Is my AMD Phenom II X4 960T Bottlenecking my R9 280
- Thread starter roboboble
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- Apr 22, 2009
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If the Phenom isn't OC'ed, it probably is. I have a PhII X4 965BE @ 4.0 GHz in another machine with a R9-280. The CPU is at or near 100% usage in some games while the card is also near 100% usage. (some games, the card is at 100% while the CPU is not) So that appears to be about the max for my CPU. Your 960T is a bit slower @ 3GHz stock.
So is my CPU really that bad?, is there anyway i can overclock it to make it any better?, ive been told the CX600 isn't very good PSU for overclocking? the R9 280 was a late xmas gift, and i don't have the money nor will i for along time to upgrade my CPU
that doesn't matter because i don't have the money, and im from the UK, im just wondering if theres anyway i can make my currect CPU anyway better to help with the bottleneck?, if i had the money i would of asked for advice on a new CPU...
cmi86
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Don't listen to link that guy is a grade A troll. The 960T is actually a really unique chip, I used to have one. It is originally a 6 core that has been locked for one of 2 reasons. Reason 1 being one or both of the extra cores are faulty and it was locked for a reason. Reason 2 AMD was trying to fill quad core SKU's when the bulldozer launch failed miserably and the 2 extra cores are perfectly functional. All you need to do is try the core unlock function on your motherboard. Either way these CPU's are commonly capable of 4.0-4.2 as a quad and 3.8-4.0 as a hex. Your CPU is certainly not a POS.
Thank you ive been finding this all over the internet, people say OCin my CPU will help with the bottleneck, and get atleast an extra 6 months-1 year with somewhat happyiness so i can save for a new MOBO/CPU combo, and others are telling me I may aswell sell my GPU, but from what i can tell if im not running the nicest I5/I7 with the R9 280 its gonna always seemed 'bottlenecked' people just are never happy!, I think my bets option is to OC my CPU see what its like, if its still a problem, refund the GPU back to amazon, lose alittle money, put the money towards a new CPU/mobo and just not play games for the next couple of months.
@link from the future, From what i can tell ANY AMD processor will bottleneck my game's that are using single-threaded core's like WoW etc and LoL havnt got the money to suddenly buy £300-400 pound in MOBO and CPU combo for what a 20fps increase ?
cmi86
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I wouldn't consider returning the GPU under any circumstances. The 280 is a solid mid range card comparable to a GTX-760. After overclocking your Phenom II if any bottleneck remains it will be very minimal. Is a modern intel CPU going to give you more FPS, yes but it's not like your Phenom II is totally useless ( like some would want you to believe) it is still a decent chip perfectly capable of pushing playable fps in all but the most demanding of current games when overclocked. Do you have a CPU cooler ? If not I recommend the 212 Evo. I used it with my 960T and it was plenty for overclocking even with the 2 extra cores unlocked.
Run the 960T overclocked until you can afford a new platform and the swap the 280 over is my advice.
Yeah i'm using a cm seidon 120, with a corsair CX600W PSU i know that's a tier 3 but money money money!
and im not gonna be running crossfire EVER i only play games and youtube! My tempts seem to be around 20-25 idle and 30-40 full load with my cooler, is that OK to OC with? at a nice stable speed where it wont suddenly break on me?
cmi86
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roboboble :
Yeah i'm using a cm seidon 120, with a corsair CX600W PSU i know that's a tier 3 but money money money!
and im not gonna be running crossfire EVER i only play games and youtube! My tempts seem to be around 20-25 idle and 30-40 full load with my cooler, is that OK to OC with? at a nice stable speed where it wont suddenly break on me?That cooler should provide you with a good overclock in the 3.8-4.2 range depending on how power thirsty your 960T is. It is not really the speed of a CPU that makes it hot when overclocking it is the voltage required for that speed that generates the heat so temps really depend on your particular CPU's power needs when overclocking. Hey man no need to apologize to me I completely understand the money aspect ! I am kind of in the same boat as you except for opposite components. I finally had the money to upgrade to an intel platform and then my nice GPU crapped out so now I am stuck with an old 6870 as a huge bottleneck on a 4.5Ghz i5 lol. When I can afford to I will replace the GPU but for now I just OC'd the heck out of it to get by as best I can !
Okay Link is just AMD user recently converted into Intel-ism. He means no wrong (hopefully) but will rant about Intel's superiority like the JW that walk door to door.
Your CPU isn't a POS like Link said. He's just mad at the performance he had with it in his experience. As some people like to say there will always be a bottleneck in a system as no component can be equal. In your case the CPU would be a bottleneck to the GPU compared to the numerous newer Intel/AMD CPUs.
Like many people said you should try OCing the CPU. You have a decent motherboard with heatsinks already installed on the VRM and you have a decent cooler in the 120mm CM Seidon. Most Phenom's will OC a good 1GHz at the least which should give you a nice boost. I mean you're not looking to spend money so OCing won't hurt, unless you do something horribly wrong. Having a fan blow air toward your VRM heatsink will also be good for OCs
I also want to ask if you knew that there is a chance the 960T can be unlocked to a 6-Core. Does your motherboard support core unlocking and have you tried previously? AMD disables cores for multiple reasons. The cores aren't up to their standards, or they use 6-Cores to sell as 4-Cores sometimes. If you're lucky you will be able to unlock two additional cores making your 960T into a 6-Core Phenom like a 1055T/1090T. It's rarer though compared to a Dual-Core unlocking to a Quad-Core. In the case one of the unlocked cores are not up to par you can disable the bad one and have a 5-Core Phenom. That plus a stable OC should give you a nice boost.
Your CPU isn't a POS like Link said. He's just mad at the performance he had with it in his experience. As some people like to say there will always be a bottleneck in a system as no component can be equal. In your case the CPU would be a bottleneck to the GPU compared to the numerous newer Intel/AMD CPUs.
Like many people said you should try OCing the CPU. You have a decent motherboard with heatsinks already installed on the VRM and you have a decent cooler in the 120mm CM Seidon. Most Phenom's will OC a good 1GHz at the least which should give you a nice boost. I mean you're not looking to spend money so OCing won't hurt, unless you do something horribly wrong. Having a fan blow air toward your VRM heatsink will also be good for OCs
I also want to ask if you knew that there is a chance the 960T can be unlocked to a 6-Core. Does your motherboard support core unlocking and have you tried previously? AMD disables cores for multiple reasons. The cores aren't up to their standards, or they use 6-Cores to sell as 4-Cores sometimes. If you're lucky you will be able to unlock two additional cores making your 960T into a 6-Core Phenom like a 1055T/1090T. It's rarer though compared to a Dual-Core unlocking to a Quad-Core. In the case one of the unlocked cores are not up to par you can disable the bad one and have a 5-Core Phenom. That plus a stable OC should give you a nice boost.
cmi86
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The world will do that from time to time. I don't remember too much about OC'in my 960T but what I do remember is that the memory controller voltage is important and has a bearing on stability in high OC's and max core voltage is around 1.4. There should be several guides online. Good luck.
only time ive ever had the core unclocked was when the PC was about 2-3 weeks old and my younger sister spamed my keyboard ad turned it on at lol ^^ it would bluescreen because tempts went 80+ lol apart from that i never had no course to try but now i have!
I have had many AMD processors and still have them in my storage closet. You never asked did you. Athlon X2 3600+, Athlon X2 4050e, Athlon 64 X2 6400+, Sempron 145 (Unlocked to Athlon II X2), Athlon II X4 640, Phenom X4 9650, Phenom II X4 940, Phenom II X4 965, Phenom II X6 1055 (OC 3.8GHz). As you can see I have had several AMD CPUs from a few generations including two Athlon XP single core processors. I have throughly played games with them during their prime and at the point where they were aged compared to the current crop of processors.
Read my post again. Did I try to prove you wrong? Not really. I told the OP you are a person to recently convert from AMD to Intel and that your experience was particularly bad. All Truth. I told the OP that the CPU was indeed a bottleneck. Only thing I disagreed with you is that the CPU is not a POS. You praise things and on the other hand call things a worthless POS too easily too. The fact that you think you know what your talking about and other people don't is an issue that always gets to me when I try to keep cool with you. Calm down man. You back your posts with the 'fact' that you owned the processor. Well I'll do the same that I've probably owned more than you and still do. As I said AMD isn't Intel but the aren't a POS either. This is coming from a person who likes both AMD and Intel. The i7 3770K, i5 2500, i5 750, Core 2 Quad 9550, Core 2 Duo E8400 that were part of my desktops were fantastic and the i7 processors in my laptop/gaming laptops are fantistic also. But at no point I think AMD is a POS either. You can keep your opinion and I will keep mine. We're done here Link if you want to argue or reply to me just send me a PM. I don't want to fill the thread with junk.
As for the OP yes the 960T does not unlock as well as AMD's Single and Dual-Cores. Unlocking will require a little bit more effort than OCing so just remember that if you plan on trying. There's the small chance that the two locked cores are perfectly fine but that probably isn't true. It could take some additional voltage to get the locked cores stable. Additional voltage might not help at all. At the end you may get 2 cores unlocked or just 1. Maybe both will be bad. It's all up to you if you plan to try. For overclocking you should know that the Memory Controller on the Phenoms were fairly week. Good thing was overclocking the northbridge fixed those issues a lot. There are plenty of guides around the internet and it should help you.
cmi86
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I thought it was the memory controllers on the Thubans that was significantly improved from what was in the denebs ? If I recall correctly, could be wrong though. +1 on the above post BTW, as you were listing off a lot of those CPU brought back memories for me as I owned a lot of those too !
No you're right. The memory controllers on the Thubans/Zosma was improved compared to the denebs but I believe people still thought of it as weak. At the least weak compared to the current memory controllers. All I know is that the memory controllers got a good boost/improvement when NB was OCed. Yeah the Athlon X2 were the beginning of my PC gaming adventure so they bring back memories. They weren't C2D/C2Q/i7/i5s but they were cheap for me to buy at an age where I could not have a job or just able. I just wish the OP (robobble) good luck and to post back here on the success or if help is needed.
Exactly the AMD CPUs were great for their time and although we can't say they're great I don't think I'd say they are crap either. They're just old. The FX series is old so we both know how old the Phenom II are. Intel on the other hand is amazing. That's why I have both my gaming laptops still. Only reason my Intel desktops disappear after a while compared to my AMD is because Intel's resale value is higher (Like Macs vs PC) compared to AMD. Whenever I needed emergency cash there was a buyer for the Intel computer for a decent price on my end. The Denebs didn't age as well as I would have liked, the 6-core Thubans aged a little better. Anyway no need to discuss the CPUs we owned and what we think of them. Not part of the topic.
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