CPU Bottleneck or something else?

Associate
Joined
26 Oct 2016
Posts
13
Hi, first off sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this as I wasn't sure where to put it but I'm just looking to for some advice here, basically for a while I had been running,

i5 4460
GTX 1060 6GB
8gb DDR3 Ram
1440p Monitor

and then earlier in the year I bought a RTX 2060, and honestly I think my system has been running worse since with constant high CPU usage. For example I just tried to play Dragons Dogma at 1440p and I get constant drops into the 40fps range, I've seen it go as low as the 20s, this is the case with pretty much anything I try to play. It also doesn't matter what settings I play at, I can reach higher max FPS dropping the settings but the lows don't really change and are still constant..

I have monitored usage in Task Manager and CPU usage is typically somewhere between 70 and 90% while GPU is usually around 40-70%. Now while I expect some kind of bottleneck with a RTX 2060/i5 4460/8gb Ram I'm not sure it should be this bad at 1440p so I'm wondering if it could be something else? I'm planning on upgrading when Zen2 arrives but if I could improve the situation in the meantime then that would be great, also it'd be pretty crap if I spend like £500/600 on a CPU/Motherboard/RAM and it doesn't fix it.

So TLDR, is my old i5 4460 bottlenecking my RTX 2060 at 1440p?
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
7,781
Location
Surrey
All non-essential background services/programs disabled? You say you've checked task manager, but have you checked memory usage too? What are your temperatures like when stressing the system? I'm guessing this has started since the gpu upgrade? Have you stress tested it with furmark etc?
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
14,047
Location
West Midlands
CPU and RAM are holding you back. Put up with it for two months and then see what Zen2 brings to the table. £500 should get you an 8c/16t CPU, and excellent board, 16GB of fast DDR4 and a 1TB SSD. :)
 
Associate
OP
Joined
26 Oct 2016
Posts
13
Hey thanks for the response...
All non-essential background services/programs disabled?
Yes it's whatever game that I am playing that is using the majority of the CPU.

You say you've checked task manager, but have you checked memory usage too?
The RAM usage in Dragons Dogma was around 65% but I must admit I haven't really paid attention to that in other games.

I'm guessing this has started since the gpu upgrade?
Yes. I should mention I did a fresh install of Windows 10 too but this wasn't right away, basically did it to see if it would fix it but didn't change a thing.

What are your temperatures like when stressing the system? ... Have you stress tested it with furmark etc?
I haven't really stress tested them, how long should I let furmark run for it to be considered a stress test? I just ran the Furmark GPU test at 1440p for 10mins and temp maxed out at 69 degrees. Furmark CPU test for 10mins maxed out at 65 degrees (this is on the stock intel cooler).

CPU and RAM are holding you back. Put up with it for two months and then see what Zen2 brings to the table. £500 should get you an 8c/16t CPU, and excellent board, 16GB of fast DDR4 and a 1TB SSD. :)
Yeah this is the current plan (well minus the SSD as I already have that), it's just pretty frustrating not being able to play anything while I wait it out lol Oh well, thanks for the response.
 
Soldato
Joined
26 Aug 2013
Posts
8,393
Cap the frame rate, less strain on CPU. Might avoid those huge drops you are seeing, till you upgrade.

Look into the Scan Line Sync option in Rivatuner as well, works out like Vsync and no tearing but without (as much) input lag. It syncs frame rate to your monitor's refresh rate.

Or just use in-game fps limit, or Rivatuner's more simple FPS limit. May want to just do this instead of Scan Line if you have a Freesync/Gsync screen.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
26 Oct 2016
Posts
13
Cap the frame rate, less strain on CPU. Might avoid those huge drops you are seeing, till you upgrade.

Look into the Scan Line Sync option in Rivatuner as well, works out like Vsync and no tearing but without (as much) input lag. It syncs frame rate to your monitor's refresh rate.

Or just use in-game fps limit, or Rivatuner's more simple FPS limit. May want to just do this instead of Scan Line if you have a Freesync/Gsync screen.
I'll look into this as I have a really big urge to play Divinity: Original Sin 2 lately and I guess due the type of game 30FPS wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for the time being. Cheers.

What PSU?

Worth running something like gpu-z and checking to see if the card is throttling for whatever reason (temperature or power)
It's an EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G2. The temps seem to be around 52-62 when gaming which I think is fair, I don't really know how to tell if power is throttling it though. I do notice my Core Clock fluctuating from time to time when gaming (although it usually sits at 1950, which is higher than the 1830 advertised so dunno what's going on there) but this doesn't really coincide with the FPS drops so I dunno if this is normal based on load.

As a side note I decided to try another game so I loaded up Prey, my GPU usage running around is usually between 40-60% with the FPS being anywhere between 40-80, if I just stare at a wall the FPS goes up to round 120 with the GPU usage shooting up to around 99%. Curious why it would use more of my GPU when looking at the wall than when trying to actually play.

Anyway thanks for your answers, I'll just wait it out for Zen2 and hope the new CPU/Mobo/Ram fixes whatever it is I guess.
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Apr 2014
Posts
18,539
Location
Aberdeen
I have monitored usage in Task Manager and CPU usage is typically somewhere between 70 and 90% while GPU is usually around 40-70%

A quick check: is the CPU usage on all cores? Do you get 100% usage on one or more cores? If not your bottleneck is neither CPU nor GPU but something else. Bottlenecking occurs when something is 100%.
 
Don
Joined
19 May 2012
Posts
17,057
Location
Spalding, Lincolnshire
As a side note I decided to try another game so I loaded up Prey, my GPU usage running around is usually between 40-60% with the FPS being anywhere between 40-80, if I just stare at a wall the FPS goes up to round 120 with the GPU usage shooting up to around 99%.
Sounds like a CPU bottleneck personally

Curious why it would use more of my GPU when looking at the wall than when trying to actually play.
Because staring at the wall means less work for the CPU do do - meaning the GPU isn't limited and can run flat out rendering the wall as fast as it can.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Mar 2004
Posts
6,399
Location
Southport
Bottleneck or not, surely sticking a 2060 in place of a 1060 wouldn't cause lower FPS in the same games at the same settings? Unless I'm missing something your system should easily run Dogma at constant 60FPS, as should your system with a 1060 in it.

Do you still have the 1060 to stick back in and test? What are the 2060 temps like while gaming?
 
Associate
OP
Joined
26 Oct 2016
Posts
13
So just as an update (a pretty embarrassing one as I really should know better...), last night I updated my motherboards Bios and have seen a significant improvement. It is by no means perfect but rather than drops to the 40s it's usually somewhere between 55-60 now and no where near as frequent, even in Sekiro where there was an area that would consistently drop to high 30s/low 40s is now dropping to the 55-60 range mentioned before quickly recovering.

I still find it a bit strange that no amount of messing with the graphical settings/resolution will eliminate or even affect the drops but this is far more usable now while I wait for Zen2.

Thanks for your responses, sorry for wasting your time without trying something so obvious first. :p
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom