How much of a bottleneck will my 8800GT be if I upgrade my CPU?

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arg0r

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Dec 25, 2013
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Hi,
I'm planning on upgrading my CPU/MB/RAM to one of these builds:


  • ■AMD FX-6300
    ■ASRock 970 Extreme4
    ■G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 PC12800/1600MHz CL9 2x4GB

or


  • ■Intel Core i5-4570
    ■ASRock Z87 Pro3
    ■G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 PC12800/1600MHz CL9 2x4GB

Now obviously this is a budget upgrade, and I'm wondering how much my GPU, an nVidia GeForce 8800 GT, will bottleneck either of these CPUs. I'm use my computer mainly for gaming, but also for a little bit of multimedia, 2D/3D graphics, and video editing. I might upgrade my graphics card next year but I'm not sure if I will be able to. (economical reasons, $$$$$money$$$$$)

EDIT: I just realized I posted this in the wrong forum, sorry :(
 
Solution
bgunner
your correct that some applications will speed up and 3D apps will to but not as much. TF2 and most likely the other games you notice not getting a performance boost by turning down the graphics settings will get a big boost because they are more CPU bound then GPU.

you will be better off rendering all through the GPU as it will out perform the on chip iGPU. As of right now your CPU is the bottleneck for it is not feeding the GPU all it can use. The biggest issue with bottlenecks is once you stop it on one piece it will go to another whether that is the CPU, GPU or Ram. It just shifts. all we can try to do is limit how much that one piece is bottlenecking the system.
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bgunner

bgunner

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Feb 13, 2009
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The GPU will significantly hold you back in FPS. Depending on what you are running for a CPU now will depict the amount of FPS you will gain from upgrading the CPU. As you already know the GPU will be the bottleneck in either of those systems. They will still run very well But when it comes to 3D applications the GPU will limit the FPS and rendering ability.

Really what can we say besides this? How bad will it be? Well depending on the application could be severe or very little. Yes you will gain some performance in 3D applications because of the upgrade but the system will be waiting on the GPU to do its job before the rest of the system can do more.
 
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A

arg0r

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Dec 25, 2013
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Right now my CPU is a Core 2 Duo E6400 (which seems like a bottleneck right now because I'm always at ~20 FPS when I play Team Fortress 2 and some other games no matter what I set my graphics settings to). So I assume that games will speed up quite a bit but 3D applications won't as much? Also, if I render videos on the CPU, will it be safe from GPU bottlenecks or is the GPU still somehow involved in the thing?
 
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bgunner

bgunner

Judicious
Feb 13, 2009
5,144
14
32,515
your correct that some applications will speed up and 3D apps will to but not as much. TF2 and most likely the other games you notice not getting a performance boost by turning down the graphics settings will get a big boost because they are more CPU bound then GPU.

you will be better off rendering all through the GPU as it will out perform the on chip iGPU. As of right now your CPU is the bottleneck for it is not feeding the GPU all it can use. The biggest issue with bottlenecks is once you stop it on one piece it will go to another whether that is the CPU, GPU or Ram. It just shifts. all we can try to do is limit how much that one piece is bottlenecking the system.
 
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Solution
logainofhades

logainofhades

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Apr 27, 2009
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What is your actual budget here? Looking at the i5 setup you posted, you could go with an i3 and get a GTX 750ti for less.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($38.95 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PNY GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $356.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-07 09:47 EST-0500)


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.97 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Pro3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($76.50 @ Newegg)
Total: $371.46
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-07 09:47 EST-0500)
 
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A

arg0r

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Dec 25, 2013
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Ok, thanks for the detailed answers!



My budget is actually about $300, but I'm willing to exceed it by a bit if it's worth it. I want a somewhat decent quad-core CPU for graphics and video editing (where I can't use my GPU), heavy multitasking, and future games, so the i3 and 4 GB of RAM won't work for me. Also, the motherboard you suggested (although nice and cheap) doesn't have enough ports for me. ;)
 
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