9900k bottleneck?

[default667]

I upgraded my rtx 3090 to rtx 5080 and tried playing some games. I tested with 3dMark, Cyberpunk 2077, Kingdom Come Deliverance 1 and The Callisto Protocol. 3dmark is giving good results no problem there. Kcd and Callisto get some noticeable fps drops and the gpu usage is between 80-100%, depending on the scene. Kcd Rattay center at night the fps drops all the way to 38 and also in kcd the wattage often stays below 200w.

 

Could this be a driver issue or is the bottleneck just too much? Is there a upgrade path where I can use my current ddr4? And I assume there's no way I can oc my cpu and ram enough to help the situation?

The thing is I have my rtx 5090 waiting in mail, so do I just have to upgrade to am5 7800x3d and then years later to zen7? Would a 7800x3d bottleneck a rtx 5090?

 

Thanks

[Hinjima]

11 minutes ago, default667 said:

I upgraded my rtx 3090 to rtx 5080 and tried playing some games. I tested with 3dMark, Cyberpunk 2077, Kingdom Come Deliverance 1 and The Callisto Protocol. 3dmark is giving good results no problem there. Kcd and Callisto get some noticeable fps drops and the gpu usage is between 80-100%, depending on the scene. Kcd Rattay center at night the fps drops all the way to 38 and also in kcd the wattage often stays below 200w.

 

Could this be a driver issue or is the bottleneck just too much? Is there a upgrade path where I can use my current ddr4? And I assume there's no way I can oc my cpu and ram enough to help the situation?

The thing is I have my rtx 5090 waiting in mail, so do I just have to upgrade to am5 7800x3d and then years later to zen7? Would a 7800x3d bottleneck a rtx 5090?

 

Thanks

A 9900k will be a bottleneck for a 5080 and definitely for a 5090.  

I use a 9900k overclocked to 5.2ghz on all cores with an RTX 4080 and it was a horrible experience.  Almost all games stuttered and have very poor 1% and 0.1% lows.

I moved from the 9900k to a 7700x and saw a decent increase in performance and a huge increase in 1% and 0.1% lows with an RTX 4080.

I then moved to a 9800X3D and saw a decent increase in performance in some games and the 1% and 0.1% lows were even better.

This is at 1440p resolution.

 

A 7800X3D will be a huge increase over a 9900k in gaming but in some games, even a 7800X3D/9800X3D will be holding the 5090 back.

That being a very rare occurance however.

 

 

[Dedayog]

21 minutes ago, default667 said:

I upgraded my rtx 3090 to rtx 5080 and tried playing some games. I tested with 3dMark, Cyberpunk 2077, Kingdom Come Deliverance 1 and The Callisto Protocol. 3dmark is giving good results no problem there. Kcd and Callisto get some noticeable fps drops and the gpu usage is between 80-100%, depending on the scene. Kcd Rattay center at night the fps drops all the way to 38 and also in kcd the wattage often stays below 200w.

 

Could this be a driver issue or is the bottleneck just too much? Is there a upgrade path where I can use my current ddr4? And I assume there's no way I can oc my cpu and ram enough to help the situation?

The thing is I have my rtx 5090 waiting in mail, so do I just have to upgrade to am5 7800x3d and then years later to zen7? Would a 7800x3d bottleneck a rtx 5090?

 

Thanks

I mean if you can afford a 5090... why are you trying to stay DDR4?

 

I'd have a 9850X3D w/ 64GB RAM at this point waiting for the 5090.  Stop trying to limp along and feed the 5090 as much as it can handle.

[default667]

2 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

I mean if you can afford a 5090... why are you trying to stay DDR4?

 

I'd have a 9850X3D w/ 64GB RAM at this point waiting for the 5090.  Stop trying to limp along and feed the 5090 as much as it can handle.

Well... my original plan was to upgrade my gpu with rtx 6000 series and cpu when ddr6 becomes mainstream . Maybe a BIt too optimistic and I was unaware how long it has been since I got my 9900k. The thing with rtx 5090 is that probably for a short future it's an appreciating asset and cpu/rams not so much. Well that's how I see it anyway.

[GuiltySpark_]

Agreed with everyone so far. 

 

You need the best of the best to get full performance from a 5090 these days, even at 4K. 

 

Hell, there is an argument amongst many enthusiasts that in certain games and certain scenes, todays fastest CPU's still aren't fast enough for that card.

[Dedayog]

1 hour ago, default667 said:

Well... my original plan was to upgrade my gpu with rtx 6000 series and cpu when ddr6 becomes mainstream . Maybe a BIt too optimistic and I was unaware how long it has been since I got my 9900k. The thing with rtx 5090 is that probably for a short future it's an appreciating asset and cpu/rams not so much. Well that's how I see it anyway.

Just be aware the 5090 is a production card, not a gaming card.  If you're only using it for gaming, you're not getting the most out of the card even with a 9850X3D probably.

 

Personally I'd stick with the 5080,  and look at a 5700X setup if you want to use the DDR4.  Or get a 7800X3D for a nice balanced system.

 

 

[MadAnt250]

@JLaxis possibly looking to sell a i9 14900K, mobo and RAM. That will take care of your bottleneck issue.

[default667]

On 2/9/2026 at 6:22 PM, default667 said:

I upgraded my rtx 3090 to rtx 5080 and tried playing some games. I tested with 3dMark, Cyberpunk 2077, Kingdom Come Deliverance 1 and The Callisto Protocol. 3dmark is giving good results no problem there. Kcd and Callisto get some noticeable fps drops and the gpu usage is between 80-100%, depending on the scene. Kcd Rattay center at night the fps drops all the way to 38 and also in kcd the wattage often stays below 200w.

 

Could this be a driver issue or is the bottleneck just too much? Is there a upgrade path where I can use my current ddr4? And I assume there's no way I can oc my cpu and ram enough to help the situation?

The thing is I have my rtx 5090 waiting in mail, so do I just have to upgrade to am5 7800x3d and then years later to zen7? Would a 7800x3d bottleneck a rtx 5090?

 

Thanks

I just got my new 9800x3d and a new psu to replace my evga g2 1000W, which seemed to be struggling with this kind of load. After testing the same games and saves, honestly it looks like all I needed was a new psu and cpu. Even with this 9800x3d in KCD1 Rattay city center at night is still getting fps drops close to 65fps with same settings.

[KidKid]

On 2/9/2026 at 11:22 AM, default667 said:

I upgraded my rtx 3090 to rtx 5080 and tried playing some games. I tested with 3dMark, Cyberpunk 2077, Kingdom Come Deliverance 1 and The Callisto Protocol. 3dmark is giving good results no problem there. Kcd and Callisto get some noticeable fps drops and the gpu usage is between 80-100%, depending on the scene. Kcd Rattay center at night the fps drops all the way to 38 and also in kcd the wattage often stays below 200w.

 

Could this be a driver issue or is the bottleneck just too much? Is there a upgrade path where I can use my current ddr4? And I assume there's no way I can oc my cpu and ram enough to help the situation?

The thing is I have my rtx 5090 waiting in mail, so do I just have to upgrade to am5 7800x3d and then years later to zen7? Would a 7800x3d bottleneck a rtx 5090?

 

Thanks

Yeah big bottleneck - even more so for the 5090. You really want to get a new CPU if you're buying a 5090.