Hardware How to tell if there is a CPU Bottleneck?

[Jiehfeng]

I posted about my Far Cry 5 benchmarks on Reddit and many people there are saying my CPU is bottlenecking, my GPU is the RTX 3080.

My CPU is a Ryzen 5 3600X.

A person there told me that if my GPU usage isn't at 90%+ usage, then it is a CPU bottleneck. Isn't that a wrong way to check? The GPU could be overpowered and it is just being utilized less right? Or is he right?

My GPU was at 60-80% usage in Far Cry 5, so is it a CPU bottleneck or no?

If CPU usage is import to determine this, that was around 40% I believe.

So basically is it a CPU bottleneck? How do I tell? If it is then I guess I'll be upgrading to the Ryzen 5000 series.

 

[subcon959]

I seriously doubt the 3600X is bottlenecking but what resolution/refresh rate are you using?

 

[Deleted User]

far cry 5 is bottlenecked by all ryzen CPUs, it wants strong quad core performance and ryzen doesn't really offer that yet.
it's a game that favours intel more


otherwise, if you want to find bottlenecks, download MSI Afterburner and turn on the in-game overlay stats for CPU,GPU, FPS and Frametimes

 

[Axido]

Rule of thumb:
Turn down the resolution as low as possible (you could turn down all other graphics settings as well, but it doesn't really matter with a 3080). Then see how many frames you get out of that.

And then just take that number, because that's the same you'd get even at 8K resolution assuming you had unlimited GPU performance.

If it is higher than what your monitor can display anyway, your CPU doesn't bottleneck. If it's lower, see if someone else gets the results you wish for with a different CPU.

It's as easy as that.

On the other hand, if you really want to benchmark your GPU, turn up the resolution. A mere 1440p is pretty much guaranteed to get limited by any CPU that you pair with an RTX 3080 (yeah, I actually took a look at the channel in your signature and I'm not proud of it).

 

[Jiehfeng]

I seriously doubt the 3600X is bottlenecking but what resolution/refresh rate are you using?

Sorry I forgot to mention, 1440P at 165Hz.

far cry 5 is bottlenecked by all ryzen CPUs, it wants strong quad core performance and ryzen doesn't really offer that yet.
it's a game that favours intel more


otherwise, if you want to find bottlenecks, download MSI Afterburner and turn on the in-game overlay stats for CPU,GPU, FPS and Frametimes

Yeah a quick google says Far Cry 5 is pretty CPU intensive and it favours Intel as they have better single threaded performance.

Rule of thumb:
Turn down the resolution as low as possible (you could turn down all other graphics settings as well, but it doesn't really matter with a 3080). Then see how many frames you get out of that.

And then just take that number, because that's the same you'd get even at 8K resolution assuming you had unlimited GPU performance.

If it is higher than what your monitor can display anyway, your CPU doesn't bottleneck. If it's lower, see if someone else gets the results you wish for with a different CPU.

It's as easy as that.

On the other hand, if you really want to benchmark your GPU, turn up the resolution. A mere 1440p is pretty much guaranteed to get limited by any CPU that you pair with an RTX 3080 (yeah, I actually took a look at the channel in your signature and I'm not proud of it).

Thanks. And yeah, here's my benchmark results with this game, my one is on the right: https://i.imgur.com/S0AqmNC.png

Anyway, this seems to be the case only for this game so far, I guess it's the CPU in that case. Other games I see about a 50% improvement.

 

[subcon959]

Sorry I forgot to mention, 1440P at 165Hz.

You got all the info about Far Cry 5 already, but yeah if you're not at 4K then you will be dragged down a little by not having stronger IPC. I still think you're good for a while, maybe think about a 5800X/5900X in a year or so if you want to properly unleash that 3080 at 1440p.. if you go 4K instead then it won't matter if you stick with the 3600X.

 

[Jiehfeng]

You got all the info about Far Cry 5 already, but yeah if you're not at 4K then you will be dragged down a little by not having stronger IPC. I still think you're good for a while, maybe think about a 5800X/5900X in a year or so if you want to properly unleash that 3080 at 1440p.. if you go 4K instead then it won't matter if you stick with the 3600X.

Thank you, that sums it up nicely.

 

[subcon959]

Thank you, that sums it up nicely.

Check it out this video was made for you..

 

[Jiehfeng]

Check it out this video was made for you..

Thanks, I watched it just now before you posted haha. I don't see much of a difference in that video, so I wonder if I should just upgrade to a 5600X instead of a 5800X.

As for Far Cry 5, Hardware Unboxed replied to me and what they said isn't what everybody else is saying, odd.

 

[Pokemon_Tea_Sea_Jee]

far cry 5 is bottlenecked by all ryzen CPUs, it wants strong quad core performance and ryzen doesn't really offer that yet.
it's a game that favours intel more


otherwise, if you want to find bottlenecks, download MSI Afterburner and turn on the in-game overlay stats for CPU,GPU, FPS and Frametimes

but everyone kept saying that intel cpus are ancient tech and amd is the good girl.

 

[Deleted User]

but everyone kept saying that intel cpus are ancient tech and amd is the good girl.

there's still games that are biased towards intel and run better on intel systems. GTA 5 is another example
AMD has improved a lot since pre-ryzen but you still got the scumbag developers that still try to kneecap them

 

[Pokemon_Tea_Sea_Jee]

there's still games that are biased towards intel and run better on intel systems. GTA 5 is another example
AMD has improved a lot since pre-ryzen but you still got the scumbag developers that still try to kneecap them

i was not trolling, i meant everyone says that intel releases outdated cpus every year but amd is up to date.