[SOLVED] Is 4790k still good enough for gaming?

[thecooldean]

I have a 4790k with 1080 ti and 16 GB of RAM, and have a 100 Hz 3440x1440 monitor, but GTA V struggles to maintain above 80 FPS, does getting a better cpu like the 9900k improve the frame rate?

 

[Irisena]

depends i guess... for 1080p 60fps, it's still okay. no worries about that. if you're going 100fps or more, then definitely upgrade it. though if i were you, i'd be happy with 1080p 60hz, and wait for DDR5 platform to update my rig. also, that 1080 ti is wayy overkill for your CPU.

 

[thecooldean]

Overkill as in? Sorry I didn’t understand that term.

 

[Third-Eye]

Overkill as in? Sorry I didn’t understand that term.

You bought a video card that is barely being used because your CPU is too weak to actually feed it. While your CPU will be working around 80-100% playing GTAV, the GPU is only being used at around 50-60%. You need a better CPU or you need to increase details if you are not already running the maximum that specifically pertain to GPU and not CPU settings. There is at least one guide I believe that tells you which graphical features use CPU or GPU in GTAV, I just don't remember if it was an nvidia article or from somewhere else. I believe GTA Online doesn't use many of the single player graphical features like density settings. since everyone needs to be seeing the same thing to keep is sync'ed.

Other games will be in the same situation that are CPU bound like GTAV, so consider getting at least a Ryzen 5 3600.

 

[Irisena]

it's 4th gen and it's old. i was using an 3rd gen i7 a while ago and paired it with a 1070. the result is well... my 1070 only work like 60-70% all the time. it never hit 100% load because it was limited by my CPU. my i7 3770 is simply not fast enough to feed the 1070 with information it needed to render the frames. right now i'm using a i5 6600k, and from my experience, this is a sweet spot for a 1070, as i've seen both work for 100% in demanding AAA titles, meaning very minimal bottleneck.

what i mean by overkill is simply that. your GPU won't ever hit 100% load, hence not using all the horsepower it have because your CPU is simply not strong enough for feeding your GPU with information to render dem fps, hence the GPU is "overkill".

 

[Third-Eye]

it's 4th gen and it's old. i was using an 3rd gen i7 a while ago and paired it with a 1070. the result is well... my 1070 only work like 60-70% all the time. it never hit 100% load because it was limited by my CPU. my i7 3770 is simply not fast enough to feed the 1070 with information it needed to render the frames. right now i'm using a i5 6600k, and from my experience, this is a sweet spot for a 1070, as i've seen both work for 100% in demanding AAA titles, meaning very minimal bottleneck.

what i mean by overkill is simply that. your GPU won't ever hit 100% load, hence not using all the horsepower it have because your CPU is simply not strong enough for feeding your GPU with information to render dem fps, hence the GPU is "overkill".

The i5 6600k is at most 9% faster in most games over an i7 3770k. In CPU bound games you are better off with the 3770k every time vs a 6600k.

 

[Irisena]

The i5 6600k is at most 9% faster in most games over an i7 3770k. In CPU bound games you are better off with the 3770k every time vs a 6600k.

it's not a 3770"k" sadly it's just a plain good ol' 3770 on a <Mod Edit> h61 mobo. once i got my hand on 6600k though, I just OC it 4.6ghz initially, and tuned it down to 4.5 because stability, and it worked way better thanks to 9% IPC increase (maybe) and 800/900 more mhz.
BUT, that's not what we're talking about yeah? if 6600k @4.5ghz is just enough for a 1070, how can a 4790k supports a 1080 ti well?

 

[Third-Eye]

it's not a 3770"k" sadly it's just a plain good ol' 3770 on a <Mod Edit> h61 mobo. once i got my hand on 6600k though, I just OC it 4.6ghz initially, and tuned it down to 4.5 because stability, and it worked way better thanks to 9% IPC increase (maybe) and 800/900 more mhz.
BUT, that's not what we're talking about yeah? if 6600k @4.5ghz is just enough for a 1070, how can a 4790k supports a 1080 ti well?

I'm just saying, more CPU threads is almost always better these days. Look through the forum and you will see nearly every day someone is asking about their CPU and whether it's bottlenecked or people asking about their CPU being at 100% playing games and it ends up that they have a 4c4t CPU. An i5-6600k is still a good CPU, but it quickly became outpaced by video games released in the last 2-3 years.

In the next 1-2 years an i5-6600k is going to be selling used for 50% less than now simply because it's a terrible choice for a gaming system. The PS5 and next Xbox will very likely be using 8c16t APUs, so a budget gaming system built now should really have at minimum a 6c12t CPU.

 

[Phaaze88]

WTH! How's a 4790K holding back a 1080Ti on the OPs 1440p ultrawide monitor???

I have a 4790k with 1080 ti and 16 GB of RAM, and have a 100 Hz 3440x1440 monitor, but GTA V struggles to maintain above 80 FPS, does getting a better cpu like the 9900k improve the frame rate?

A 9900K will hardly improve things when 1440p UW is more gpu bound.
1440p UW sits between normal 1440p and 4K, so results would be somewhere between the results here: https://www.gpucheck.com/game-gpu/g...e-gtx-1080-ti/intel-core-i7-4790k-4-00ghz/low

Gpu drivers up to date? What's the rest of your specs?

 

[Third-Eye]

WTH! How's a 4790K holding back a 1080Ti on the OPs 1440p ultrawide monitor???



A 9900K will hardly improve things when 1440p UW is more gpu bound.
1440p UW sits between normal 1440p and 4K, so results would be somewhere between the results here: https://www.gpucheck.com/game-gpu/g...e-gtx-1080-ti/intel-core-i7-4790k-4-00ghz/low

Gpu drivers up to date? What's the rest of your specs?

The OP wants more than 80fps. The only practical upgrade to reach over 80fps is a Ryzen 5-9 3000 series overclocked or the highest fps option being an i7-9900k. The only upgrade to a 1080ti would be an RTX 2080ti, which would probably be double the cost of upgrading the CPU and MB and Ram for an extra 20-30fps or more depending on the parts picked.

 

[Phaaze88]

Methinks there's something else happening, because it should be doable on low and medium - with some settings tweaked.

 

[boju]

I agree with Phaaze. My 2600k holds 1080ti back around 10fps compared to faster cpus at 1440p in the games ive played. There is no reason for a 4790k to restrict a 1080Ti as much, if ever, especially the game in question.

Something else is going on. Could be;

Geforce Experience optimisations (if use) affecting performance. Ie, dsr and grass.

Latest Geforce drivers decreasing performance. Try several irritations back.

Windows updates

Gta 5 updates. Rockstar have been having issues lately.

---

4790k is absolutely fine in most games. Games it might have trouble with is intensive games like BF1&5 depending on frame rates.

 

[thecooldean]

WTH! How's a 4790K holding back a 1080Ti on the OPs 1440p ultrawide monitor???



A 9900K will hardly improve things when 1440p UW is more gpu bound.
1440p UW sits between normal 1440p and 4K, so results would be somewhere between the results here: https://www.gpucheck.com/game-gpu/g...e-gtx-1080-ti/intel-core-i7-4790k-4-00ghz/low

Gpu drivers up to date? What's the rest of your specs?

i7 4790k OC’d to 4.5 GHz with Cooler Master hyper 212X
PSU - Corsair HX 750i
Kingston HyperX DDR3 16 GB RAM 1866 MHz
ASUS Z97 Pro WiFi A/C
Nvidia driver 436.15 (GTA V not optimised with Geforce Experience)
Windows 10 latest updates
Game running off SSD

 

[j3ster]

4790k is still pretty fast and it shouldnt hold back the 1080ti especially at higher resolutions, as boju pointed out it could struggle at CPU intensive games like BFV.

 

[Third-Eye]

The only upgrade path the OP has over a 1080ti is a RTX 2080ti. The only real options for the OP to gain higher than 80fps are buy an 2080ti, lower certain graphics settings including options like population and vehicle density which use CPU or upgrade the CPU, which probably won't be as dramatic of an increase as a 2080ti could be. GTA Online doesn't rely on the single player density settings, so that won't help. Am I wrong on some stuff? Yeah probably, but those are the only options I see the OP has for high resolution in GTAV.

The OP also never mentioned if their fps was in single player or Online. GTA Online runs far worse than single player because of all the extra CPU calculations required. Before Rockstar released the update with the RockStar Launcher, I would only get 40-50fps in GTA Online, but 80-90 in single player with the same settings. Now I actually get over 60fps Online and still 80-90fps single player. Nobody ever does fps testing for GTA Online, so there is no real way to know what is the best upgrade for higher fps in GTA Online.

 

[sizzling]

The FPS the OP is seeing seems reasonable given this review and looking at other 4c/8t Intel CPU’s if newer generation https://www.anandtech.com/show/1185...lake-review-8700k-and-8400-initial-numbers/17

The cpu is going to determine the best FPS that can be achieved. The gpu will determine at what game settings these FPS can be achieved. It is entirely possible a cpu upgrade would see an increase in FPS but with investigate current cpu and gpu usages which will vary based on game settings chosen any recommendations at this point is guesswork.

 

[boju]

The FPS the OP is seeing seems reasonable given this review and looking at other 4c/8t Intel CPU’s if newer generation https://www.anandtech.com/show/1185...lake-review-8700k-and-8400-initial-numbers/17

Those results are weird. Who would have guessed, the i5 8400 is the go to processor for gta5.

 

[thecooldean]

The only upgrade path the OP has over a 1080ti is a RTX 2080ti. The only real options for the OP to gain higher than 80fps are buy an 2080ti, lower certain graphics settings including options like population and vehicle density which use CPU or upgrade the CPU, which probably won't be as dramatic of an increase as a 2080ti could be. GTA Online doesn't rely on the single player density settings, so that won't help. Am I wrong on some stuff? Yeah probably, but those are the only options I see the OP has for high resolution in GTAV.

The OP also never mentioned if their fps was in single player or Online. GTA Online runs far worse than single player because of all the extra CPU calculations required. Before Rockstar released the update with the RockStar Launcher, I would only get 40-50fps in GTA Online, but 80-90 in single player with the same settings. Now I actually get over 60fps Online and still 80-90fps single player. Nobody ever does fps testing for GTA Online, so there is no real way to know what is the best upgrade for higher fps in GTA Online.

The frame rate I mentioned is in GTA Online, it drops as low as 60s when in a populated session and goes as high as 100 when there are less people.

 

[hftvhftv]

If you get 80FPS at 1080p, and you turn up the settings or resolution to 1440p and you get 80FPS, you're being held back by your CPU. I'm entertained by people claiming that because you're playing at a higher resolution that it's okay to have a weaker CPU with a very powerful GPU. I'd suggest getting a new Ryzen 3000 chip or a i7 9700.

 

[j3ster]

4790k with 1080/1080Ti/2080/2070 super would do ok not the best setup but it wont be a huge bottleneck either. 2080 Ti is a different thing though there you would really see a bottleneck but then again rather than actually getting a 2080 Ti you can pretty much build a whole new pc that is capable of 1080p/1440p 60fps+

 

[Phaaze88]

The frame rate I mentioned is in GTA Online, it drops as low as 60s when in a populated session and goes as high as 100 when there are less people.

Before this can get any further downhill, we need more info from you.

https://www.userbenchmark.com/ [Close all programs before running]
Go here^and link the results - it'll give us most of your specs as well, save for the power supply, so give us the make and model of that please.

 

[Karadjgne]

The cpu pre-renders the frames. All of them. To the best of its ability. Those go to the gpu, which finish renders and puts those frames on screen according to resolution and detail levels.

At 1440p 100Hz, a 1080ti is not overkill.

Testing whether a cpu upgrade is necessary or not is easy. Since you run gta5, that's perfect. Start the game with current settings and go to the worst area, run around for a few minutes and get your low-Avg-best fps readings. Then turn the detail settings to absolute low. Run around the exact same area and get those low-Avg-best fps. If already at low, change that to ultimate/extreme instead.

Then compare the 2. Since the cpu sets highest attainable fps, if the difference between the 2 really didn't change, then the cpu is giving all it's got, the gpu just has more. That would mean the cpu is capping out and nothing you can do will change that to any real degree. If the fps changes drastically, then that's a gpu issue, it's getting bogged down at higher detail settings, so lowering several unnecessary settings like grass and cloud details etc will raise the fps level, but not the cap.

 

[thecooldean]

Before this can get any further downhill, we need more info from you.

https://www.userbenchmark.com/ [Close all programs before running]
Go here^and link the results - it'll give us most of your specs as well, save for the power supply, so give us the make and model of that please.

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/20850800
Power supply - Corsair HX 750i Platinum

 

[Phaaze88]

1)Is the game on one of the HDDs or SSDs?

2)Nvidia Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings.
-Is low latency mode on or off? This one's a mixed bag. You might have to play around with this one to see how your hardware reacts.
-Texture Filtering - Quality, on High Performance?

3)What's you internet connection normally like?

4)Do you like to leave the browser or other app running in the background while you play?

Other than that, your system looks pretty darn good.

 

[thecooldean]

1)Is the game on one of the HDDs or SSDs?

2)Nvidia Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings.
-Is low latency mode on or off? This one's a mixed bag. You might have to play around with this one to see how your hardware reacts.
-Texture Filtering - Quality, on High Performance?

3)What's you internet connection normally like?

4)Do you like to leave the browser or other app running in the background while you play?

Other than that, your system looks pretty darn good.

1 - The game's installed on 860 EVO SSD.

2 - low latency mode is off, texture filtering is set to quality (default), threaded optimization is set to "on" and power management is set to "prefer maximum performance".

3 - Internet speed is 250 Mbps with less than 1ms ping to the preferred server.

4 - I do use the steam browser for watching youtube (not all the time though)

It is also worth mentioning that when I am the host of the session (as evident from resource manager internet connection, with connections to amazonaws cloud service), I get a lot of fps drops and stuttering, could this be because of the peer to peer connections where my PC is handling everything as the host?

All I want is a frame rate above 80 fps in GTA V, 60 fps looks too sluggish for some reason.