I'm running a Ryzen 5 5600X, Radeon RX 6650 XT, and 32 GB of DDR4 memory. My games perform about 50–60 FPS below the results I see in benchmark videos. In Valorant, for example, benchmarks often show around 300–400 FPS, while I usually get 240–300 FPS. Other games show a similar gap. Everything feels smooth and works well, but I'd like to get the most from my hardware, especially because I use a 240 Hz monitor. I'm playing with low settings, 2x anti-aliasing, and 2x anisotropic filtering. I also set my memory speed to 3200 MT/s in the BIOS, but I'm not sure whether other settings such as DOCP/XMP or Resizable BAR are enabled. Is this normal, or is something configured incorrectly?
4 Answers
Confirm that your RAM is actually running at its rated 3200 speed and that its memory profile is enabled in the BIOS. Also check that Resizable BAR and Smart Access Memory are enabled if your motherboard and BIOS support them. These usually won’t explain a huge difference in Valorant, but correct memory configuration and updated chipset and graphics drivers can help keep performance consistent.
That performance gap doesn’t automatically mean something is wrong. Benchmark videos are often recorded on a freshly installed Windows setup with almost nothing running in the background. Your normal system may have drivers, overlays, antivirus scans, Discord, browser tabs, or other programs using a small amount of CPU time. The benchmark may also use slightly different settings, maps, patches, or hardware tuning.
For competitive games at low settings, the Ryzen 5 5600X can become the limiting part before the RX 6650 XT does, especially when chasing very high refresh rates. Getting 240–300 FPS is already quite strong, and benchmark averages may be measured under ideal conditions. Make sure there isn’t an FPS cap in the game, driver software, or an overlay, and compare the same map, settings, and test conditions before treating the benchmark as a guaranteed result.
Check your actual CPU and GPU usage while playing instead of relying only on the FPS number. MSI Afterburner or a similar monitoring tool can show utilization, temperatures, clock speeds, and frame times. If the GPU is near 95–100%, it’s the graphics card limiting that scene. If GPU usage is low while one or more CPU threads are heavily loaded, the CPU or another background process may be the limit.
If the GPU is the limit, lowering resolution or graphics settings should increase FPS. If it barely changes, you’re probably CPU-limited or capped elsewhere.