Bottleneck on my system??

[vampwitch]

Hi,

I'm wondering if my current cpu is bottlenecking my video card.
Here's my system specs.

CPU: Core2Duo E7400 ~overclocked @ 3.5Ghz
Memory: 4GB DDR2 (dual channel)
Video Card: Sapphire AMD Radeon 6870 1GB
MotherBoard: asrock penryn1600sli-110db

I'm planning on upgrading my system (except the video card)
which among these processors is more future proof, good for games, and best performance for the price?

Intel i5 2400
AMD Phenom X4 955 BE
AMD Bulldozer FX4100

and also, I have a year and a half old psu (HEC cougar 550w), do I have to upgrade my psu as well if I upgrade my processor?

Thanks

 

[deadjon]

On highly threaded applications, I beleive it may be a bottleneck. But only on extremely CPU intensive games such as Skyrim and the total war series.

Games such as battlefeild 3 run the same on a Phenom II 555 BE as they do on a Phenom II 970 for eg, they will just eat your graphics card.

If you upgrade to a Sandy Bridge system, fork out the extra dosh to get a 2500k, the other ones have NO OC POTENTIAL AT ALL!!! If you do this, I recommend going the whole 9 yards and going Crossfire with another 6870. The Crossfire scaling on those is AMAZING, and then you won't really have any bottlenecks, or trouble running anything (Future proof, maximum perfomance increase and bang for buck option, if the money is there, do this)

The 955BE is excellent these days, overclockable to > 4ghz, and it only costs around £85 - 90 I beleive (Best budget performance option)

The Bulldozer platform is a royal waste of time. The Quad core variant is slower than a Core i3 and it only wins due to its overclockability.

And if you want to go the whole 9 yards (I would, it will make you SO happy when you run games/benches), I would chuck some money at a 650-750 watt corsair PSU, or something with at least 80% Eff, otherwise the 955 BE wont need any more power than you have, even with a 4ghz OC.

Hope this helps

Djtech

 

[deadjon]

On highly threaded applications, I beleive it may be a bottleneck. But only on extremely CPU intensive games such as Skyrim and the total war series.

Games such as battlefeild 3 run the same on a Phenom II 555 BE as they do on a Phenom II 970 for eg, they will just eat your graphics card.

If you upgrade to a Sandy Bridge system, fork out the extra dosh to get a 2500k, the other ones have NO OC POTENTIAL AT ALL!!! If you do this, I recommend going the whole 9 yards and going Crossfire with another 6870. The Crossfire scaling on those is AMAZING, and then you won't really have any bottlenecks, or trouble running anything (Future proof, maximum perfomance increase and bang for buck option, if the money is there, do this)

The 955BE is excellent these days, overclockable to > 4ghz, and it only costs around £85 - 90 I beleive (Best budget performance option)

The Bulldozer platform is a royal waste of time. The Quad core variant is slower than a Core i3 and it only wins due to its overclockability.

And if you want to go the whole 9 yards (I would, it will make you SO happy when you run games/benches), I would chuck some money at a 650-750 watt corsair PSU, or something with at least 80% Eff, otherwise the 955 BE wont need any more power than you have, even with a 4ghz OC.

Hope this helps

Djtech

 

[deadjon]

On highly threaded applications, I beleive it may be a bottleneck. But only on extremely CPU intensive games such as Skyrim and the total war series.

Games such as battlefeild 3 run the same on a Phenom II 555 BE as they do on a Phenom II 970 for eg, they will just eat your graphics card.

If you upgrade to a Sandy Bridge system, fork out the extra dosh to get a 2500k, the other ones have NO OC POTENTIAL AT ALL!!! If you do this, I recommend going the whole 9 yards and going Crossfire with another 6870. The Crossfire scaling on those is AMAZING, and then you won't really have any bottlenecks, or trouble running anything (Future proof, maximum perfomance increase and bang for buck option, if the money is there, do this)

The 955BE is excellent these days, overclockable to > 4ghz, and it only costs around £85 - 90 I beleive (Best budget performance option)

The Bulldozer platform is a royal waste of time. The Quad core variant is slower than a Core i3 and it only wins due to its overclockability.

And if you want to go the whole 9 yards (I would, it will make you SO happy when you run games/benches), I would chuck some money at a 650-750 watt corsair PSU, or something with at least 80% Eff, otherwise the 955 BE wont need any more power than you have, even with a 4ghz OC.

Hope this helps

Djtech

 

[vampwitch]

On highly threaded applications, I beleive it may be a bottleneck. But only on extremely CPU intensive games such as Skyrim and the total war series.

Games such as battlefeild 3 run the same on a Phenom II 555 BE as they do on a Phenom II 970 for eg, they will just eat your graphics card.

If you upgrade to a Sandy Bridge system, fork out the extra dosh to get a 2500k, the other ones have NO OC POTENTIAL AT ALL!!! If you do this, I recommend going the whole 9 yards and going Crossfire with another 6870. The Crossfire scaling on those is AMAZING, and then you won't really have any bottlenecks, or trouble running anything (Future proof, maximum perfomance increase and bang for buck option, if the money is there, do this)

The 955BE is excellent these days, overclockable to > 4ghz, and it only costs around £85 - 90 I beleive (Best budget performance option)

The Bulldozer platform is a royal waste of time. The Quad core variant is slower than a Core i3 and it only wins due to its overclockability.

And if you want to go the whole 9 yards (I would, it will make you SO happy when you run games/benches), I would chuck some money at a 650-750 watt corsair PSU, or something with at least 80% Eff, otherwise the 955 BE wont need any more power than you have, even with a 4ghz OC.

Hope this helps

Djtech

Hi, thanks for the reply.
Is COD:Black Ops cpu intensive game? coz I remember getting a minimum 19fps playing on the first scene, like I'm getting a constant smooth 60+ fps then it will dive down to 20-- fps on some occassions. (COD:BO has latest patches)
Getting fps drops on medal of honor 2010. (especially when zooming in on gun sights)
benchmark result in farcry 2 is somewhere around (max settings) 30~40 avg. fps. I dont think that's normal or what I should get.
I'm getting poor performance on Call of duty:MW3, rage, and other new games.
and when I say poor. playing without dropping below 30 fps.

additional info that might help you guys help me xD
OS: windows 7 ultimate x64
resolution: 1920x1080 (1080p)
common game settings: 2x AA/AF 4x or no AA/AF at all.

 

[vampwitch]

Best answer selected by vampwitch.