Is my CPU Bottlenecking my PC?

[Millsy_]

Hello All,

 

I am new to the LTT Forums so I apologise if I am in the wrong Subforum for my query. 

 

I am finding that when playing games like GTA V (Especially FiveM), PUBG, and other high demanding games my FPS is never stable and frequently drops below 60fps, hovering around 58 on average. After running some tests online I have concluded that it is my CPU which is bottlenecking my PC, causing performance issues. I would just like some clarification on whether this is true or not, and any recommended upgrade which could be done to improve performance without compromising my quality. Please bare in mind I would be doing this on a budget, as this PC was built a year and a bit ago for around £1000 as my first build, I’m not looking to overhaul it.

 

I play most games on High settings, with the ‘irrelevant’ (couldn’t think of a better word) settings eg: reflections in water, etc on low or medium.

 

PC Specs:

Case: NZXT - Source 530 
Motherboard: MSI - B150A Gaming Pro ATX LGA1151
CPU: Intel - Core i5-6500 3.2GHz
RAM: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
GPU: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1060 3GB Windforce OC Video Card
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9
Case Fans: NZXT FN V2 120mm Fans x2, Corsair SP120 120mm Performance Edition x2
Power Supply: Corsair - Builder 600W
HDD: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB
Operating System: Windows - 10 64bit

 

If I am in the wrong Forum please let me know and I will happily move my thread. 

Thanks for your help and Merry Christmas.

 

- Millsy 

[Guest]

Did you run task manager while playing the games?

 

If the task manager returns with a lower percentage on the CPU than the GPU then it's not bottlenecking.

[MysteriousAeon]

I don't think it's a bottleneck, that's just how powerful your rig is. I would try lowering your graphics settings.

[Millsy_]

[Edit] Any suggestions as to what needs to be upgraded and any particular products in mind would be appreciated.

[Millsy_]

1 minute ago, MysteriousAeon said:

I don't think it's a bottleneck, that's just how powerful your rig is. I would try lowering your graphics settings.

If I were to upgrade my rig, what would you recommend upgrading, any suggestions of which specific product?

[Millsy_]

5 minutes ago, ears_ears said:

Did you run task manager while playing the games?

 

If the task manager returns with a lower percentage on the CPU than the GPU then it's not bottlenecking.

I do have task manager running whilst I play, however I don’t look at it due to only having a single monitor, I will take a look next time I play. Thanks 

[YourNewPalAlex]

There is no bottleneck, i would suggest you update, since your rockin intel, your gonna have to change the cpu and mobo regardless, i would wait for CES, see what amd has to offer, if its good then wait a few months, and buy whatever looks compelling to you, if theres nothing good at CES i would upgrade the rig the soonest.

[thx1138]

What resolution are you running at? Have you check temps with HWINFO64? idle and under load?

 

Have you got MSI AFterburner open to check how much VRAM it is getting to?

[Nolanl83]

Honestly, you shouldnt be experiencing a bottle neck, unless your trying to run everythin on high, on certain settings in pubg ( like Esports settings not just all low ) I can hit 100+ with a GTX 1060 6GB and an I7 5820K so you should honestly be fine. Id say check temps, and usage, run the GTA V benchmark and just watch the task manager etc

[Millsy_]

13 minutes ago, thx1138 said:

What resolution are you running at? Have you check temps with HWINFO64? idle and under load?

 

Have you got MSI AFterburner open to check how much VRAM it is getting to?

1080p, Truthfully I don’t know what HWINFO64 is, No I do not have afterburner open however when trying to run GTA in high settings I have had the VRAM Notification as my card is only 3gb.

 

I will try running afterburner and post the results here.

[Millsy_]

4 minutes ago, Nolanl83 said:

Honestly, you shouldnt be experiencing a bottle neck, unless your trying to run everythin on high, on certain settings in pubg ( like Esports settings not just all low ) I can hit 100+ with a GTX 1060 6GB and an I7 5820K so you should honestly be fine. Id say check temps, and usage, run the GTA V benchmark and just watch the task manager etc

I mainly run everything on the recommended GeForce Experience settings which is usually between High and Medium.

 

What sort of temps/usage should I be looking at for my CPU/GPU when running the GTA V benchmark? I use NZXT CAM as my monitoring software.

[Nolanl83]

1 minute ago, Millsy_ said:

1080p, Truthfully I don’t know what HWINFO64 is, No I do not have afterburner open however when trying to run GTA in high settings I have had the Vram warning as my card is only 3gb.

You probably cant run high in gta with it, pubg you shouldnt either maybe medium to high or full esports settings, open up afterburner, task manager, and GTA V and run the actual benchmark

 

[Nolanl83]

Just now, Millsy_ said:

I mainly run everything on the recommended GeForce Experience settings which is usually between High and Medium.

 

What sort of temps/usage should I be looking at for my CPU/GPU when running the GTA V benchmark? I use NZXT CAM as my monitoring software.

Well their isnt an IDEAL temperature your just looking to make sure nothings on the extreme throwing your gaming off such as an issue with your cooling on the GPU or CPU

[Princess Luna]

The system is actually balanced although not suitable for you know 1080p max settings in lots of games... just adjust your in game settings better to achieve steady 60fps.

[thx1138]

HwINfo64 will keep track of temps voltages and ram and storage uses .

 

afterburner has a nice graph showing history of gpu use.

 

you are probably using up all your vram. I would recommend a gpu upgrade, though with CES coming up soon, if you can wait til then you things might move more in your favor.

[.Apex.]

@Millsy_

i think there's a bottleneck present yes, but as of much it would improve your performance if you upgrade, i have no clue.

 

you have to find that out by yourself with testing, mainly looking for GPU Usage, if your GPU usage is under 90% or 80% all the time, then you clearly have a noticeable bottleneck.

 

and you should also pay attention to your CPU usage as well, if it's pegged at a 100% then it's a bottleneck and some stuttering might occur, GPU usage should be at 95-100% and CPU usage should never be at a 100%.

 

and make sure Vsync is off, because Vsync limits your FPS and therefor will limit your GPU usage making it look like there's a bottleneck

 

also adding to the whole "GPU should be 95-100%" fiasco, it would be fine if your GPU usage is at 80% and your FPS is at 150 or someshit, the more FPS you try to push, the more the CPU has to work, and all CPU's (and i do mean ALL) will eventually bottleneck at a certain FPS in a certain game, basically meaning the CPU can't push more FPS than what the GPU is pushing, but in the end would it still be called a bottleneck if you're already getting like 150 or 200 FPS? 

 

(don't know about PUBG because it's an unoptimized piece of crap)

[Millsy_]

1 minute ago, syn2112 said:

 

(don't know about PUBG because it's an unoptimized piece of crap)

+1

[Millsy_]

3 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

The system is actually balanced although not suitable for you know 1080p max settings in lots of games... just adjust your in game settings better to achieve steady 60fps.

Maybe try to average out medium Instead of high?

[Millsy_]

3 minutes ago, thx1138 said:

HwINfo64 will keep track of temps voltages and ram and storage uses .

 

afterburner has a nice graph showing history of gpu use.

Thanks I’ll take a look. I did have afterburner downloaded at one point but I wasn’t too keen on the layout so I reverted to using CAM. Truthfully I wouldn’t know what to look out for but I will try to post some images here tomorrow morning of the graphs, benchmarking results, task manager, etc.

[Millsy_]

7 minutes ago, Nolanl83 said:

Well their isnt an IDEAL temperature your just looking to make sure nothings on the extreme throwing your gaming off such as an issue with your cooling on the GPU or CPU

What sort of temps should I start worrying at? 80°C+? 

[.Apex.]

@Millsy_

according to this video, there is a bottleneck happening when driving around the city, but it's really up to you if an upgrade is worth it.

 

this is at max settings, so lowering the graphics settings would lower the GPU usage even further, because the GPU would try to push more frames and the CPU can't handle it, basically you'd still be stuck at around 60 FPS even if you lower your graphics settings.

[Nolanl83]

1 minute ago, Millsy_ said:

What sort of temps should I start worrying at? 80°C+? 

Well, in a few GPU Software you can set max temps, personally I dont like mine going over 70-80 C because im not running any super intensive games, but just check your system at Idle, record the temps of your GPU and CPU with GPU-Z and CPU-Z ( both tools that id recommend you get the free version of, just nice for hardware ) and then do the GTA 5 benchmark and come back aslong as your not seeing an INSANE increase you should be fine

[thx1138]

1 minute ago, Nolanl83 said:

Well, in a few GPU Software you can set max temps, personally I dont like mine going over 70-80 C because im not running any super intensive games, but just check your system at Idle, record the temps of your GPU and CPU with GPU-Z and CPU-Z ( both tools that id recommend you get the free version of, just nice for hardware ) and then do the GTA 5 benchmark and come back aslong as your not seeing an INSANE increase you should be fine

with hwinfo or other monitoring software, it remembers the peak temps.

[Millsy_]

8 minutes ago, syn2112 said:

basically you'd still be stuck at around 60 FPS even if you lower your graphics settings.

Well that’s a bit shit, wasn’t he getting 80-90fps tho in that clip?

[Millsy_]

6 minutes ago, thx1138 said:

with hwinfo or other monitoring software, it remembers the peak temps.

NZXT’s CAM software does the same, has a mobile app aswell but by the sounds of it not a lot of people us CAM. I’ll try all of these suggestions for monitoring software as well as watch the Task Manager to make sure my CPU doesn’t hit 100% usage, and is always lower than my GPU.