Hey everyone! I've just built a new PC, and I'm running into a frustrating problem. Here are my specs:
- Motherboard: GIGABYTE B850M Gaming X WIFI6E AMD AM5
- CPU: Ryzen 5 9600X
- RAM: 32 GB CL36 with XMP profile enabled
- GPU: RTX 5060 ASUS Prime
- Power Supply: 850 W
- Storage: 2 TB NVMe SSD
The issue is that when I play games, my GPU usage never really goes above 30%—sometimes it barely hits 40-50%! Meanwhile, my CPU usage spikes to 60-90%. This happens regardless of the graphics settings I choose: 1080p low, 1080p high, or even 2K on high all yield similar GPU usage numbers.
I've already tried a bunch of fixes, including:
- Setting Windows power settings to high performance
- Adjusting NVIDIA Control Panel to prefer maximum performance
- Monitoring temperatures (GPU at ~50°C, CPU at ~45-50°C)
- Enabling XMP profile
- Testing with several games (Elden Ring ~30 fps, The Witcher 3 ~50 fps, etc.)
- Updating all drivers (GPU, chipset, BIOS)
- Clean reinstallation of Windows
- Disabling integrated graphics
- Forcing PCIe configuration to 4.0 (for GPU and SSD)
It's a brand new PC, and the GPU has never been used to its full potential. I don't think it's a temperature or driver issue. I suspect a CPU bottleneck, but I thought the 9600X should handle up to a 5070ti without issues.
Any ideas on what else could be causing my GPU to underperform like this?
5 Answers
I think your PCIe setting may be a problem combined with your GPU's VRAM limitations. Running your RTX 5060 at PCIe 4.0 is likely bottlenecking it. This card doesn't utilize a full 16 lanes of PCIe bandwidth, and 4.0 might be cutting it down further. Try switching it back to the standard mode and move your SSD to a 4.0 slot instead. Here’s a video that explains it well: .
You might want to run a proper benchmarking test like 3D Mark Time Spy to get more accurate data on your GPU's performance. Once you do that, it’d be great if you could share the results here!
Have you tried reseating the GPU? Sometimes it helps just to take it out and put it back in. Also, what software are you using to track your performance? Watching temps and performance closely can give you clues.
It sounds like you might have the monitor plugged into the motherboard instead of the GPU. Double-check to make sure you’re using the video ports on the graphics card itself—those on the motherboard won’t give you proper GPU usage. There might be dust covers blocking the ports, so you may need to pull those off too!
Just to clarify, your GPU needs to be in the top x16 slot, right? Make sure it’s not in a lower slot, as that could also affect performance.
Yes, it’s definitely in the top slot!
I checked, and the HDMI is connected to the graphics card.