Identifying the Bottleneck

Ryan5Zulu · 18 Sep 2020 at 14:33

Looking for some advice:

I’m running these components in my pc-
CPU: i5 8400
RAM: 16GB DDR4
GPU: RTX 2060

For 1080p gaming at high FPS, I’m trying to determine where my PC bottleneck will lie; do I need to upgrade CPU or can I go ahead with a GPU upgrade?

For games like Modern Warfare, how can I check what part of my pc is slowing me down? I have experimented with running MSI Afterburner while playing MW but I don’t really know what to look for.

Any advice would be appreciated.

varkanoid · 18 Sep 2020 at 14:41

Why do you think you have a bottleneck in the first place and how do you know your setup is "slowing you down" ? My son has i5 8500 same RAM and RTX 2060 and he has no issues.

mickyflinn · 18 Sep 2020 at 14:43

Look at what cpu and gpu usage is in msi afterburner you should also have an for fps.

Download a programme called Fraps it will give you on screen fps if you can't figure how to do it in msi afterburner

Ryan5Zulu · 19 Sep 2020 at 14:30

varkanoid said:
Why do you think you have a bottleneck in the first place and how do you know your setup is "slowing you down" ? My son has i5 8500 same RAM and RTX 2060 and he has no issues.

I am not too concerned about a bottleneck now (although Modern Warfare seems to stress my PC), I am looking more toward where the bottleneck will lie in 6 - 12 months. Basically, I am trying to decide if I am safe for the next year by just upgrading GPU now or should I expect to do a CPU upgrade (and a GPU upgrade down the line).

varkanoid · 19 Sep 2020 at 14:45

At 1080p you will be fine for a long time.

Ryan5Zulu · 19 Sep 2020 at 14:47

mickyflinn said:
Look at what cpu and gpu usage is in msi afterburner you should also have an for fps.

Download a programme called Fraps it will give you on screen fps if you can't figure how to do it in msi afterburner

Thanks. I am correct in saying that if MSI Afterburner shows CPU, RAM or GPU usage at almost 100% then that is where my bottleneck is?

mickyflinn · 19 Sep 2020 at 15:05

Ryan5Zulu said:
Thanks. I am correct in saying that if MSI Afterburner shows CPU, RAM or GPU usage at almost 100% then that is where my bottleneck is?

Yes 100% means it's working at its maximum but you need to check the graph to see if 100% most of the time or just at certain moments.

CuriousTomCat · 19 Sep 2020 at 15:10

If one thing is at 100% and something else is at 20% then there's a bottleneck. You upgrade the item that's at 100% so the thing at 20% is able to go higher. If they're both over 80% then there's not really a bottleneck.

Ryan5Zulu · 19 Sep 2020 at 15:13

mickyflinn said:
Yes 100% means it's working at its maximum but you need to check the graph to see if 100% most of the time or just at certain moments.

CuriousTomCat said:
If one thing is at 100% and something else is at 20% then there's a bottleneck. You upgrade the item that's at 100% so the thing at 20% is able to go higher. If they're both over 80% then there's not really a bottleneck.

What I'll do is run this test with a few games to eliminate those games that are not very well optimized.

CuriousTomCat · 19 Sep 2020 at 15:27

Sometimes it's good to have a GPU bottleneck though because it adds future-proofing which allows people to upgrade their GPU several times going from a 780 to 980 to 1080 while keeping the same CPU. A CPU bottleneck though is never good.

Holst1981 · 19 Sep 2020 at 16:29

It's well worth checking the individual CPU core use.

In some games I see 20% CPU load.
But that is one single core at 100%

Ryan5Zulu · 19 Sep 2020 at 17:04

CuriousTomCat said:
Sometimes it's good to have a GPU bottleneck though because it adds future-proofing which allows people to upgrade their GPU several times going from a 780 to 980 to 1080 while keeping the same CPU. A CPU bottleneck though is never good.

I hear what you're saying. CPU upgrades need to include a MOBO upgrade too ... You don't want to be doing that too often.

Ryan5Zulu · 19 Sep 2020 at 17:06

Holst1981 said:
It's well worth checking the individual CPU core use.

In some games I see 20% CPU load.
But that is one single core at 100%

I have only had a look at Modern Warfare so far and that is showing me pretty much 100% usage across all 6 cores of my CPU ...

Ram usage is between 85% and 90% and GPU usage is at 95% to 100%.