Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > Graphics Cards > [Solved] Will I be bottlenecked? (5870)

[Solved] Will I be bottlenecked? (5870)

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - [Solved] Will I be bottlenecked? (5870)

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!

Best answer from hallowed_dragon.

Word :    Username :           
 

I want to upgrade my gcard (currently a 8800GTS G92), and right now I am looking into either the 5870 or the 5850. However, I am wondering if anything on my system may bottleneck the GPU performance. Which I suspect it will.

Current Specs:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 (this may be the problem)
8g DDR-800 (4x2g in Dual Channel.)
Western Digital Caviar 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W Continuous @ 40°C EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready


Message edited by TMLewiss on 10-07-2009 at 12:24:11 PM
I am in the same situation as you. I currently own a 4870 and want to buy a 5870. The bad news is that there will be a bottleneck at that CPU speed. As soon as I get the 5850 I will OC the quad to at least 3 Ghz and at that speed any bottleneck under the resolution of 1920x1200 will be almost eliminated (maybe we will lose 2-3 FPS, but that is minor). As soon as you crank up the details (AA&AF and the resolution) the power will shift to the graphic card and bottlenecks due to the CPU will disappear.
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
Best answer

I am in the same situation as you. I currently own a 4870 and want to buy a 5870. The bad news is that there will be a bottleneck at that CPU speed. As soon as I get the 5850 I will OC the quad to at least 3 Ghz and at that speed any bottleneck under the resolution of 1920x1200 will be almost eliminated (maybe we will lose 2-3 FPS, but that is minor). As soon as you crank up the details (AA&AF and the resolution) the power will shift to the graphic card and bottlenecks due to the CPU will disappear.

Reply to hallowed_dragon

Depending on your motherboard and ram, you should be able to overclock that cpu close to 3.2ghz. As hallowed_dragon stated you will want to try to hit at least 3.0ghz or higher to help eliminate any cpu bottlenecks...

------------------------------ EVGA 780i mobo | EVGA GTX 275 | Q9550 OC @ 3.6Ghz | 8Ghz 1066Mhz Corsair Memory | Corsair 1000 watt PSU | Coolermaster Stacker CM830 Case | Ultra TEC CPU Cooler | Vista Ultimate 64

 

Reply to englandr753

At 3ghz your Q6600 will be fine. At 2.4, yes thats a bottleneck.

Reply to zipzoomflyhigh

zipzoomflyhigh wrote :

At 3ghz your Q6600 will be fine. At 2.4, yes thats a bottleneck.




SHHHH................S/S will hear you.
Besides i totally agree with him its not a bottleneck its a restriction.

Mactronix

Reply to mactronix

I have yet to overclock anything, ever. I am always to afraid I will mess something up. Though, I pretty much figured my processor would bottleneck me, there are not a ton of quad core processors that even come as 3ghz+. So either spend 400+ on that or overclock. I will read up on the guide on overclocking, anyone have any suggestions as well?

I would also imagine that if I overclocked I would need to get a better CPU fan than just the stock fan.

As a note my RAM is 2x: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800

If I must, i will just upgrade everything, as I said though, it seems like I am going to need to overclock my CPU no matter what if I want Quad core... and lord I do.


Message edited by TMLewiss on 10-07-2009 at 05:22:02 PM
Reply to TMLewiss

hallowed_dragon wrote :

I am in the same situation as you. I currently own a 4870 and want to buy a 5870. The bad news is that there will be a bottleneck at that CPU speed. As soon as I get the 5850 I will OC the quad to at least 3 Ghz and at that speed any bottleneck under the resolution of 1920x1200 will be almost eliminated (maybe we will lose 2-3 FPS, but that is minor). As soon as you crank up the details (AA&AF and the resolution) the power will shift to the graphic card and bottlenecks due to the CPU will disappear.



Well deserved best answer :hello:


Mactronix

Reply to mactronix

Yes, the nail was strickend on thy head. ;)

------------------------------ EVGA 780i mobo | EVGA GTX 275 | Q9550 OC @ 3.6Ghz | 8Ghz 1066Mhz Corsair Memory | Corsair 1000 watt PSU | Coolermaster Stacker CM830 Case | Ultra TEC CPU Cooler | Vista Ultimate 64

 

Reply to englandr753

Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > Graphics Cards > [Solved] Will I be bottlenecked? (5870)
Go to:

There are 1154 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them
  • 01:00 vianescute won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 meywd won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 nayega won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 gpfear won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 Conrad925 won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 skythra won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 Ckaz won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 james59 won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 snarl won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 patlabor44 won the Uniformed badge