Upgrading my GPU need bottlenecking advice

[ad_hoc]

So I'm going to buy one of the new GPUs coming out (upgrading from R9 390).

 

2060 Super, 5700 XT, or 2070 Super are the most likely candidates (waiting on those benchmarks)

 

I have a 144hz 1080p monitor with an i5 6600k CPU (OC to 4.6ghz).

As I understand it, lower resolutions are easier on the GPU. Higher FPS is harder on the CPU.

Would a 2060 Super be just about as good as a 2070 Super for me? I don't have the funds to upgrade my CPU any time soon so I have what I have for now.

 

Thanks

[KarathKasun]

14 minutes ago, ad_hoc said:

So I'm going to buy one of the new GPUs coming out (upgrading from R9 390).

 

2060 Super, 5700 XT, or 2070 Super are the most likely candidates (waiting on those benchmarks)

 

I have a 144hz 1080p monitor with an i5 6600k CPU (OC to 4.6ghz).

As I understand it, lower resolutions are easier on the GPU. Higher FPS is harder on the CPU.

Would a 2060 Super be just about as good as a 2070 Super for me? I don't have the funds to upgrade my CPU any time soon so I have what I have for now.

 

Thanks

i7-6700k should be a first goal IMHO.

[gbergeron]

17 minutes ago, ad_hoc said:

So I'm going to buy one of the new GPUs coming out (upgrading from R9 390).

 

2060 Super, 5700 XT, or 2070 Super are the most likely candidates (waiting on those benchmarks)

 

I have a 144hz 1080p monitor with an i5 6600k CPU (OC to 4.6ghz).

As I understand it, lower resolutions are easier on the GPU. Higher FPS is harder on the CPU.

Would a 2060 Super be just about as good as a 2070 Super for me? I don't have the funds to upgrade my CPU any time soon so I have what I have for now.

 

Thanks

4 core 4 threads will have a hard time to follow in some titles that are cpu demanding but in titles that are gpu bounds you will be fine

 

If you can get a 6700k used that would help a ton with a 2060 or 2070 but even then the gpu is probably still bottlenecked by the 6700k a bit but nothing to worry about really

[Findiculous]

Honestly, given the 1080p gaming you are doing, I wouldnt go with any of them. Grab a 1660ti or 1660.

 

On the other hand, if you bump up the resolution, grab the 2060 super/5700XT (whichever is better priced) and grab a 1440p monitor.

 

Bottlenecking (if any) will be minimal but it depends on the title.

 

1080p taxes more around the CPU and only when you start pushing up to 1440p/all the max settings, does the GPU start coming into play more. So to get the full effect of a new GPU, you would want to consider the jump from 1080p to 1440p.

[191x7]

 

 

 

1 hour ago, ad_hoc said:

So I'm going to buy one of the new GPUs coming out (upgrading from R9 390).

Congrats, the i5 you have is a bottleneck for the card you have in some modern games, even some older (like battlefield V conquest large 64 players).

If the 390 works fine, upgrade the platform first (go with a used i7 or a totally new motherboard&cpu like the new Ryzen or i5 6-core).

[trevb0t]

1 hour ago, Findiculous said:

Honestly, given the 1080p gaming you are doing, I wouldnt go with any of them. Grab a 1660ti or 1660.

I partially agree. There is no problem with grabbing an RX 2070 for 1080p gaming, though in most titles, it will be more power than is needed.

42 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

 Congrats, the i5 you have is a bottleneck for the card you have in some modern games, even some older (like battlefield V conquest large 64 players).

Are you stating an unlocked i5 is bottlenecking an R9 390? My buddy runs an overclocked i5 2500k with a GTX 980Ti without any problems. Things have only looked up from there.

44 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

go with a used i7

Okay, sure.

45 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

or a totally new motherboard&cpu like the new Ryzen or i5 6-core

an i5-9400f can pull frames faster than the 6 core R5 2600... So the argument that 4 cores isn't enough is pretty overdone here. There are a few use cases where games can get thread hungry, but they are rare, and even circumstantial within the games themselves. The 3600 is going to be a substantial over the previous gen, and yes... Over a 6500K. But the FPS gains achieved will be less than those granted by a GPU upgrade for as much or more. And then he's still sitting on a 390.

 

If OP wants a platform upgrade, check out the new Zen 2 offerings dropping from AMD on 07/07. They are gonna be cool.

Otherwise... I'd just grab a discounted RTX 2060 on a decent sale. (Prime Day coming soon.) No need for the shiny and expensive SUPER class to drop.

 

2 hours ago, ad_hoc said:

i5 6600k CPU (OC to 4.6ghz).

What cooler / MOBO are you using to achieve that frequency? It may be that a Freezer 34 eSports Duo for $40 could really help you push that. Or on the higher end a Dark Rock Pro 4. Great thing about a CPU cooler is that it will always transfer to the next build when you're ready  hard investment to argue. 

 

A 4.8ghz shouldn't be hard to achieve with the proper cooling. They can pust 5.0 if you really work for it.

[KarathKasun]

3 minutes ago, trevb0t said:

I partially agree. There is no problem with grabbing an RX 2070 for 1080p gaming, though in most titles, it will be more power than is needed.

Are you stating an unlocked i5 is bottlenecking an R9 390? My buddy runs an overclocked i5 2500k with a GTX 980Ti without any problems. Things have only looked up from there.

Believe what you want, but higher average FPS does not account for the stutters and drops that come with a quad core in modern games.

 

I had an i5-2500k with an R9 290 and saw performance improvements from moving up to a i7-2600k at the same frequency.  Averages were similar, but minimum FPS was much improved.  Less stuttering and hitching.

[trevb0t]

11 minutes ago, KarathKasun said:

Believe what you want, but higher average FPS does not account for the stutters and drops that come with a quad core in modern games.

 

I had an i5-2500k with an R9 290 and saw performance improvements from moving up to a i7-2600k at the same frequency.  Averages were similar, but minimum FPS was much improved.  Less stuttering and hitching.

I won't argue that a better CPU will perform better.

If OP is already facing stuttering issues in his situation, then that's something to be looked at. Since that's not a complaint brought to light, I am not working to diagnose a problem.

But a 6600K is not a 2500K either.

[KarathKasun]

8 minutes ago, trevb0t said:

I won't argue that a better CPU will perform better.

If OP is already facing stuttering issues in his situation, then that's something to be looked at. Since that's not a complaint brought to light, I am not working to diagnose a problem.

But a 6600K is not a 2500K either.

 

Text article...

https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2773-intel-i5-2500k-revisit-benchmark-for-2017/page-3

 

This has numbers for i7-7700/6700 and i5-7600/6600 with a GTX 1080.  In games that can use the threads, the differences are significant.

[191x7]

 

 

 

2

38 minutes ago, trevb0t said:

I partially agree. There is no problem with grabbing an RX 2070 for 1080p gaming, though in most titles, it will be more power than is needed.

Are you stating an unlocked i5 is bottlenecking an R9 390? My buddy runs an overclocked i5 2500k with a GTX 980Ti without any problems. Things have only looked up from there.

Okay, sure.

an i5-9400f can pull frames faster than the 6 core R5 2600... So the argument that 4 cores isn't enough is pretty overdone here. There are a few use cases where games can get thread hungry, but they are rare, and even circumstantial within the games themselves. The 3600 is going to be a substantial over the previous gen, and yes... Over a 6500K. But the FPS gains achieved will be less than those granted by a GPU upgrade for as much or more. And then he's still sitting on a 390.

 

Yes, I am stating that. An unlocked 4-core bottlenecks modern cards. That is a fact. Also, bottlenecking does not equal problems, it equals frame drops, lower GPU utilization, stutters, lower minimal fps, and a bad frame time graph.

 

An i5 9400f is a 6-core, not a 4-core. And that i5 9400f outperforms an i7 6700. And the use cases where games can use more than 4 threads aren't that rare anymore.

Also, the R9 390 isn't that weak. It's hotter and draws more power, but it performs in the RX 570 to RX 590 range depending on the game.

 

And also, not everything is in the average and max framerate, framerate consistency and frame pacing are even more important.

[ad_hoc]

Lots of info, thanks everyone.

I'm using a Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 motherboard. I have my CPU at 4.6ghz and had to increase the Vcore to 1.4 to get it stable. I have tried going faster but I didn't want to push my Vcore much higher. Then again, maybe I'm not doing it right?

 

I just ran a CPU stress test for 10 minutes. Temps around 60c with max at 70c.

The current game I play which stresses my system is PubG. I get 100-120fps on medium-ish settings. GPU usage is 100% and CPU usage is 60-70% in game.

That has led me to believe that I am currently GPU bottlenecked, at least by PubG.

I haven't noticed any stuttering or hitching in PubG. Dragon Quest XI could be rough when running through grass but it's optimized for Nvidia with a recommended Vega 56 for AMD so I wasn't surprised.

One other thing I have thought of as a perk is ray tracing. It's taxing on GPUs but at 1080p it should be realistic on the super cards once games start coming out with it (well that I want to play anyway). That is all GPU right?

[trevb0t]

7 minutes ago, ad_hoc said:

The current game I play which stresses my system is PubG. I get 100-120fps on medium-ish settings. GPU usage is 100% and CPU usage is 60-70% in game.

That has led me to believe that I am currently GPU bottlenecked, at least by PubG.

A GPU should be operating around 100%. That doesn't mean it's bottlenecked. It means it's working!

 

7 minutes ago, ad_hoc said:

One other thing I have thought of as a perk is ray tracing. It's taxing on GPUs but at 1080p it should be realistic on the super cards once games start coming out with it (well that I want to play anyway). That is all GPU right?

Nothing is really just one element. The RTX series of cards are optimized to compute RT better than previous units and/or non optimized competitors. 

 

Ray Tracing is currently scarcely used, though the PS5 announced it would include an RT GPU and the latest Unreal Engine updates support it, so there is no reason that it shouldn't pop up more and more.

[ad_hoc]

I see the need for a new CPU.

I think my new plan will be to get the video card now so I can enjoy PubG at higher settings.

Then in 6 months or so (or in time for Cyberpunk) get a new CPU to pair with it.

[trevb0t]

17 minutes ago, ad_hoc said:

I see the need for a new CPU.

I think my new plan will be to get the video card now so I can enjoy PubG at higher settings.

Then in 6 months or so (or in time for Cyberpunk) get a new CPU to pair with it.

Solid! That will give Zen 2 some time in the field to prove its value, and even potentially hit a decent sale!

[KarathKasun]

4 hours ago, ad_hoc said:

I see the need for a new CPU.

I think my new plan will be to get the video card now so I can enjoy PubG at higher settings.

Then in 6 months or so (or in time for Cyberpunk) get a new CPU to pair with it.

This is a good approach, just make sure to get something that is within your budget and allows for a decent core system upgrade in the near future.

[ad_hoc]

1 hour ago, KarathKasun said:

This is a good approach, just make sure to get something that is within your budget and allows for a decent core system upgrade in the near future.

Yeah probably 2060 Super or 5700 XT (as apparently they have dropped prices by $50) rather than the 2070 Super.