Renewed Old Rig Started Having Issues - What's Wrong?

[Endor21]

Hey everyone, long time Linus fan just got into the forum,

 

I have a quite old rig that I have upgraded multiple times in the past years. Some of the components are as followed:

- MSI Gtx 1060 6gb

- I5 2400

- 12 GB of RAM 

- w/ a Samsung monitor with native 1680x1050 resolution

(note: I can provide more info if needed as I have to look it up first)

My uncle built this rig for me, more than 5 years ago and we have been upgrading it bit by bit but as I grew older and eventually started college (Computer Engineering) that task has mostly been mine to handle for the last 2-3 years. I have bought myself the 1060 a little less than 2 years ago and it had worked mostly fine since then. It had some performance drops here and there but I didn't think on it much until recently. 

 

I have many questions actually as I am newly learning these stuff but I'll try to keep it as short as possible

 

Recently it had started to have frame drops on relatively demanding games. Most recently, I had severe issues on both Rainbow Six Siege and Battlefield V Beta. - ( Having sudden and small bursts of drops and stutters on R6 while having 60 fps regularly and severe drops from 40 to 15/20 on BFV)

I always thought 1060 was the issue for the past 2 years somehow and when I had frame drops I've lowered settings and resolution (which didn't always help much) but I've just learned that might not be the case.

 

My question is, Can my CPU be bottlenecking my GPU? 

 

I've tried monitoring the utilization rates with MSI Afterburner to see if that's the case.

The CPU usage didn't pass above 80% and the GPU moved between 40-80% on BFV with 40-50 FPS and this led me to think a bottleneck might not be the case either (if of course, we assume BFV's optimization is not the problem here). 

 

I also learned (from Linus:) that increasing the output resolution would lower the dependence on the CPU so,

Would upgrading the monitor to a Full HD one help?

Is upgrading the CPU absolutely necessary? (I would also need a new motherboard if the answer is yes apparently and the overall prices of electronics are way less affordable in my country than in the US so that would not quite be pleasant for me)

Can the issues be caused by something else?

 

I want to start a conversation rather than seeking decisive answers in order to both learn and solve the issue so I'm willing to give more details, I feel like it has been a long entry already.

 

Thanks to anyone in advance, Cheers  

[Void Master]

Welcome to LTT forums !

I suggest that you upgrade you CPU since it's ageing + it does not have enough threads.

Try finding an i7 2600 for cheap.

[RAM555789]

Considering the AMD Ryzen 3 1200 puts out more power than that old thing, yes your CPU is the problem. Your probably not getting maximum CPU usage due to thermal throttling, and while upgrading too something like a i7-2600k making sure you have adequate cooling for an overclock would help, you'll only pull even with a Ryzen 3 1200. Best bet is try and move to 3rd or 4th gen intel platforms through used parts and that would be a big boost.

[Endor21]

Yes I am aware the CPU is old and not enough. Thank you for your answers, I'll look for your recommendations.

 

A question I might add: is CPU's problem bottlenecking the GPU here or just being not enough to handle the tasks it is given?

Does the low utilization percentages say anything about this?

[Endor21]

On 10.09.2018 at 7:29 PM, Void Master said:

Welcome to LTT forums !

I suggest that you upgrade you CPU since it's ageing + it does not have enough threads.

Try finding an i7 2600 for cheap.

Seems like a 2nd gen i7 would still be problematic as it might also cause bottleneck as I've found out after my research.

 

It seems to be that I need to step it up and get a decent mobo+cpu+ddr4 (?) ram set up and maybe even a new power source? 

The thing about the budget is I have a rather promising one for buying new parts but I'm not quite looking forward to spend too much on a system that is already somewhat doing the job, this would be like a precaution for the long run for me.