I recently upgraded to a Radeon 9060 XT 16GB Challenger OC from a more modest 3050, expecting to ramp up my gaming experience. My current setup includes an Intel Core i5-12400F CPU, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and I'm running Windows 11 Home. Initially, I was getting decent frames at 1080p with low settings, around 100 FPS, which was fine for competitive gaming. But now, with this new GPU, I thought I could play modern titles on high settings at least reaching 120 FPS—yet I'm not breaking that threshold. Oddly, when I try gaming at 4K resolution, my FPS barely drops by a few frames. My CPU usage is often at 80-90%, while my GPU sits much lower at around 60%. Am I experiencing a CPU bottleneck? What would be a good CPU upgrade to match my 9060 XT?
5 Answers
It sounds like your CPU is indeed bottlenecking your GPU, especially since you’re using DDR4 RAM. Considering upgrading to something like a 12900K or even a Ryzen 7700X if you want to save a bit. A better CPU will definitely help boost your FPS.
You’re 100% seeing a CPU bottleneck here. Since you mentioned your FPS hardly changes at higher resolutions, that’s a classic sign. Upgrading your CPU should help boost your performance—definitely look into getting something more powerful.
First off, did you use DDU to fully uninstall your old NVIDIA drivers before installing the AMD ones? Your Intel i5-12400F shouldn't bottleneck a 9060 XT that badly; it's still a solid CPU for most uses. Are you comparing your performance to benchmarks online? Running a benchmark test like 3DMark could give you a clearer picture.
Honestly, your whole build seems outdated for a PCIe 5.0 GPU like the 9060 XT. Along with the CPU and RAM, your motherboard could use an upgrade too to keep everything balanced. Just getting a new CPU won’t cut it if everything else is holding you back.
You really shouldn’t expect more than 70-90 FPS on this card at 1080p high settings with most new games. But if your CPU is maxing out, that's your limiting factor. Upgrading to an i7 could significantly improve your 1080p performance, or consider moving to an AMD 6 or 8 core processor if you're looking for alternatives.
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