GTX 1050 ti bottleneck?

[tuckerjamescherry]

So I'm looking to upgrade my computer bc it isn't performing to the standard I'd like. I'm wondering if this is because of my GPU or CPU?
GPU: MSI GTX 1050ti
CPU: Intel i7-4770

Im not hitting 144+ frames in games so I'm wondering which one I should upgrade. Note: If I upgrade my CPU I'll be upgrading my mobo and ram aswell. I'm currently using the default mobo/ram/cpu from a prebuilt Dell XPS 8700.

I'd also like suggestions on what parts to buy. My budgets about 300-400 for a GPU and 600 for mobo/ram/cpu. I was looking at either Ryzen 7 1700 or Intel i5-8600k.

 

[TechyInAZ]

The 1050 Ti is an entry level card, your not close to hitting a bottleneck. I'd only suggest upgrading your CPU if you go to something beyond a GTX 1070.

 

[Mattp2017]

So I'm looking to upgrade my computer bc it isn't performing to the standard I'd like. I'm wondering if this is because of my GPU or CPU?
GPU: MSI GTX 1050ti
CPU: Intel i7-4770

Im not hitting 144+ frames in games so I'm wondering which one I should upgrade. Note: If I upgrade my CPU I'll be upgrading my mobo and ram aswell. I'm currently using the default mobo/ram/cpu from a prebuilt Dell XPS 8700.

I'd also like suggestions on what parts to buy. My budgets about 300-400 for a GPU and 600 for mobo/ram/cpu. I was looking at either Ryzen 7 1700 or Intel i5-8600k.

Well I have an i7 3770 and a GTX 1070 8GB and while I don't hit 144 fps I'm able to play most games at 1440p with very high settings and hit 60fps. If I played at 1080p and turned down some settings I could possibly get close to 144 with some games. So, IMO, I would upgrade the GPU.

For the money it would cost you to upgrade your CPU, Motherboard, and RAM you could probably get a 1080. It might cause a little bottleneck but I still think that is going to be your best option for the money.

Also a gtx 1080 will probably last you for several more years so you could upgrade everything else later and then pop the 1080 in it.

 

[tuckerjamescherry]

The 1050 Ti is an entry level card, your not close to hitting a bottleneck. I'd only suggest upgrading your CPU if you go to something beyond a GTX 1070.

While gaming I don't hit 100% on my CPU or GPU usage, even when dropping from 144 frames. I sometimes, rarely hit 100% on my GPU.

 

[tuckerjamescherry]

So I'm looking to upgrade my computer bc it isn't performing to the standard I'd like. I'm wondering if this is because of my GPU or CPU?
GPU: MSI GTX 1050ti
CPU: Intel i7-4770

Im not hitting 144+ frames in games so I'm wondering which one I should upgrade. Note: If I upgrade my CPU I'll be upgrading my mobo and ram aswell. I'm currently using the default mobo/ram/cpu from a prebuilt Dell XPS 8700.

I'd also like suggestions on what parts to buy. My budgets about 300-400 for a GPU and 600 for mobo/ram/cpu. I was looking at either Ryzen 7 1700 or Intel i5-8600k.

Well I have an i7 3770 and a GTX 1070 8GB and while I don't hit 144 fps I'm able to play most games at 1440p with very high settings and hit 60fps. If I played at 1080p and turned down some settings I could possibly get close to 144 with some games. So, IMO, I would upgrade the GPU.

For the money it would cost you to upgrade your CPU, Motherboard, and RAM you could probably get a 1080. It might cause a little bottleneck but I still think that is going to be your best option for the money.

Also a gtx 1080 will probably last you for several more years so you could upgrade everything else later and then pop the 1080 in it.

When I drop frames from the inital 144 frame cap I set, I usually am not @ 100% gpu usage.

 

[Toxic_Cobra]

This is normal, instead of looking at GPU usage look at GPU clock speed, if this goes down while gaming then you have a problem. What games and what frames are you getting? Have v sync off as it cuts your frames to 72 fps when you can't maintain 144 fps (changes to half refresh rate) I had to install Nvidia inspector because my gpu was stuck at it's boost clock, this is a glitch that sometimes happens when you own a high refresh rate monitor or more than one monitor. A CPU upgrade won't help, you've still got a very modern good quad core CPU. Maybe sell and upgrade your GPU.

 

[tuckerjamescherry]

This is normal, instead of looking at GPU usage look at GPU clock speed, if this goes down while gaming then you have a problem. What games and what frames are you getting? Have v sync off as it cuts your frames to 72 fps when you can't maintain 144 fps (changes to half refresh rate) I had to install Nvidia inspector because my gpu was stuck at it's boost clock, this is a glitch that sometimes happens when you own a high refresh rate monitor or more than one monitor. A CPU upgrade won't help, you've still got a very modern good quad core CPU. Maybe sell and upgrade your GPU.

Mostly fortnite. I maintain 144 frames and then drop to about 100-120 randomly.

 

[TechyInAZ]

The 1050 Ti is an entry level card, your not close to hitting a bottleneck. I'd only suggest upgrading your CPU if you go to something beyond a GTX 1070.

While gaming I don't hit 100% on my CPU or GPU usage, even when dropping from 144 frames. I sometimes, rarely hit 100% on my GPU.

Then that means it's a "software bottleneck". The only way a bottleneck is possible is if one component is maxed out on usage and the other is not.

 

[Karadjgne]

You shouldn't be aiming for 100% usage on anything. Take for instance a thread in the cpu. The cpu has a certain amount of bandwidth possible per thread, each thread being a string of code. Now these strings by nature are different lengths, could be something as simple as 'if he goes through the door, shoot him' to as complex as a three mile long string of exceptions and explanations with 100 different outcomes depending on whether you have a gun or knife or bare hands, when you walk through the door. The first string would use up 1% of the cpu, the last string 100%. You are looking at it as since your cpu/gpu is only at 60% usage, it should have 40% more it could do better, when really all it says is that that's how hard the cpu/gpu has to work to get your results. Those numbers are only pertinent to the overall picture, not the specifics themselves. So if cpu is always 100% and gpu is 30%, then the cpu is working much harder than the gpu, and you could need a fix or upgrade, to bring both into better balance. If both are at 60%, they work great together, and your picture results are as good as they get, regardless if you think they should be higher.

As is, pc's are usually lopsided in favor of the cpu, the 4770 is still quite viable for 1080p gaming. Moving up to higher resolutions/details requires considerably more gpu power, and there gets to a point where the balance tips in favor of the gpu. That's when the cpu becomes a bottleneck, it simply can't keep up with the demands placed on it by the gpu according to your settings. Punish the gpu with higher details, 4k DSR etc and the gpu works much harder, slows down and the cpu comes back out on top.

 

[Mattp2017]

The 1050 Ti is an entry level card, your not close to hitting a bottleneck. I'd only suggest upgrading your CPU if you go to something beyond a GTX 1070.

While gaming I don't hit 100% on my CPU or GPU usage, even when dropping from 144 frames. I sometimes, rarely hit 100% on my GPU.

Then that means it's a "software bottleneck". The only way a bottleneck is possible is if one component is maxed out on usage and the other is not.

It could also be a VRAM issue. Do you have the 2GB 1050?

IMO, you are always going to see better performance from a GPU upgrade more so than anything else.

 

[geofelt]

This is a common question for which several answers are possible.
Here is my standard text on the question:

Some games are graphics limited like fast action shooters.
Others are cpu core speed limited like strategy, sims, and mmo.
Multiplayer tends to like many threads.

You need to find out which.
------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one or more cores/threads. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.



It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system,
and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------

My suspicion is that while a GTX1050ti is a nice card, that is likely your limiting factor.
If you upgrade the graphics card, make it a biggish jump or you may be disappointed if you do not see big results.
I think a $350 GTX1060 is not a big enough jump, you are more likely looking at a $450 GTX1070 class card.
The vram you get will be appropriate to the card; do not use specs to decide, tom's gpu hierarchy list is a more reasonable way
to rank choices:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html


On the cpu side, there are two aspects.
Most games can not effectively use more than 2-3 threads.
The exception is multiplayer games. For those, increased thread count is important and ryzen is a good value there.

For games like sims, mmo and strategy games, the cpu core speed is all important and Intel excels there.

A 6 thread I5-8600K@5.0, 16gb of DDR4 ram and a Z370 motherboard should be a nice cpu boost for about $550.

 

[Karadjgne]

It's simple really. Anything a gtx1060/6 and lower is food for 1080p/60Hz. That definitely includes a 1050ti which really doesn't have the horsepower for 144Hz in anything more than vanilla minecraft. For 1080p/144Hz you'll really need a 1070ti/1080. Or for 1440p/60Hz. For 1440p/144Hz you should be looking at a 1080/ti and for 4k/60Hz a 1080ti. That i7 is more than capable of 144Hz in many games, but the gpu is far less than it needs to be to be able to put that frame up 144 times a second at the higher detail rates.

 

[tuckerjamescherry]

It's simple really. Anything a gtx1060/6 and lower is food for 1080p/60Hz. That definitely includes a 1050ti which really doesn't have the horsepower for 144Hz in anything more than vanilla minecraft. For 1080p/144Hz you'll really need a 1070ti/1080. Or for 1440p/60Hz. For 1440p/144Hz you should be looking at a 1080/ti and for 4k/60Hz a 1080ti. That i7 is more than capable of 144Hz in many games, but the gpu is far less than it needs to be to be able to put that frame up 144 times a second at the higher detail rates.

Would a gtx 1070 do the job for 1080p 144 fps gaming?

 

[tuckerjamescherry]

This is a common question for which several answers are possible.
Here is my standard text on the question:

Some games are graphics limited like fast action shooters.
Others are cpu core speed limited like strategy, sims, and mmo.
Multiplayer tends to like many threads.

You need to find out which.
------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one or more cores/threads. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.



It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system,
and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------

My suspicion is that while a GTX1050ti is a nice card, that is likely your limiting factor.
If you upgrade the graphics card, make it a biggish jump or you may be disappointed if you do not see big results.
I think a $350 GTX1060 is not a big enough jump, you are more likely looking at a $450 GTX1070 class card.
The vram you get will be appropriate to the card; do not use specs to decide, tom's gpu hierarchy list is a more reasonable way
to rank choices:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html


On the cpu side, there are two aspects.
Most games can not effectively use more than 2-3 threads.
The exception is multiplayer games. For those, increased thread count is important and ryzen is a good value there.

For games like sims, mmo and strategy games, the cpu core speed is all important and Intel excels there.

A 6 thread I5-8600K@5.0, 16gb of DDR4 ram and a Z370 motherboard should be a nice cpu boost for about $550.

Would a gtx 1070 do the job for 1080p 144 fps gaming?

 

[Mattp2017]

This is a common question for which several answers are possible.
Here is my standard text on the question:

Some games are graphics limited like fast action shooters.
Others are cpu core speed limited like strategy, sims, and mmo.
Multiplayer tends to like many threads.

You need to find out which.
------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one or more cores/threads. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.



It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system,
and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------

My suspicion is that while a GTX1050ti is a nice card, that is likely your limiting factor.
If you upgrade the graphics card, make it a biggish jump or you may be disappointed if you do not see big results.
I think a $350 GTX1060 is not a big enough jump, you are more likely looking at a $450 GTX1070 class card.
The vram you get will be appropriate to the card; do not use specs to decide, tom's gpu hierarchy list is a more reasonable way
to rank choices:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html


On the cpu side, there are two aspects.
Most games can not effectively use more than 2-3 threads.
The exception is multiplayer games. For those, increased thread count is important and ryzen is a good value there.

For games like sims, mmo and strategy games, the cpu core speed is all important and Intel excels there.

A 6 thread I5-8600K@5.0, 16gb of DDR4 ram and a Z370 motherboard should be a nice cpu boost for about $550.

Would a gtx 1070 do the job for 1080p 144 fps gaming?

Depends on the game, but for most probably. You might have to turn down a few settings. Here is a guy with a GTX 1070 running battlefield 1 on ultra settings at 1080p and you can see he is getting pretty close. https://youtu.be/WUtRVTg669c However, he has a much better processor. But, like I said, if you OC a little and turn down a few settings you would probably get there on most games.

 

[Karadjgne]

Totally depends on the game. Vanilla skyrim is easy to get 144fps on my old GT 970 and i7-3770K. Since I've added over 130 mods, which are all 2k/4k scripted, they put a serious drain on cpu ability and now I get a solid 60fps @1080p. Because of the lackluster cpu, you will loose out on some fps, that's a given, but with the 1070 the fps loss will be minimized on higher gpu bound games, but more visible on higher cpu bound games as a result.

You are aiming at 144fps like its a magic number, it isn't, most ppl will be very hard pressed to physically tell the difference between 100fps and 140fps. It's only benchmarks that say otherwise.