[SOLVED] Just bought a 3080ti, is my i7-8700 or MOBO bottlenecking it?

Dec 20, 2021
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Hi fellas, first time here.

I just bought a 3080ti reference card completely impulsively. Guy in my area put a posting for one at 1600, couldn't help myself.

I thought my build could make full use of the card, but I have my doubts after running some more CPU bound games (Hunt Showdown, CSGO). The true performance of my 3080ti just doesn't feel completely there.

I'm upgrading from a GTX 1080 and am seeing a very little increase in performance for Hunt Showdown in particular, 100-110 fps at 1080p on low, which isn't much different than what I had on my GTX1080. (I play very competitively so I choose low for visibility)

My specs are the following:

i7-8700 w/ Stock cooler ( I was lazy ).
MSI MPG z390 mobo.
RTX 3080ti Founders edition.
16gb ram.
2tb SSD.
850watt PSU

I've read various things about either a significant MOBO or CPU limitation that can hold this card back. I imagined a slight bottleneck with an i7-8700, but no performance increase on Hunt after upgrading to 3080ti is a little jarring.
Are there particular upgrades I should make to get substantial performance increases out of this setup? CPU? MOBO? Both?

Please help, thanks.
 
Solution
Games such as csgo are cpu limited, and largely single threaded.
Time to think about a cpu/mobo upgrade.
You can keep your ddr4 ram.
Your i7-8700 has 12 threads and a passmark rating of 13078/2674. The latter number being the single thread performance.
A $300 i5-12600K has 16 threads and a rating of 23949/3946.
$240 or so buys you a DDR4 capable Z690 motherboard so you can reuse your ram.
Add $50-$100 for a good cooler.
Games such as csgo are cpu limited, and largely single threaded.
Time to think about a cpu/mobo upgrade.
You can keep your ddr4 ram.
Your i7-8700 has 12 threads and a passmark rating of 13078/2674. The latter number being the single thread performance.
A $300 i5-12600K has 16 threads and a rating of 23949/3946.
$240 or so buys you a DDR4 capable Z690 motherboard so you can reuse your ram.
Add $50-$100 for a good cooler.
 
Solution
Dec 20, 2021
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Completely expected outcome considering you play on 1080p. 3080ti is a card for 4K displays. If you want more FPS on 1080 then you need faster CPU. Or you can buy 4K monitor.

My main goal is to make an absolute 1080p frame cranker. A pvp machine for FPS. I bought a 360hz 1080p screen so I can produce and see absolutely every frame, I want stupid high framerates on 1080p, regardless of quality. My intention is to get as close to 360fps as possible. In the case I need a CPU upgrade, I am thinking an i9-9900k or i9-10900k w/ a new mobo. Or maybe Ryzen 5900x w/ new mobo. I'm not sure, up until this point I had just kind of bought what's "decent" for a CPU, since I thought the GPU was the main workhorse for most games.

I really don't know much about CPUs, honestly. What is my best price option for a CPU that will make full use of the card, and makes little to no compromises for limiting 1080p performance?
 
Dec 20, 2021
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I would first check and see if your processor is throttling under load.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i7-8700-cpu-review,5638.html

The stock cooler sux.

But playing on low settings your CPU is the FPS limit @ 1080p.

I had a feeling my little stock cooler might be affecting its performance, but I'm not sure to what extent. It's usually between 50-60 idle, 70-80C when gaming, at most 81. I bought a Coolermaster Hyper 212 yesterday, but have yet install because it'd just be a pain to pull out the motherboard and go through that whole process, only to change fans. I'm considering upgrading CPU maybe before I throw in that cooler, you know, just to hit two birds with one stone. Still unsure if that's necessary though.
 
I really don't know much about CPUs, honestly. What is my best price option for a CPU that will make full use of the card, and makes little to no compromises for limiting 1080p performance?
As geofelt mentioned above right now its 12600k (or maybe even 12900k) + Z690 mobo. Maybe its not exactly best price option, especially right now since 12th gen is new and not mature yet, but in terms of performance it should be best now and in near future. Ryzen 5900 is kind of option too but there is a chance you would need new RAM for it.
 
Look up the passmark performance numbers for any cpu you are considering. That is what games need most.
In particular, look for the best single thread performance ratings.
Far and away is the i9-12900K with a cpu-Z single thread performance rating of 981.
http://valid.x86.fr/bench/mx5qrf/1
The 12700K and 12600K ratings are 852 and 772 respectively.
The 5900X is at 648.
It goes down from there.

And, plan on a good cooler to let the processor perform up to it's potential.
What is the make/model of your case?
What cooler you can use may depend on that.
 
I had a feeling my little stock cooler might be affecting its performance, but I'm not sure to what extent. It's usually between 50-60 idle, 70-80C when gaming, at most 81. I bought a Coolermaster Hyper 212 yesterday, but have yet install because it'd just be a pain to pull out the motherboard and go through that whole process, only to change fans. I'm considering upgrading CPU maybe before I throw in that cooler, you know, just to hit two birds with one stone. Still unsure if that's necessary though.
50-60c. is a bit high at idle, but 80c. under load is fine.
Particularly with the stock cooler.
Run Hwmonitor or similar and look at the max temperature.
If you do not see a max of 100c. you are ok.
If you do, you have throttled due to heat.

Hyper 212 is popular because it is cheap.
but, it is hard to install and is not very effective.
But I would keep it only if you were to continue with the 8700.
Any stronger cpu is going to want a much better cooler than the 212.
 
Dec 20, 2021
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Look up the passmark performance numbers for any cpu you are considering. That is what games need most.
In particular, look for the best single thread performance ratings.
Far and away is the i9-12900K with a cpu-Z single thread performance rating of 981.
http://valid.x86.fr/bench/mx5qrf/1
The 12700K and 12600K ratings are 852 and 772 respectively.
The 5900X is at 648.
It goes down from there.

And, plan on a good cooler to let the processor perform up to it's potential.
What is the make/model of your case?
What cooler you can use may depend on that.

I call my case "old man" because it is very old, bought it way back in 2013 or 2014, missing some PCI shields and screws, dusty, has served me like a champ throughout all of the build's upgrades though. It is the fractal design define R4.
I bought a coolermaster Hyper 212 from bestbuy, which I think would be okay for any new CPU but you can correct me if I'm wrong. I'm trying to avoid water cooling in any case. It should have enough space for the big ol' heatsync this new fan has.
 
Dec 20, 2021
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50-60c. is a bit high at idle, but 80c. under load is fine.
Particularly with the stock cooler.
Run Hwmonitor or similar and look at the max temperature.
If you do not see a max of 100c. you are ok.
If you do, you have throttled due to heat.

Hyper 212 is popular because it is cheap.
but, it is hard to install and is not very effective.
But I would keep it only if you were to continue with the 8700.
Any stronger cpu is going to want a much better cooler than the 212.

What cooler would you recommend should I buy a 12900k and new mobo? The one I bought I still in the box, could probably return it if necessary.
 
If your ram is not tall, the NH-D15 would be the best.
It can handle ram up to 32mm tall.
Corsair LPX for example is 31mm high.
Otherwise, look for the NH-D15s which will clear up to 65mm.
Here are the differences:
NH-D15:
https://noctua.at/en/nh-d15/specification
NH=D15s:
https://noctua.at/en/nh-d15s/specification
One thing to check is the inclusion of lga1700 mounting.
Old stock may not include that.
Newer stock like the chromax black versions will have lga1700 mounts.
Regardless, noctua will send you a free kit if you need it.
lga1700 has a slightly different hole pattern than previous lga 15xx.
The issue applies to other coolers.
In addition to the obvious hole pattern the 12th gen processors are not as tall.
The coolers need to be adjusted to allow proper pressure for the height.

What Z690 motherboard are you considering?
 
Dec 20, 2021
9
0
10
If your ram is not tall, the NH-D15 would be the best.
It can handle ram up to 32mm tall.
Corsair LPX for example is 31mm high.
Otherwise, look for the NH-D15s which will clear up to 65mm.
Here are the differences:
NH-D15:
https://noctua.at/en/nh-d15/specification
NH=D15s:
https://noctua.at/en/nh-d15s/specification
One thing to check is the inclusion of lga1700 mounting.
Old stock may not include that.
Newer stock like the chromax black versions will have lga1700 mounts.
Regardless, noctua will send you a free kit if you need it.
lga1700 has a slightly different hole pattern than previous lga 15xx.
The issue applies to other coolers.
In addition to the obvious hole pattern the 12th gen processors are not as tall.
The coolers need to be adjusted to allow proper pressure for the height.

What Z690 motherboard are you considering?

I've been doing some research, and wow there is a lot of models. I'm not looking to compromise any performance, but I'm not interested in paying over 250 or an exorbitant amount for a mobo.

I found this one off of newegg, checks out alright and it's the cheapest Z690 I could find.

https://www.newegg.com/gigabyte-aor...&ranSiteID=8BacdVP0GFs-QZIafYM348D4ul2jW3vKZw