2 x ATI 5870 (Crossfire) Bottlenecked from Q6600?

deeznutsforpresident2016

Distinguished
Dec 26, 2015
44
1
18,545
So I am doing a budget build, Got my 5870 yesterday for $20. I am wondering if I will see any bottlenecks with the q6600 (gonna overclock as far as I can go, hopefully 3.6ghz) ... I am most likely going to be buying a asus striker II Formula motherboard so I can get the best overclocking on the cpu. All in all, Will a overclocked q6600 bottleneck 2 5870's in crossfire?
 
Solution
The amount of CPU bottleneck varies a lot from game to game, so it's hard to say.

It's a fairly weak CPU, but then so are the GPU's.

So the answer in order of chickens to horses is:
Yes.
No.
Maybe.

*I'd say most likely some bottleneck in SKYRIM for example, and possibly minimal bottleneck in a the 2013 Tomb Raider game but these are educated guesses.

Keep in mind that a 10% overclock can at MOST give a 10% frame rate increase if the game is completely bottlenecked by the CPU. For example, you might go from 40FPS to 44FPS.

(I wouldn't spend too much extra for a motherboard for an old system like this either. )
The amount of CPU bottleneck varies a lot from game to game, so it's hard to say.

It's a fairly weak CPU, but then so are the GPU's.

So the answer in order of chickens to horses is:
Yes.
No.
Maybe.

*I'd say most likely some bottleneck in SKYRIM for example, and possibly minimal bottleneck in a the 2013 Tomb Raider game but these are educated guesses.

Keep in mind that a 10% overclock can at MOST give a 10% frame rate increase if the game is completely bottlenecked by the CPU. For example, you might go from 40FPS to 44FPS.

(I wouldn't spend too much extra for a motherboard for an old system like this either. )
 
Solution

deeznutsforpresident2016

Distinguished
Dec 26, 2015
44
1
18,545


Thanks for your answer! I actually just bought that motherboard I was talking about above. I paid $40 canadian for it (about $32 usd) ... One thing I noticed is that a heatpipe is snapped on the motherboard. the snap has occured from the heatsink that is right above the cpu, that connects down the side to the south bridge. I am wondering if this is a big deal!!!