1600Mhz
GPU: GTX 1060 6gb (at 1.5Ghz)
Drives: Corsair SSD (my boot drive) and a WD 1TB @ 7200RPM
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

I'm just curious as to why I am not getting these great results that I hear so many people talking about.

Now, also, I tend to play free-to-play, beta-status games, so they may not be optimized, but still, I don't get it.

Games I tend to play a lot:
-Warhammer 40k Eternal Crusade
-Mechwarrior Online
-Dreadnought

Any insight to this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[drinkingcola86]

You are going to be more limited by your CPU in most games. Games like running on a higher IPC processor which the 8320 isn't that great. Multithreaded games, not so bad but since most games are coded to run on 2-4 threads, it is limited with it.

 

[Dan_97]

Your graphics card is much more than capable of running all of those games 1080p 60fps easy. I would say the problem is your graphics driver, try updating to the latest nvidia driver and see if that helps. If it gives you any idea, I have a Radeon 6970 2GB card and I am able to play most games(definitely the ones listed) high settings 50-60fps 1080p.

 

[constantine_99]

on CPU intesive games u will be limited by your CPU, but on GPU intensive games, your performance should be just fine

 

[dontlistentome]

Run MSI Afterburner while gaming. Use it to watch CPU and GPU usage. If you see high CPU usage, like 90%-100% when framerate drops, then you know your CPU is holding you back.

Not all settings are dependent on the videocard. Some settings at ultra will tax the CPU.

 

[MattMayhem]

Thank you all for the helpful answers, I was aware of course bottlenecks, and I know my CPU isn't the best by any means. However I'm wondering, is it bottlenecking my system that badly? It is basically running at 4Ghz during gaming (I have the Asus turbo running, and HWmonitor shows 4Ghz speeds during gaming). I figured the bottlenecks would be at least lessened due to it running faster than stock.

Thank you for the advice on checking, as I had no idea how I would test to see if a game is CPU intensive.

What's a good way to adjust my settings for that? For example if a game is taxing my CPU, which settings would directly effect my CPU the most?

Also, this question should probably be a separate thread, but does anyone have advice on a good am3+ CPU that would run games better? As I don't really want to change my mobile out?

Dan_97, what CPU are you using for those results?

 

[maxalge]

Thank you all for the helpful answers, I was aware of course bottlenecks, and I know my CPU isn't the best by any means. However I'm wondering, is it bottlenecking my system that badly? It is basically running at 4Ghz during gaming (I have the Asus turbo running, and HWmonitor shows 4Ghz speeds during gaming). I figured the bottlenecks would be at least lessened due to it running faster than stock.

Thank you for the advice on checking, as I had no idea how I would test to see if a game is CPU intensive.

What's a good way to adjust my settings for that? For example if a game is taxing my CPU, which settings would directly effect my CPU the most?

Also, this question should probably be a separate thread, but does anyone have advice on a good am3+ CPU that would run games better? As I don't really want to change my mobile out?

Dan_97, what CPU are you using for those results?

there is no upgrade path for you on am3, no


your issue is very poor per core performance, on games that maybe use 1-2 cores at best

time for either a ryzen or intel setup

 

[MattMayhem]

Hmm well that sucks, as I'm slightly limited on budget, but it's to be expected, as my PC was a budget build to begin with.

In the mean time, I should be better off with games that are gpu focused right? At least better off.

Also, one of my last questions is, since my CPU is bottlenecking, it doesn't really matter what gpu I have is that correct? For example, I could basically put a Titan in my setup and it would still run horribly due to my CPU, right?

 

[Dan_97]

Thank you all for the helpful answers, I was aware of course bottlenecks, and I know my CPU isn't the best by any means. However I'm wondering, is it bottlenecking my system that badly? It is basically running at 4Ghz during gaming (I have the Asus turbo running, and HWmonitor shows 4Ghz speeds during gaming). I figured the bottlenecks would be at least lessened due to it running faster than stock.

Thank you for the advice on checking, as I had no idea how I would test to see if a game is CPU intensive.

What's a good way to adjust my settings for that? For example if a game is taxing my CPU, which settings would directly effect my CPU the most?

Also, this question should probably be a separate thread, but does anyone have advice on a good am3+ CPU that would run games better? As I don't really want to change my mobile out?

Dan_97, what CPU are you using for those results?

I am using an Athlon X4 860k clocked to 4.2GHz. Though the 8320 is outdated I don't believe it's the cause of the problem.
Also if you were to upgrade your cpu the best AM3+ cpu is the FX 9590 I believe.

 

[drinkingcola86]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($158.79 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock - A320M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($55.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: GeIL - EVO POTENZA 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $284.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-15 16:16 EDT-0400

If you want to stick with AMD then this would be an easy upgrade to do for mostly cheap when you have the cash.

 

[MattMayhem]

Thanks Dan_97, I was thinking the same thing, as I have seen people with worse CPU's play games, yes at lower settings, but still decent.

I definitely wish to upgrade now, but my major question is, how are the Ryzen CPU's? That is a very obtainable upgrade to do for my PC, as I'd only need memory, CPU, and Mobo, but I'm scared to upgrade only to run into a bottleneck.

 

[Dan_97]

Thanks Dan_97, I was thinking the same thing, as I have seen people with worse CPU's play games, yes at lower settings, but still decent.

I definitely wish to upgrade now, but my major question is, how are the Ryzen CPU's? That is a very obtainable upgrade to do for my PC, as I'd only need memory, CPU, and Mobo, but I'm scared to upgrade only to run into a bottleneck.

Well the question really is which Ryzen CPU? The 1700,1700x and 1800x are great CPUs that debatably are better than the top of the line intel CPUs out right now. The Ryzen R5 series (even though hexa-core)would still definitely outperform your current cpu, there's a huge jump in Chip architecture (smaller is better and your current cpu is 32nm and ryzen R5 series cpus are 14nm). Not only would it be a good upgrade, but it would leave you room to upgrade afterwards because the R7 1800x is the same socket and could be an awesome upgrade in the future.

 

[AlternativeFactsForPresident]

Thanks Dan_97, I was thinking the same thing, as I have seen people with worse CPU's play games, yes at lower settings, but still decent.

I definitely wish to upgrade now, but my major question is, how are the Ryzen CPU's? That is a very obtainable upgrade to do for my PC, as I'd only need memory, CPU, and Mobo, but I'm scared to upgrade only to run into a bottleneck.

Well the question really is which Ryzen CPU? The 1700,1700x and 1800x are great CPUs that debatably are better than the top of the line intel CPUs out right now. The Ryzen R5 series (even though hexa-core)would still definitely outperform your current cpu, there's a huge jump in Chip architecture (smaller is better and your current cpu is 32nm and ryzen R5 series cpus are 14nm). Not only would it be a good upgrade, but it would leave you room to upgrade afterwards because the R7 1800x is the same socket and could be an awesome upgrade in the future.

Come one, lets face it, for gaming the intel 7700k beats the 1800x, it's as simple as that, just look at some benchmarks, we both know it's true.
Don't just throw some random shit out there, please only post serious answers!
Here's what i think you should do:
Step 1: Download Msi afterburner(Doesn't matter that you don't have any msi parts in your pc) set up the on-screen display to monitor gpu and cpu performance(keep in mind that if one core on the cpu is running at 100% and the others at 70%, then it is still the cpu limiting, so make sure you monitor all cores and not just the overall usage.)
Step 2: Now you know what part in your pc is the limiting factor, now make the decision if you really want more fps in games, if you want more fps then watch some benchmarks and make a decision on what you want to upgrade.

If it is a cpu bottleneck, then i would recommend you going with drinkingcola86's upgrade, it isn't too expensive and should give you a massive boost in fps.
Sorry for the bad english 😉 i am doing my best.