I've been troubleshooting an issue where my gaming performance isn't matching my hardware capabilities. I have an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and an Nvidia RTX 5080, but I'm noticing low FPS even though both the CPU and GPU are hardly breaking a sweat during gameplay. For instance, some games run at over 200 FPS, but others don't seem to hit 300 FPS, with neither chip reaching 60% utilization. I play games like Rainbow Six Siege on Ultra settings at 1440p, and while some gamers easily get over 430 FPS, I'm stuck around 230 FPS, seemingly due to low GPU utilization. I've overclocked my GPU pretty well, and it's supposed to compete with a 4090. I've watched comparison videos showing better utilization rates on different setups, which has left me scratching my head. The temperatures are normal, ranging between 40-69 degrees. I noticed that in the resource monitor, CPU cores 1-3 are hitting around 60-70% while the others are barely doing anything. I've tried various settings in the BIOS, set Windows and Nvidia to high performance, and updated drivers, but nothing seems to help.
3 Answers
Yeah, you're definitely CPU bottlenecks. It's common for many games not to utilize all the cores available, and older titles can be particularly bad about it. R6 Siege has been known to have inconsistent performance updates over time. If you're aiming for insane FPS, you might find that the 5950X, while fantastic, isn't optimized for competitive gameplay at those levels. Plus, if your monitor's refresh rate is lower than what you're trying to achieve, that might be capping your experience too!
A quick thought—have you checked whether you've got any VRR tech like G-Sync or FreeSync active? Sometimes, these can limit your FPS to your monitor's refresh rate since you might be hitting those FPS limits but not seeing the benefits due to synchronization settings.
Good point! I had a similar issue, and once I turned off VRR, my performance improved. It's worth checking!
It sounds like you're running into a classic CPU bottleneck situation. Many games, especially ones like Siege, don't push all cores to their maximum, often only utilizing one or two threads effectively. Even a powerful CPU like the 5950X can struggle to outperform lower core counts in gaming, as they tend to only leverage a handful of cores for performance. In your case, your GPU isn't being pushed hard enough because the CPU isn't fully utilized, making it unlikely you'll hit those higher FPS rates you're chasing. Try focusing on lowering your resolution or adjusting other settings to increase GPU usage instead.
Exactly! If your monitor is only 144Hz, then having a frame rate way above that won’t be beneficial. Make sure your setup matches what you're aiming for!