I recently upgraded to the RTX 5070 from a GTX 1660 Super after seeing it at MSRP at Microcenter. I was really excited based on benchmarks from YouTuber Daniel Owen, who averages around 38 fps in Cyberpunk using 4K settings with DLSS performance and ray tracing enabled. However, I'm experiencing significantly lower performance on my setup. I'm running an i5 12400 CPU and expected a modest drop in performance compared to his higher-end CPU, but I'm averaging just 2 fps in the same benchmark. What am I doing wrong? Are there optimization tips or settings I might've missed? Also, since this card was purchased two months ago with a two-year warranty from Microcenter, can I return it if it's defective? Here's my setup: Resizable BAR is on, CPU is i5 12400, motherboard is MSI Z790-P Pro WiFi D4 (using a PCIe 5.0 slot), GPU is Asus Prime RTX 5070 (non-OC), RAM is 32 GB DDR4 at 4000 MT/s, SSD is SK Hynix Platinum P41 1TB m.2, and I'm running Windows 11 Pro.
5 Answers
This might sound basic, but double-check that your monitor cable is connected to the GPU and not the motherboard. Also, ensure that the GPU is getting enough power from your PSU.
Review the exact graphics settings you’re using compared to the benchmarks. If he's using ultra settings with ultra ray tracing, that could really affect performance on your setup, especially at 4K. My rig is toast at those settings too!
Good point! I’ll check what settings were used in those benchmarks more closely.
Make sure you turned off ray tracing for testing as it can heavily impact FPS. If you're still drastically low on performance without it, check additional benchmarks to see if your CPU is causing more of a bottleneck than expected.
Yep, it's plugged into the GPU. With ray tracing off, I'm seeing about 18-25 fps, but that still raises my concern about the expected performance from my 5070.
Have you made sure to run a driver cleanup (DDU) before swapping GPUs? That can sometimes resolve performance issues after an upgrade.
Thanks! I totally forgot about that step!
Don't forget that Cyberpunk can be CPU-intensive, especially in busy scenes, which could lead to lower performance than you might expect, even with decent hardware.
That makes sense! I've been considering updating to a better CPU in the future.
Yessir, the monitor is definitely plugged into the GPU, and I’ve got it slotted in the PCIe 5.0 port with a solid 12V power cable from my PSU.