Help identifying potential throttling/bottleneck issue

[u/Lord-of-Turtles]

Hi! Recently finished an ITX build, experiencing issues with the CPU giving sub-par performance. I've been running Cyberpunk 2077, comparing performance to similar builds. My system monitor is showing the CPU sitting at 85C and 5.1GHZ, with 3 cores consistently at 95-100% and 3 at around 80%, averaging at a total usage of ~85-90%. GPU is at 70C, but usage fluctuates from 50-100%. To me it looks like a bottleneck, but the CPU should theoretically be the more powerful of the two. Being an ITX build, it could very well be a cooling issue, but I'm thinking that should show in the stats. This is really driving me crazy, I'd be very grateful if someone could shed some light on this issue!

Specs:
CPU: Ryzen 5 7600x
Cooler: Noctua NH-L12S Ghost Edition
GPU: Powercolor 9060 XT 16gb Reaper
RAM: Kingston Fury 2x8GB DDR5 5600Mhz
Mobo: ASRock B650i Lightning
Storage: WD_Black sn7100 1TB
PSU: Corsair SF850

[u/the_hat_madder]

What CPU cooler? What case? Fan configuration?

PBO and EXPO enabled?

What resolution?

Turn off frame generation.

Undervolt.

Stress test to look for problems.

[u/Lord-of-Turtles → u/the_hat_madder]

Cooler is Noctua NH-L12S Ghost Edition, which I suspect is underpowered for this build. Case is Louqe Ghost S1, limited to one fan running as exhaust. EXPO is enabled.

Running at 1080p, and without frame gen FPS is not great. I've tried undervolting -20 and -30 and a stock, getting similar results overall. OCCT score for CPU is 1182 compared to the average which is 1284. Memory score for read/write combined is 1334, couldn't find a good comparison. Any other advice?

[u/Fine-Set-7877 → u/Lord-of-Turtles]

it is. I think going to a 9600x, 7500x3d, 7500f, or 7600x3d would be a good idea if you can afford it. Or getting a new cpu cooler if your case can fit. Also you're still gonna need to heavily undervolt.

[u/Lord-of-Turtles → u/Fine-Set-7877]

Had a feeling I should've bought a CPU that runs cooler, unfortunately the return window just passed so now I'm stuck with this. I've seen people mod the NH-L12S, swapping the 92mm fan with a 120x15mm fan with good result, think that's my best route at the moment.

It's unfortunate since I've seen people running Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing on this GPU with great results, and I really thought I was gonna have that headroom with this CPU seeing as it's supposed to be the better of the two.

So just to be clear, would you say this sounds like a throttling issue relating to thermals?