Xenon CPU upgrade / GPU bottleneck

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ukdozer

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Sep 2, 2012
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Hello guys! Wondered if someone could shine some light on this for me regarding a recent CPU upgrade, I will start with my specs:

Xenon X5660 6 core @ 4.2Ghz
Asus Sabertooth X58 mobo
16gb DDR3 HyperX Ram
Samsung Evo 250Gb SSD
Radeon R9 270
(I game at 1080p)

So as you can see I'm still holding onto the X58 chipset and recently plonked a Xenon 6 Core in the motherboard and it works great, I'm looking to upgrade the GPU for upcoming games such as Battlefield 1 and my question is what the hell should I Buy??

Looking online I see many options all around the same price (£200-250) new and used such as the GTX 780ti, GTX970, GTX690.. Also been looking at the New RX 480.. Current games I play are Crisis 3, Battlefield hard line, Battlefront.. But with my ducky GPU I can't enjoy max settings.

One more thing I have been worried about is would this CPU Bottleneck?
(6 cores and 12 threads)

Any help would be much appreciated
And please don't comment just saying "GTX970", please consider my current hardware configuration and CPU... If you don't know what an X58 is please move onto another thread!
 
Solution
DonkeyOatie
You have an excellent CPU and motherboard combination, and I see you have achieved a good overclock. Your CPU is plenty powerful enough for what you want with good performance, even compared to modern chips and will not significantly limit your GPU any more than any modern CPU would. The one limit (which won't matter at 1080p) is the PCI-e 2.0 slots which limit the bandwidth to the GPU.

Most (all?) modern games will not be using all the cores and threads you have available, but thanks to your good CPU, great overclock, and good motherboard, modern 1080p gaming is doable. Here's some benchmarks and other supporting information to confirm what I say...
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InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
May 18, 2007
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Would any sane game developer release games that require a $1000 CPU to run reasonably well? That would put their games out of reach from 99% of people for the next few years. Most game studios wouldn't be able to survive that.

On the GPU side, wait for non-reference RX480s. A GTX970 should be a real option too - prices are dropping now that the RX480 is out. A few months from now, the GTX1060 may also be worth a look.
 
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guanyu210379

guanyu210379

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Mar 30, 2007
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Xenon? Like Xenon lamp? ^o^

You have LGA1366 platform. This platform is quite old and the 1366 processors could create bottleneck for strong new GPUs on certain AAA games, if you play @1080p and wanna max everything.
That Xeon (not Xenon) has 12 threads but games tend to prefer faster cores/threads than having more threads. Because it is quite old, yes, you should be worried about having bottleneck on new AAA games on max.
Bottleneck means that you can not fully used the full extend of the new GPU due to processor.
If the bottleneck is only 10-20%, I would still keep your current processor.
However... how much will it bottleneck the new GPUs? This I do not know.

Here is what I am thinking: You can try to upgrade the GPU first and see, how things work for you. If it is still not good enough, you must upgrade your processor too. You can carry the new GPU to the newer processor plaatform anyway.
So...Depending on where you are living and considering that you already have R9 270, I see only either GTX970 or RX480 or R9 390 or R9 390x or GTX1060 as the prefered option.
I tend to pick RX480 or GTX1060 but not the reference version.

 
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InvalidError

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
May 18, 2007
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Maybe at stock clock. But at 4.2GHz, I seriously doubt it will be a bottleneck in any game any time soon unless aiming for 100+Hz refresh.
 
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DonkeyOatie

DonkeyOatie

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Sep 16, 2014
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You have an excellent CPU and motherboard combination, and I see you have achieved a good overclock. Your CPU is plenty powerful enough for what you want with good performance, even compared to modern chips and will not significantly limit your GPU any more than any modern CPU would. The one limit (which won't matter at 1080p) is the PCI-e 2.0 slots which limit the bandwidth to the GPU.

Most (all?) modern games will not be using all the cores and threads you have available, but thanks to your good CPU, great overclock, and good motherboard, modern 1080p gaming is doable. Here's some benchmarks and other supporting information to confirm what I say. http://www.overclock-and-game.com/hardware/computer-tech-reviews/28-x5660-review?showall=1 and gaming http://www.overclock-and-game.com/hardware/computer-tech-reviews/28-x5660-review?showall=&start=7 Some games struggle at high levels on any modern CPU.

What PSU do you have and how much do you want to spends max? Do you have any plans for a major system upgrade or re-build in the next two years?

I's lean towards a cheap GTX970 because it does very well with 1080p and uses comparatively little power and most are overclocked or can be overclocked for a bit more performance. However, my general advice is to buy the most powerful GPU you can afford. You may decide to do VR in the next years or two and, while your CPU is still good, you would want to get a good VR capable GPU now.
 
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Solution
guanyu210379

guanyu210379

Illustrious
Mar 30, 2007
7,684
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ah...I thought X5660 is already that weak since it is based on an old platform.
I was suspecting a small bottleneck.
Glad, it was not the case.

Here, where I live,
Galax GTX970 EXOC is €10 cheaper than the reference RX480.
Some R9 390 is €10 cheaper than Galax GTX970 EXOC.
If you do not wanna wait, GTX970, RX480 reference and R9 390 are good options.
If you are willing to wait, non-reference RX480 and GTX1060 are interesting.

I wonder, do you intend to play above 100 fps or are you using 144/165Hz monitor? If yes, you can even consider to go up to GTX1070.
 
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ukdozer

Honorable
Sep 2, 2012
16
0
10,510
Thanks guys for the comments, I knew when I first invested in the X58 chipset it was a good idea like lol! So with the over clock I should not see too much if any bottleneck.. That's good to know :)

Right now my budget is around £200, I would prefer to buy new and I can get the new RX 480 4GB version for less than this.. I think that will be my best option based on your comments. My PSU is 850w and my monitor is 1080p @ 60mhz .. Thanks for the input guys much appreciated
 
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U

ukdozer

Honorable
Sep 2, 2012
16
0
10,510
Yeah I heard about the issue with the initial release RX 480s over voltage on the PCI-e slot.. Or something like that. I guess with my board been 6 years old that's something I neeeed to avoid! I'll wait for aftermarket solutions :)
 
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