Need help locating my setup's bottleneck for PC gaming. I am noob.

[rockieshannon]

RIG:1) 2 gtx 980s sli 2) intel i7 cpu x990 @ 3.47 GHz (i don't overclock). 3) Rampage III extreme mobo 4) 16 gigs of 4-5 year old ram. 5) I use a 1080p monitor @ 144 hz refresh rate.

With this setup I find myself with lower frames than I would like in modern games. I'm assuming that my CPU is the bottleneck here and that I need to replace that... if so, what suggestions do you guys have for a good gaming CPU that will fit in my mobo? Also do you think I need to replace my ram or does that not matter. Thanks a bunch for any help!

I will spend whatever I need to on a CPU that will fix the setup!

 

[vapour]

1) What games and what settings?
2) Check GPU usage and CPU usage, my guess is 980 is bottlenecking instead of CPU.

 

[rockieshannon]

It's just world of warcraft on max settings with 144 hz i only get 70 or so frames during big battles. My cpu is around 5-6 years old where as i Just replaced the gpus . I dont think its the gpus... right?

 

[vapour]

download gpu-z and cpu-z, monitor the usage during low fps moment.

 

[rockieshannon]

seems like the GPU is at 100% usage and the CPU is at 50% usage according to MSI afterburner. Are two 980s not as powerful as I had thought?

 

[vapour]

Crossfire/SLI 980 is mostly useful for mining, for FPS, not necessarily much better. The performance leap can be as low as 20%, or as high as 90%. It all depends on how suited a game engine is to SLI or CrossFire. Guess WOW does not support crossfire/SLI well.

https://www.pcauthority.com.au/feature/the-sli-question-is-multi-gpu-worth-it-441170

 

[rockieshannon]

So after rechecking the numbers, i'm at 72% usage on GPU1 and 67% usage on GPU and 75-95% usage across all CPU cores

 

[vapour]

Nowhere to upgrade CPU on that board...
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/socketType.html#id4
You may want to get new MB...

 

[rockieshannon]

weird man... i dunno what to do. I doubt replacing the mobo would do much would it? anyone else wanna weigh in? thanks vapour !!

 

[vapour]

I am saying you need new CPU and corresponding new MB, RAM which will be quite some money to invest and sell all your old parts However, you may OC your CPU and it will definitely show you good improvement It seems someone can OC to 4.4 GHz. Make sure you have a good cooler! OC in the right way will not harm your hardware. Good luck!

https://hothardware.com/forums/posts/t57084-My-Intel-I7-990X-overclocked-at-4-40-GHz--And--I7-990X-overclocked-at-4-5-GHz-with-new-Antec-Kuhler

 

[mdd1963]

The 3.5 GHz i7-990X, although an awesome expensive CPU from 7 years ago, is going to be outframed by 6 year old 2600K models, which in turn is matched by today's i3-7350K in many games...

Time for CPU/MB/RAM at a minimum...

Many look to the 7700K for 144 Hz goodness, but, you might wait 2-3 weeks to evaluate 8600K/8700K soon, as well..

Good luck....

 

[rockieshannon]

So i'd like to avoid replacing my MOBO and RAM... How much of a difference will replacing only the CPU do? Is it worth it? and If i choose this route which CPU shud i put in my rampage iii extreme... Thanks for any responses as always!

 

[vapour]

So i'd like to avoid replacing my MOBO and RAM... How much of a difference will replacing only the CPU do? Is it worth it? and If i choose this route which CPU shud i put in my rampage iii extreme... Thanks for any responses as always!

Only two more CPUs supported are upgrades, but both of them are marginal. If you want to keep MB, OC is your only good choice