How to upgrade pc to stop cpu bottlenecking gpu.

[goshag44]

I have an i5 7400 sitting in a b250m-hd3 motherboard and i recently purchased an rtx 2060, my performance basically didnt improve on anything and im thinking thats because the cpu is heavily bottlenecking my gpu. I'm due for an upgrade i suppose and i would like some expert opinion on what cpu i can get into this motherboard as i dont have the budget for a new one. Basically what cpu would i need and would i need extra cooling?

[r2724r16]

12 minutes ago, goshag44 said:

recently purchased an rtx 2060, my performance basically didnt improve on anything

What graphics card were you using before?

[goshag44]

1 minute ago, r2724r16 said:

What graphics card were you using before?

gtx 1050 ti

[SnowyMus]

If getting a new motherboard is out of the question, then your best CPU upgrade would be a Skylake or Kaby Lake i7. The best ones you can buy are the 6700K or 7700K, as they are clocked the highest, but you'll need to buy a cooler (a popular, value cooler is the Cooler Master Hyper 212). Alternatively, you can get a 6700 or 7700 which do include a cooler and are slightly cheaper, but those are clocked slightly lower. Kaby Lake came out later, so it will be priced higher, buy it really isn't that much better than Skylake.

 

For most games, this will eliminate the CPU bottleneck. Note that a higher clock speed is better, but it's also more expensive.

 

Anyway, if you live in the United States, I would avoid spending much more than $210 USD on this upgrade (including the cooler), as it quickly stops being worth it after you consider options like the Ryzen 5 3600 + a B450 board costing around $270 USD.

[r2724r16]

19 minutes ago, goshag44 said:

gtx 1050 ti

What's your CPU usage when gaming (with your RTX 2070)?

[Fasauceome]

Ram config?

[goshag44]

10 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Ram config?

 

12 minutes ago, r2724r16 said:

What's your CPU usage when gaming (with your RTX 2070)?

my cpu usage goes up to like 90-100% when gaming (rtx 2060*)

and my ram config is 

[goshag44]

23 minutes ago, Kavawuvi said:

If getting a new motherboard is out of the question, then your best CPU upgrade would be a Skylake or Kaby Lake i7. The best ones you can buy are the 6700K or 7700K, as they are clocked the highest, but you'll need to buy a cooler (a popular, value cooler is the Cooler Master Hyper 212). Alternatively, you can get a 6700 or 7700 which do include a cooler and are slightly cheaper, but those are clocked slightly lower. Kaby Lake came out later, so it will be priced higher, buy it really isn't that much better than Skylake.

 

For most games, this will eliminate the CPU bottleneck. Note that a higher clock speed is better, but it's also more expensive.

 

Anyway, if you live in the United States, I would avoid spending much more than $210 USD on this upgrade (including the cooler), as it quickly stops being worth it after you consider options like the Ryzen 5 3600 + a B450 board costing around $270 USD.

so i looked around (im in australia) and an i7 6700k is 529$, i7 7700k is 580$ and a ryzen 5 3600 + gigabyte b450 mATX mobo is only like 315$ + 105$, meaning is basically a no brainer right?

[Fasauceome]

7 minutes ago, goshag44 said:

and my ram config is 

you have almost no memory bandwidth. When I tested memory bandwidth on the 7400 and its game performance, it significantly increased when I got a second ram dimm. If possible, secure another 2400MHz 8GB ram dimm, or a new kit of 2666.

[SnowyMus]

1 minute ago, goshag44 said:

so i looked around (im in australia) and an i7 6700k is 529$, i7 7700k is 580$ and a ryzen 5 3600 + gigabyte b450 mATX mobo is only like 315$ + 105$, meaning is basically a no brainer right?

Probably. Try looking at used CPU pricing, though.

[goshag44]

Just now, fasauceome said:

you have almost no memory bandwidth. When I tested memory bandwidth on the 7400 and its game performance, it significantly increased to get a second ram dimm. If possible, secure another 2400MHz 8GB ram dimm, or a new kit of 2666.

do you think that would remove the bottlenecking with the rtx 2060, because i feel like the cpu is so dated it would still be bottlenecking

[goshag44]

5 minutes ago, Kavawuvi said:

Probably. Try looking at used CPU pricing, though.

yeah just looked around on ebay, theres pretty much no cpu's of either i found that were used, only retailers selling on ebay.

[SnowyMus]

7 minutes ago, goshag44 said:

do you think that would remove the bottlenecking with the rtx 2060, because i feel like the cpu is so dated it would still be bottlenecking

If you use two memory channels instead of one, you will effectively double your memory bandwidth. Another way to look at it is that if you only use one channel instead of two, you are getting half of the memory bandwidth you could have been getting, as your CPU is rated for two memory channels.

 

Doing this might not completely get rid of your bottleneck, but it can significantly improve performance in some games.

 

2 minutes ago, goshag44 said:

yeah just looked around on ebay, theres pretty much no cpu's of either i found that were used, only retailers selling on ebay.

Ouch.

[goshag44]

Just now, Kavawuvi said:

If you use two memory channels instead of one, you will effectively double your memory bandwidth. Another way to look at it is that if you only use one channel instead of two, you are getting half of the memory bandwidth you could have been getting, as your CPU is rated for two memory channels.

 

Doing this might not completely get rid of your bottleneck, since the i5-7400 isn't very fast even with this, but it can significantly improve performance in some games.

 

Ouch.

thats australia for you. 

[goshag44]

3 minutes ago, Kavawuvi said:

If you use two memory channels instead of one, you will effectively double your memory bandwidth. Another way to look at it is that if you only use one channel instead of two, you are getting half of the memory bandwidth you could have been getting, as your CPU is rated for two memory channels.

 

Doing this might not completely get rid of your bottleneck, since the i5-7400 isn't very fast even with this, but it can significantly improve performance in some games.

 

Ouch.

 

12 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

you have almost no memory bandwidth. When I tested memory bandwidth on the 7400 and its game performance, it significantly increased when I got a second ram dimm. If possible, secure another 2400MHz 8GB ram dimm, or a new kit of 2666.

do you guys think this ram: https://www.umart.com.au/Crucial-8GB-DDR4-2400MHz-Desktop-Memory_42990G.html

would work with my ram (looks the same): 

[Fasauceome]

2 minutes ago, goshag44 said:

do you guys think this ram: https://www.umart.com.au/Crucial-8GB-DDR4-2400MHz-Desktop-Memory_42990G.html

would work with my ram (looks the same

Yeah, any basic 2400 dimm should do

[SnowyMus]

3 minutes ago, goshag44 said:

 

do you guys think this ram: https://www.umart.com.au/Crucial-8GB-DDR4-2400MHz-Desktop-Memory_42990G.html

would work with my ram (looks the same): 

Probably.

 

In the past, I've run into issues mixing and matching memory, but it's pretty rare.

[goshag44]

2 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Yeah, any basic 2400 dimm should do

 

1 minute ago, Kavawuvi said:

Probably.

 

In the past, I've run into issues mixing and matching memory, but it's pretty rare.

cheers guys, ill get back to you both after testing buying and testing this ram!