Is an older i5 good enough for a high end GPU in 2021?

[@Sam-K]

My ancient GT440 GPU was actually vRAM bottlenecked which itself was bottlenecked by Core 2 Duo E6300 which itself was bottlenecked by sparse 2GB of RAM which itself was bottlenecked by the slow as snail 666MHz frequency. I think that's enough bottlenecking for one day.

[@kandyrandy]

I feel like this whole video is just a conversation with your wife about why you need a new cpu. By the end she’s just like “yeah ok, whatever. Get one. Just stop explaining it”

[@Hybred]

My screen is bottlenecked until I get a MicroLED screen. I hope it becomes smaller and cheaper soon, all the benefits of OLED without the downsides.

[@mateolopezcontreras5592]

Love this video. It helped me so much, I didn't know how to identify a bottle neck and now yes I can see it clear in my pc. Thanks! I have the same CPU but a RX580, so I'll make a upgrade for my GPU.

[@christianpartanen2088]

@Daniel Owen Regarding The Ascent CPU dips, no worries I have a Ryzen 5900X with RTX 3080ti at 1440p and I also experience the dips…Must affect a wider range of procrssors

[@danielowentech]

Interesting.

[@BBWahoo]

Ah, nothing like watching your older videos to see how far you're coming along :)

[@Extreme96PL]

I know this video is old but Cyberpunk have most intensive CPU setting under gameplay not graphics and video and its called crowd density.

[@thirtyacres7504]

Thank you for covering this and pointing out that everyone is bottlenecked. The term gets thrown around, a lot. Some of us want to know if we can upgrade only the GPU with an older CPU and give it some life. Or go ahead and build a new one.

[@mikesilver9285]

if you had a 3080 the bottleneck would of been worse for your cpu because of the Nvidia overhead of its software scheduling

[@christophermullins7163]

Yep. I'm actually thinking of upgrading the gtx 1080 to amd gpu as opposed to upgrading the cpu first. It will have a better uplift I think.

[@wingmanemu3473]

is there a way to work around the software scheduling? make it use less cpu?

[@mikesilver9285]

@@wingmanemu3473 buy a amd GPU..... NVIDIA doesnt have a hardware scheduler, AMD does

[@wingmanemu3473]

i already bought a 4060@@mikesilver9285

[@ninfazza]

A big factor is how well the game is optimised too. Plus I love when your kids run around upstairs, reminds me of my joys of working from home. 😅

[@Drazee123]

i got i5-9600k aswell. Was planing to but 6800 xt. Pretty happy with the results. I guess im just gonna buy it.

[@WALL3E]

don't do it,overkill for 1440p with this cpu...

[@rpgfeatures793]

@@WALL3E not if he overclocks it. The 9600k will go up to 5ghz

[@BOKtober]

Recently upgraded from a 9600k to a 5900x, HUGE difference! totally worth it with my 3080, 9600k was probably a bad buy to begin with

[@masterlee1988]

Yeah, with no 12 threads the 9600k wasn't going to be worth it in the long run.

[@GauravNikoBellic]

Cool. How is 9600k for 3060? will 9600k bottleneck with 3060 too?

[@atasinchi]

Depends on your needs You just can't put a verdict in the comments section out of nowhere

[@rpgfeatures793]

Wdym? 9600k is a beast. You have to set it right

[@rpgfeatures793]

Pretty big jump 🤣

[@a.kojduma8792]

Thank you so much for this Video!

[@stephanhart9941]

Bottlenecked or not I think now is a bad time to upgrade, with Alder Lake dropping and ZEN 3D. I would be inclined to wait a Gen on the 1700 socket from Intel though. Those MoBo's and RAM are gonna be Killer expensive as well as possible teething issues on a new platform. I will be grabbing the ZEN3D 5950X or XT whatever they call it eventually. When I was building the R9's were nonexistent, so I went 5800X. Even at 1440P I haven't noticed bottlenecking of my 3080. Thanks for stepping up your analysis game of late. Shit They may decide to start sampling you soon.

[@danielowentech]

Your upgrade thoughts line up with mine. I'm waiting for the next socket launch. I'm hoping supply is available since I doubt I will get a sample despite your hopes lol

[@BBWahoo]

Get a 5800X3D

[@wingmanemu3473]

im using a 4060 paired with an i3 9100f... frame generation is whats helping me most of the time. if i get 50 fps in alan wake 2 with 100% cpu usage and 60% gpu usage, then i just use frame gen and bump it up to 90 fps. i still got some spikes so i solved that by locking my frame rate to 72 fps (while using a 144hz screen) and it was smooth as butter. frame gen doesnt need any cpu power to increase frames, so it was literally a godsend to play new games without upgrading the cpu. although im planning to get a 9400f or a 9600 for dirt cheap once i run into a game that i cant ever run with my cpu using frame gen

[@jaydaytoday3548]

My 9900k at 4.8 bottlenecks my 6800xt in certain games too.

[@ryandietz7878]

At this point you should just wait for Alder lake, then make some content on that.

[@thorium9190]

I would say the i5-9600K is made for overclocking, sure you could have also included non overclocked data. The 9600K can go up to 5.3Ghz all core in some lucky situations which can drastically improve performance

[@jand7739]

I got a Ryzen 5900x paired with an RTX 3080 and I still need PC performance mode on the ascent to avoid those missile stutters, I defo think that is a game problem. Also can Ray Tracing cause more CPU bottleneck despite it being mostly more demanding for the GPU? I couldn't run Ray Tracing with my RTX 3080 on Cyberpunk paired with a Ryzen 3700x since there I had many low dips especially in the city centre. With the Ryzen 5900x I no longer get dips and the experience is so much smoother and much better with ray tracing Edit: I'm not surprised about Red Dead 2 being so CPU bottlenecked! I got massive fps gains going from Ryzen 3700x to 5900x in GTA 5, the game plays so much better without the bottleneck. From my experience, it's definitely a game specific problem as identified in this video. Really good job! :)

[@danielowentech]

I think RT does increase cpu load

[@jand7739]

@@danielowentech Great, thank you!

[@themadnes5413]

@@jand7739 Yeah rt increases cpu load too, by how much depends on the game it self.

[@ScreaminSeahawk]

This is great info! Thanks!

[@karlooo79]

Hi, quick check, unable to find decent answer, My question is, does gpu 3060 ti or 3050 will be ok with my i5 9600k? Thanks in advance

[@rpgfeatures793]

Yes. You will be more than fine. The 9600k is mid level beast. Try overclocking it a little

[@SwanteeSwe]

Hi @danielowentech Looking at buying a new PC. I have landed on Intel i7-12700KF and a RTX 4070. Thinking about to get a screen with 2560x1080p 200Hz. I would really like a high framerate and ultrawide. Now I am thinking about if the CPU will bottleneck hard or at all on 2560x1080p...

[@toniojoestar3212]

is cpu/gpu bottleneck will bring bad impact for gpu/cpu health? do you think rx6650xt will give a bottleneck as heavy as this 6800xt for i5 9600k? because this bottleneck i'm confused to choosing between rx 6650xt or rtx 2060 for my i5 9600k. help me please :)

[@andrewphong6986]

What app is being used to monitor core and gpu percentages ?

[@GauravNikoBellic]

Thnx for video Daniel. I see you are using 9600k with 6800xt which is very powerful gpu. However I am looking to upgrade my 9100f to 9600kf paired with 3060. Do you think 3060 will bottleneck with 9600 too? Thnx

[@WALL3E]

no, You will be good only lose 1-6 fps

[@dkat1108]

Nice video Is there a way to check this cpu/gpu bottleneck with out a 900gb game download to test ?

[@danielowentech]

The issue is that whether you are bottlenecked depends on the game. So you would need to test in the game you are checking.

[@dkat1108]

@@danielowentech ya its Destiny 2 and they wont let you use MSI overlay...I know its stupid eh!

[@danielowentech]

Nvidia and Amd both have performance overlays in their software. Even the Windows game bar has a performance overlay. You could try those

[@TNMD88]

I5 9600k is fine.

[@heroicsquirrel3195]

I have i58600k and 3070 but don’t play anything over 100fps nor do I ever use max settings so I guess the bottleneck won’t bother me?

[@Zorro33313]

Hmm. If you're CPU bottlenecked with Radeon GPU, this would be even more harsh with Nvidia GPU due to the software scheduler. Were you able to check out this issue with your hardware?

[@michaelvanrheede7225]

What do you think of upgrading an i5 8400 to a i5 9600k on a msi b360 a pro motherboard? Stock cooler, would it be worth it?

[@matrixutzu99]

Make sure you update the bios, and put a better cooler then stock, even uf u dont overclock. But the lack of hyperthreading for this cpu, is not worth it. You"ll be much better off grabing a b660, and an 13400F, and you're good to go for some years

[@michaelvanrheede7225]

@@matrixutzu99 thanks

[@JohnCiaccio]

Would have liked to see Horizon Zero Dawn in there as well.

[@danielowentech]

I dont own it yet

[@JohnThunder]

I got this watter bottle here and it's also bottlenecked, guess you just can't get away from that :)

[@wa7de]

Nice video! but I have a question. I have a ryzen 5 3600 and I am ok with cpu bottleneck as long as I can hit 60 fps. My question is if I buy a new gpu like rx6800, after 2 or 3 years when games are more heavy, will my cpu still bottleneck my gpu?

[@chriswright8074]

Yes

[@chriswright8074]

6800 should be able to last the next 5 years

[@stephanhart9941]

In 2 years the best thing to do is to sell the 6800 and buy again supposing stock normalizes. It makes the most sense financially. You basically end up leasing your GPU and always have the latest and greatest, sometimes at no cost going by what happened this gen with used GPU prices.

[@jaydaytoday3548]

​@@chriswright8074 3600 might last you at least 5 years or more at least for 60fps. Although You will be bottlenecking the 6800 by a lot.

[@djlegend2397]

Idk what your budget is but the 5600x is quite the cpu man, keep your eye on it and try to catch it on sale or maybe get a used for a good price. It’s 300$ new that would pair very nicely with the 6800 for the next, idk 4-5 years

[@ploof4774]

So I just got a rx 6650 xt and I have a Intel i5 9600k and for some reason when I play games my gpu only use like 30% of its usage while my cpu uses around 100% does anybody know what to do to fix this

[@Mike-dp7yg]

What resolution are you playing at?

[@ploof4774]

@@Mike-dp7yg 1080p

[@amirlator]

I have i5 9600k I Wana buy rtx 3070 is any good??

[@TheHalfmanofOz]

That combination looks fine. The higher the resolution you're playing at the less the cpu will matter.

[@Andrito3000]

Do you know if AMD's SAM helps more when GPU or CPU limited? I suspect people dont notice much difference because they are usually GPU limited and I think SAM is supposed to help CPU which is usually already stronger.

[@danielowentech]

Great question! I'd test it, but my system doesn't support SAM

[@Andrito3000]

@@danielowentech I think you should join red team full time. Half way there. Ive also got 5800x with PowerColor Red Devil 6800xt.

[@kognak6640]

I'd say in GPU limited situations. ReBAR, when game takes an advantage of it, helps even 6600XT at 4k resolution. If ReBAR mainly helped CPU bottleneck, it would help most often highend cards @1080p. It's just not all games can benefit from larger video memory address space. It's typically modern console ports benefiting most. Probably because consoles have unified memory in first place and don't need to deal with 256MB limitation.

[@christophermullins7163]

It's not as simple as that though. If you have a 4k monitor and a gpu to run it.. you'd want a modern 8 plus core cpu Even if you get similar fps with a 6 core. You will def be able to tell a difference so I just can't imagine someone spending $400-1000 on a monitor and $800-2000 on a gpu to run it, then drop it in a system with a $170 i5? You get freezes and stutters right along side your buttery smooth 4k experience. "Cpu framerate" is more complex than is it holding back the gpus MAXIMUM framerate.

[@themadnes5413]

Yeah frametimes are more improtant then fps it self.

[@Bobalazs]

Isn't cpu bottleneck simply an inability to feed instructions to the gpu to render sufficient frames? So when seeing the cpu cores not being maxed out, or not doesn't make much difference. Because with a faster cpu at same % loads the game would have more fps. Like the cyberpunk example - you say not cpu limited because cores are not maxed out. Doesn't make a difference in games not optimized for a given architecture. Take Assassin's Creed Origins - on release it behaved bad on coffee lake 6 core processors. Then it got an update and suddenly the game runs fluid and well, with all cpu cores being used to run 100%. Optimization....

[@glasscandy6519]

Hey man i have i5-3470 with Rtx 3080 12gb ram and I want to run games at 4k will it work

[@timothychambers9064]

Why is it showing 7 cores, am I seeing this right?

[@BundleofBugs]

“Old” lol 9600k 😂😂. Sorry I’m still doing fine on a 6600k although it surely is time for an upgrade

[@masterlee1988]

Oh yeah, definitely upgrade that by 2022.

[@jameyt1]

I upgraded from a 6700k @4.6ghz/3000mhz ram to a 10900k @5.1ghz/4400mhz ram. Difference is night and day, especially with a 1440p 270hz monitor and 1080p 390hz

[@masterlee1988]

@@jameyt1 That is a massive upgrade, congrats man. Funny enough I upgraded from my 6700k last year as well.

[@jameyt1]

@@masterlee1988 I made the right call upgrading last year, especially after hearing 11th gen not being as great as 10th gen due to it having worse ram latency and two less cores.

[@masterlee1988]

@@jameyt1 Yep, you did the right thing, which is cool.

[@SolunarTalesofficial]

i have a ryzen 5 1500 x , will it bottleneck with a 6700xt for 1080p high/ultra constant 60 fps? and is 650 watt psu enough for this? pls answer

[@TerraWare]

I'd have to say the Ryzen 5 1500 is going to bottleneck a 6700xt at 1080p, how much is hard to say but you can run Ruva Tuner Server Statistics which comes with msi Afterburner to see how much gpu usage you're leaving on the table. Or you can use the Radeon Software built in performance metrics overlay. As for the power it should be fine. I have a 750 Watt power supply on a Ryzen 9 5900X/6800XT and the highest total system draw ive seen is 580 Watts at the wall.

[@SolunarTalesofficial]

@@TerraWare what about a 6600xt?

[@MrMeanh]

@@SolunarTalesofficial The 1500x will probably give you an average of 60fps in most games as long as the GPU is powerful enough. Personally I wouldn't pair it with anything above a 3060/6600xt for 1080p gaming and even with those GPU's you will be CPU bottlenecked in many games or parts of games. The main problem with the 1500x is not that it can't do 60fps on average, it can in most games, it's that it likely will have inconsistent frametimes (the fps could go from 80 to 40 and then back to 80 again in just a few seconds for example) in more CPU demanding titles and this will not be a good experience. If you are thinking about also upgrading your CPU in the next year or so (maybe to a second hand 3600x) I would say that it could be worth to go with the 6700xt. If not I would not spend the extra money compared to the 6600xt since it's likely you won't be able to use all the performance that the 6700xt can offer.

[@SolunarTalesofficial]

@@MrMeanh thank you,i currently have a rx580 8g wihich runs everything on 1080p 60( max texture, everything on medium with TAA) except cyberpunk or maybe some parts on AC Valhalla which goes to 45fps in some areas. but i just wanted to know a good amd gpu upgrade for the future modern games (as i have freesync monitor so nvidia is out of the question)for 1080p 60 which runs more cooler than 580 without changing my cpu which is a lot of hassle

[@TerraWare]

@@SolunarTalesofficial I'm not entirely sure but at I'd say you'd get cpu bottleneck at 1080 and probably not 1440. Before building a new pc in December I was running a 5700XT which is around a 6600XT performance with a Ryzen 5 2600 at 1080P and that was bottlenecking the gpu a bit. It's speculation on my part and maybe there's benchmark videos on KZbin you can check but you should be able to get a decent gaming performance with a Ryzen 5 1500x.

[@leonardsmith82]

My monitor is the bottleneck of my system.. The Asus pg35vq stays capped at 200hz. I wish I could afford the new Samsung odyssey neo G9. The never ending upgrade 🤪

[@danielowentech]

There's always something to upgrade. But I'm guessing you might be like me and half the fun is researching and planning upgrades. Gaming isn't always as much fun as the building lol.

[@chriswright8074]

@@danielowentech overclock the cpu a bit

[@danielowentech]

I wanted this video to apply to a wide range of similar I 5 models some of them would not be overclockable so I didn't overclock in this video but I might do another video in the future (no guarantees) where I do some overclocking.

[@chriswright8074]

@@danielowentech ty

[@leonardsmith82]

@@danielowentech Right now, Newegg is offering the 10700k for $269 for a limited time. It's not exactly new, but a good deal

[@onoffgeorg9828]

now these cpu are found about 30 dollars...and with a rx 6800 you run much better than ps5!

[@iftekharsafi4861]

My 10400f doesn't bottleneck the 3070 also I checked the bottleneck calculator website which says my 10400f will only bottleneck the 3090 by 2.2% soo thinking of getting a 3090 what do you think?

[@themadnes5413]

Depends on the games and res you play at, and what refresh rate you want. But it should be fine for 1-2 years cpu wise.

[@OliveOliverr]

anyone know what i can do, i am getting 50% gpu utilisation , specs are 2070 super, i5 8400 , 16gb ram 3 out of 4 slots and thank you , in cyberpunk

[@rpgfeatures793]

Maybe set your bios to gaming mode

[@rpgfeatures793]

What is your cpu utility %?

[@OliveOliverr]

@@rpgfeatures793 80%+ most games when I had the cpu

[@rpgfeatures793]

@@OliveOliverr so your cpu was at 80%? And what was your GPU at?

[@OliveOliverr]

@@rpgfeatures793 yeah and max 55

[@golollone]

is totally unballanced as gpu for this cpu...with my rtx 3060ti in 1440p and a little overclock on cpu is full capable to play everything...

[@peterstainburn2871]

There is a different bottleneck you missed and it’s probably the biggest 1 out there and that is the game itself. Not all game engines are very well optimised and they can cause the biggest issues.

[@danielowentech]

That's true! I also didn't mention RAM or anything like that. I was just focusing on the 2 main hardware pieces.

[@Gindi4711]

Unless the game does not have a frame limiter a game engine cannot bottleneck anything. It can be poorly optimized or only use 1-2 threads, but it is always either CPU (including RAM speed, cache size etc.) or the GPU that are the bottleneck

[@peterstainburn2871]

@@Gindi4711 a game engine can. A few of my games are using every core about 20% max, ram is about 60% full and gpu is about 40% and game still drops into 20-40fps range. It’s usually games from a few years back but some modern games are poorly optimised.

[@weyo14]

10900k oc to 5.3 and some bdie ram will fix that

[@pouryagolizadeh6100]

Hey. I have a core i5 9400f and a rtx 3060 ti . And i aim for 60 fps on all games at 1080p. Am i gonna be ok cpuwise for 3 or 2 years with new games ? I mean if i get gpu bottleneck i would just drop game settings .

[@Gindi4711]

If GPU is the bottleneck you can drop quality settings or resolution or enable DLSS/FSR/resolution scaling. If CPU is the bottleneck you can not do much and will have to live with lower framerate in most cases (except for some details options that also influence CPU like number of NPCs in Cyberpunk). The only thing that influences that is driver overhead. For directX12 titles currently AMD has far less overhead so your CPU will perform better (around 10-30% depending on title). As you have 6 cores you should be fine in most current titles. But if new games in 2-3 years will use 8 threads you could get into trouble. My opinion: As long as games are running fine no need to upgrade.

[@Diabepis]

you're wasting your 3060ti with that cpu at 1080p lol

[@masterlee1988]

I strongly recommend upgrading from that cpu to at least something with 6 cores/12 threads or 8 cores/16 threads or so.

[@pouryagolizadeh6100]

@@masterlee1988 how about core i9-9900k ? Is it still good ?

[@masterlee1988]

@@pouryagolizadeh6100 Yes, that cpu would be perfect since it's pretty much i7-10700k level and that cpu is great!

[@Wings_of_foam]

I have an i5-8600k and are buying a 6800 xt.

[@matthewbeverly7936]

I5 9600k cores locked to 4.8 32 gb ram 5700xt i get way better fps in tomb raider then you did

[@izidor]

Show the clock speeds of your GPU in afterburner!

[@danielowentech]

Good point, I should have. I left the cpu at stock so no OC though.

[@GK-Greece]

Maybe in 1080p….but rtx3080 for FHD 😂😂😂 at 4K no bottleneck,stupid test!

[@13loodLust]

Don't care, using it with my i7-3770

[@rpgfeatures793]

Over clock that bad boy to 5 ghz 😎

[@gamesntech4827]

Just tell us when you getting 5800x3D or 5900x3D or maybe 12900kf XD

[@danielowentech]

Hopefully soon!

[@Gindi4711]

I think Alder Lake will be quite good at gaming because of larger L3 cache. But I would not expect wonders. Zen 3 is currently about 40% fastern than your 9600K in games. Alder Lake will probably add an additional 20-30% on top.

[@neilstack4194]

My CPU is an i9 9900k, and monitor a 27" 1440p 144hz. I guess I'll have to upgrade as I've just got a RTX 3080 but unfortunately no funds left. Time to save up for maybe alder/raptor lake🙄

[@danielowentech]

Have you checked if you are bottlenecked? You have a 8 core 16 threads compared to my 9600k which is only 6 core 6 thread. I also didn't OC at all for these tests.

[@neilstack4194]

@@danielowentech my 9900k is oc to 5GHz and the memory has xmp enabled on 3200. The 3080 also has the resize bar enabled on an Aorus Z390 pro board with latest bios. For now anyway I think I'm ok board and CPU wise as it supports TPM 2.0 so Windows 11 shouldn't be an issue. Game wise wow Dan there is some massive perf over the 2080, so far then so good!!!

[@danielowentech]

@@neilstack4194 glad you are enjoying it!

[@neilstack4194]

@@danielowentech cheers Daniel!! Coke for me now

[@themadnes5413]

@@neilstack4194 The 9900k is still a top of the line cpu performance wise, specially when you have a an oc like you said. I would keep the cpu for another 2-3 years, i dont think you get much out of a newer cpu.

[@glittlehoss]

Very good video.

[@JayzBeerz]

I have a 10600K and it’s a beast.

[@RazvanMGH]

You'll be fine with the i5 9600k for the next 3-4 years.

[@forog1]

If was building system the 9600k would be hard pass. Id pass on it new, Intel's 9th gen was awful except the 9900k if anything upgrade to that if you have a 6800xt or 3080 level card for proper balance to the system.

[@masterlee1988]

Yep, the only worthwhile cpu for that gen, threads make a difference.

[@the.wanginator]

6 threads aren't enough and haven't been for a long long time. It's it passable? Yes. But it's far from optimal. Personally, I wouldn't buy anything with fewer than 12 threads with an upgrade path, especially if you keep your machine for a long time.

[@masterlee1988]

Glad I have 12 threads on my cpu.

[@Pietro1]

🏆Hello my friend, great video!🐦🏆