I'm using a Ryzen 5 5600X with a B350M Mortar motherboard and an RTX 3070. The graphics card still seems adequate, but I'm having trouble in newer games such as Arc Raiders and War Dogs. At 1080p, I get occasional lag spikes and have to use very low settings, averaging around 80 FPS. For competitive shooters, I'd prefer something closer to a steady 160 FPS. I'm willing to move to a newer platform with DDR5 memory if necessary, but I'm unsure whether I should upgrade the CPU and motherboard or investigate a system issue first. What CPU and motherboard combination would make sense?
4 Answers
Before buying anything, I’d check whether the problem is actually the CPU. A Ryzen 5 5600X and RTX 3070 should generally work well together at 1080p. Monitor GPU usage, VRAM usage, CPU utilization, temperatures, clock speeds, and frame times while playing. Also check how much memory the game is using, update the BIOS and drivers, and make sure Windows is current. Running `sfc /scannow` from an administrator Command Prompt can also repair damaged Windows system files.
If troubleshooting doesn’t help, the easiest upgrade is staying on your current platform with a Ryzen 7 5800X3D, assuming your motherboard supports it after a BIOS update. Its extra cache can significantly improve minimum FPS in CPU-limited games, and you can keep your existing DDR4 memory. Check the board’s supported CPU list and update the BIOS before swapping processors.
That’s worth considering. The 5800X3D’s price seems comparable to what I’d spend on DDR5 memory alone, so avoiding a new motherboard and RAM is appealing.
For War Dogs specifically, an RTX 3070 is around the recommended graphics tier, so the hardware should be capable of more than 80 FPS at 1080p. Lag spikes could come from shader compilation, background processes, thermal throttling, driver problems, or inconsistent frame times rather than simply needing a faster CPU. Use an overlay such as MSI Afterburner to see which component is reaching its limit during the dips.
For a full platform change, a Ryzen 7 9800X3D paired with a quality B650 motherboard, such as a Tomahawk-class board, would provide excellent gaming performance and plenty of headroom. It’s probably more CPU than an RTX 3070 needs, though, so a less expensive current-generation Ryzen gaming chip may offer better value unless you plan to upgrade the GPU later.
I have 24 GB of RAM, and total usage is usually around 50–60% while gaming. I haven’t checked VRAM or frame-time data yet, and I’m not familiar with `sfc /scannow`, so I’ll look into those checks first.