Quick look at CPU bottlenecking on 4090 and future prediction with 5090

[nguyen]

I gathered some data from TPU reviews to have a quick look at CPU bottlenecking, old data is from 7900XTX launch review (13900K test system) and new data from Intel B580 (9800X3D test system)

Left is old data, right is new data
1080p

1440p

4K

The game testing suite have changed between the old and new reviews, but it's interesting to see that the 4090 is able to increase its lead over the 4080 (and also 7900XTX) with the 9800X3D, even at 4K. Yes at 4K the increase is only 2.2%; but with the upcoming RTX5000, i have no doubt that the 5090 will run into serious CPU bottleneck @ 4K.

Recently one Youtuber have noticed that the latest games are more CPU demanding than before

So yeah, CPU and Memory subsystem are getting more important these days

 

[wolf]

From my perspective CPU's can be more lacking than GPU's right now, and can give tremendous leaps even to existing cards at high output resolutions. I went from a 5800X3D to a 9800X3D with a 3080 and the difference is large in basically every title I own.

I remember when the scaling reviews started coming out here on TPU, the ~50 game CPU head to heads with a 4090, I had the distinct feeling a 4090 would continue to stretch it's legs with yet unannounced CPU's, and I still believe that's the case today, even with a 9800X3D.

A 5090 will probably be CPU bottlenecked even at 1440p and 4k at launch compared to what it will be able to do in the years that come with newer gen CPU's.

 

[nguyen]

From my perspective CPU's can be more lacking than GPU's right now, and can give tremendous leaps even to existing cards at high output resolutions. I went from a 5800X3D to a 9800X3D with a 3080 and the difference is large in basically every title I own.

I remember when the scaling reviews started coming out here on TPU, the ~50 game CPU head to heads with a 4090, I had the distinct feeling a 4090 would continue to stretch it's legs with yet announced CPU's, and I still believe that's the case today, even with a 9800X3D.

A 5090 will probably be CPU bottlenecked even at 1440p and 4k at launch compared to what it will be able to do in the years that come with newer gen CPU's.

Yep, all we got is a measly 10% improvement with CPUs for the past 2 year (7800X3D to 9800X3D), it's kinda sad that Intel fell into new low every year.

Another case in point is using Ray Tracing will further increase the CPU bottlenecking, there is no escaping from upgrading your CPU if you want to play latest games these days (unless we rely on frames interpolation techniques)

 

[taka]

I have noticed the same FPS increase for any CPU launch since the 4090 day one review. With each newer CPU the 4090 just keep on giving.

 

[Hyderz]

i wonder where the real problem is...
- badly optimized game?
- dlss/xess/fsr to boost fps?
- games not utilizing cpu cores?
- game engine simply too demanding (UE5)
- limited performance cores 8 Cores...

 

[DemonicRyzen666]

i wonder where the real problem is...
- badly optimized game?
- dlss/xess/fsr to boost fps?
- games not utilizing cpu cores?
- game engine simply too demanding (UE5)
- limited performance cores 8 Cores...

Then use something the enable mGPU like Chernobylite
It has RT & can run two RTX 4090's in mGPU with the newest update to the game & Nvidia 566 drivers.
4K ultra settings with no need for D.L.S.S./F.S.R/X.e.S.S
You'll definitely be CPU bottlenecked then, on that game.

 

[phanbuey]

The last two gens of GPUs we've had 40-60% increases in performance in games, where as the last two gens of CPUs you basically can barely tell them apart.

back of napkin math:
1.0x 1.8x -> 1.2x -> 1.4 -> 1.6 -> Total: 4.83x faster
980ti-> 1080ti -> 2080ti ->3090 -> 4090 ->
1.0x -> 1.2x -> 1.25 -> 1.3 -> 1.25 -> total 2.43x faster if amd 1.95x if intel, due to arrow lake regression.
skylake -> coffee lake-> alder lake/Z3 x3d -> z4 x3d -> zen5 x3d

if the 5090 comes out 50-60% faster than the 4090 again, the 9800x3d will likely be a substantial bottleneck unless you go nuts on the pathtracing.