I currently have an Intel i5-11400F, an RX 7900 XTX, and 16GB of DDR4-3200 memory in an 8GB x2 configuration. I play mostly single-player open-world games such as The Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 1 and 2. I also want to play PC versions of games like God of War, The Last of Us, and the Horizon series. My display is 1080p at 75Hz, but the processor is limiting the graphics card even at high or ultra settings in some games. I am not currently focused on demanding future releases beyond DokeV and the next Kingdom Come game. Would switching to 1440p or 4K reduce the CPU bottleneck enough to keep at least 75 FPS? Can the current system handle 4K without adding more RAM, and what would be the cheapest sensible upgrade? I use Linux Mint and cannot currently increase the resolution to test this.
3 Answers
The 11400F is a pretty large mismatch for a 7900 XTX, especially at 1080p. A 1440p monitor would be a major improvement over 1080p, while 4K would reduce the CPU bottleneck further but may make a locked 75 FPS target harder in demanding games. I would upgrade the display before using upscaling or frame generation as a solution, since those features do not fix poor CPU frame times and can introduce pacing or latency issues.
Moving to 4K would shift more of the workload to the 7900 XTX, so the CPU bottleneck would generally be less noticeable. The card should be capable of 4K in many of these games, but some open-world titles can still be CPU-limited because of NPC and world-simulation work. Resolution itself usually does not require more system RAM; it mainly increases GPU load and VRAM usage. Your 16GB may still be a limitation in some newer games, though.
For the lowest-cost platform upgrade, consider a newer DDR4-compatible CPU and motherboard, such as an i5-14400F with a suitable B760 DDR4 board. You could reuse your existing memory and gain a noticeable improvement without replacing the entire system. A higher-end 14600K or 14700K would also work, but it is probably unnecessary for a 75Hz single-player setup. Before buying anything, check the exact board and BIOS compatibility, and consider moving to 32GB of RAM if your budget allows.
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