How to know if there is a CPU bottleneck?

[Snoopy25]

Hello,

I recently though that my CPU might be bottlenecking my GPU, but I don't know how to check. I have a GTX 570 and I have Corsair 4GB RAM 800MHz...I got enough power, 700WATT, and my CPU is an AMD Athlon II x2 3.0GHz....I was playing Need for Speed World, and all of a sudden (it happened lots of times when I was playing different times) but my FPS suddenly cuts in half, and I have to minimize game, and re-maximize to get my FPS back. At first, I thought it was a background program that intervened, but nothing was found. I have a resolution of 1920x1080...If it's my CPU's fault, I was thinking between an AMD Athlon II x4 or an AMD Phenom II x4, both I found for $100 or close, on newegg.com but I don't know which one to get.

 

[nitric0]

Wow the GTX570 and an AMD dual core, that's a major mismatch. I highly suggest picking up a Phenom I X4 955 (965 now on NewEgg is the same price so you can get that if you live in the U.S.) It will compliment the 570 much better than the X2

 

[compulsivebuilder]

Doesn't sound like a CPU bottleneck to me. If the game is bottle-necked on the CPU then the frame rate is usually slow, not suddenly dropping in half.

Sounds like something crossed a thermal boundary and dropped. You might want to keep an eye on your temperatures (CPU and GPU) to see whether one of them is running hot.

 

[henydiah]

Test your system with Aquamark 3 and 3dmark06 benchmarks, they also test your cpu in conjunction with your vga and give you individual and overall component scores.

 

[mdd1963]

The Phenom II series is faster than any of the Athlon II models...

Most opt for 955 or 965.....

 

[mdd1963]

All Athlon X2's will be slightly bottlenecked when compared to X4 Phenoms; the X2 at 3.0 Ghz would likely need a 600-700 MHz theoretical clock boost to equal a stock clocked Phenom at 3.2 GHz....

You can compare the disparity between the two CPUs in this Left For Dead benchmark....

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desktop-cpu-charts-2010/Gaming-Left-4-Dead,2432.html

 

[Snoopy25]

Well, there's another thing that might cause my bottleneck The 570 is a PCIe x16 2.0 yet my motherboard only has a PCIe x16 I think I WILL get the phenom, but what does this all have to do with the GPU if I get a better CPU?

 

[paololat125]

Hey guys i have an athlon II x2 250 3.0ghz (and 3gb ram)and its bottlenecking my gtx 550ti i noticed the bottleneck because at any screen resolution at high settings (not ultra) the frame rates are the same (25-30) should i buy a phenom II x4 955 and 1 more gb of ram or stick with the 3gb and buy a phenom II x6 1055t?

 

[paololat125]

Oh and the game is bf3

 

[de5_Roy]

Hey guys i have an athlon II x2 250 3.0ghz (and 3gb ram)and its bottlenecking my gtx 550ti i noticed the bottleneck because at any screen resolution at high settings (not ultra) the frame rates are the same (25-30) should i buy a phenom II x4 955 and 1 more gb of ram or stick with the 3gb and buy a phenom II x6 1055t?

open a seperate thread in the appropriate section.

 

[majorgibly]

Hey guys i have an athlon II x2 250 3.0ghz (and 3gb ram)and its bottlenecking my gtx 550ti i noticed the bottleneck because at any screen resolution at high settings (not ultra) the frame rates are the same (25-30) should i buy a phenom II x4 955 and 1 more gb of ram or stick with the 3gb and buy a phenom II x6 1055t?

If you gaming get the phenom II x4 955 since the 1005t wont help while gaming, but if you plan to do things like render or edit then pick the 1055t up.

 

[paololat125]

I took a picture of bf3 with the gpu load and the cpu load, is it a bottleneck?

heres the pic:

http://s869.photobucket.com/albums/ab256/paololat125/?action=view&current=btoel.png

 

[esrever]

yep that would be a bottleneck. I'd say a huge one at that.

BF3 will use a lot of cpu and cores so you probably should upgrade to a phenom II x4 if you want to release some of that bottleneck.

 

[ighamerz]

if you want to confirm if u are bottlenecking try to open task manager and select the tab at performance,keep on eye in the cpu history then play ur game while the taskmanager minimize, then when ur fps drops minimize ur game and check ur cpu history,if it is always in 100% usage it means ur cpu was bottleneck

 

[rds1220]

If your going to have a highend video card like a GTX 570 or GTX 580 you should pair it with atleast a Phenom II Quad core processor.