Is it time to upgrade your CPU?
Is it time to upgrade your CPU?
I possess an i7 6700k that's been boosted to 4.6ghz. I'm using 64gb of RAM (only installed because I needed it for hosting game servers). Recently, I acquired a Gigabyte Windforce 2070 Super and a 144hz 1440p monitor. The problem I'm facing now is that games such as Rust and Wreckfest are dropping to nearly zero frames from my previous 1080i display, where I could barely hit 144fps or maintain it in 1080p or 1440p. My system runs on a NVMe 4gbps M.2 drive, with the operating system set up on RAID0 SSDs. The Windforce 2070 should handle sleep mode without issues, which makes me suspect the CPU or RAM might be the bottleneck. I've read that using four 16gb chips could slow things down on dual channels due to controller demands, but others say it won't affect performance at these speeds. My 2133mhz CPU paired with 3200mhz and 4x16gb RAM should perform similarly in games. The monitor I have is a "TX Series TX750M Semi-Modular 80+ Gold Power Supply, 750W," so power isn't likely the issue. Rust generally runs between 80-120fps, which matches what I experienced with the 1080 display, possibly due to CPU limitations. Wreckfest consistently hits around 144fps even at 1440p, except in some sections where it drops to the 70s, making car control tricky when you hit corners. Even a game I recently downloaded My Time in Portia had minor frame drops here and there. It's not overly demanding. The main question is: is the 6700k limiting performance? Would upgrading to a 9700k really help, or are there other factors I should consider? The 2070 Super already has solid overclocking and a custom fan curve.
I own a 6700K that isn't pushed to the highest settings, and I play Rust and other titles without ever noticing it's limiting. Now I don’t have a 2070 SUPER, but my R9 390X (overclocked quite a bit) still performs well. You might want to check Task Manager on another screen or use monitoring tools like Rivatuner (included in MSI Afterburner) to see CPU usage during games. If any core stays near 90% utilization, it could be a CPU bottleneck.
I pushed my R9 290 to extreme speeds with dual 120mm fans secured and had Rust report consistent frame rates. Then I upgraded to a 1080 model, which also delivered solid performance—80 to 120 FPS, though occasional spikes occurred. The R9 290 eventually failed, so I moved it to the wife’s PC and installed the 2070 for stable 80-120 FPS in 1080p. I haven’t reached 1440 yet.