Current System Performance Bottlenecks

davewhittle · Mar 11, 2013

What are the most common system performance bottlenecks, how good is the Windows Experience Index at identifying them, and how much does it cost to reduce or eliminate each of the bottlenecks? I'm looking for the "sweet spot" where you get the best bang for your buck in terms of system performance on a BYO PC.

barto · Mar 11, 2013

I would say "it depends". Depending on the parts you select will determine the bottleneck, if any. For example, I have a q9550. If I were to get a 680gtx, my CPU would be the bottleneck in relation to gaming performance. The same could be said about having a powerful CPU and a weak GPU. I don't consider loading times a bottleneck, but it is something that can be improved with a SSD. If you are looking for the sweet spot, I suggest the following:

CPU: i5 (most likely the 3750k)
GPU: 660ti / 7870 or higher GPU
RAM: 8 GBs (brands or speeds don't matter too much)
PSU: 550w minimum (Corsair, Seasonic, XFX, Coolermaster, Antec)
CPU Cooler for overclocking.
SSD: 128GB for installing games/OS
HD: Any size 7200rpm

bigcyco1 · Mar 11, 2013

It all depends i wouldn't use Windows Experience Index at identifying them, i would run Afterburner and check your GPU usage. If you are running at 99% GPU usage in that particular game, then you have no bottleneck. If you are running at less than 99% GPU usage, particularly if its closer to 50% or less in that particular game, then you have a CPU bottleneck.

davewhittle · Mar 11, 2013

barto :

Very helpful - what about for a business system where gaming isn't an issue? When you take the GPU out of the equation, and substitute Intel's on-CPU graphics (e.g. HD4000), how does that change things?

davewhittle · Mar 11, 2013

bigcyco1 :

Does Afterburner give info about component performance other than the GPU?

barto · Mar 11, 2013

davewhittle :

For business, you are correct, GPU isn't necessary. I hate to say this again, but it depends. For most applications, an i3 or an i5 will suffice. However, an i7 may be necessary for heavy programs for coding or video rendering where Hyperthreading is useful. As for graphics, Intel 4000HD is pretty weak. But it can serve the purpose of everyday work and even play videos in 1080. AMD does have a better chip graphics with their APUs. For work, I wouldn't worry about graphics.

You can test your PC performance with 3dMark or PCMark7. But you could also just look up the performance of parts on many sites like AnandTech, Tom's Hardware, Techpowerup, etc.

davewhittle · Mar 11, 2013

[/quotemsg]As for graphics, Intel 4000HD is pretty weak. But it can serve the purpose of everyday work and even play videos in 1080. AMD does have a better chip graphics with their APUs. For work, I wouldn't worry about graphics. [/quotemsg]

I agree that the i5 is the sweet spot for price/performance on a laptop, but I love the i7 Quad-core on my desktop system.

I personally have an aversion to AMD because the one time I decided to give them a try, and bought an AMD system, the system would often slow to a crawl (or even to a stop). It took me awhile to figure out that if I opened the case and blew cold air on the CPU, it would start working and speed up again! I've never seen that kind of temperature problem with any Intel CPU I've ever had, and I've had a lot of them since I got my first PC in '81. Funny that the one time I tried AMD (just last year), I had that problem, even without overclocking. Go ahead and badmouth me for buying an AMD system that wasn't water cooled or apparently didn't have adequate ventilation (it had as much as any Intel system I've had), but I personally think life is too short to put up with that kind of low quality design.

So why do you say that the HD4000 is weak? Sure, it's not as good as the most recent GPUs, but it's plenty good for everything I've thrown at it. It's not going to be a bottleneck even for video, is it?

Here's my sense of where system bottlenecks can typically be found:
- web browsing, Skype, or media access over the Internet: server-side upload speeds or client side download speeds
- watching HD video off local drive: disk throughput (i.e. typically either platter rpm or interface bandwidth)
- watching HD video over local area network: network bandwidth and/or traffic
- most computer work, i.e. local/memory resident applications: hard disk (when used), CPU and/or not enough RAM
- startup/boot: the disk the OS is on
- intense gaming: the GPU

Polish/correction anyone?

barto · Mar 11, 2013

davewhittle :

I'm personally an Intel guy, so I won't bad mouth you. However, I will acknowledge performance on the other side of the table. Intel processors are on the top, there's no questioning that. But, AMD does offer a great mid range performance CPUs. I usually say to each their own.

I say the HD4000 is weak but it is fine for the average person. The idea of playing anything over a flash browser game, and you'll know it. So, I'm a little sided because I play games on my PC.

Also I think you throw the term bottleneck around a little too much. I wouldn't say that slow internet is a bottleneck. Bottleneck to me is resulting of a component limiting your entire system. Having slow internet doesn't mean your system is bottlenecked. It just means you have slow internet. As for HD videos from a HD, maybe. Again, HD streaming isn't a bottleneck IMO. That would more result from the devices that transmit/receive the signals.

davewhittle · Mar 12, 2013

davewhittle :

I guess I'm defining system more broadly than you do. The PC is part of a system in my view, so if there's a problem watching video, I don't say "Oh, the PC is fine. I'm not seeing any bottlenecks." Instead, I say, oh, looks like some bottleneck is causing my system to fail to perform well" and I start looking for the bottleneck.

The original challenge I was hoping to get resolved is to identify the various components that are most important to improve in a PC for each usage model, e.g. if you're a typical user, get an SSD to boot faster and start applications more quickly; or replace your 802.11g wireless adapter and router with 802.11ac if retrieving files off your server on your laptop is taking too long, and so on.

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