How much is my CPU bottlenecking my GPU?

Woody1999

Admirable
For a long time I was using an awful Radeon HD 5450 in my computer, I could barely run most games on minimum at 720p - I decided that I needed a new graphics card. So off I went to PC World, and I bought this R7 260X 1GB for £60. Having previously read reviews about this card, I was pretty excited about how much of a performance increase I would get out of it.

However, I got a very small increase in performance. Games that I could just about run at 720p were not playing very well at all, even on lowest settings, at 1080p. For example, BF3 runs at a whopping 15FPS at all times, when these benchmarks show the card to be running Ultra at 1440p, 10FPS higher than what I could achieve! Red Orchestra 2 does not run at all at 1080p, lowest settings, and Insurgency is just about unplayable.

So, I've decided that it must be my processor that is the problem. I understand that my Q8300 is a reasonably old chip, and it wasnt the most powerful of the Core 2 chips either, but I can't understand why it is bottlenecking so much!

In the near future I will be building this computer, using the same graphics card. How much of a performance increase will I see, taking games like BF3, Insurgency, War Thunder and Red Orchestra 2 at 1080p as a baseline?

Woody
 

pbm86

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I suspect these low frame rates are probably in multiplayer games. I suspect these benchmarks are using single player scenarios. If I am not wrong your CPU shouldn't be such a huge bottleneck in single player games but maybe multiplayer has to high CPU requirements.
 

Woody1999

Admirable
I understand this, but how bad really is the Q8300 compared to something like an i3-4160? Will I be getting considerable FPS increases on most of my games or will I still need to upgrade my graphics card if I want to run games like BF3 on Medium? The benchmarks I linked are obviously using best possible scenario using the 4960X and 32GB of RAM etc. How will my mediocre build compare to something like that?

Also, something to note - I'm running my Q8300 at 2.3GHz for now, having cooling issues and the card is overheating at stock speeds. Once my Arctic Cooling Alpine 11 Pro arives tomorrow I'll hopefully be able to overclock a bit and check back then.

Woody
 
Here is an interesting article to check out that relates to your situation: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-wolfdale-yorkfield-comparison,3487.html

It shows the difference from one architecture to the next with Intel's chips. You will see how far your chip has fallen behind in games. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-wolfdale-yorkfield-comparison,3487.html

Even the overclocked q9550 falls far behind Intel's latest quad core CPUs and that chip is better by far than the chip you are currently using. Overclocked, even more so. Time for an upgrade. ;)
 


Get at least an i5. If you are going to build a computer for gaming, build a computer for gaming. Don't build a mid-tier Workstation and game on it.
 

Woody1999

Admirable


The PC was originally a Packard Bell iXtreme M3720 - but I've swapped out the mobo, the video card and the power supply since I got it about 5 years ago. The problem is, even when playing single player - the exact same mission that those benchmarks were recorded at, I managed 25FPS at 1366x768, running minimum settings on BF3. It just seems in an entirely different world.

Woody
 

Woody1999

Admirable
Er, I can't spend an arm and a leg right now. I have a top budget of £400, and that is still pushing it a bit. The i3 was the best option I could go for, looking at future upgradability. I was originally planning on an FX-6300 but the AM3 socket is dying out and I can at least upgrade to an i5 (preferably 4690K) in the future. That's why I spent more on a quality motherboard.

Woody
 

Woody1999

Admirable


Hm, how quickly would my i3-4160 be outdated then? I don't want to spend £90 on a processor only for it to be worthless within 6 months.

Woody
 

jonespwns

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I would think you would be losing about quite a few frames if you get an i3 over an i5. Generally, the lowest tier of the CPU spectrum is the quickest to go. Iv'e had my i5 2500k since like.. 2012 and it still runs perfect with no noticeable bottle necks. Remember that the i3 is still only a dual core CPU. While most programs still don't go past 2 cores, GAMES are becoming more accepting to multiple cores.
 

Woody1999

Admirable


While I appreciate your information, there is no chance of me getting an i5, especially not a decent Haswell one, into a £400 budget. I've attempted to find one, but using poor quality components for the power supply and motherboard is not my view on PC building. I would much rather futureproof my computer and be able to upgrade in the future.

Woody
 

jonespwns

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Well, then get an i3. There should still be an noticeable improvement due to the architecture and the speed compared to your older one. The i3 would run BF3 fine. Probably medium on multiplayer and mixture of medium and high on single player.
 

RazerZ

Judicious
Ambassador
Do you need a case and OS to go with that £400 budget?

If you don't need an OS you can do something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£142.49 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97P-D3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£62.36 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston Fury Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£52.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case (£32.70 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£45.49 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £336.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-20 18:55 GMT+0000

Although I would swap the i5 for an i3 if you don't plan to upgrade the 260x in the future.
 

Woody1999

Admirable


If I kept my original idea, I would upgrade to an R9 280 Twin Frozr and next I would get an i5-4690K. Or, I would upgrade to a cheap Skylake i5 and motherboard.

Woody

 

Woody1999

Admirable
Eh, this is really pushing the budget, but I guess it could work. I really wanna keep the H230 because I think it is gorgeous, plus it's sound dampening (important - it stays in my bedroom) and I also have worked with them before so I know exactly how to use them and cable manage them, problem is, it's a lot of money for my budget. I can salvage the Alpine 11 Pro from my current PC, along with the graphics card. Don't really wanna keep the HDD, it's old, slow and pretty low capacity. The power supply is kinda too weak and isn't the best of quality, so I'd have to get a new one as well. I also need to keep the ODD.

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£142.49 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£64.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston Fury White Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£52.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£34.45 @ Aria PC)
Case: NZXT H230 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case (£54.28 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£45.49 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£9.98 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £404.43

Woody
 

RazerZ

Judicious
Ambassador
Skylake is going to see the same trend as the last two generations, marginal performance increase with better integrated graphics. Gaming wise there won't be much of a difference between the i5 4440 and an overclocked, unlocked i5 4690k.

Basically you can get an i5 haswell now and not have to worry about upgrading for a long time.

I modified my build to get it closer to the parts you originally had:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£142.49 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97P-D3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£62.36 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston Fury White Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£52.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£34.45 @ Aria PC)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case (£32.70 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£45.49 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£9.98 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £380.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-20 19:58 GMT+0000

You don't need the extra case fans.

I have the 210 in black myself and it's a fantastic case for the price.
 

Woody1999

Admirable


Zalman Z3 Plus is a great case for the price, but it isn't really the look I'm going for right now. I need my PC to be dead silent, not particularly flashy and easy to upgrade. While the Z3 has good features, it doesn't use sound dampening material and also, it screams "look at meh!".

Woody
 

You could always add sound dampening material yourself if you want; it can't be too expensive.
 

Woody1999

Admirable
Eh, I'd rather not. After all, the main aim of a case is to look good, anything else is just a nice touch. The H230 looks gorgeous plus has all of the features I need a case to have, it's staying as far as I'm concerned.

Okay, I've decided to go full scavenger, taking the cooler, the graphics card, the ODD and the wireless adapter from my current PC to use it with my new one.

Hopefully it's done now! http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/MDR24D

Woody