I'm running an Asus Prime A520M-K, Ryzen 5 5600GT, RX 7800 XT, 32GB of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3600, and a Corsair RM1000x power supply with a 165Hz 1440p monitor. Black Ops 7 and some other games feel noticeably stuttery, and the issue is causing headaches. The system can reach around 212 FPS in Black Ops 7, but I cap it at 163 FPS, although the frame rate varies depending on the settings. Radeon software shows the CPU reaching 100% usage under load, while RAM usage is around 50%. What settings or troubleshooting steps could reduce the stutters before I upgrade the CPU, motherboard, or monitor? I'd also appreciate upgrade recommendations.
4 Answers
For a drop-in AM4 upgrade, a Ryzen 7 5700X3D would be the most sensible choice if the motherboard BIOS supports it. It usually offers a much better gaming upgrade than moving to another regular Ryzen 5000 chip. A 5800X3D is also viable, but the A520M-K is a basic board, so check its CPU support list and VRM recommendations first. Make sure the BIOS is updated before swapping processors and use adequate cooling.
The CPU hitting 100% is the biggest clue. The RX 7800 XT is powerful enough for 1440p, but the Ryzen 5 5600GT can become the limiter in a high-FPS game and cause inconsistent frame times. Use a frame-time graph rather than average FPS to confirm it, and try lowering CPU-heavy settings such as view distance, world detail, effects, and player count. Also test a lower cap, such as 120 or 144 FPS, instead of 163, and enable FreeSync or your monitor’s adaptive-sync mode if supported.
A cap only helps if the system can maintain it consistently. If the frame rate keeps dropping below 163, a lower limit that the CPU can hold steadily may feel much smoother.
The monitor is unlikely to be the source of the actual stutter. First try matching the frame cap to a refresh rate you can maintain, use adaptive sync, and check whether the headaches come from unstable frame pacing, brightness, or motion blur. If the system still has poor frame times after the CPU-side troubleshooting, then consider the CPU upgrade before replacing the monitor.
Check the basics before replacing hardware: update the motherboard BIOS and chipset drivers, install a clean version of the latest graphics driver, enable the correct memory profile so the RAM runs at 3600 MT/s, and close overlays or background recording tools. Shader compilation and game updates can also cause temporary stutters, so let the game finish compiling shaders after driver changes. Monitoring CPU and GPU usage, temperatures, clocks, and frame times with an overlay can help identify whether the problem is CPU load, thermal throttling, or a software issue.
The board may run an X3D processor, but compatibility and sustained power delivery should be verified from Asus first. If the board is not recommended for it, upgrading the motherboard and CPU platform together is safer.