Performance remains strong without any strain
Performance remains strong without any strain
I recently switched from a 1050 TI/R3 2200G to a 3070/i5 12400F. Since then, everything felt familiar rather than new. Performance slowed down, loading took longer, and crashes happened occasionally. I assumed it was due to my old SATA SSD, but now I’m convinced it’s different. Only a handful of games loaded smoothly after the upgrade—mainly God of War, which runs in 4K with DLSS Quality—and RDR2 also performed well in 4K with DLSS. I’ve never experienced any issues with those titles. However, playing Fortnite causes severe stuttering. I can reach around 150fps, but it quickly drops to low 100s, sometimes even 70 or 30 frames per second. The same happens with Spider-Man Remastered; my GPU usage constantly spikes to the CPU, unless I increase resolution. Shouldn’t I see solid FPS at 1080p with this setup? I’ve adjusted every setting, but nothing improves—even at 1080p, games consistently drop to 60 or 40 FPS in some instances. There’s a lot of stuttering, textures failing to load, and frustrating loading screens. Almost every game behaves this way on my machine. Now, with Hogwarts Legacy launching, my experience is even worse: 40 FPS at 50% GPU usage and 30% CPU usage. It can reach up to 60% GPU, but never more. I’m aware the game is heavily optimized for PC, yet my cousin runs it smoothly on a 2060 with an i7 10700F. I’m unsure what to do next. GeForce RTX 3070, Intel Core i5 12400F, RAM from Kingston Fury Beast, motherboard B660 TUF Gaming, SSD, and other components are listed. I once used two older RAM sticks at the same time—one 8GB at 2111MHz and another 16GB at 3600MHz. That forced my CPU to run at 70% and my GPU at 20%. Could the RAM be the issue again?
Your RAM is constrained by the outdated 2133 stick, which can really hinder performance in memory-heavy games. If this were you, I’d upgrade it. Consider adding another 16GB RAM stick (3600 model, $50). You might also want to install an NVMe 1TB drive (Gen3, around $60), update the BIOS, reinstall GPU drivers, and run a Windows reinstall.
My performance is based on a 3200mhz memory stick and another at 2400mhz, both supporting XMP up to 3200mhz. Could this still be the issue? They’re identical except for the speed boost from XMP. I recently replaced my RAM with a 3200mhz model and plan to test if the problems disappear once I have it. I also wanted to utilize two NVMe ports in my motherboard for gaming. Would adding another SATA drive for Windows be problematic? I don’t want it to take up space in my NVMe slots. I also re-installed Windows and updated drivers three times, but the issue persists. Is this really a significant bottleneck? My cousin uses a 3TB HDD without any issues. I’m considering a NVMe SSD to confirm.
It's interesting how your older stick reaches 3200, yet you still have fairly quick RAM. Your comment about not using Windows on an NVMe is spot on—it's actually the optimal setup!
It's mainly about ensuring my games have optimal storage without worrying about apps consuming space constantly (I add a lot of files). I have four DDR4 slots. The first and third don’t work together; I can reach the BIOS but after trying to boot Windows it either shows a blue screen or an orange light on the motherboard. The same happens when trying to disable XMP. But the second and fourth slots function perfectly, both at 3200mhz. When I change the speed to anything other than 3000 or 3200, Windows won’t boot and I’m forced back to the BIOS. It seems these RAM sticks might be faulty? Even though my UserBenchmark tests show they’re fine, the games that are problematic—Fortnite, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, Hogwarts Legacy—don’t run well on my system. I haven’t played FPS anymore but I suspect they’ll struggle due to high FPS demands and my computer’s limitations.
If this applies, it makes sense since both Red Dead Redemption 2 and God of War are designed for older consoles with slower storage capabilities. Your cousin might not face problems because hard drives vary greatly in speed based on density, RPM, and cache. If you purchase the NMVe, let me know how it performs from there.