Question Is my i7-9700k underperforming, or something else the bottleneck?

[rmnvcc]

Hi everyone,

I recently upgraded from gtx 1070 to rtx 3070 in the hopes of running my games even smoother.
After doing some investigation into my specs and upgrading all my drivers, bios etc, I feel as if I should be able to get a higher fps and a bit smoother gameplay.

Fortnite: When playing fortnite I get a good 240 fps but i'm experiencing microstutters. (settings low for more fps)
Cod warzone: I get around 120 fps, but not experiencing microstutters.

Attached are some benchmarks from during the gameplay.
As you can see during COD gameplay, my CPU is not fully used and only runs on 4 GHZ. GPU usage is low and the temp also is fine (52 degrees )

Edit: Looking at my CPU usage while only having task manager open and nothing else, i see my CPU using 1%, but the speed is 4.70 GHz

https://imgur.com/sy5VoJT

https://imgur.com/T7X30xp

My specs are:
GPU: Gigabyte rtx 3070
CPU: i7-9700k
MoBo: gigabyte h310m s2 2.0
RAM: 2x 8GB Crucial DDR4-3000 BLS8G4D30AESBK
PSU: Cooler Master MWE 650W 230V
COOLER: be quiet CPU cooler (1 fan )

My assumptions:

• MoBo: The motherboard that i can only run RAM to 2666 Mz. Upgrading the motherboard can help a little with fps, but from what i read that might for +- 10 fps only (as i not a Huge gain). Other motherboard have the option for overclocking, this one doesnt have that.
• My CPU runs around 4GHZ, while it should be able to run up to 4,9 GHZ. I expected that to be achieved automatically, but does not seem to be the case. Then again, would the difference between 4 and 4,9 GHZ make for a lot of fps improvement / less microstutters in fortnite?
• Adding my specs in this calculator here: https://www.newegg.com/tools/power-supply-calculator/, states that O need between 600-700W. Is this my bottleneck?

If you could give me some advice/pointers on what is most likely the biggest gain in performance I would gain by changing something, that would be really appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

PSU: Cooler Master MWE 650W 230V
How old is the PSU in your build?

MoBo: gigabyte h310m s2 2.0
The motherboard that i can only run RAM to 2666 Mz. Upgrading the motherboard can help a little with fps,
You'd need to pair that processor with a Z series chipset and if you did get a DDR4-3200MHz dual channel ram kit, you'd see an uplift in performance.

I recently upgraded from gtx 1070 to rtx 3070 in the hopes of running my games even smoother.
Did you use DDU to remove your prior GPU's drivers from your platform, then powered down to remove the older GPU before you dropped in the new GPU? If not, you should do that now. Using DDU remove all GPU drivers, then manually reinstall the latest Nvidia driver(sourced from Nvidia's support site) in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator

 

[geofelt]

You have a low end motherboard that does not permit overclocking of your 9700K.
Overclocking would be required to get to the 4.9 level.
I would not think simply replacing the motherboard would be effective.

When you play many games, the cpu limitation is on the single master thread. Fortnite, for example. If that thread were 100% busy, the activity would be spread over the 8 available threads and the overall cpu utilization would be some 13% leading you to think you had plenty of cpu capability.
Run task manager and set the display to logical processors.
It will give you an idea as to your core usage.

Stuttering is a temporary lack of a critical resource, and I think in your case it is the cpu.
Run the cpu-Z bench and look at the single thread rating.
You should get a number like 566.
https://valid.x86.fr/bench/kn2lme/1
Many samples will be from overclocked systems, so expect yours to be less.


You could also set windows power management to limit the cpu to 70% and see how much it impacts you.
If it really hurts, then a cpu upgrade is in order.

A I3-13100 or I5-13400 would be a good upgrade. $150, $240 respectively.
You would need a lga1700 based motherboard. $150 would buy a decent one.
You could reuse your DDR4 ram.

 

[rmnvcc]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

PSU: Cooler Master MWE 650W 230V
How old is the PSU in your build?

MoBo: gigabyte h310m s2 2.0
The motherboard that i can only run RAM to 2666 Mz. Upgrading the motherboard can help a little with fps,
You'd need to pair that processor with a Z series chipset and if you did get a DDR4-3200MHz dual channel ram kit, you'd see an uplift in performance.

I recently upgraded from gtx 1070 to rtx 3070 in the hopes of running my games even smoother.
Did you use DDU to remove your prior GPU's drivers from your platform, then powered down to remove the older GPU before you dropped in the new GPU? If not, you should do that now. Using DDU remove all GPU drivers, then manually reinstall the latest Nvidia driver(sourced from Nvidia's support site) in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator

How old is the PSU in your build?
-> I bought it april 2020

Did you use DDU to remove your prior GPU's drivers from your platform
-> No I did not, I will try that and let you know if that improved the performance.

 

[rmnvcc]

You have a low end motherboard that does not permit overclocking of your 9700K.
Overclocking would be required to get to the 4.9 level.
I would not think simply replacing the motherboard would be effective.

When you play many games, the cpu limitation is on the single master thread. Fortnite, for example. If that thread were 100% busy, the activity would be spread over the 8 available threads and the overall cpu utilization would be some 13% leading you to think you had plenty of cpu capability.
Run task manager and set the display to logical processors.
It will give you an idea as to your core usage.

Stuttering is a temporary lack of a critical resource, and I think in your case it is the cpu.
Run the cpu-Z bench and look at the single thread rating.
You should get a number like 566.
https://valid.x86.fr/bench/kn2lme/1
Many samples will be from overclocked systems, so expect yours to be less.


You could also set windows power management to limit the cpu to 70% and see how much it impacts you.
If it really hurts, then a cpu upgrade is in order.

A I3-13100 or I5-13400 would be a good upgrade. $150, $240 respectively.
You would need a lga1700 based motherboard. $150 would buy a decent one.
You could reuse your DDR4 ram.

You have a low end motherboard that does not permit overclocking of your 9700K.
Overclocking would be required to get to the 4.9 level.
I would not think simply replacing the motherboard would be effective.
--> When my PC is idle at the desktop, the CPU speed is around 4.6, 4.7. But then when gaming it goes to sub 4. That is weird right?


Run task manager and set the display to logical processors.
--> Will do, will reply with the results.


You could also set windows power management to limit the cpu to 70% and see how much it impacts you.
If it really hurts, then a cpu upgrade is in order.
--> what do you mean? So I set the power management to 70%, what will be the expected behaviour, and what is the desired effect of that?

Sorry for these actions, trying to learn and understand everything, not only find a solution and done

 

[rmnvcc]

You have a low end motherboard that does not permit overclocking of your 9700K.
Overclocking would be required to get to the 4.9 level.
I would not think simply replacing the motherboard would be effective.
--> When my PC is idle at the desktop, the CPU speed is around 4.6, 4.7. But then when gaming it goes to sub 4. That is weird right?


Run task manager and set the display to logical processors.
--> Will do, will reply with the results.


You could also set windows power management to limit the cpu to 70% and see how much it impacts you.
If it really hurts, then a cpu upgrade is in order.
--> what do you mean? So I set the power management to 70%, what will be the expected behaviour, and what is the desired effect of that?

Sorry for these actions, trying to learn and understand everything, not only find a solution and done

Run task manager and set the display to logical processors.

So I did some additional tests and noticed again that during the game, my CPU is running with lower speeds, than compared to when im in the lobby and the cpu usage is higher (just like when its idle after startup)

Gameplay usage:

https://imgur.com/jBW0IUV

lobby usage:

https://imgur.com/CiktWRN

So looking at the above values I would say I should be able to get higher fps than 114, since both GPU and CPU are not fully used.
And there is something weird going on that CPU during gameplay is running with lower speed