Bottlenecking

[castigate]

My current rig is:
amd 6000+
zotac 8800gt amp!
4 gigs ddr2 800
antec 550 watt psu
antec 300 case
gygabyte mobo (the first gen am2+ with 780g chipset)

i was running on a 1280x1024 resolution until recently and did just fine, but now i have a 1900x1080 res monitor and im really seeing the drop in fps in gaming. would it be wise for me to just upgrade my gpu or will a newer gpu be bottlnecked by my older cpu?

example = crysis warhead runs at about 28fps but dips to 9ish if it gets hectic (fire, explosions, smoke ect) running on enthusiast settings with no aa.

 

[has22fas]

From what i assume, the higher resolution you go the more the cpu stress will be decreased, and GPU will take over at that resolution. But just to be more future proofed, buy a quad core or a phenom II. And crysis is a very demanding game dont expect an 8800GT to run 1920x1080 max with no AA smooth. My HD4850 just about manages it. I recommend you upgrade your processer before anything as more and more games become quad core optimized, and your old gen amd will bottleneck the hell out of any modern graphics card

 

[castigate]

thanks man, ill probably do that. is there a price drop in processors coming up i should i aware of? also, my mobo is GA-MA78GM-S2H, is it totally capable of am3 or do i need a newer mobo aswell?

 

[Onus]

I'd get a HD5770 first. Even if your CPU bottlenecks it some, since you increased your resolution, it is the GPU that is having to do more work, not the CPU. Your PSU is enough for that card.

Edit: You can upgrade your CPU later if you need to.

 

[Raidur]

Your crysis fps sounds about right for an 8800GT. Upgrade that GPU first then see.

 

[jitpublisher]

8800gt is more of the problem here than your processor. I vote for the new GPU first, then the processor later if you still feel the need.

 

[Lutfij]

+1 for the 5770

 

[jonpaul37]

I completely agree, upgrade the video card first and be sure to get a 1GB model as opposed to 512 meg, it'll benefit you more at that resolution.

 

[flyinfinni]

+1 to the 5770, or if you have the money and want more power, a 5850 is great as well. Once you get the GPU, then you can test whether you are bottlenecked by your CPU or not, and whether that bothers you. If you are being held back, then you can decide whether to upgrade the CPU after or not.

 

[castigate]

alright, sounds like a plan. is there a good way to be able to gauge bottlenecking, or is it just a perception kind of deal?

 

[flyinfinni]

Well, you can at least watch the CPU and GPU usage levels and see which one is hitting full 100% usage and things like that to get at least an idea of where bottlenecks lie etc. You can also do testing with games and overclocking/underclocking both the GPU and the CPU and see how they affect your gaming performance.

 

[castigate]

is there good free soft for seeng cpu/gpu usage levels side by side? i use coretemp for my cpu readings and evga precision for oc and monitoring my gpu, however, it does not have a "stress" readout

 

[flyinfinni]

use GPU-z its a great GPU monitoring software. For the CPU- you can just use the task manager "performance" tab.