Core i7 930 and GPU bottleneck?

ambam

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I have a Core i7 930, 6GB of DDR3 RAM, and a single Radeon HD 5970? How much of a bottleneck will my CPU have on my graphics card at it's stock clock speeds?

With the Core i7 2xxxK "Sandy Bridge" coming out next year, and ATI's HD 6xxx series due for december 2010 (allegedy) did I wait too soon to buy all of my hardware?

Also, is an 850W PSU enough for just one of them?
 

Duckmeister

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I have a very similar rig, and while overclocking the CPU helps (of course), at stock clocks it's not bottlenecking the graphics card at all.

No, you didn't wait too soon, because it's pretty much a given that ATI's 6-series will be delayed, and truly, for quad core, you don't need anything above that 930. It's the exact same architecture as the other 9xx models, the only difference is a lower stock clock speed (that can be overclocked VERY easily, even with the stock heatsink). Anything above that is just more cores, and you really won't need anything above 4 cores for gaming.

Yes, an 850W PSU is more than enough, which is how it should be.

As I said before, I own a similar rig, and I am extremely happy with it, and I'm sure you will be as well.
 
You got a great computer. If you had waited you would not have a great computer. Bottleneck is overrated and in your case you have a top of the line CPU with top of the line GPU, sure if you overclock the CPU you might get some improvement in benchmarks but nothing that you would actually see. Not a lot of visual difference in 50fps or 55fps.
 

ambam

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Should I have waited until the Sandy Bridge and also bought a socket R motherboard?

When will PC games be using more than Four cores?
 

Duckmeister

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No, you should not have waited for Sandy Bridge. The R variants aren't going to be coming out with the rest of the 1155 variants, so you'd be waiting a relatively long time.

PC Games probably won't be using more than four cores for at least a year or two, and even then only a few will do so. However, hyperthreading should be your answer to that, not buying an entirely new motherboard/CPU.
 

reccy

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Brilliant CPU btw i have one, awesome overclockers, and stable as a goat!

GPU wise, not sure, i have 2x GTX 470's and my system seems to be preforming well at present with no bottlenecks or ingame lag as such.

Sandybridge is over rated lol :p
 

ambam

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Usually when a new CPU is released, you have to buy another motherboard along with it.

So you're telling me that future PC games that use 6-8 physical cores will utilize hyper-threading of a quad-core CPU like the Core i7 to compensate for performance?

The logical threads aren't as fast as the physical ones, but the performance gap really isn't much.
 

Duckmeister

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I'm telling you that when PC games do start using more than four cores, the smart solution is to simply use hyperthreading on your quad-core CPU, not go out and drop a grand on a new motherboard and CPU.

When I talk about an application using more than four cores, by cores, I mean threads. A game can't tell the difference between a physical core or a logical one, and the only difference you'll see is a slight one in performance.