Is My CPU a Big Bottleneck?

[sfrench11189]

I just upgraded my GPU, and while games are definitely running a lot better, it's not as much of an improvement as I thought I'd have. I didn't think my old CPU would be too much of a bottleneck, but maybe I was wrong. Is that where my issue likely lies? My current set up is:

GTX 1080 8GB VRAM
i5 3570K 3.4 Ghz
8GB RAM
Win. 7

If that is a larger bottleneck than I anticipated, is there any CPU with the same socket (LGA 1155) worth upgrading to? Or am I better off just getting a new board and CPU?

 

[Hlsgsz]

Well it depends on teh game, but that CPU shouldn't be much of meaningful bottleneck. by meaningfull i mean unless you game at 1080p and aim at meaningless FPS over 150.
That being said, before even considering an upgrade you should overclock teh hell out of that CPU. The i5 3570K typically does 4.5Ghz with no more than 1.2v with no difficulty whatsoever.

 

[dangus]

depends on what GPU you upgraded from. if it was like a gtx 970/980 then i wouldn't have expected a world of difference. either way the 3570k is still a very serviceable CPU and shouldnt bottleneck a 1080 very much at all for games. if you could find a 3770k for less than $100 by some miracle it might be worth upgrading to that. i'd also suggest overclocking your CPU if you have the appropriate motherboard. that COULD help a decent bit

 

[sfrench11189]

That's true, I haven't tried to overclock it yet. I'll give that a shot before I make any purchases. I upgraded from a 680, so I was expecting to see a fair bit of difference. Which I have for the most part. Maybe it was just that the particular games I tried don't run well period, even on good hardware.

 

[Hlsgsz]

That's true, I haven't tried to overclock it yet. I'll give that a shot before I make any purchases. I upgraded from a 680, so I was expecting to see a fair bit of difference. Which I have for the most part. Maybe it was just that the particular games I tried don't run well period, even on good hardware.

What games would those be? I know of none that "don't run well period"(meaning 60FPS).

 

[sfrench11189]

That's true, I haven't tried to overclock it yet. I'll give that a shot before I make any purchases. I upgraded from a 680, so I was expecting to see a fair bit of difference. Which I have for the most part. Maybe it was just that the particular games I tried don't run well period, even on good hardware.

What games would those be? I know of none that "don't run well period"(meaning 60FPS).

I had to run the new Tomb Raider on potato settings to even have a chance at getting an almost stable 60FPS. Same thing with Assassins Creed Unity. But the new Doom ran flawless on Ultra. Same with a few other games I've tried. That's why I figured it could just be poor optimization on the games end.

 

[geofelt]

Most games do not use more than 2-3 threads. Applying an overclock to your I5-3570 would be about the best you can do.
Your only other viable upgrade with the same motherboard would be for a I7-3770K.
What you get is mainly 4 more threads.
Possibly useful if your games are multiplayer with many participants.
Otherwise, not a very worthwhile update.

 

[Hlsgsz]

That's true, I haven't tried to overclock it yet. I'll give that a shot before I make any purchases. I upgraded from a 680, so I was expecting to see a fair bit of difference. Which I have for the most part. Maybe it was just that the particular games I tried don't run well period, even on good hardware.

What games would those be? I know of none that "don't run well period"(meaning 60FPS).

I had to run the new Tomb Raider on potato settings to even have a chance at getting an almost stable 60FPS. Same thing with Assassins Creed Unity. But the new Doom ran flawless on Ultra. Same with a few other games I've tried. That's why I figured it could just be poor optimization on the games end.

You should be getting 60 in those.
Do yourself a favour and upgrade to Win 10.

 

[sfrench11189]

That's true, I haven't tried to overclock it yet. I'll give that a shot before I make any purchases. I upgraded from a 680, so I was expecting to see a fair bit of difference. Which I have for the most part. Maybe it was just that the particular games I tried don't run well period, even on good hardware.

What games would those be? I know of none that "don't run well period"(meaning 60FPS).

I had to run the new Tomb Raider on potato settings to even have a chance at getting an almost stable 60FPS. Same thing with Assassins Creed Unity. But the new Doom ran flawless on Ultra. Same with a few other games I've tried. That's why I figured it could just be poor optimization on the games end.

You should be getting 60 in those.
Do yourself a favour and upgrade to Win 10.

Would Win. 10 really make that much of a difference? I've been hesitant to upgrade to it. Especially now that I've missed the free update. The computers at work run it, and I'm not really a fan. Could be that I'm just too use to 7 though.

 

[Hlsgsz]

That's true, I haven't tried to overclock it yet. I'll give that a shot before I make any purchases. I upgraded from a 680, so I was expecting to see a fair bit of difference. Which I have for the most part. Maybe it was just that the particular games I tried don't run well period, even on good hardware.

What games would those be? I know of none that "don't run well period"(meaning 60FPS).

I had to run the new Tomb Raider on potato settings to even have a chance at getting an almost stable 60FPS. Same thing with Assassins Creed Unity. But the new Doom ran flawless on Ultra. Same with a few other games I've tried. That's why I figured it could just be poor optimization on the games end.

You should be getting 60 in those.
Do yourself a favour and upgrade to Win 10.

Would Win. 10 really make that much of a difference? I've been hesitant to upgrade to it. Especially now that I've missed the free update. The computers at work run it, and I'm not really a fan. Could be that I'm just too use to 7 though.

It's a far superiour OS in all regards and you just bought an expensive GPU, so I'm guessing you mean to keep playing newer games? Like those taht will be DX12 exclusive on teh horizon or atleast perform much better in DX12? So you don't really have a choice, seeing as DX12 is W10 exclusive.
Before making a purchase i would give the free upgrade process a shot as, last i heard(granted i haven;t checked in a while) MS was tacitly still allowing W10 to be installed with a W7 key 😉

 

[geofelt]

That's true, I haven't tried to overclock it yet. I'll give that a shot before I make any purchases. I upgraded from a 680, so I was expecting to see a fair bit of difference. Which I have for the most part. Maybe it was just that the particular games I tried don't run well period, even on good hardware.

What games would those be? I know of none that "don't run well period"(meaning 60FPS).

I had to run the new Tomb Raider on potato settings to even have a chance at getting an almost stable 60FPS. Same thing with Assassins Creed Unity. But the new Doom ran flawless on Ultra. Same with a few other games I've tried. That's why I figured it could just be poor optimization on the games end.

You should be getting 60 in those.
Do yourself a favour and upgrade to Win 10.

Would Win. 10 really make that much of a difference? I've been hesitant to upgrade to it. Especially now that I've missed the free update. The computers at work run it, and I'm not really a fan. Could be that I'm just too use to 7 though.

If you have no compelling reason to use windows 10, I would not rush into it.
The big downside for me is the intrusive instrumentation; but most of that can be turned off.
Also, Windows 10 will apply updates whenever it wants.
Your only control is deferring the restart for a while.
Windows 10 pro will give you more control there.
Windows classic shell does give you a more familiar way to navigate if you go to 10.