Question RTX 5090 possible bottleneck

Mar 7, 2025
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Hello PC wizards,

I have RTX 5090 GIGABYTE gaming OC paried with I7 13700k, all installed in ASUS prime Z690m plus D4 Mobo with 32 GB of RAM.

I am experiencing slightly low FPS especially in Kingdom come deliverance 2. Performance is better than my previous RTX 4090 but not that better and I also some times observe low GPU usage, mind you, that's all at 4k.

I have the latest driver installed and GPU Z is showing 176 ROPS. Temps are ok as well. Not going above 62 C and memory temp not going above 68 C as per HWINFO and MSI afterburner beta.

Can someone please tell me if I upgrade my CPU to i9 14900k that performance will improve?
 
Hello PC wizards,

I have RTX 5090 GIGABYTE gaming OC paried with I7 13700k, all installed in ASUS prime Z690m plus D4 Mobo with 32 GB of RAM.

I am experiencing slightly low FPS especially in Kingdom come deliverance 2. Performance is better than my previous RTX 4090 but not that better and I also some times observe low GPU usage, mind you, that's all at 4k.

I have the latest driver installed and GPU Z is showing 176 ROPS. Temps are ok as well. Not going above 62 C and memory temp not going above 68 C as per HWINFO and MSI afterburner beta.

Can someone please tell me if I upgrade my CPU to i9 14900k that performance will improve?
When the 14900k was released, at 4k with an RTX4090 it was only about 2% faster on average than a 13700k. Even at 1080p with the same GPU the difference was only about 5%. In Tomshardware review of the RTX5090 they threw in a 13900k to compare against the best gaming CPU the 9800X3D. On average the 9800X3D was only 5% faster than the 13900k at 4k. The difference was larger at 1440p and 1080p because the CPU became more of an issue, however, at 4k your 13700k is plenty fast and even a 14900k isn't going to make much of a difference.
 
Hello PC wizards,

I have RTX 5090 GIGABYTE gaming OC paried with I7 13700k, all installed in ASUS prime Z690m plus D4 Mobo with 32 GB of RAM.

I am experiencing slightly low FPS especially in Kingdom come deliverance 2. Performance is better than my previous RTX 4090 but not that better and I also some times observe low GPU usage, mind you, that's all at 4k.

I have the latest driver installed and GPU Z is showing 176 ROPS. Temps are ok as well. Not going above 62 C and memory temp not going above 68 C as per HWINFO and MSI afterburner beta.

Can someone please tell me if I upgrade my CPU to i9 14900k that performance will improve?
Yes, it will improve.
The question is by how much?
Games are limited by the cpu and the gpu.
Many games depend on the single thread performance of the master thread.
To guess at the impact of a 14900K, try this test:
In windows power management, REDUCE the Max cpu% from 100% to perhaps 90%. See how that impacts your game. If you see a noticeable reduction in performance, it indicates that cpu performance is a relatively large component of performance and a 14900K upgrade may be worthwhile.

Lastly, on any 13/14th gen processor be certain that you are using the latest motherboard bios update.
 
It is possible that at times your CPU isn't able to keep the 5090 fed with data. However, the difference between the 13700k and 14900k will be quite minimal especially at 4k. Overall your FPS is still higher as you said. About how much faster is your 5090 compared to the 4090?
Maybe around 15 percent faster which is not quite great.
 
Yes, it will improve.
The question is by how much?
Games are limited by the cpu and the gpu.
Many games depend on the single thread performance of the master thread.
To guess at the impact of a 14900K, try this test:
In windows power management, REDUCE the Max cpu% from 100% to perhaps 90%. See how that impacts your game. If you see a noticeable reduction in performance, it indicates that cpu performance is a relatively large component of performance and a 14900K upgrade may be worthwhile.

Lastly, on any 13/14th gen processor be certain that you are using the latest motherboard bios update.
Ok let me try that
 
For reference the 5090 was only about 25% faster on average than the 4090 with a 9800X3D at 4k. Going with a 13900k it was only about 20% faster. With you at about 15% faster that is typically within margin of error and says you might only get 5% more going with a 14900k.
That’s what I wanted to say as soon as I read the post. The 5090 isn't such a big upgrade as compared to the 4090.