[Solved] GTX 470 + Q8300 Bottleneck?

You should have gotten a new monitor. A GTX470 wants 1650x1080 at least, but really 1920x1280.
At that low resolution the strain is all on your cpu which is too slow to keep up with that card.

Okay, tomorrow I'm going to Frys and buying a new monitor. It seems like that should fix most of the problem. Right now I only have money for a monitor, so I'll grab a good ASUS or Samsung that's 1080p. In January I should have enough money to order a new i5 760 and a good P55. *Hopefully* I can get this PS3 sold soon so I can boost my funds for that. Thanks for ALL the replies, they were truly helpful!

SC2 is an example of a very cpu bound game your Q8300 must have been holding back the 9800gt even which is why the new graphics card didnt improve that game,

and just so you know, buying a new monitor won't "fix" the problem, you will just not lose much performance as still your cpu will hold you back at the same levels, its not like the cpu needs to work less at higher resolutions.

consider this , for example at 1280by1024 now you get lets say 40 fps in a certain game maxed out and if you had a better cpu to allow you to reach the gtx470s potential you would get 80fps.

but switching to a new monitor at 1920by1080, the graphics card since it is so powerfull can still pump out 60fps, but since your cpu is still holding you back at 40fps at the new resolution you will still get the same performance....until you increase the settings in the game enough like if you get some 2560by1200 res monitor or play metro2033 max or something you will be held back by your cpu,

what im trying to say is upgrading your monitor won't increase performance, it will just remain relatively the same whereas someone whos graphics card was a bottleneck upgraded their monitor would have lower performance.

bottom line: buying a new monitor is alright because whatever is playable now with your setup will remain playable with the new monitor, but it isnt fixing anything

But since switching the monitor would eliminate the bottleneck, that logic doesn't work.

*does quick test with cod4 on minimum settings. reduces clockspeed of phenom II to 1000MHz. plays on 1920x1080 and 1280x720 one after the other. radeon 4850.*
720p: minimum framerate observed: 38FPS
1080p: minimum framerate observed: 50FPS

Obviously there isn't much of a CPU bottleneck, if any, until we hit these settings but modern games may be more CPU bound. I know SCII and BFBCII are definitely pretty CPU bound.

I suppose, since you do overclock, you could do a definitive test yourself. Use fraps to record FPS for a sequence you set up for the games. Underclock your CPU, then overclock your CPU to what you have it at now. Is there a noticeable FPS improvement?

Also, on the topic of SC2, I decided to do a little experiment. What I did, was turned down ALL of the graphic settings except for the resolution. My fps doubled, and instead of getting 60 constant, I got fps in the 100s. But, my GPU usage was EXACTLY the same as it was before when running on ultra. After that, I turned everything back on, and I lowered the resolution to the lowest it would possibly go. My GPU usage dropped from avg 40% to 28%. I also observed NO fps increase by doing so when using fraps to record fps.

Ok as for your first test, lowering the details increased performance but GPU usage was the same. This is simple in showing that if the gpu usage remains the same at a lower detail settings it can pump out more fps.

And as for your second test, it shows that lowering resolution had no effect on performance so your graphic card could handle both resolutions and could work less at the lower one to obtain the same performance. This shows that increasing or lowering resolution (so any change in resolution ie. buying the monitor) will not affect your performance because your graphic card has enough memory to handle different performance levels.

I am confident in saying that Enzo is incorrect in saying that increasing your resolution with a new monitor will increase your performance. I am pretty sure that in less gpu intense games at the higher resolution your graphic card will be ok and performance will remain relatively the same at your cpu's max, but in gpu intense games like metro2033 at the higher resolution your graphic card will now hold your system back and you will have lower performance. There is no case where performance will increase.

But even though I say all of this , getting a new monitor is not a bad idea at all, your system is more than capable of handling smooth frame rates at full 1080p, your cpu although holding your fps back, it still allows you to have playable performance.