%100 CPU usage in game using i5 7600k @ 4.7ghz (Overwatch)

[Assassinguy2623]

Hi, I have a 7600k with a gtx 1070. I have been noticing lately that in big fights with lots of players my fps has been dropping from the 150s to the 70s-80s, looking into this I believe that my CPU is bottlenecking my gpu as when playing in big fights my cpu is always at %100 and gpu is at 90. I didn't believe overwatch was such a cpu intensive game but now i am having second thoughts thinking i should've got the 7700k. So it would be helpful if anyone could shed some light on why this is happening thanks

[BC_Programmer]

The FPS drops because there is more stuff happening every frame which needs to be processed.

There is no system configuration that is going to keep the same high framerate in all situations. Even today, Duke Nukem 3D and other games from the 90's that modern GPUs and CPUs can run at 1000fps still drop in intensive sections to lower framerates.

90% GPU usage is good. it's when it is below 70 or so that you can start looking to the CPU. And evne then it could vary based on the software itself.

a 7700K over a 7600K wouldn't get you much beyond a lighter wallet anyway. The 7700K is an i7 but aside from a slightly higher base clock the main difference is hyperthreading, which doesn't provide an advantage as multi-threaded applications aren't usually built to take advantage of hyperthreading's more specific limitations compared to dedicated core.

[Assassinguy2623]

im sorry i didnt mean to put 90 though i meant 50!! and there isnt even any action going on!!! https://gyazo.com/10f602329eaaf18d5d4bfd4c793b9425

[BC_Programmer]

Well here is a forum thread from folks who actually play the game which appears related.

It is either a software problem, or the GPU simply isn't being utilized very much. Usually when you have performance issues and one or the other is at 100% then it would be a "bottleneck" of some description but with that sort of high-end hardware it is pretty certain to be a software problem.

As I'm sure you know a "bottleneck", when it comes to CPU/GPU is when there is widely disparate performance characteristics. By way of comparison, many years ago I had a 350Mhz K6-2 CPU paired with a Radeon 9250. The CPU was a massive "bottleneck" and this meant that games that the GPU would be otherwise capable of running were out of the question for me. Conversely, putting an old ATI Rage Pro into a Pentium 4 would "bottleneck" in the other direction.

"Bottleneck" behaviour that only appears in specific software is typically a result of the software, not the hardware. A poorly optimized or programmed game/software could very easily underutilize one or the other and peg the other at full utilization, making it appear that poor performance is a result of the hardware when it is a characteristic of the software.

This is particularly the case given that your CPU is one of the absolute latest available. There is no way a 7600 is going to bottleneck a 1070- older Haswell CPUs can easily keep up with a 1070.