I recently upgraded my CPU from a Ryzen 5 2600x to a Ryzen 7 5800x, hoping for better performance. I've paired it with an RTX 3080, but I'm seeing little to no improvement, and in some cases, things are even worse! In newer games, the 2600x struggled with Battlefield 6 but managed okay with ARC Raiders, though it did stutter when I had Discord and a browser open. Now, with the 5800x, I'm facing noticeable lag even with minimal background tasks, and my CPU usage is hitting 80-100% while my GPU only reaches 30-50%. I'm concerned because I expected to see improvements with this upgrade, not regressions. What's going on?
3 Answers
Your setup sounds good, but hitting 100% CPU usage while the GPU is underutilized isn't normal. It's possible you might have a VRM issue if temperatures are fine. You could run Cinebench alongside hwinfo64 to check temps and throttling. If the CPU temp looks okay but the VRM is overheating, that could be the culprit.
First, make sure you've updated your motherboard BIOS and chipset drivers since you’re jumping three generations. That can often fix performance issues. It’s unusual for your CPU to be maxing out while the GPU is barely working, especially with a setup like yours. Also, check if XMP is enabled for your RAM and what your temps and clock speeds look like.
You need to pay attention to your motherboard and its specs since that can affect your CPU performance. Knowing your temperatures can help too. If everything is running cool and your CPU still throttles, you might have a mismatch in compatibility with your motherboard. How's your cooling setup looking?

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