CPU bottleneck or PSU cause of bad GPU performance?

[LJW10000]

I have been moling this over and searching all over for an answer but I can't find exactly what I'm looking for. I am trying to figure out if my sub par ratings in heaven(~750) and 3Dmark (13240) are a result of my power supply of a cpu bottleneck. I am running an Nvidia GTX 470 with an Intel Q6600 G0 processor clocked at 2.80 Ghz and my PSU is a 600 watt with I think to be two 18 amp rails for my GPU. I am getting the same results as an SLI setup of 2 GTS 250s which I think really isn't right at all. I thought the GTX 470 would greatly improve game performance. Any input would be appreciated.

 

[Mousemonkey]

So your current generation card is giving you the performance of two previous generation cards combined and that's wrong?

 

[LJW10000]

I was expecting to run all games that I had been playing much better than they were before with the 2 other cards, at least thats what I was lead to believe anyway. That is besides the point though. I just want to know if my processor is causing a bottleneck or if my PSU is causing my card to under perform.

 

[Mousemonkey]

I think you expected too much, if the card is giving the same or better results than a pair of GTS250's I'd say it was working fine.

 

[decode]

If you put one of your previous 250's in your machine you MIGHT see some better performance due to PhysX. This isn't guaranteed however.

 

[LJW10000]

well people with this card were getting better scores than I so I figured there was something I could change to improve performance. Do you have any suggestions to improve performance?

 

[LJW10000]

putting a 250 in with a card of that magnitude would severely limit the higher end one due to the fact that better cards drop to become equal with the lower end card.

 

[Mousemonkey]

well people with this card were getting better scores than I so I figured there was something I could change to improve performance. Do you have any suggestions to improve performance?

Replace your motherboard and Q6600 with an X58 board and the top of the line i7 CPU.

 

[Timop]

2 GTS250s ~ GTX285 ~ GTX470. Give or take.
So yeah, its normal and nothings holding you back really, maybe the CPU in the few games that tax the CPU but not much.

 

[LJW10000]

If I had money to replace my board and CPU then I definitely would, but I was hoping for some help in the non-costly way.

 

[decode]

putting a 250 in with a card of that magnitude would severely limit the higher end one due to the fact that better cards drop to become equal with the lower end card.

Putting it in SLi in PhysX mode will not do this.

 

[Mousemonkey]

putting a 250 in with a card of that magnitude would severely limit the higher end one due to the fact that better cards drop to become equal with the lower end card.

You seem to have SLi confused with using a second card as a PhysX processor.

 

[LJW10000]

would dedicating the CPU to physx change anything?

 

[decode]

You seem to have SLi confused with using a second card as a PhysX processor.

^
+1

As I said however, there's no guarantees this will improve your performance by a noticeable amount.

I think he may have been referring to ATI's method for Xfiring different GPU's.

EDIT: @ LJW10000: You cannot dedicate a CPU to PhysX, PhysX is a nVidia only GPU feature. and as for improved performance, Read above.

 

[Mousemonkey]

would dedicating the CPU to physx change anything?

No not really as PhysX running on the CPU has a bigger impact on performance than if it's running on the GPU.

 

[Mousemonkey]

EDIT: @ LJW10000: You cannot dedicate a CPU to PhysX

Yes you can, it's an option that was brought in with the 256 series drivers.

 

[decode]

Yes you can, it's an option that was brought in with the 256 series drivers.

*** Starts researching this new feature.

 

[LJW10000]

yes you can I am looking at it right now. Would dedicating PhysX tot he GPU decrease its performance?

 

[LJW10000]

and Im not sure if my PSU can handle the GTX 470 and a 250 not sure if 600 watts and the amperage is enough.

 

[Mousemonkey]

yes you can I am looking at it right now. Would dedicating PhysX tot he GPU decrease its performance?

Yes but not as much as having the CPU do the extra work.

and Im not sure if my PSU can handle the GTX 470 and a 250 not sure if 600 watts and the amperage is enough.

You're looking at about 300w needed for the cards alone, so depending on your CPU, PSU and the rest of your kit it might be enough.

 

[chinuhark]

CPU BOTTLENECK(I'm sure). You will get a HUGE performance jump by a better processor. A GTX470 definitely deserves an i5 750(minimum) and you will need i5 750@ 3.8 to 4GHz to unleash max performance.
Trust me. I saw a benchmark for GTX460 where Frame Rate literally doubled in each benchmark for E8400@3.6GHz vs a core i7.

 

[LJW10000]

what about an AMD phenome 2 955 or better?