Question Hello there! I am a newbie to upgrading my pc and would like some advice if possible.

[ShiroTheWolf]

This does not seem a likely culprit.

What doth thou mean?

 

[DSzymborski]

What doth thou mean?

RAM is almost never the bottleneck in gaming and the exception is almost always running out of RAM, and otherwise, looking at the percentage of RAM very rarely would tell you anything else.

Basically, what you're concluding here is the equivalent of having a car that's not running properly and deciding that the reason is you only have a half-tank of gas. The RAM used is just how much of the memory is used; if you're not running out and the swap file is being used -- and there's no indication here that it is -- it would have nothing to do with any problem you've described.

 

[ShiroTheWolf]

RAM is almost never the bottleneck in gaming and the exception is almost always running out of RAM, and otherwise, looking at the percentage of RAM very rarely would tell you anything else.

Basically, what you're concluding here is the equivalent of having a car that's not running properly and deciding that the reason is you only have a half-tank of gas. The RAM used is just how much of the memory is used; if you're not running out and the swap file is being used -- and there's no indication here that it is -- it would have nothing to do with any problem you've described.

I was trying to post an image of my task manager earlier to explain what I was looking at but I cant because it requires a URL.

Is my computer supposed to operate like how I described or is it affecting my gaming experience?
On my task manager is just says: GPU - 1%, CPU -1% & Memory - 50% even when in game.
Things I have tried:
-Benchmark
-Changed the thermal paste on the GPU and the CPU

 

[sitehostplus]

Its a possibility.
Would using the SSD I currently have be an issue if thats the one the OS is installed onto?
How can I tell if there is a bottleneck in task manager?

Thank you for your reply

It measures Disk, CPU, and Memory usage. If those start going high, that is probably where your bottleneck is.

I would just replace that whole disk setup with a 2-4tb SSD and be done with it. I'm not sure a 25gb SSD has enough room for a swapfile (especially if you're swapping games in and out of it at the same time), so it's probably bleeding onto the HDD, making the whole thing slower. Plus swapping in and out can sap performance too.

I replaced my HDD with an SSD in 2022, and it was almost like getting a whole new computer. The performance improved so much, by jaw hit the floor.

And SSD's are so cheap now there should be nothing holding you back from getting one. Even a super cheap SSD is way faster than that HDD you got.

You will thank me later.

 

[ShiroTheWolf]

It measures Disk, CPU, and Memory usage. If those start going high, that is probably where your bottleneck is.

I would just replace that whole disk setup with a 2-4tb SSD and be done with it. I'm not sure a 25gb SSD has enough room for a swapfile (especially if you're swapping games in and out of it at the same time), so it's probably bleeding onto the HDD, making the whole thing slower. Plus swapping in and out can sap performance too.

I replaced my HDD with an SSD in 2022, and it was almost like getting a whole new computer. The performance improved so much, by jaw hit the floor.

And SSD's are so cheap now there should be nothing holding you back from getting one. Even a super cheap SSD is way faster than that HDD you got.

You will thank me later.

my game is on one ssd
and it just stays there until i want to play a different game or if im okay with waiting a while to play it on my hdd.
and i already ordered 2 ssds
I already know the benefits of SSDs compared to hdds though I appreciate that advice.
So what youre saying is if my RAM usage is high thats a bottleneck or? Im confused with all the answers im gettin lol sorry.

 

[sitehostplus]

my game is on one ssd
and it just stays there until i want to play a different game or if im okay with waiting a while to play it on my hdd.
and i already ordered 2 ssds
I already know the benefits of SSDs compared to hdds though I appreciate that advice.
So what youre saying is if my RAM usage is high thats a bottleneck or? Im confused with all the answers im gettin lol sorry.

If your ram usage is high, that is where your bottle neck is.

If ram usage is high, it means your OS will be using your swapfile (your hard drive) more, which saps performance while it's waiting for memory to swap in and out.

You can get something like PC decrapifier (freeware) to remove bloatware in the short term. Long term fix is to invest in more ram (modern games use a lot more memory, so that is going to need more system ram anyhow).

 

[ShiroTheWolf]

If your ram usage is high, that is where your bottle neck is.

If ram usage is high, it means your OS will be using your swapfile (your hard drive) more, which saps performance while it's waiting for memory to swap in and out.

You can get something like PC decrapifier (freeware) to remove bloatware in the short term. Long term fix is to invest in more ram (modern games use a lot more memory, so that is going to need more system ram anyhow).

The other guy DSzymborski said that RAM wasn't the issue in most cases, I am under the assumption that 16gb of DDR4 ram at 3000 could do the job I need it to. But I suppose it doesen't hurt to upgrade it to a faster speed. And I am also upgrading my drives to bigger SSD's so that should help I hope.
I want to thank you for your replies and your advice, not sure where to go now with this thread but I will post results ASAP.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

I was trying to post an image of my task manager earlier to explain what I was looking at but I cant because it requires a URL.

Is my computer supposed to operate like how I described or is it affecting my gaming experience?
On my task manager is just says: GPU - 1%, CPU -1% & Memory - 50% even when in game.
Things I have tried:
-Benchmark
-Changed the thermal paste on the GPU and the CPU

Even idle game takes up ram. RAM usage does not go up or down depending on which CPU, GPU you use it with or the game resolution. Its only a problem when you dont have enough ram.

As you said, the ram usage was at 40 - 60%. thats completely fine. A bottlenecked scenario will show ram at 99 or 100% usage - not enough memory to run the program.

Which game are you playing in 4k? 4k requires a lot of VRAM (gpu memory, your 1660ti has 6gb)

The GPU benchmarks link that i posted should give you the average FPS for games at 4k. or you can find benchmarks on youtube for the games that you play in 4k with 1660ti.

Just dont expect the PC to magically perform better by swapping out ram. 4k is demanding and the 1660ti is the bottleneck. we are just giving you advice so that you dont waste your money pointlessly.

 

[ShiroTheWolf]

Even idle game takes up ram. RAM usage does not go up or down depending on which CPU, GPU you use it with or the game resolution. Its only a problem when you dont have enough ram.

As you said, the ram usage was at 40 - 60%. thats completely fine. A bottlenecked scenario will show ram at 99 or 100% usage - not enough memory to run the program.

Which game are you playing in 4k? 4k requires a lot of VRAM (gpu memory, your 1660ti has 6gb)

The GPU benchmarks link that i posted should give you the average FPS for games at 4k. or you can find benchmarks on youtube for the games that you play in 4k with 1660ti.

Just dont expect the PC to magically perform better by swapping out ram. 4k is demanding and the 1660ti is the bottleneck. we are just giving you advice so that you dont waste your money pointlessly.

I think I am beginning to understand that
Like I said I am not very keen on this and I sincerely appreciate the advice here
The game I was trying to run was War Thunder but like you mentioned with checking out the benchmarks, its not a good card to be trying this with so it needs an upgrade. But as I was looking at what needed to be upgraded in entirety, I just decided to check out some more upgrades as well.
I apologize for my banter.
What I've learned from the information here is that my PC wont be able to run 4k efficiently on most games because of the GPU and my hard drives most likely. My CPU and RAM seem to be fine for now seeing how they are being used in task manager and the benchmarking tool I used showed me what my ideal resolution and settings should be.