Question What is my bottleneck here?

[slowbro999]

I play Fornite and get around 70-80 fps with the occasional pause for a sec every once in a while. My specs:

1080gtx
i7 6700k
8gb ram

Can I upgrade or do I just need a new pc? Trying to get a smooth 144 fps.

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information:

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

Key is to discover what your computer is doing or maybe trying to do during those occasional pauses.

Tools (built in) to try:

Task Manager

Resource Monitor

Reliability History

Event Viewer

Process Explorer (Microsoft, free)

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

Any resource that is being "overloaded" and cannot keep up is a potential culprit.

I would start by focusing on RAM. 8GB may not be enough overall just as a quick assessment.

 

[geofelt]

There is no such thing as "bottlenecking"
If, by that, you mean that upgrading a cpu or graphics card can
somehow lower your performance or FPS.
A better term might be limiting factor.
That is where adding more cpu or gpu becomes increasingly
less effective.

Here are a few tests:
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.

To check for a shortage of ram, activate task manager then run your games.
Look at task manager/resource monitor/memory tab/ hard page fault column.
If you see any numbers north of zero, you encountered hard page faults because of insufficient ram.

What is the make/model of your motherboard?
You have a K suffix processor which can be overclocked if you have a Z motherboard.
some 30% cpu performance improvement is likely:
https://siliconlottery.com/pages/statistics

 

[Frag Maniac]

You're WELL above the recommended requirements for Fortnite

That said, most running it seem to be using 16GB RAM. Try playing with MSI Afterburner on with CPU, GPU and RAM usage and temps set to show onscreen while playing. If your RAM is being used entirely, try adding 8 GB more. It would be your cheapest upgrade and might help. Just make sure you try to find identical speed and timings on the RAM, as the PC will default to whichever is the slowest.

If you're not sure what your RAM speed and timings are, HWiNFO64 is a free tool that will show such specs.

This vid shows what I'm talking about. He has the same spec as you, but you can see his RAM is maxed, which means there's not a sufficient amount in reserve for the OS.

There is no such thing as "bottlenecking"
If, by that, you mean that upgrading a cpu or graphics card can
somehow lower your performance or FPS.
A better term might be limiting factor.

Kind of splitting hairs to be honest, bottleneck, limiting factor, potato potahto really.

You shouldn't NEED to build a new PC to hit 144 FPS though. This article makes that clear, because you obviously have better spec than is mentioned in it.

How To Build a Cheap 144 FPS Fortnite PC in 2022

Find out how to build a cheap PC and run Fortnite with 144 FPS on 1080p monitor. What GPU and CPU make the most sense in order to play smoothly.

www.hardware-corner.net

If the RAM doesn't yield 144 FPS, it could be something else, like your PSU, or even net connection. It's a good idea to have at least a 600w PSU for a GTX 1080. Nvidia suggests more like 520, but unless it's a very long life PSU, it's good to add as much as 100w to that.

List your ENTIRE spec, again, HWiNFO64 will help with that.

The RAM, if maxed however, could be causing those pauses, and also severely limiting FPS in doing so, because it might mean your GPU is waiting for the CPU to send it rendering data. Rendering data is calculated by the CPU, and cached by the RAM while it's doing so. If the RAM gets maxed, that could mean your CPU has to send smaller chunks of rendering data than it normally would, which is like a semi truck chugging slowly uphill because it's overloaded.