Hey everyone! I've got a PC build that hasn't been updated for a while, and although it served me well, I'm recently experiencing significant frame drops and stutters during gameplay. I'm unsure if I'm facing a specific bottleneck or if it's time for an upgrade.
Here's my current spec list:
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix X570-F ATX
- GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2080Ti 11GB
- RAM: 16GB DDR4 3600MHz (KLEVV BOLT X)
- Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA Gold 650W
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
- Storage: 2TB HDD, 500GB HDD, 256GB SATA SSD, 1TB M.2 SSD
I used to be able to run games fine, but lately, I've struggled with titles like Baldurs Gate 3, the Oblivion remaster, and Stellar Blade. I want to game at 2K resolution, but even dropping to 1080p with low settings makes Stellar Blade nearly unplayable.
I'm wondering if I need a larger power supply or if there's something else causing these performance issues. I'm looking for advice from experienced builders, or recommendations for tools to diagnose what's throttling my performance. I don't game as much anymore, so I'd prefer to avoid upgrades if possible, but I want to focus on the most effective changes if necessary.
6 Answers
Updating your motherboard's BIOS and resetting to optimized default settings can sometimes help. Check back in after you've tried that and let us know if it makes a difference!
Is your RAM actually running at 3600MHz? Also, how old is your Windows installation? Keeping your graphics drivers up to date is important, and make sure your games are installed on the SSD for best performance.
It’s definitely worth considering a RAM upgrade. Boosting to 32GB might help smooth things out for you.
If you're concerned about heavy CPU load, look out for signs like frame drops during busy scenes or high CPU usage while the GPU remains underutilized. I wrote a detailed guide on identifying bottlenecks that you might find useful!
The Oblivion remaster isn't very well optimized, so don't let its performance sway your conclusions too much. Use tools like RTSS or PresentMon to monitor CPU and GPU wait times; they'll give you a good idea of what's really bottlenecking your system.
Your build looks decent, but upgrading your GPU and bumping your RAM to at least 32GB could really improve performance. It's a more significant investment, but it could provide the best gains.
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