How badly will a Core 2 Duo E8200 bottleneck an unlocked HD 6950?

[00Dan]

I recently purchased an unlocked HD 6950 for use in a new build. However, is it worth putting in my current machine with the above mentioned CPU for the time being or not? My current machine is using a GTX 260.

Thanks!

 

[rolli59]

What clock is on the E8200 and what resolution are you gaming at?

 

[00Dan]

What clock is on the E8200 and what resolution are you gaming at?

The CPU is at it's stock speed of 2.66 GHz. I'm gaming at 1080x1920.

 

[rolli59]

You should be fine at that resolution since it is more GPU bound, overclocking the cpu past 3GHz would though reduce any potential bottleneck.

 

[geekapproved]

I would say there's definitely going to be a cpu bottleneck. I would suggest clocking the cpu to at least 3.2ghz which should be extremely easy.

 

[00Dan]

I would say there's definitely going to be a cpu bottleneck. I would suggest clocking the cpu to at least 3.2ghz which should be extremely easy.

I only have the stock cooler, so how would I got about overclocking? My motherboard uses the nvidia 750i chipset. I only plan to use this pc for another 2 weeks or so, so I'm just wondering if it's worth putting the card in or just using the one I have.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

Forget the word bottleneck. That cpu will play any game well that does not utilize more than 2 cores. Games like crysis 2, COD black ops among others will run like poop because they need a good quad core cpu regardless of what vid card you have. If you can get the cpu to 3.5ghz then you have a chance at running everything reasonably smoothly. If i were you i would upgrade your cpu/motherboard/ram to something quad core before you update the vid card. A gtx260 should still play most games smoothly.

 

[geekapproved]

At 2.66ghz, it will play any game that does not utilize more than 2 cores, but the slow clock speed and architecture will surely bottleneck a 6950.

However if your only planning on using the pc for 2 weeks, I really don't understand why your going to buy a 6950.............lol

 

[Emperus]

Put in the new card to test if it is in perfect working order. You really should not be asking about bottlenecks after buying the stuff. Also no point thinking about it since you will be (assuming) upgrading to a better machine soon enough.