i7 9700k Bottleneck/Problems

[Star579]

So I just recently got an MSI Trident X 9th with an i7 9700k and an RTX 2080 with 16 gb of ram and playing at 1920x1080.

Ever since I started playing games on it I've noticed that the CPU is always at 100% and the GPU generally under 30%, more often than not under 10%, no matter the game (GTA 5, Overwatch, COD:BO4, AC:Origins)

My FPS in these games are generally pretty high even at max settings, but I have noticed stuttering sometimes. In addition, the FPS I get in games, is high, but is nowhere near what many benchmarks say a PC similar to mine should be. For example, this site: https://www.gpucheck.com/gpu/nvidia-geforce-rtx-2080/ using a i7-8700K @ 3.70GHz got 176 fps in BO4, whereas I get 100ish and stutters when entering a firefight; 121 in Hitman 2 whereas I get around 80; AC:Origins 104, I get 80ish; GTA 5 132.6, I get 80-90, Overwatch, 215.6, I get 190. 

Recently, when I watch Youtube on my second monitor and play games at the same time, the frame rate drops by almost half. This is most apparent in Hitman 2 where my FPS in less crowded areas can be around 80, but drops below 60 in crowded areas and when watching youtube, went down to 20 in non-crowded areas. 

I have overclocked my cpu to 4.9 GHz with 1.25 V to try and get more FPS, and temps haven been under, but close to 70 C. I am not very experienced at overclocking, but these problems existed before I touched the BIOS so I don't think I messed anything up.

One thing I did do is reinstall a fresh copy of Windows 10 to get rid of all the preinstalled stuff. I did go and update the drivers and stuff so they should be up to date.

I also messed with the Registry a bit to get rid of all the "documents, downloads, favorites, etc." shortcuts in file explorer because I dont use them and I hate it being there taking up space.

 

I feel like there is definitely something wrong with my PC, but IDK what it could be. 

[LogicWeasel]

What speed and timings are you running your RAM at, did you let it stay stock and what speed is the RAM rated for?  Have you checked for an outdated BIOS?  Did you try removing your overclock and making sure the power setting was on maximum performance?  What CPU cooler are you using.

[Star579]

17 minutes ago, LogicWeasel said:

What speed and timings are you running your RAM at, did you let it stay stock and what speed is the RAM rated for?  Have you checked for an outdated BIOS?  Did you try removing your overclock and making sure the power setting was on maximum performance?  What CPU cooler are you using.

RAM is stock at 2666 MHz, BIOS is up to date, I had the power setting on max Performance before and after overclock. I have the stock cooler for the Trident X 9th: https://us.msi.com/Desktop/Trident-X-9th/Overview

 

[LIGISTX]

Have you downloaded MSI afterburner/EVGA precision to check what your GPU usage is? First place to start would be there, make sure the GPU is actually hitting 100% usage, or 99% is usually what they report. If that is hitting 99%+, check the boost speed the GPU is hitting, those application will tell you as well, RAM speed as well. If all of that is within spec (whatever the core and RAM speed of a 2080 are, off hand I don't know), something else is the issue. What, I don't know. You can grab something like HWMonitor to see what each core's clock speed is actually turboing to while your in a game, although all of this would be easier with a second monitor so you can actively monitor these values as you are in a game. If the CPU is turboing appropriately, I really don't know what to tell you at that point...

[Star579]

I reverted to default/auto clock speeds. Here's me running Hitman 2 at max settings, 1080p no motion blur, no Vsync, 144hz monitor.

[xg32]

2 hours ago, Star579 said:

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Thats what i worried about the 9700k when i decided between it and the 9900k, a few reviewers kinda held back on the issue and briefly mentioned that they saw bottlenecking even on the 9900k. Especially at 1080p in AAA titles, you are not the first one to report 100% cpu usage on AAA titles on higher frame rates,  I ran into the same issues with the 8600k last year. Unfortunately we might have no solution for some games at 1080p and cpu bottlenecks.

 

Now with that out of the way, check if your windows is using up 10-15% at idle, because windows 10 is weird, upgrading the ram from 2666 would likely help a little bit but the cpu would still likely be at 100%, do you by any chance know what your motherboard is, since it's a msi rig i fear it might be equipped with a z390a, which alone could be the source of your problems.

[LogicWeasel]

If you aren't running the same CPU and motherboard from the FPS charts or reviews you're basing your expectations on (from someone else's testing), you should compare apples to apples.  Your machine games at 1080p fine, and if you skimped on the motherboard/RAM it may be costing you frames, is it that big a deal?

 

It's not fair to compare an 8700k to a 9700k, one is a 6core/12 thread and yours is a flat 8 core 8 thread.  The base frequency on the 8700k is 3.7Ghz (100Mhz faster than your base).  That's not the same and neither is the motherboard being used.

 

If you were gaming at 1440p or 4K you'd see far less CPU issue and would be able to actually get more use out of that expensive video card.  It's overkill to use it at 1080p unless you're doing 144Hz G-Sync.

[THraShArD]

You don't need to be overclocking with your setup.  I don't OC with my setup, majority of parts are 5yo and it slices and dices everything like the Ginsu Knife.

 

At 1440p - I get 165fps in Quake Champions w/ Ultra Settings and 143fps in Battlefield V on Windows 7.  I actually get more fps in Quake but just cap it off at 165.  No need to get more than that

[bowrilla]

Assuming that the process taking that much CPU power is actually your game/benchmark and you're not running dozens of other programs in the background … The "issue" is 1080p. For high end GPUs that's like a relaxed walk in the park on a sunny saturday. Your system isn't able to compute and send enough data for the GPU to actually be stressed. That's exactly (!) why CPU benchmarks are usually done at 1080p while GPU benchmarks also include 1440p and 4k. A 9900k would deliver similar results. It would be a bit faster but not by much and GPU utilization would still be far from 100%. This is just how it works. Get a monitor with a higher resolution or just accept it.

[Spit Happens]

Yo I have the solution to the “bottle neck” problem. Nothing is wrong with your cpu. I spent a month getting pissed tryna figure out why I was using so much usage with my brand new i7 9700k. Go download process explorer for windows and look at your cpu usage while playing cod. It won’t be 100, maybe only when loading. I have figured out that task manager is reporting false values when your cpu turbo boosts. When all those cores turn up for some reason task manager raises the values of the usage which is incorrect!!! When I figured this out I was so happy cause I though my cpu was broke or that it wasn’t as powerful as I thought it would be. Hopefully this gives y’all the same relief it gave me. Your cpu is tearing it up just like it should. Don’t mess with anythinh in the bios or overclocking. Once i learned this I realized that this processor is a beast!!! Unfortunately the comment above me is wrong^^ it is literally as simple as your task manager reporting false values when your cpu turbo boosts. I didn’t months of research. Just got download process explorer or any type of third party app like task manager