Question Lower FPS with upgraded CPU/GPU

[scobod22]

I am a light gamer. For the last couple of years, I have played with a Ryzen 5 3600/Asus GTX 1070 combo. For the games I play, this combo worked just fine. For no need other than "just because", I purchased a second hand 5600 and ran Heaven benchmark for Ultra quality on 1080. My results were:
FPS 171
Score 4307
Min FPS 53.9
Max 314

Lately Ive been branching out some new games and on some of them, I have to keep the quality lower to keep it playable. I decided to try to upgrade my GPU a bit. I didnt need much. I found a second hand RX 6700 XT Sapphire Nitro for decent price. After DDU and driver install, I ran Heaven again and the results are:
FPS 152
Score 3995
Min FPS 51
Max 357

This is my first AMD GPU so maybe its something simple in the software, but I would think that the GPU upgrade would at least bump my score slightly and not lower it. Maybe Heaven is a crap benchmark?

Asus B550M
16GB TForce Ram
Ryzen 5 5600
Seasonic 750w

 

[Aeacus]

Maybe Heaven is a crap benchmark?

Heaven is old (released in 2009) and not suited for latest GPUs. Better to use Superposition;
link: https://benchmark.unigine.com/superposition

Seasonic 750w

Model of the unit is? And was it bought new or used/refurbished?

a second hand RX 6700 XT Sapphire Nitro

Used hardware is sold "as is" and there is 0 expectation for it to work as brand new hardware.

 

[scobod22]

Heaven is old (released in 2009) and not suited for latest GPUs. Better to use Superposition;
link: https://benchmark.unigine.com/superposition


Model of the unit is? And was it bought new or used/refurbished?


Used hardware is sold "as is" and there is 0 expectation for it to work as brand new hardware.

I will give Superposition a go. The PSU was purchased new. Its an X Series.

 

[Aeacus]

The PSU was purchased new. Its an X Series.

Okay... but when exactly? Since X-series is old, released way back in 2009. And as of current date, way too old to be used.

 

[scobod22]

Okay... but when exactly? Since X-series is old, released way back in 2009. And as of current date, way too old to be used.

That I could not say. Ive had it for years. I have swapped components so many times over so many PC's, there is no way I could recall. The PSU and memory were the only thing I remember buying new, but I feel as if it was 2018 or 2019.

 

[Aeacus]

That I could not say. Ive had it for years. I have swapped components so many times over so many PC's, there is no way I could recall. The PSU and memory were the only thing I remember buying new, but I feel as if it was 2018 or 2019.

I do suggest that you retire the trusted workhorse and buy a new Seasonic unit. Current good ones are: Focus, Vertex and PRIME series.

Memory is interesting thing. E.g i too remember that i bought my Seasonic PRIME TX-650 80+ Titanium [SSR-650TD] not that long ago, but in actuality, i bought it in 2016 and my PSU is already 8 years old. But it still has long way to go, because it has 12 years of warranty (and it was the best 650W PSU money could buy back then).

It is a small possibility that your GPU FPS issue could be due to the aged PSU, that may not feed that stable voltages to the GPU anymore. 15 years for Seasonic X-series is a long time, especially since it ever came with 7 years of warranty.
Btw, Seasonic Focus fully-modular units have 10 years of warranty and Vertex/PRIME units have 12 years of warranty.

 

[geofelt]

Try this simple test:
Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
This makes the graphics card loaf a bit.
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.
If you can usefully upgrade your gpu, make it a big jump or you may be disappointed.
Here is tom's GPU hierarchy chart:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html
Since you are using a GTX1070, I suggest you stick with nvidia and look at a RTX3060 class card or better.

If your more effective upgrade is a processor, you have options keeping your current motherboard.
Here are the processors your motherboard will support:
https://www.asus.com/motherboards-c...helpdesk_cpu?model2Name=TUF-GAMING-B550M-PLUS

So long as any graphics upgrade can be handled with a 750w psu, I suggest you keep it.

 

[scobod22]

Heaven is old (released in 2009) and not suited for latest GPUs. Better to use Superposition;
link: https://benchmark.unigine.com/superposition


Model of the unit is? And was it bought new or used/refurbished?


Used hardware is sold "as is" and there is 0 expectation for it to work as brand new hardware.

I downloaded Superposition and gave that a run in both 1080 and 4k. 1080 score was 6965 at around 50-60 fps and 4k score was 9485 at around 100-110 fps. in both runs, it wasnt smooth and seemed to give this lag jumping effect although it did not affect my fps. I did notice that 75% of both my VRAM and system ram was being utilized.

 

[Bob.B]

I am a light gamer. For the last couple of years, I have played with a Ryzen 5 3600/Asus GTX 1070 combo. For the games I play, this combo worked just fine. For no need other than "just because", I purchased a second hand 5600 and ran Heaven benchmark for Ultra quality on 1080. My results were:
FPS 171
Score 4307
Min FPS 53.9
Max 314

Lately Ive been branching out some new games and on some of them, I have to keep the quality lower to keep it playable. I decided to try to upgrade my GPU a bit. I didnt need much. I found a second hand RX 6700 XT Sapphire Nitro for decent price. After DDU and driver install, I ran Heaven again and the results are:
FPS 152
Score 3995
Min FPS 51
Max 357

This is my first AMD GPU so maybe its something simple in the software, but I would think that the GPU upgrade would at least bump my score slightly and not lower it. Maybe Heaven is a crap benchmark?

Asus B550M
16GB TForce Ram
Ryzen 5 5600
Seasonic 750w

Proper bios and mobo drivers?

 

[kerberos_20]

Memory is interesting thing. E.g i too remember that i bought my Seasonic PRIME TX-650 80+ Titanium [SSR-650TD] not that long ago, but in actuality, i bought it in 2016 and my PSU is already 8 years old. But it still has long way to go, because it has 12 years of warranty (and it was the best 650W PSU money could buy back then).

that just remindem me of mine focus plus from 2017, only 3 years to go 🙁

 

[Aeacus]

1080 score was 6965 at around 50-60 fps and 4k score was 9485 at around 100-110 fps.

From Unigine site, you can compare your results to other RX 6700 XT,
link: https://benchmark.unigine.com/leaderboards/superposition/1.x/1080p-extreme/single-gpu/page-1

Just select the proper preset you ran and then into GPU search, type in 6700 XT.

in both runs, it wasnt smooth and seemed to give this lag jumping effect

Stutters are actually common for AMD Radeon GPUs. Well, all GPUs can produce stutters (including Nvidia GTX/RTX and Intel ARC) but Radeon GPUs are far more known to produce stutters.

As of what produces stutters - difficult to tell. Most of the times, it is poor GPU drivers optimization. Hence why many (including myself) run Nvidia (better optimization).
And the fact that your GPU came to you as used, it doesn't make it any better.

Sure, Radeon GPUs are cheaper than Nvidia same spec counterpart, but with cheaper price, you get inferior experience, higher power draw and more heat. So, up to anyone to decide, what they are content with.

Oh, do the test suggested by geofelt. It tells if you're mostly GPU bound or CPU bound.

that just remindem me of mine focus plus from 2017, only 3 years to go 🙁

I wouldn't actually worry too much, since Seasonic units are known to last far longer than the warranty they have been given. E.g OP's unit is 15 years old, double the warranty period, but still works (somehow). And i've also seen old S12II-520 units (3 year warranty) to last 5-8 years easy.

I've also used Seasonic PSUs over their warranty. E.g:
I have S12II-520 as well but i retired mine after little bit of 3 years of service (from Q2 2015 to Q4 2018) and replaced it with Seasonic Focus PX-550 80+ Platinum [SSR-550PX] (which powers my old AMD build).
My missus'es build (Haswell) ran M12II-850 EVO from Q2 2015 to Q4 2020 while PSU had 5 years of warranty. Now, i didn't go much past warranty expire date since i ended up buying her Seasonic PRIME TX-650 80+ Titanium [SSR-650TD] that i swap in.

Once the warranty period is up, then you may want to look for a new unit.