CPU Bottleneck

[joechance]

Hi everyone!

I was wondering what the minimum CPU would be for a AMD HD 6950. Would an Athlon II X3 450 bottleneck the system?

Because of my budget I'm either looking at the Phenom II X4 955 BE coupled with a 6850 or 6870, or a Athlon II X3 450 coupled with a 6950.

I understand than the X3 is AM3 and I can later upgrade to the 955 or X6 series if I wanted. But I was just wondering what would happen with the X3 and 6950.

Thank you in advance.

 

[calinkula]

Depends on the resolution of your monitor. If your's is high res (1080p or better) I would recommend the 6950. If you have a lower res and don't plan on getting a new monitor go for the 6800 series.

 

[joelmartinez]

if 450 isn't overclocked there will be a bottleneck you'll need a decent overclock for the 6950 to not bottleneck

 

[joelmartinez]

for 1920x1080 get 6950 1gb for 1920x1200 get 6950 1gb higher than that get the 2gb version.

lower get the 6870.

I would only buy the 2gb version for the 1920 resolutions if you plan to unlock the card to a 6970 which will void your warranty but give you free performance.