Hi everyone,
I recently upgraded my system because I wanted smoother gaming performance, but I’m still facing slowdowns and I’m not sure what’s causing it.
Here’s my current setup after the upgrade:
- CPU: Intel i5-6500 (6th gen)
- GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1660 Super
- RAM: 16GB DDR4 (Corsair, 3200MHz)
- Storage: 1TB HDD + 256GB SATA SSD (OS on SSD)
- PSU: Cooler Master 550W
I mainly play GTA V, Apex Legends, and Cyberpunk 2077. Even on medium settings I’m seeing frame drops, and overall my system feels sluggish (slow boot, apps loading late). That makes me think my older Intel CPU could be the limiting factor here.
My main questions:
- Could the Intel i5-6500 be bottlenecking the GTX 1660 Super?
- Would moving from a SATA SSD to an NVMe SSD noticeably improve overall system speed?
- Are there recommended tools for checking CPU/GPU bottleneck balance?
- If I want to upgrade for smoother modern gaming (maybe newer Intel CPU + DDR5 in future), which direction should I look?
For reference, here’s Intel’s official page for the i5-6500:
@https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/88185/intel-core-i56400-processor-6m-cache-up-to-3-30-ghz/specifications
I also came across a bottleneck calculator that analyzes CPU/GPU/RAM balance:
@https://bottleneckcal.com/
I expected a bigger jump in performance after adding more RAM and a stronger GPU, but it’s still not where I hoped. Any suggestions or upgrade advice from the community would be really appreciated!
Thanks
