Hey everyone! I recently upgraded my GPU from an RTX 3060 12GB to an RTX 5070 12GB. My setup includes an i9-11900K CPU and 32GB of RAM. I've noticed a noticeable increase in performance in games like Arma Reforger, jumping from 40-60 FPS in some areas to even 144 FPS. However, I'm wondering if my CPU is bottlenecking the performance. I've seen bottleneck calculators that suggest anywhere from 10% to 50%, but I'm not entirely sure what to believe.
5 Answers
Since you play at 1080p and 165Hz, if your task manager shows 100% CPU usage while the GPU is at 70%, that indicates a bottleneck. But now that you've checked Arma Reforger and see your CPU load at 70% with the GPU maxing out, it seems like your CPU is keeping up just fine and the GPU is the one bottlenecking in that game.
I have the i9-11900F, which is similar to yours but slightly clocked lower, and I can’t push my GPU past 80-85% at 1080p. If you play at 1440p, you should be fine, though! Ignore those calculators; they don’t give an accurate picture. Use tools like Nvidia’s overlay or MSI Afterburner to see if your CPU hits 100% while the GPU stays below that. If that’s the case, you’re bottlenecking.
Those bottleneck calculators are often pretty off. The i9-11900K, while not the latest, actually pairs decently with the RTX 5070. You might see a small fps boost with a CPU upgrade, maybe 10-15 fps, but it’s not essential right now.
Make sure to use an overlay program to check your metrics while gaming.
Forget the calculators and check out actual performance reviews for your GPU in the games you play. Those reviews usually use the fastest CPUs available to show max performance. If you're close to those FPS numbers, you're in good shape. Just remember that each game uses hardware differently, so finding the exact cause of any lag can be tricky.
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