GPU Upgrade - Concern about bottlenecking w/ i5 2500 3.30Ghz

JestersRevenge · Feb 9, 2015

Hi all,

This is my first foray into PC gaming, so I genuinely appreciate your feedback. This site has been an incredible resource. I have two questions:

1) Will my current setup / CPU preclude me from upgrading to a better GPU?
2) If not, which would you recommend? How good can I get before I hit the bottleneck?

I purchased my first gaming PC in 2012 from Origin:

- Intel Core i5 2500 3.30GHz LGA 1155 Quad-Core Processor (6MB L3 Cache)
- 2 GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD6970
- 8 GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600 Mhz (2x 4GB) Dual Channel Memory
- 850 Watt Corsair TX850 PSU
- ASUS P8H61-I B3 stepping (USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s)

I play on a 40 inch 1080p TV and my games of choice are typically MMOs. I haven't run into a MMO I can't play yet, but I'd really like to make sure I can run them as high as possible. I'd prefer not to get an entirely new PC if I can squeeze a few more years out of this one.

All the best,
JR

gwapito · Feb 9, 2015

your setup still ok except for the gpu. If you plan to play games and stick with 1080p then i would suggest r9 280x but for higher res gaming i would suggest gtx 970. Whichever card you pick your cpu and psu will be able to handle it

SylentVyper · Feb 9, 2015

The i5 you have is still a good gaming CPU, assuming you don't try to go high-end SLI or anything crazy.

And a GPU recommendation really depends on what all you're wanting to play, how much you want to spend, and how much 'future-proof' you want.

You have a phenomenal power supply with more than enough juice to power any card on the market right now. Heck, you could even power a pair of 980s in SLI (not that I would recommend it, but hey lol)

If you're just going to be doing MMOs and that sort of thing, you really don't need to go too crazy. And being on a TV, you aren't really going to benefit from super high framerates either.

You could go with the new GTX 960 (or the AMD rival R9 285). You'd be able to play any MMO I can think of maxed out with as much AA as you want, and the card only costs about $200. If you were willing to spend a little more, you could do something like the GTX 970 for a little over $300 and utilize NVIDIA's new DSR (Dynamic Super Resolution) to get 4k scaled down, which is an amazing feature.

Just so you know, you have a good setup. I don't see a need to change anything else

pierrerock · Feb 9, 2015

There is no such thing as bottlenecking. The term bottleneck is to refer to the weakest component of a build. But it never create a ceiling effect.

as an example, let say you have a very weak CPU. weak enough to be ''bottlenecking'' and you buy a GTX 980. your CPU would not limit your video card to the point it get the same performance as a lower video card let say a 960.

Short story. With ANY CPU, a newer, stronger card will ALWAYS bring better performances. When speaking of bottleneck, we mean which component should be next to be upgraded, but it will never limit any other component.

I5 2500 is still a very good CPU it's a high mid range CPU for gaming, you don't need to change it. getting a newer video card will be your best option. Don't worry about this generally misunderstood bottlenecking and get the best video card your budget allow you.

I saw review and benchmark where low end CPU such as X4 750K an pentium G3258 where paired with a R9 290x or a GTX 780 Ti And they still got better and better performance for each better video card used. There was no ceiling effect.

fudgecakes99 · Feb 9, 2015

Cpu Good no need to replace if you did want to replace you'd have to get a new mobo etc.
Gpu: ok i'd spend 200-300 and get a decent good gpu. gtx 970 supposedly great, though their are some vram issues.
RAM: good. You could buy 2 more sticks of 4 if you really wanted to, only recommended if you multi task like crazy.
Psu: Great
Mobo: good.

JestersRevenge · Feb 9, 2015

Thanks all! Really appreciate it! I was trying to do a little future proofing with that power supply. I'm too old and the reflexes too slow to play FPS games (but how I remember the glory days), so I stick with MMOs. I had read that with 1080p resolution it didn't make much sense to go too high over the 2GB GPU mark. Is that still the case? Money isn't an issue, but at the same time I don't want to buy a card for which I won't receive the benefit on that TV of mine. I'll still stick with a single card.

SylentVyper · Feb 9, 2015

pierrerock :

Thank you for taking the time to explain the term bottlenecking. I always hate when people throw the term around like it's a massive issue.

People (incorrectly) think that because throwing in a faster CPU and getting a little better framerate means that the previous CPU was a bottleneck. Especially in games like MMOs, they say the GPU isn't being fully utilized. That's because MMOs are generally far more CPU intensive than GPU intensive.

SylentVyper · Feb 9, 2015

JestersRevenge :

2GB is still plenty for 1080p. The only thing I would suggest is if you want to do something like downsampling from a higher resolution to get a better image, you may want more (but again, 2GB is enough for 1080p)

gwapito · Feb 9, 2015

JestersRevenge :

it depends, even your gaming at 1080p but you wanna max out AA. That will eat a lot from your VRAM. But 1080p in high settings with a little AA, r9 270x will be enough in MMO games

JestersRevenge · Feb 9, 2015

SylentVyper :

Pierrerock - thanks for the explanation and setting me straight. I'm new to it all. We newbs love our newfound, big scary words

SylentVyper - Forgive my persistence, but what I meant is will I still receive the full benefit of upgrading to a top of the line card if I'm only playing on a 1080p TV?

SylentVyper · Feb 9, 2015

JestersRevenge :

Possibly in the future, but as of right now, with the types of games you're playing, you don't need to get a top-of-the-line card. And if you're not having issues on the 6970, you certainly will not have any kind of performance issues on the GTX 960 or R9 285 lol

Right now, the 960 maxes out World of Warcraft at 1080p with Anti-Aliasing at over 80 FPS. Your TV **may** have a higher than 60 framerate, but what TV manufacturers advertise their refresh rate and the *true* refresh rate is almost always different. And if League of Legends is your game, the 960 is capable of running LoL at 4k downsampled with good framerates.

JestersRevenge · Feb 10, 2015

SylentVyper :

JestersRevenge :

Possibly in the future, but as of right now, with the types of games you're playing, you don't need to get a top-of-the-line card. And if you're not having issues on the 6970, you certainly will not have any kind of performance issues on the GTX 960 or R9 285 lol

Right now, the 960 maxes out World of Warcraft at 1080p with Anti-Aliasing at over 80 FPS. Your TV **may** have a higher than 60 framerate, but what TV manufacturers advertise their refresh rate and the *true* refresh rate is almost always different. And if League of Legends is your game, the 960 is capable of running LoL at 4k downsampled with good framerates.

I currently play Star Wars: The Old Republic and have started dabbling in WoW. My current setup functions well with SWToR and WoW, but my goal is to be able to run WoW on ultimate settings outside of large raids. My understanding is that some rigs that are far superior to mine still struggle with FPS during those times. I think the 970 might be a good fit as the DSR technology sounds amazing. I'm still researching the AMD cards as well. A friend of mine swears by his 290. Thanks all for your input.

SylentVyper · Feb 10, 2015

The 290 is fine, but the 970 is just so efficient lol not to mention quieter. And with the 970, you'd have no problems running on Ultimate, even downscaling.

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