Is my CPU bottlenecking me?

[Palurien]

I recently upgraded to a 5850 overclocked HIS GPU, a Core 2 Duo E7500, and a 650W Corasir PSU. I was wondering if the E7500 might end up bottle necking me? Like if I should upgrade to a Core 2 Quad down the road when they get cheaper.

 

[calinkula]

I wouldn't expect the e7500 to outright bottleneck the 5850 unless your running a low resolution monitor. But considering you just dropped ~$300 for the 5850 I'm going to assume your running a 1080p monitor or something similar. Which if you turn up the eye candy should put most of the load on the GPU. Of course a little OC on the CPU can always help.

 

[Palurien]

Ok thanks, yea I want to learn how to OC CPU, the HIS video card is the Turbo 5850 that comes with CoDMW2 and it was $325. Core clock is 765. I was just running what I hear is a horrible CPU and pretty bad GPU intensive game, GTA 4. I had everything max, x2 AA and 85% viewing distance with 30-40 FPS, I think thats pretty good. Oh yea and monitor is a 23.6" ASUS with 1920x1080, got it also so I can play 360 on it.

 

[cmcghee358]

GTA IV is more CPU dependant than other games. It can actually use 4 cores. So a Core 2 Dio is going to be a slight bottleneck in that instance.

 

[englandr753]

I would sell the e7500 on ebay for 75 bucks and upgrade to a decent quad core. I don't know what mobo your are using to suggest a cpu so if you can post your full system specs that would be helpful. A good gpu like that deserves a good oc'd quad to play with along with a decent after market cpu cooler... = D

 

[Palurien]

I have a ASUS P5Q Pro Turbo, just bought them couple days ago. Dont know that I can afford a 9550 but maybe like the 9400 or under. I would go AMD but I am already LGA775 so I figure might as well stay. lol Problem is I can RMA board but cant RMA the CPU and it was 120...

 

[Palurien]

I guess the question is are games getting more CPU debendant? I looked at http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/87?vs=50 at E7500 vs Q8400 and 9550 and the E7500 is very close in games, only ones that are low are Far Cry 2 and Left for dead, average game is only 10-20 FPS lower. My affordability range is 8400, 950 is out of my range.

 

[Palurien]

Also another reason I can only go PII 940 or 775 is I have 4 Gb DRR2 and dont have money to upgrade RAM too

 

[Palurien]

I think maybe Ill send back Mobo, and cooler and get a PII 940 BE and and a Scythe $28 cooler and just sell E7500 for like 80-90 since its only week old.

 

[cmcghee358]

As of now there are only a handful of games that can utilize more than 2 cores, but more are being added. So to anticipate future growth I'd recommend looking to acquire a quad core soon.

 

[Palurien]

Ok so I ordered MSI mobo that I got my dad, its nice has OC switch too, the 955 BE, a $40 CM Gemini cooler and some AC MX2 I think it is.

 

[Palurien]

Best answer selected by Palurien.