# i5-8400 gtx 1080 bottleneck thoughts?



## gasolin (Aug 9, 2018)

So my current setup is a i5-8400 16gb 3200mhz cl 14 ram and a gtx 1080 slightly oc'ed to get fire strike and time spy 4k gaming pc score.

I play project cars 2 in 2560x1440 144hz and i sometimes get on high 80 fps and sometime above 100 fps , gpu used from 79% to early 90's before a race,cpu just under 60%.

I do how ever have games that doesn't use my gpu 98-99% like grid autosport,i think pubg at some point didn't use the gpu i had 98-99%, i also think the first, the crew didn't took full advantage of my gpu (fps capped at 60hz like the crew 2)

I looked the game up on gamedebat and it seem it's more cpu intensive than gpu, another site where people can go to, to get an idea of what not to combine (cpu,gpu,ram), stock speed of my cpu and gpu is fine, my gpu  slightly oced not more than 10%, it's okay, within the range where cpu,gpu isn't to weak,power full.

Setting my gpu to stock, the cpu,gpu ration (if you call it that) is better and performance from both match each other better.

I do have a g sync monitor i play on so it should be fine around 100 fps (although i would prefer 120 fps and above on 90%+ of all the games i play).

So what do you think about an i5 8400 and a gtx 1080, is it okay for newer games? (older games is no problem)

Should i keep my gpu at stock speed so the cpu match the performance better needed by the gpu?

According to cinebench r15 an i5 8400 score better in multithread and a few point lower in single core than a stock i7 4770k, which isn't comparable to something like a 4.5ghz i5 4670k since it's down on multithread at 4.5ghz around 600, i5 8400 close to 900 and a i7 4770k around

Fire strike and time spy core

https://www.3dmark.com/fs/16076895

https://www.3dmark.com/spy/4180168


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## Vya Domus (Aug 9, 2018)

gasolin said:


> Should i keep my gpu at stock speed so the cpu match the performance better needed by the gpu?



You should overclock everything you can , there is no such thing as "matching the performance". You should also stop judging bottlenecks by monitoring GPU usage. GPUs not running at 100% all the time being regarded as a clear sign of a bottleneck is a myth that people who have no idea how things work have come up with. You can buy a 8700K tomorrow and you will still see that 1080 go down in usage at times.

Bottom of the line is that there is no significant bottleneck of sorts. Will some games do better with a faster CPU ? Maybe , but so they will with a better GPU.


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## ASOT (Aug 9, 2018)

6c/6th no bottleneck 1080/8400


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## cucker tarlson (Aug 9, 2018)

Once again, you run 2560x1440 and you think you are cpu bottlenecked in what games ?

PCars 2 can be very cpu intensive

https://www.purepc.pl/procesory/jak..._ryzen_5_2600_vs_intel_core_i5_8400?page=0,39

this is at 1080p with 1080Ti though.

What is your GPU usage in Pcars 2 again ? Post a screenshot of msi afterburner log including gpu and cpu usage (individual threads).

8400 and 3200 ram should do very well with gtx 1080 at 1440p.


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## gasolin (Aug 9, 2018)

project cars 2 since my gpu sin't running 98-99 but also fluctuates from about 80 to over 100 fps (can't remember max fps biut i think it's around 120 fps), bf 1 many non i7, bouble threats than cpu cores wil more or less often run at 100%

Gpu 99% 1080p (my settings are of course set so it should go above 100fps, not just ultra) 7 min into the video


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## cucker tarlson (Aug 9, 2018)

is this your video ?  and your posts are so chaotic and there are so many spelling mistakes that I can't fully comprehend what your problem is.


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## gasolin (Aug 9, 2018)

cucker tarlson said:


> is this your video ?  and your posts are so chaotic and there are so many spelling mistakes that I can't fully comprehend what your problem is.



not my video, but it shows that it is possible to have 99% gpu usage with an i5 8400,it's just in 1080 where im playing in 2560x1440  (144hz)


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## cucker tarlson (Aug 9, 2018)

Are you referring to a specific game ?

8400 and 3200 ddr4 will not bottleneck gtx 1080 at 1440p in most cases, you may find such instances very ocassionally but as a rule it's fine.


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## gasolin (Aug 9, 2018)

Yes project cars 2 

It did go as low as 80 fps and above 100fps mabye even 120 fps, i have to look at it a bit more next time when im playing project cars 2

Im trying to go above 100fp in 2560x1440 since i have set my monitor to 144hz but my gpu usage is ony about 80%, before the race start i could go above 90%.

In the short video clip with project cars 2  the gpu runs  at 97% or higher all the time in 1920x1080 , i personally run the game at high not ultra +high.

I would expect my gpu also to run at 97% or higher but at lower fps if i set it to a combination of ultra and high as shown in the video and 2560x1440 144hz, but i don't run my gpu close to max 97-99% (i do know that in some games the gpu doesn't run close to 97-99% and is normal)

My native language is not english, if theres something you don't understand i will try to explain it.

*i5-8400 gtx 1080 bottleneck thoughts?*


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## cucker tarlson (Aug 9, 2018)

If it's at 80% utilization then it is a bottleneck. simple.


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## gasolin (Aug 9, 2018)

I just thought that going to a higher resolution cpu is less important so 2560x1440 should be more gpu dependent than cpu, compared to 1920x1080, like a 4 core,4 thread would be okay for 4k but might be enough for 1080p


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## cucker tarlson (Aug 9, 2018)

It is, but dropping down detals has the same impact as lowering resolution, gpu utilization goes down and cpu utilization goes up.

Holding a steady @100 fps in a cpu intensive game is hard, you may either upgrade to 8700k (or wait for 9700k preferably) or just get a g-sync monitor. I have one (two matter of fact) and I'm no longer bothered by those fps drops, as long as they're not very low. 80 fps is still a lot, the reason you feel it is probably cause the transition is not smooth. I still feel when the fps drops, but it's no longer such a bad experience, the game is still very smooth.

Oh you do have g-sync, sorry. Well,if you still have bad experience with drops to 80 fps then get a faster cpu. 8400 is fine for 60 fps, but for 100 fps you need an oc'd 8600k *at least*.


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## nomdeplume (Aug 9, 2018)

I'm confused why your cpu score is so low here.  I consistently hit low 950's with an 8400 on a non-gaming board.  Single core mid 170's and MP Ratio just under 5.7.


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## gasolin (Aug 9, 2018)

nomdeplume said:


> I'm confused why your cpu score is so low here.  I consistently hit low 950's with an 8400 on a non-gaming board.  Single core mid 170's and MP Ratio just under 5.7.




Really,im pretty shure i had something open like tidal hifi but minimized or a browser


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## nomdeplume (Aug 9, 2018)

You understand why this would be applicable to thinking your cpu is being throttled?  If it is sitting at 25% usage on more than half the cores before you turn on the game.  There is going to be a conflict.


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## gasolin (Aug 9, 2018)

Not to bad since i do use flux,display fusion,logitech software for my mouse,msi afterburner and a few other programs, it does generally stay for all i5-8400 under 1000 i multithread and around 170 in single core, thats not bad at all.


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## nomdeplume (Aug 9, 2018)

Alright, just trying to establish why those numbers seemed off.


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## gasolin (Aug 9, 2018)

nomdeplume said:


> Alright, just trying to establish why those numbers seemed off.



It's always different what people have running in the back ground like anti virus program (bitdefender) mouse,keyboard software,steam, printer software,cam software........


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## cucker tarlson (Aug 9, 2018)

nomdeplume said:


> Alright, just trying to establish why those numbers seemed off.


No they didn't. 950 vs 890 is nothing.


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## thebluebumblebee (Aug 9, 2018)

The CPU is not your problem.  W1zzard has shown that the 8400 is within a couple % of the fastest CPU's.


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## cucker tarlson (Aug 9, 2018)

Vya Domus said:


> *You should also stop judging bottlenecks by monitoring GPU usage.* GPUs not running at 100% all the time being regarded as a clear sign of a bottleneck is a myth that people who have no idea how things work have come up with. You can buy a 8700K tomorrow and you will still see that 1080 go down in usage at times.


so I won't see higher gpu usage on 8700k than I'll see on core i3 in this case ?






Of course your gpu usage is cpu dependent in most cases when running no fps limit. What are you talking about....


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