No performance gain when OC

[jut703]

I recently OCed my CPU for a mild overclock, specs as follows:

CPU: Core 2 Duo E6550 (2.33 GHz --> 2.80 GHz)
Motherboard: Asus P5QL-Pro (P43 Chipset)
FSB: 1333 --> 1600
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 3850 256 MB GDDR3 (699 MHz core clock/829 MHz mem clock)
Cooling: Stock Intel HSF, 2 120mm fans
Voltage: Auto --> 1.068V

I decided to check any improvements in my frame rates in the two games i play right now, Test Drive Unlimited and Crysis.
Uh, sad to say framerates were exactly the same despite the CPU overclock. (
I checked benchmarks of the E6550 and the E6750 (2.66 GHz) and there's supposed to be an improvement of about 5-10 average fps, ceteris paribus.

My theory is that the GPU is the bottleneck here, and added CPU power isn't of any use in games. Any truth to this?
And if it is indeed true, is it an absolute circumstance? Shouldn't the increased clock speed add even 3-5 fps?

I don't plan to upgrade this PC any further as I'm saving up for a Core i5 system instead sometime 2010/2011, and I'd just like to know if the CPU and GPU are balanced or if the video card is *too* underpowered (I know it isn't high end anymore but back in '07 it was pretty much upper mainstream. Oh and BTW I'm from a 3rd world country where an 8500 GT is considered as the mainstream gaming card).

Thanks guys.

 

[overshocked]

I recently OCed my CPU for a mild overclock, specs as follows:

CPU: Core 2 Duo E6550 (2.33 GHz --> 2.80 GHz)
Motherboard: Asus P5QL-Pro (P43 Chipset)
FSB: 1333 --> 1600
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 3850 256 MB GDDR3 (699 MHz core clock/829 MHz mem clock)
Cooling: Stock Intel HSF, 2 120mm fans
Voltage: Auto --> 1.068V

I decided to check any improvements in my frame rates in the two games i play right now, Test Drive Unlimited and Crysis.
Uh, sad to say framerates were exactly the same despite the CPU overclock. (
I checked benchmarks of the E6550 and the E6750 (2.66 GHz) and there's supposed to be an improvement of about 5-10 average fps, ceteris paribus.

My theory is that the GPU is the bottleneck here, and added CPU power isn't of any use in games. Any truth to this?
And if it is indeed true, is it an absolute circumstance? Shouldn't the increased clock speed add even 3-5 fps?

I don't plan to upgrade this PC any further as I'm saving up for a Core i5 system instead sometime 2010/2011, and I'd just like to know if the CPU and GPU are balanced or if the video card is *too* underpowered (I know it isn't high end anymore but back in '07 it was pretty much upper mainstream. Oh and BTW I'm from a 3rd world country where an 8500 GT is considered as the mainstream gaming card).

Thanks guys.

Yeah... the card is a pretty bad bottelneck for the system.

But you should get a little better frame rates. Try running 3d mark with the different speeds and that should tell you how much your OC helped. [:lectrocrew:6]

 

[jut703]

Yeah... the card is a pretty bad bottelneck for the system.

But you should get a little better frame rates. Try running 3d mark with the different speeds and that should tell you how much your OC helped. [:lectrocrew:6]

Er. 3D Mark isn't free right? Is there any other way I can test for performance improvements?

Um I tried overclocking my video card through ATI Catalyst, from 699 --> 745 MHz and 829 --> 1000 MHz. I did see some frame rate improvements, but I don't know how much this lessens the bottleneck, or if it allows any gains from the CPU OC at all.

 

[overshocked]

Im sorry. I meant to say:

"Try running superpi with the different speeds and that should tell you how much your OC helped"

 

[overshocked]

Uhhh, graphics are a bottleneck right now, no way to really fix this... Especially for heavy intensive games.

They probably had the idea since the joining of cpu/gpu companies that they could probably switch over to cpu/gpu combo platforms and possibly get rid of discrete graphics. LOL!

nO THEY WERE MORE THINKING ALONG THE LINES OF:

"LETS CHAIN TOGETHER MULTIPLE CARDS!"

 

[overshocked]

^ yeah.

 

[jut703]

Im sorry. I meant to say:

"Try running superpi with the different speeds and that should tell you how much your OC helped"

Ooh. I shall try that. thanks overshocked.

How bout other real world apps that are cpu-intensive? what would be good to try?

 

[Fedtmusen2]

If you really want a cpu intensive app, try:

IntelBurnTest v2.3
by AgentGOD
----------------------------
The original. All others are copycats.

Home Page: http://www.ultimate-filez.com
-
Link to download:
http://www.ultimate-filez.com/forum/showthread.php?s=0d6420792b892056e041af977c284640&t=9