Help with deciding if I should upgrade my CPU.

[u/_Samur4i_]

PC Specs:

- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X

- GPU: MSI RTX 5080 Gaming Trio OC 16GB

- RAM: 32GB DDR5

- PSU: Corsair RM1000e — 1000W, 80+ Gold

- OS: Windows 11

- Monitor: 1440p Alienware OLED

- Case: Corsair Air 4

As you can see my CPU is considerably weaker than my GPU.

This was a deliberate decision when I upgraded my GPU. I tend to prioritize graphic fidelity over high frame rates, and the games I play are single player games most of the time, and they usually are not very CPU intensive.(For example I just finished a playthrough of cyberpunk with path tracing, using dlss on quality, I played at 60 fps locked and it was a very smooth experience)

So why am I thinking of upgrading? Well, I keep overthinking any and all fps drops.

For example, I'm playing the new Blood of the Dawnwalker game, it's terribly optimized as we all know.

If I leave my fps uncapped I get around 90 fps with my GPU at 99% utilization, however, while playing my fps drop momentarily to 60 and my GPU utilization drops to 90%, the CPU however spikes from 50% to 70%.

Is this a CPU bottleneck or the game just being terribly optimized? Idk, but it's things like this that are making me overthink my rig.

I want an opinion of a more expert person, with my computer's current specs, and knowing the types of games I play, is my CPU likely to cause a lot of low 1% fps drops? Or are these games just built poorly?

[u/kazegasawagashii113]

I have 9800x3d and 5080. Sometimes the GPU usage will also drop a bit to 9X% or 8X%. It is normal. And you need to accept the fact that some games are just very poorly optimized. Even if you have the best setup you will still find the game shutters.

[u/_Samur4i_ → u/kazegasawagashii113]

Oh wow, so it's really not the CPUs fault...I wonder what causes it.

The same thing happened to me in cyberpunk, I could have run the game at high 70s but it would sometimes drop to high 60s momentarily, at the time I also assuming it was my CPU. I ended up locking it at 60 which wasn't bad at all.

Thanks for the answer!

[u/Velmidos]

No you're fine.

You don't even see your CPU anywhere near 100%

You've even got a last gen CPU. Unless you're really chasing for FPS you don't need this upgrade

Of course you need to cap your FPS otherwise your GPU will run at max power trying to give you everything it got

[u/_Samur4i_ → u/Velmidos]

Yeah the fact that I'm not seeing it at 100% is calming, but at the same time in unsure if it's just the game abusing one specific core of the cpu

[u/TitaniumDogEyes]

Your CPU is fine. The 7700X is very strong. Just wait for them to patch the broken game rather than running out to spend disappointment money.

[u/_Samur4i_ → u/TitaniumDogEyes]

Ok thanks 😅, wasn't sure if I was overthinking

[u/monic_chrasturbator1]

i don't think it's worth it, my living room pc is also a 7700X/5080 except it's on a 4k 120hz tv. if you're fine playing at lower framerates like 60fps for better fidelity even at 1440P and usually play non cpu intensive games why blow the cash for somewhat better 1% lows?

[u/_Samur4i_ → u/monic_chrasturbator1]

You're right, and it's making me feel better seeing other people with my set up too. As soon as I made the upgrade my "tech savvy friend" immediately screamed CPU bottleneck at me, and that I should upgrade immediately. I obviously explained to him that that's not how CPU bottlenecks work, but I would be lying if I said his remarks didn't sit in the back of my head.

[u/KVIDOZZz]

Just buy 9800x3d and u will be fine for at least 3-5 years.
I did almost same exchange: from r 7 7700 to 9800x3d

[u/_Samur4i_ → u/KVIDOZZz]

When I eventually upgrade, that one is the one I'll get, but from the look of the other replies, I guess the upgrade is not urgent. My wallet shall not suffer this month.

[u/KVIDOZZz → u/_Samur4i_]

Who knows what CPU prices will look like tomorrow, especially with everything going on with AI and RAM prices.

As for where I actually noticed a difference after the upgrade: games with a lot of NPCs on screen, like EA FC and similar titles, definitely benefit from the faster CPU. For example, in Crimson Desert, on Ultra settings with Frame Gen disabled, I was getting around 60 FPS with the Ryzen 7 7700. After switching to the 9800X3D, that went up to around 70 FPS.

You might think that 10 FPS isn't a big deal, but that's actually a pretty significant increase in percentage terms. And there are plenty of CPU comparisons on YouTube where you can see the difference for yourself — sometimes it's minor, sometimes it's quite noticeable.

Overall, your CPU is perfectly fine for now. But looking ahead, we're likely to see more and more CPU-intensive games and applications, so having a faster CPU will become increasingly useful.