Thoughts on CPU upgrade for Rift & RTX 2080 Super?

[DaddyAce]

On impulse a couple months ago I sprang for an RTX 2080 Super during a sale....and now I'm feeling confident my fancy GPU is being bottlenecked by my i5 7600K cpu.  My current system has 16 GB  3200 Ram, and is on an MSI Z270 PC Mate board.  My only gaming is Aces High using the Oculus Rift.  With my new GPU I've been surprised to find the frame rates dropping down to as low as 35 at times (full on graphics settings).....I've concluded that the CPU is likely bottlenecking my GPU.

Given that I want to put together a desktop for my wife, I'm thinking this is a good time to upgrade my motherboard/cpu.  What do folks recommend?  My son's website recommends the AMD CPUs, and he just upgraded to an AMD, but he also told me that different games tend to do better with Intel or AMD CPUs' and suggested I poll the AH community.  Userbenchmark.com suggested that the AMD CPUS are over-hyped, and the Intels are really often a better deal for gaming, and are less likely to bottleneck the new Nvidia GPUs.

So I'm interested in other's thoughts/wisdom/experience.   I'm open and currently considering the i5 9600K and either a Ryzen 5 3600X or Ryzen 7 3700X.

Thanks in advance for your input!   

[atlau]

Definitely bottlenecked for AH.

Had a 2080 and when I went from an i5-6600 to a 9900k it made a big difference, especially in reducing the times the framerates dropped even if the averages were not that different.

[Bizman]

To me that sounds strange, given that the Oculus recommended requirements say i5 4590 and a GTX1090/970, not to speak about the minimums.

All the CPU's mentioned are in the same ballpark regarding base clock frequency, the 6600 and 4590 being the slowest @3.3 GHz. The Turbo speeds vary more, from 3.7 to 5 GHz but the question is how long the highest speed can be maintained as it's temporary. Looking at benchmarks the difference between i5-7600k and i5-9900k isn't too big, by architecture the main difference is the size of the cache. As a conclusion the jump from 6600 to 9900 really was significant, from 7600k to 9900k there may not be that much of a difference, to a 9600k even less so.

You say that you have full on graphics settings. The Environment Map is the most resource intensive feature, try lowering the value.

Another thing is to make your Windows as lean and clean as possible. Did you know that the Store updates can take up to 50% of your CPU cycles?

[wrench]

I'm running Ryzen 5 3600 and 8GB of Patriot DDR4-3000 on ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 with GTX-1070 8GB video card steady 60 fps at 1080p. Graphics are wicked up with only nearby clutter shut off. No overclocking.

With my old i5-4690K the frame rates would drop below 30 fps sometimes. I'm very impressed with the price versus performance of the Ryzen 3600 CPUs.

[atlau]

Yep not sure if it was the added cores or higher clock speed. But now I turn up all my graphic settings and typically maintain 90 hz in VR. With the 6600 I'd routinely see my system slow down despite the 2080.

[Bizman]

Atlau, the jump from 6600 to 9900k was a big leap, the latter is about 40% faster for 1, 2 and 4 core speed. The 7600k is about 20% faster than the 6600 but only 16% slower than the 9900k for 1 to 4 cores.

[wrench]

Hey Bizman do know link to good guide to lean out windows? Maybe DaddyAce could try that before he buys anything else.

Atlau, the jump from 6600 to 9900k was a big leap, the latter is about 40% faster for 1, 2 and 4 core speed. The 7600k is about 20% faster than the 6600 but only 16% slower than the 9900k for 1 to 4 cores.

[Bizman]

Hey Bizman do know link to good guide to lean out windows? Maybe DaddyAce could try that before he buys anything else.

Here's one link: https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,399166.0.html

[DaddyAce]

Definitely bottlenecked for AH.

Had a 2080 and when I went from an i5-6600 to a 9900k it made a big difference, especially in reducing the times the framerates dropped even if the averages were not that different.

Hi atlau, thanks for your response.   Can you now always maintain 90 fps with full graphics settings with your headset?  (as I recall Rift?)  Thanks again!

[DaddyAce]

.....
All the CPU's mentioned are in the same ballpark regarding base clock frequency, the 6600 and 4590 being the slowest @3.3 GHz. The Turbo speeds vary more, from 3.7 to 5 GHz but the question is how long the highest speed can be maintained as it's temporary. Looking at benchmarks the difference between i5-7600k and i5-9900k isn't too big, by architecture the main difference is the size of the cache. As a conclusion the jump from 6600 to 9900 really was significant, from 7600k to 9900k there may not be that much of a difference, to a 9600k even less so.

You say that you have full on graphics settings. The Environment Map is the most resource intensive feature, try lowering the value.

Another thing is to make your Windows as lean and clean as possible. Did you know that the Store updates can take up to 50% of your CPU cycles?

Thank you Bizman and wrench.  Yes, part of my concern was looking at least the frequencies, I was concerned I might not get enough performance boost to  make it worthwhile....although I will use my old stuff to build my wife's computer.  Whatever I build for her will be plenty fast for her needs.  Cleaning up Windows I think is a great idea.  I never even look at the Store, and the thought that it could be gobbling so much resource is galling.  If I can reach my goal with my current cpu, I do have an i3 6100 here I can use for my wife's machine.  It is really a pretty good cpu for her needs.   Thanks again!

[DaddyAce]

Here's one link: https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,399166.0.html

Yes, Black Viper, was trying to recall that, thank you Bizman!

[atlau]

Hi atlau, thanks for your response.   Can you now always maintain 90 fps with full graphics settings with your headset?  (as I recall Rift?)  Thanks again!

I have odyssey+ which I believe has a slightly higher resolution and I rarely get below 90 fps. When I look at my gpu load it rarely gets above 50%(havent looked in a while)

[leftout]

I rebuilt my desktop specifically for VR using a GeForce rtx 260 super. new MB....X470 AORUS Gaming 5 with AM4 socket and AMD Ryzen 7 2700X chip....8 core 4.3 ghz max boost, 3.7 ghz base. As well , I installed 32 gb of ram. Increased the frame rate quite a lot as I would get "airsick" on my old system . (I have a private pilot license, so I don't get airsick a a rule) . and I use an oculus rift. Ive had the setup for about 3 months now with no issues. Helps to use solid state drives as well.

Hope this helps

[DaddyAce]

...
Hope this helps

Yes, thank you leftout!   

[hazmatt]

I've done some research as I'm planning an upgrade in the near future and from what I've see Ryzen 5 3600 is bang for the buck.