by Which CPU bottleneck the RTX 2080? Let’s find out
Updated: January 31, 2023 4:04 PM
The release of the RTX series of GPUs in 2018 certainly made waves in the industry – the cards offered innovative ray tracing and DLSS technologies, which got us gamers excited.
Now read: Best CPU for RTX 2080
The RX 2080 is part of the first generation of RTX series processors and is based on Nvidia’s 12mm Turing architecture. Although it is now over 4 years old, it still holds up pretty well today and sits somewhere between mid-range and high-end GPU territory.
The RTX 2080 definitely has the processing power to give you incredible gaming performance, but it needs a powerful enough CPU to power its instructions so it can smash pixels at full speed.
Today we’ll be discussing CPU bottlenecks on the RTX 2080, and I’ll give you some options, so you know what works best with this card.
01
Best CPU for RTX 2080
Ryzen 7 5800X3D
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
02
Best Intel CPU for RTX 2080
Core i5 13400F
Intel Core i5-13400F
RTX 2080 Specifications
First, an overview of the base specs of the RTX 2080:
- Base clock: 1520 MHz
- Boost clock: 1800 MHz
- CUDA cores: 2944
- Memory clock: 14000 MHz
- Memory size: 8 GB
- Memory type: GDDR6X
- Bus width: 256 bits
- Maximum digital resolution: 7680 × 4320 @ 60 Hz
- Power Consumption: 225W
- Recommended power supply: 650W
Very solid specs overall. With 8GB of GDDR6X memory, the RTX 2080 can game at 4K 60FPS, though it’s probably better suited to 1440p games at high graphics settings or frame rates.
What is a bottleneck?
A system experiences a bottleneck when one of the microprocessors, either the CPU or the GPU, reaches its maximum processing speed. In such a scenario, the more powerful of the two microprocessors would still have some capacity and be able to take on an additional workload. However, it would be prevented from doing so by the fact that the other microprocessor would fail to keep up.
A processor that clogs the RTX 2080 will be too slow to give it instructions. As a result, the RTX 2080 GPU will not be able to perform to its full potential.
Obviously, bottlenecks are not desirable, especially those that are more extreme. You want your CPU and GPU to perform very similarly, so your system runs efficiently.
What CPU bottlenecks at RTX 2080?
The RTX 2080 is, by all means, a very capable card, even when configured against today’s very graphically demanding titles. Gaming at 1080p and 1440p will be a breeze, and 4K 60FPS performance is doable but not in all games.
Your screen resolution influences the bottleneck. Gaming at a higher resolution increases GPU usage significantly, but does not affect CPU usage much.
With that in mind, if you want to game at 1440p and 4K resolutions, I’d recommend pairing the RTX 2080 with nothing weaker than a Ryzen 5 5600X. Go any lower and you risk ending up with a CPU that can’t meet the demands of the RTX 2080.
If you intend to play 1080p with high frame rates, you will need a much more powerful processor to avoid a bottleneck. If so, I recommend using a Ryzen 7 5800X3D or an Intel Core i5-13400.
01
Best CPU for RTX 2080
Ryzen 7 5800X3D
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
02
Best Intel CPU for RTX 2080
Core i5 13400F
Intel Core i5-13400F
Opposite of the spectrum – pairing the RTX 2080 with something more powerful than an Intel i5-13600K, even at 1080p, would be a waste of resources. Although the RTX 2080 is a solid GPU, it doesn’t pair well with today’s high-end processors.
