Playing odd games on an i7 6700 with a GTX 1660 TiPerformance and quirks when using these components together
Playing odd games on an i7 6700 with a GTX 1660 TiPerformance and quirks when using these components together
Hello everyone, this is my first post on r/PCMR. I thought it might be a good idea to join, even though I wasn't really interested at first. My setup includes an old Optiplex 7040 paired with a GTX 1050 Ti, which handled my current games well but left me wanting more for newer AAA titles. After some research, I figured the 240W PSU could technically support a GTX 1660 Ti. I also worried about the RAM being limited to 2133MHz, which might affect performance, so I went ahead anyway. I got an SATA-to-8pin adapter and it worked fine most of the time. The boost was what I needed, the PSU held up, and everything monitored normally. That said, there are some odd issues during gameplay. When playing with the GTX 1050 Ti, my average frame rate was around 80fps, dropping to 40fps in team fights in Dota 2. On the GTX 1660 Ti, I averaged 100fps but still saw drops to the 40s. It's not stuttering—more like smooth FPS in open areas but lagging when there are lots of NPCs. I tried replaying the same match and getting new replays, but the problem keeps happening. My old system (i5 4690, 16GB 1600MHz, GTX 970) didn’t show this issue, so speed and RAM settings seem fine for me. I haven’t tested a dual-rank RAM yet since I only have single-rank, but I’m curious. COD Warzone is another case where performance matches exactly with either card, while other games behave normally. I haven’t tried the system with dual-rank memory yet. Any advice would be great.
System specs:
- CPU: Intel i7 6700
- RAM: Semsotai 2x8GB DDR4 at 2666MHz (capped at 2133MHz)
- GPU: PNY GTX 1660 Ti 6GB
- Storage: 1x128GB M.2 SATA, 2x256GB SATA
Remove the simple CPU bottleneck. Perform a clean repaste. Use Inspectre and re-test.
I align with 191x7, suggesting a possible CPU limitation. Verify this by using a performance overlay and observing if your CPU reaches full capacity when FPS decreases. Also monitor temperatures for both CPU and GPU. It might be that your CPU is overheating because it hasn’t been pushed this much before—it’s not struggling now but was under less strain previously.
I'm using both Kevo and 191x7; check the task manager when FPS drops occur. It will reveal the cause. Certain games or programs consume more power or use different cores. Based on the problem, you may need to adjust settings in BIOS or within the game.
The CPU usage stays well below 100%, typically around 70-80% only during short spikes in testing, not while playing. Performance temps remain typical, around the mid-60s for both CPU and GPU, and clock speeds stay consistent.
Could you verify the drive usage? It may be connected to dataset loading processes.
Are there any other processes consuming high resources? Have you considered lowering the graphics settings in your game?
Dota won't load assets during a match, but I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks.
Other than Discord and MSI Afterburner, there are no additional tools. I’ll aim for a better average despite the occasional drops.