AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE bottlenecking R9 270X

Pilgrim6 · Jun 28, 2014

Hi,

so after my old 6870 died I've decided to buy myself R9 270X. Currently I am running:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE
R9 270X
2x4GB ram
500W PSU

I've read that since Phenom's are a fairly strong CPUs they shouldn't give R9 270x too much of a bottleneck. However in BF 4 my FPS is constantly fluctuating and I've noticed GPU usage rarely goes over 70%. I've tried combo of Furmark + Prime 95 and the usage pretty much locks itself at 64%. Without the Prime, it runs 100% just fine.

I've tried overclocking up to 3,8 ghz but it seems to have little to no effect. Is there a chance that the PSU is throttling the GPU? The wattage is borderline for my setup.

Anything else that could help the GPU pull more load?

Andrew Buck · Jun 28, 2014

For some reason, your PSU might be overloading. Do your voltages drop as well under load?

Gam3r01 · Jun 28, 2014

BF4 is an extremely CPU dependent game, the phenom will bottleneck in that situation if you can overclock to about 4GHz that will help more so.

In almost all cases the phenom can support it, (My 965 at 4.22 supports my 760 0 bottleneck)

Pilgrim6 · Jun 28, 2014

I really need to get an aftermarket cooler if I want to go that high. Still using that atrocious jumbojet stock fan. Can you advice me one? Which one are you using?

Gam3r01 · Jun 28, 2014

I used a 212 EVO to hit 4GHz under 40C, I switched to the h100i and got to 4.22 (Hit a voltage barrier)

Pilgrim6 · Jun 28, 2014

Thank you. I will get myself 212 EVO once I earn a bit of a cash. I am only worried that it might be too big to fit next to my RAMs. Is it larger (width-wise, I know it's giant when it comes height) than the stock cooler? My RAMs are pretty much right next to the cooler. Though I could probably switch them to B slot to get a little more extra space.

I am not trying to underclock my GPU. I've bought Sapphire R9 270X toxic which is stock overclocked so it's a bit shame...

Gam3r01 · Jun 28, 2014

It is a bit wider than the stock cooler, but you can slide the fan up on the cooler if you need to clear ram.

Pilgrim6 · Jun 28, 2014

Can you decide in which direction you want the fan facing? My rams are to the right the CPU slot

I am using m4a88td M evo usb3

Sorry if I am bombarding you with questions now not related to the topic

Gam3r01 · Jun 28, 2014

Its still related.
You can face it any of the 4 directions. The best orientation would be blowing to the back of the case.

Pilgrim6 · Jun 28, 2014

More questions incoming. Stop me when you get bored.

Is it really that hard to install the cooler as I've read everywhere? Plus I am worried it might not fit into my ANTEC 900 Ultimate gamer case...

Andrew Buck · Jun 28, 2014

It should fit, and shouldn't be hard to fit. If you want to, get some watercooling like the H60 or H80i.

Ilijas Ramic · Oct 13, 2014

There is no bottleneck its a myth example when you upgrade your processor from athlon 1 core to phenom ii x4 you may think its bottlenecking but it doesnt because you think you gonna have 90% more fps that the problem they is no bottlenecking its a myth you can overclock your processor how ever but its gonna improve you same fps

Gam3r01 · Oct 13, 2014

That is incorrect. At stock speeds I pull 42 FPS on Skyrim, at 4.2GHz I hit 59 for example.
Also, this thread is almost 4 months old.

Ilijas Ramic · Oct 13, 2014

yeah but in some games wont thats the problem and when you take for example phenom ii x4 960 and fx 8120 that huge difference you cant overclock 960 to be 8120 thats how it is -.- you cant pull out the magic from the pocket thats the reality

Gam3r01 · Oct 13, 2014

The 965 has 23% higher single threaded performance to the 8120, which most games benefit from.
That aint magic, its architecture.

Sure the 8120 is much better, up to 44% so, in multithreaded tasks, but most games arent multi threaded.

Ilijas Ramic · Oct 13, 2014

yeah but someone cant buy 8120 that the problem some people cant throw money for a good pc that the problem thats why overclock is invented to get performance for low money

Ilijas Ramic · Oct 13, 2014

my first pc was athlon 64 x2 6000 3.0 and x1650 i got it 8 years ago and i changed mobo cpu few months ago

AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE bottlenecking R9 270X

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