Removing CPU bottleneck, increase FPS (Check Description for details)

This is for people that have quite capable CPUs of older gen, but still have it be the biggest bottleneck to your more modern Graphics Card. In my case i9-9900k and RTX 3070
When I bought RTX 3070, I thought it wasn't "strong enough" as it was still causing stutters.
Once I truly examined the situation, I saw that my GPU usage was below 99%, a tell-tale sign of infamous "cpu bottleneck".
You think with more drivers from NVIDIA it would get better, but it actually got worse and worse. The reason was simple: NVIDIA improved RTX 3070 performance and increased its' frames per second count, but ultimately made it worse on CPUs like i9-9900k. Because CPU is underpowered for RTX 3070.
Insurgency Sandstorm was the worst example, when I booted the game, I saw that fps doing dubstep every time I turned. I saw abysmal Graphics Card (GPU) usage of 52% and couldn't believe my eyes.
Well, I am giving you a workaround. Just remember, if you have older 4 core and 6 core cpus, your mileage may vary, as some of them are in the deficit of speed, and increasing graphics card resolution scale may tax cpu too much. BUT...in most cases during reasonable resolution scale increase, you will get higher GPU usage, and actually more stable fps, and higher fps average, minimums, and maximums.
I would stay away from just doing upscale on 1080p monitor to straight 1440p, as it works differently and stresses GPU too much. Creating worse performance than increasing resolution scale in games that support it. If you have no option to do resolution scale %, then a key to improve performance is yes...you guessed it, turning 1080p resolution into 1440p. It will still be better than 1080p for most part. As long as your GPU is strong enough to handle it. In my case it is for games I play.
I used this method in Red Dead Redemption to a degree, but found 1080p works better.
I used this in Rainbow Six Siege and it was a huge difference by increasing resolution scale %
Insurgency Sandstorm works excellent for this.
Older games benefit from same methods, but usually forcing you to select 2560x1440 (1440p) as the only option. I have also used this method in games such as Ground Branch and Squad.
Sweet spot is where GPU usage is close to 98-99% at all times, and CPU usage is as low as possible. Don't overdo the settings too high on graphics side, as then you will begin to lose FPS and it will cause input delay. For an example in my case, Insurgency runs best at 170% resolution scale, which is well above 1440p (which would be 125%).
BUT...too much MSAA/anisotropic filtering will actually cause FPS to go down.
I would try first playing with Resolution Scale %, and then use MSAA/anisotropic filtering to fill the "hole" to get to 98-99%.
This is circumventing the cpu bottleneck, your gpu will work harder, but will take away stress from CPU. 3 years ago i9-9900k was the best CPU on the market for games, but only RTX 2000 series were available.
This is eternal hardware chase, if you upgrade to modern gpus, and have older processors. Before buying new CPU, try this. It works for me, as I wait for new gen Ryzen AM5 and new Intel 13900k.
I refuse to upgrade every year and a half to new gen cpus. It's a waste of money for about 15% fps increase.
You shouldn't either.
There is a great website to see if your CPU is causing Graphics Card issues, cpu bottleneck calculator:
pc-builds.com/...
Also, you will need MSI Afterburner and RivaTuner to check the GPU/CPU stats.
www.guru3d.com...
Link will have both included in the install file. If the video is old, search for latest version of MSI Afterburner and follow the video.
Some games run perfectly fine with lower GPU use, some really don't. R6 Siege is barely noticeable if GPU is under 99%, Insurgency is not so much.
The main problem in both cases though, pretty huge fps dip, which can be circumvented using my method.
For games that don't have resolution % increase, I use Nvidia Control Panel and create custom DLSS profiles to increase resolution well past even 4k. Older games may get a huge uplift in performance and graphical fidelity, while improving texture looks, and you will not need to turn on MSAA at all, because texture will be that good.
Modern titles would benefit from Resolution Scale % increase method above all, and resolution change to 1440p or greater second.
Turning everything to Ultra is not always the key, as certain things such as Post Processing Effects destroy your FPS. I keep those at High or even Medium/Low, but Textures need to be ULTRA/HIGH. Turning Vegetation to lower scale will help a lot, while doing resolution scale % increase.
Hope you enjoy it and leave a like if you like and/or tried this method.
Trial and error in certain games, but well worth it, rather than buying new CPU right away.
I game either in 1080p or in 1440p resolution scales, depending on my monitor.
Cheers!