CPU/GPU Bottleneck

[gidgiddonihah]

I have a:

Dell e510 (Heavily Upgraded):
Windows 7 Home Premium
Intel Pentium D 945 3.4 GHz
XFX Geforce 9600GT 512 MB GDDR3
3GB RAM 533Mhz (As fast as it will go...)
1TB Internal (250 GB for Windows Drive)
750GB External
500 Watt Power Supply

So am i bottlenecked? Here is Windows Eperience Index's rating...

5.1-Determined by lowest Subscore
Processor: 5.1
RAM: 5.3
Graphics: 6.7
Gaming Graphics: 6.7
Primary Hard Disk: 5.4

People were saying I should be fine, but CPU/GPU are never running full tilt even when i've had to tune down the settings. I know it's not a super good setup, but i'm thinking somewhere im bottlenecked...

And does this sound right? http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=223775
Its older, so im not sure it would work no-a-days, so anyone have any sugestions on how to OC my CPU? Im planning to do the same with my Video Card, but im not sure what program to use...

Thanks Ahead!

 

[gidgiddonihah]

This is what Belarc Advisor told me about my Main Circit Board:

Board: Dell Inc. 0WG261
Serial Number: ..CN6986161C115C.
Bus Clock: 800 megahertz
BIOS: Dell Inc. A07 01/08/2007

Just for that OC thing...

 

[iam2thecrowe]

your best bet would be to put a core2 duo or something instead of OC'ing. those old P4's are hot and power hungry. Windows experience index doesn't mean a whole lot. I would say the processor is not that much of a bottleneck, depends on the resolution you are gaming at. If its 1900x1080, then your video card is not powerfull enough to drive that. Are there any games you are having trouble playing??

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Dirt 2 and even Supreme Commander I. My neutered BIOS won't allow the C2D's or I would have stuck one in there. I stuck the maximum that my BIOS would allow - a Pentium D 945, picked it up for dirt cheap and slapped it in there. I know they are hot, power hungry, and slow... Since this I can't go any further should i OC, or am I stuck where i am even if I OC both? And if so what program (free) would you recomend?

There are stories about people getting to 4Ghz +, but im running with the stock cooler, and im not sure i could stick another on... If so and I would see a performance jump, what cooler would you recomend for the 755 socket?

 

[gidgiddonihah]

I have a picture that shows the usage of my Video Card and CPU while playing Dirt 2. The CPU usage drop off is when i closed Dirt 2. As you may see, the CPU usage goes up and down:

Also as you might be able to see, i Overclocked my video card already (Just a few minutes ago) to the max that i could . I posted these so you might be able to tell if something is bottlenecked... I did see a 10-15 FPS increase in WoW, but in Dirt 2, and Star Trek Legacy (Will a few graphic addons) all worked very similary.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

And after the overclock:

700
1750
950

I ran the 3D Mark 06. My video card never went over 75%, but my CPU stayed at 90%-where it hovered for most of the time-95%. It would also spike to 100%, and again, the video card NEVER went over 75%...

So i guessing that it is my CPU that is holding my Video card back. The only problem is, why can't i sqeeze the last 5-10%? Most of the time FPS were at 20 or below. So why isnt my chip getting everything sqeezed out of it? I know it has those last few %'s to climb... Maybe Windows likes to keep some in reserve if possible?? But i dont want that, i want my performance . And with a 25% not being used, then will OC'ing my CPU help?

I will run some more tests, and include screenshots of usage's. Hope someone will still answer a three day old thread... :lol:

 

[king smp]

It is very hard to oc a dell since they lock the bios.
You could try SoftFSB or CPUFSB i think is called. If your mobo is supported it allows you to change FSB.
It has instructions for looking on the mobo next to the crystal for your PLL chip number.
If that is one of the supported ones on the list then you can change your FSB.
Only thing is by changing FSB only without upping volts or playing with memory or multipliers you will only get a mild oc which really not going to be a big difference.
It is possible to upgrade bios thru dell support and maybe support a better cpu...

 

[king smp]

Sorry didn't read your link you posted referring to CPUFSB.
Really though the OC you would get would be minimal.
There are game booster software you could try that eliminates unnecessary win processes.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

I have game booster, but it just isn't enough :lol:.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Best answer selected by gidgiddonihah.