RTX 3070 is great, but your CPU might be limiting performance
RTX 3070 is great, but your CPU might be limiting performance
I finally secured a RTX 3070. It's impressive, but I'm feeling a bit let down. Understandably, my expectations weren't quite right. Key details: 2700x B550 32GB, 3600MHz, 500GB GDDR6, plus a 27-inch 1080p display at 144Hz and 75Hz. I mainly play shooters, mostly COD. Before this upgrade, I owned a 1660 series card – a solid choice with around 100fps on mid to high settings, and about 60fps in a pinch. I was hoping the new card would push me to 144fps, which I saw many reviewers demonstrate easily. After facing the stock shortage, I finally managed to get the 3070 and a matching monitor. It performed well at 150-160fps, which impressed me. Once I resolved the availability issue, I was thrilled. Now I can enjoy what I wanted to see in reviews. Overall, it definitely delivers higher FPS – often 20+ at 144Hz – but I'm still aiming for around 120fps. There are some noticeable drops between 80-90fps. At 60% usage, the card seems to be handling the workload better, likely due to its CPU rather than its graphics power. I even tried lowering the resolution to 1024x768 and managed a bit more frames. So, right now I'm leaning toward regretting the purchase. It's a powerful card, but for 1440p at 144Hz it might feel more CPU-intensive. I've been weighing options: upgrade to 5600x, 1440p, or stick with the 3700x (same as 1). Upgrading to 3600 is also an option. Returning the 3070 would let me try a used 2070-series or 2080-series card with a 5600x, which is nearly the same. Regarding upgrading to 1440p – do you think it would suddenly boost my frame rate? I don’t mind the concern about future CPU multithreading, especially since 2022 is expected to bring AM5 and DDR5 chips. I’m not too worried about long-term performance because those changes are coming soon. What do you think?
Achieving higher frames per second generally relies on your CPU, while increasing resolution depends more on your GPU. You won't see more frames at 1440p, but you'll demand more from your GPU and enjoy a smoother gameplay. For better performance, consider upgrading to a faster CPU—like a 5600X—if you aim for steady 144 FPS.
Based on your cooling setup, you might want to try boosting the CPU first. I’m not sure how much extra space it has, but it’s worth a try.
The AIO maintains a steady 60°C during heavy usage, hovering around 4.1°C across all cores. It seems you're maximizing its performance potential.
the cpu is limited to 120fps in that game, no matter the resolution. consider disabling SMT and overclocking for a potential boost of around 10%. if that doesn’t help, and the 5600x feels costly, wait for a cheaper option like 5400 or 3600. also verify your ram speed—you might be surprised it functions at 3600, and if not, it could cap at 2133.
It's really excessive for 1080p unless you're targeting 240Hz. From what I've noticed, even a 3300x frame rate will surpass a 2700X in most games. If you're consistently seeing poor framerates, your CPU is probably the issue. Look at usage and see if any single task is consuming 100% of resources, not overall load.
Memory is currently at 3600. I thought keeping it OC for the "X" versions via PBO would be better. Should I just do it myself since I have a solid AIO? I opened HWInfo on my second monitor to see which cores are using the most power while gaming. Some cores hit around 95% usage, but others stay between 70-80%. Is that enough to be the main bottleneck?
Some RAM speeds are subpar, but upgrading can significantly improve performance. Ryzen works best with solid RAM, so consider enhancing it.
I didn't notice the timing details until I shared that photo, haha. Need to start working on it immediately. There are many Zen2 CPUs on B550 boards, including this one from Asus TUF B550m plus. They also work with MSI boards (like Mortar and Tomahawk). I plan to work on reducing the latencies.