i5 9600k bottleneck for RTX 2080?

[thewalleprod]

Will the 2080 bottleneck the i5 9600k processor during gaming? It's the EVGA RTX 2080 ULTRA XC edition.

 

[geofelt]

There will always be a limiting factor which some call a "bottleneck"

Which will be the most important factor will depend on the games you play.

The OC clock rate of the 9600K is impressive.
That is what games such as sims, mmo, and strategy games need most.

Fast action games need a great graphics card. A RTX2080 which is very good.
I like the EVGA support. A factory overclocked card usually gets you fair value. I might avoid the maximally overclocked versions.

If you favor multiplayer games, look into a i7-9700K which offers two more threads.

 

[thewalleprod]

There will always be a limiting factor which some call a "bottleneck"

Which will be the most important factor will depend on the games you play.

The OC clock rate of the 9600K is impressive.
That is what games such as sims, mmo, and strategy games need most.

Fast action games need a great graphics card. A RTX2080 which is very good.
I like the EVGA support. A factory overclocked card usually gets you fair value. I might avoid the maximally overclocked versions.

If you favor multiplayer games, look into a i7-9700K which offers two more threads.

So would Tomb Raider and Rainbow Six Siege be solid for this rig with the 9600k and the rtx 2080? No bottlenecking, etc? Or do I need to upgrade the CPU.

 

[King_V]

The best way to answer your question is:
1 - Run a HW utilization monitor
2 - while playing the games you want to check against
3 - see if either the GPU, the CPU, or both, are spending a lot of time at or near 100% utilization

The results will very likely be different for different games, but will also give you a clear answer of what to upgrade, if anything at all.


Also, throw the word bottleneck out of your vocabulary. It is misused to the point of uselessness.

Beyond that, the resolution and refresh rate are usually FAR more important for determining what video card you need than comparing the CPU to the GPU.

 

[thewalleprod]

The best way to answer your question is:
1 - Run a HW utilization monitor
2 - while playing the games you want to check against
3 - see if either the GPU, the CPU, or both, are spending a lot of time at or near 100% utilization

The results will very likely be different for different games, but will also give you a clear answer of what to upgrade, if anything at all.


Also, throw the word bottleneck out of your vocabulary. It is misused to the point of uselessness.

Beyond that, the resolution and refresh rate are usually FAR more important for determining what video card you need than comparing the CPU to the GPU.

Yes, I will do that, and I plan on getting a 240hz monitor (currently have a 180hz one). What should the utilization be during gaming? One of my buddies has an i7 8700k + GTX 1080, and while gaming his CPU is running around 70-95% and the GPU is at 99%. Is this normal utilization?

 

[King_V]

In a perfect world, you don't want anything to be utilized at 100%.

That said, why are you getting a 240Hz monitor if you already have a 180Hz monitor? The human eye can't see the difference.

I assume your buddy has a monitor with a VERY high refresh rate, or is 4K and he's maxing things out. That his GPU is pegged at 99% and the CPU is generally lower means that the GPU is the "weak link" so to speak. But I can't say much for certain without knowing what his monitor's resolution and refresh rate are.

I typically game capped at 60fps, so, generally neither my CPU nor GPU have particularly high utilization. I have a 4K ultrawide (3840x1600) but the games I play aren't particularly demanding.

 

[thewalleprod]

In a perfect world, you don't want anything to be utilized at 100%.

That said, why are you getting a 240Hz monitor if you already have a 180Hz monitor? The human eye can't see the difference.

I assume your buddy has a monitor with a VERY high refresh rate, or is 4K and he's maxing things out. That his GPU is pegged at 99% and the CPU is generally lower means that the GPU is the "weak link" so to speak. But I can't say much for certain without knowing what his monitor's resolution and refresh rate are.

I typically game capped at 60fps, so, generally neither my CPU nor GPU have particularly high utilization. I have a 4K ultrawide (3840x1600) but the games I play aren't particularly demanding.

Yeah he has a 2560x1440 monitor with 165hz refresh rate.

 

[jankerson]

Will the 2080 bottleneck the i5 9600k processor during gaming? It's the EVGA RTX 2080 ULTRA XC edition.

At 1080P yes...

At 1440P no.

 

[geofelt]

Run your games and see how you do.
That is the ultimate test.

If you want to do some experimenting, here are some ideas:

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.

c) Experiment with removing one or more cores/threads. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option(now in task manager).
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.

Some time back when CRT monitors were the only thing, it was the graphics card that refreshed the crt.
It was found that 85hz was necessary to keep a steady non shimmering image.
I suspect that today, any fps faster has to be encountering diminishing returns.

 

[King_V]

In a perfect world, you don't want anything to be utilized at 100%.

That said, why are you getting a 240Hz monitor if you already have a 180Hz monitor? The human eye can't see the difference.

I assume your buddy has a monitor with a VERY high refresh rate, or is 4K and he's maxing things out. That his GPU is pegged at 99% and the CPU is generally lower means that the GPU is the "weak link" so to speak. But I can't say much for certain without knowing what his monitor's resolution and refresh rate are.

I typically game capped at 60fps, so, generally neither my CPU nor GPU have particularly high utilization. I have a 4K ultrawide (3840x1600) but the games I play aren't particularly demanding.

Yeah he has a 2560x1440 monitor with 165hz refresh rate.

Then, yeah, if in modern games, he's trying to run full speed and not capping his frames per second, then even a 1080 will be pushed to the limit trying to do 165 fps at 2560x1440