Potential CPU bottleneck for 1080p @ 60 fps

[alehei]

Hi all,

I always heard a lot of people getting 60 fps on high-ultra settings in games such as BF1, Forza Horizon 3 etc with their GTX 970.

So yesterday I decided to monitor a bit the hardware on ultra settings. While I played BF1, my FPS spiked between 45-55 all the time and at some points (for example during an explosion) It also went down to 34 FPS,

The reading from HW Monitor was that my GPU had between 80% - 91% of load while the CPU was on 97% average load..

I started to fiddle with graphics settings and when I reduced CPU intensive settings and left everything else on Ultra, I was playing at 56-60 fps @ 1080p whit loads of 75-81% of CPU and 99% on GPU. I reduced CPU intensive settings on other games like Forza H 3 and roughly had the same results.

So after I've done this I figured out that my CPU is bottlenecking my system, so my questions are:

a) Does this mean CPU bottlenecking or I might be wrong?
b) I'm planning to get the new i7 7700k, do you think that getting this CPU and keep my current card will increase the chances of getting what I want? (ie. 1080p @ 60 fps)
c) I know that I did not mention this but I currently only have 8gb RAM in fact planning to upgrade to 16. Could RAM be a limiting factor since on such games I've sometimes saw it using 94% of it?

Sorry for this very long post but I tried to explain my problem as much as possible.
Please, below find my specs so maybe you can judge this problem by looking at them.

Thank you for your help.

Specs:
CPU - Intel Core i5 6600
GPU - EVGA GTX 970 SC
MB - Asus Z170M- PLUS
RAM - Corsair Vengance 8 GB
OS - Windows 10

 

[feelinfroggy777]

You have a decent CPU and it is not a bottleneck for the most part. BF1 is a CPU intensive game and it really likes 8 threads. The minimum requirements for BF1 is a 6600k. The 6600k is a very good CPU so it is abnormal that a game be that CPU intensive. So is there a bottleneck with that CPU on BF1, maybe a little, but not much.

The best way to see the bottleneck is if your CPU is at 100% usage while your GPU is at 50%. Then you have a bottleneck.

I would not recommend a CPU upgrade. You have maybe the 4th or 5th fastest gaming CPU in the world, you would get much better fps boost in a majority of games if you upgraded your GPU. So the money you plan on spending on a new CPU/Mobo, you could get a really nice GPU.

Additionally, 8gb of RAM is the minimum these days. You need 16 gb of RAM.

 

[alehei]

You have a decent CPU and it is not a bottleneck for the most part. BF1 is a CPU intensive game and it really likes 8 threads. The minimum requirements for BF1 is a 6600k. The 6600k is a very good CPU so it is abnormal that a game be that CPU intensive. So is there a bottleneck with that CPU on BF1, maybe a little, but not much.

The best way to see the bottleneck is if your CPU is at 100% usage while your GPU is at 50%. Then you have a bottleneck.

I would not recommend a CPU upgrade. You have maybe the 4th or 5th fastest gaming CPU in the world, you would get much better fps boost in a majority of games if you upgraded your GPU. So the money you plan on spending on a new CPU/Mobo, you could get a really nice GPU.

Additionally, 8gb of RAM is the minimum these days. You need 16 gb of RAM.

Thank you for your reply.

I understand what you're saying. So what GPU would you recommend for good 60 fps (preferably constant but I will do at like 5 fps spikes) which will not be an overkill for my current CPU? Keep in mind that my CPU is not a K version making it less capable.

And do you think it will be worth to wait for next gen GPUs to come out?

Thanks