Question Where is the bottleneck?

[tezzla]

Hi!
My pc is:
i5 12400f
16gb ram 2400mhz
550w
I recently purchased a 4070. I upgraded from a 1070ti. Now I feel like it's not going as well as it should. The games do not give as many fps as they are supposed to, there are drops sometimes, the experience is not as fluid.
I suppose that the bottleneck is due to the processor since the GPU almost never reaches 100 and it is very easy for it to drop to 50% while the CPU is almost always at 100%.
Should I change the processor? I bought it just a year ago xd
Should I update the Ram? I bought it when I bought my first PC in 2018 and I haven't updated it since.
I use 2 1080p monitors (although I will soon purchase a 2k one)
I tried using nvidia DRS and rendering the games at 2k and 4k and although it helps a lot, I still notice inconsistencies in performance.
What dou you recommend?

 

[Cj-tech]

Hi!
My pc is:
i5 12400f
16gb ram 2400mhz
550w
I recently purchased a 4070. I upgraded from a 1070ti. Now I feel like it's not going as well as it should. The games do not give as many fps as they are supposed to, there are drops sometimes, the experience is not as fluid.
I suppose that the bottleneck is due to the processor since the GPU almost never reaches 100 and it is very easy for it to drop to 50% while the CPU is almost always at 100%.
Should I change the processor? I bought it just a year ago xd
Should I update the Ram? I bought it when I bought my first PC in 2018 and I haven't updated it since.
I use 2 1080p monitors (although I will soon purchase a 2k one)
I tried using nvidia DRS and rendering the games at 2k and 4k and although it helps a lot, I still notice inconsistencies in performance.
What dou you recommend?

Did use DDU to completely remove the display driver and install the correct 4070 driver?

 

[tezzla]

Did use DDU to completely remove the display driver and install the correct 4070 driver?

Yes i did, twice xd

 

[thestryker]

First of all if your DRAM really is 2400 that's a pretty big problem.

What are you using for measuring GPU/CPU usage?

Generally speaking gaming isn't going to be maxing out 6 cores period so this seems odd. Example: in Starfield my CPU was limiting GPU in a couple of places, but the usage was showing 40-50% because it was only a few cores.

Full pc specs are really helpful for diagnosing anything, but for this specifically:
motherboard
CPU cooling
case
power supply model
storage

 

[tezzla]

First of all if your DRAM really is 2400 that's a pretty big problem.

What are you using for measuring GPU/CPU usage?

Generally speaking gaming isn't going to be maxing out 6 cores period so this seems odd. Example: in Starfield my CPU was limiting GPU in a couple of places, but the usage was showing 40-50% because it was only a few cores.

Full pc specs are really helpful for diagnosing anything, but for this specifically:
motherboard
CPU cooling
case
power supply model
storage

Im measuring with msi afterburner.

The complete specs:
Motherboard: Gigabyte b660M DS3H
CPU I5 12400f with stock cooler
PSU Corsair cx 550w
RAM Ballistix 16gb 2400mhz
SSD 480gb (for windows)
HDD 1tb

 

[thestryker]

Im measuring with msi afterburner.

The complete specs:
Motherboard: Gigabyte b660M DS3H
CPU I5 12400f with stock cooler
PSU Corsair cx 550w
RAM Ballistix 16gb 2400mhz
SSD 480gb (for windows)
HDD 1tb

Well the DRAM is certainly a problem and will be limiting your performance most notably in one percent lows. You should really look into getting something in the CL14-16 range at 3200 as the SA voltage is limited on non-K SKUs so higher speed won't get you anything.

The cooler will also likely be a limiter to your CPU's maximum performance so at least a single tower cooler (Thermalright and Deepcool are usually your best choice depending on your location).

The HDD may be a limiting factor for some games, but this wouldn't limit your max fps usually so much as introduce potential performance hitches.

While I've never used Afterburner for checking CPU usage I did take a look on my system and it seems to be accurate, but just to make sure you are looking at the overall CPU usage and not cores as it lists those first?

It'd be worth running 3dmark after a fresh boot as that will let you directly compare to systems with the same CPU/GPU and should give an indication if anything is operating outside of expected.