Bottleneck detection

[Lupus]

1440p 144Hz

BF5 does pretty well on my setup, I've seen 60-100fps.

I get that with my 2060 super, but I've got a AMD Ryzen 2600, so if you had a more recent CPU you'd be easily hitting 144hz.

 

[CataclysmZA]

How would I go about finding out whether my GPU is bottlenecked by my CPU?

If your GPU usage in-game is below 60%, the general rule of thumb is that your CPU is the bottleneck. There can be other factors like RAM speed, which was the case with minimum framerates in Battlefield 3 and 4.

I have also been wondering if there is a way of telling whether hardware will expire soon. Things like power supplies, for example.

The ballpark rating for the operating life cycle of capacitors inside a PSU is around 100,000 hours at 40 degrees ambient. Double that for every 10 degree drop in temperature. Higher-quality caps running below their rated temperatures can be much higher.

I have a 550W Super Flower PSU that I bought from Wootware a few years back.

Super Flower makes great stuff. Work on ten years if your average load is around 300W.

 

[Johnatan56]

If your GPU usage in-game is below 60%, the general rule of thumb is that your CPU is the bottleneck. There can be other factors like RAM speed, which was the case with minimum framerates in Battlefield 3 and 4.



The ballpark rating for the operating life cycle of capacitors inside a PSU is around 100,000 hours at 40 degrees ambient. Double that for every 10 degree drop in temperature. Higher-quality caps running below their rated temperatures can be much higher.



Super Flower makes great stuff. Work on ten years if your average load is around 300W.

Look at if threads are maxing, e.g. GW2:

Notice how that one thread is maxing out so high, changing graphics won't do anything. Always check both the game and your hardware, upgrading hardware won't really matter as you can't really clock it higher.

If you look at e.g. warframe, you'll see my GPU at 90%, but it's still the one CPU thread that's actually the bottleneck, throwing more hardware won't help.

 

[biometrics]

So what's the recommended upgrade from a 3rd gen i7? I see a new one is like R8,000! Not spending that.

Only used for gaming, no video editing or AI training or whatever.

I gather AMD is in favour lately? Consider I will need to replace the mobo and RAM.

Will mostly play BF/FPS.

Have a RTX 2080 and a 2560x1440 144/155 Hz display.

 

[CataclysmZA]

Look at if threads are maxing, e.g. GW2:

Notice how that one thread is maxing out so high, changing graphics won't do anything. Always check both the game and your hardware, upgrading hardware won't really matter as you can't really clock it higher.

If you look at e.g. warframe, you'll see my GPU at 90%, but it's still the one CPU thread that's actually the bottleneck, throwing more hardware won't help.

That's why it's a general rule, but there are outliers. GW2 would benefit from strong single-core performance, and considering that it's stuck on DX9 this is no surprise. Warframe is also largely stuck on two cores, but that's an engine limitation.

Funny enough, both games run better on Proton, and GW2 runs a heck of a lot better on modern hardware using D9VK.

So what's the recommended upgrade from a 3rd gen i7? I see a new one is like R8,000! Not spending that.

Only used for gaming, no video editing or AI training or whatever.

I gather AMD is in favour lately? Consider I will need to replace the mobo and RAM.

Will mostly play BF/FPS.

Have a RTX 2080 and a 2560x1440 144/155 Hz display.

Ryzen 2 2600/3600 and higher would be a good upgrade, but pricing is really out of wack ATM. Closer to the end of the year we're going to see crashes in the price of DRAM and DDR4, and Ryzen 4000 would be out by then on the desktop. The Intel Core i5-10400 would also be worth the money given how old your current system is. Even the Core i3-10100 is faster.

 

[Johnatan56]

So what's the recommended upgrade from a 3rd gen i7? I see a new one is like R8,000! Not spending that.

Only used for gaming, no video editing or AI training or whatever.

I gather AMD is in favour lately? Consider I will need to replace the mobo and RAM.

Will mostly play BF/FPS.

Have a RTX 2080 and a 2560x1440 144/155 Hz display.

At 1440p AMD vs Intel doesn't really matter that much, currently the 10600K is the generally recommended price/performance CPU: https://www.wootware.co.za/intel-bx...-lga1200-desktop-cpu-cooler-not-included.html
Tbh, I'd wait till end of the year to see what 3rd gen Ryzen brings, should be the first major single core clock increases in a long while, and your CPU should be fine for right now/till titles start coming out for new Xbox/PS.