Is my CPU bottlenecking?

[jawhnay]

SPECS:
MOBO: ECS G31T-M(1.0) LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad-Core Processor 2.40 GHz
Graphics: Radeon HD 6870

I just want to know if my CPU is bottlenecking and what are the problems associated with a bottlenecked CPU

 

[esrever]

theres not really much problems

 

[jawhnay]

Is there any way to check if my CPU is actually bottlenecking? Also, when I'm gaming, it seems like I only get about 70 fps compared to my old graphic card which was a Geforce 9800 GTX that had about 40-60 fps. Since I have a Radeon HD 6870, shouldn't I be getting a lot more FPS? My FPS sometimes drops down to about 50 too.

 

[esrever]

download gpu-z and check the gpu load when gaming, if its below 90% then you have a bottleneck.

 

[jawhnay]

I ran it and it shows that my GPU never reaches 90 percent or above. So does that mean my CPU is bottlenecking? In that case, how bad is it that my CPU is bottlenecking?

 

[esrever]

its pretty bad if it never reaches 90%. Really would also depend on the game but you might want to OC your cpu so it keeps up if you can.

Unless you aren't happy with your performance then there really isn't much of a problem but an OC will give you very good performance gains if you can do it.

Q6600 can reach 3.2ghz pretty easily I think.

 

[jawhnay]

My Q6600 is 3 and a half years old and plus my PC gets pretty hot when I do heavy gaming. Is it a good idea to OC if I don't have very good cooling? Also, are there any potential hardware damage to bottlenecking?

 

[esrever]

hmmm, check the temperature of the cpu with software like speedfan or cpuid.

if the gaming temps aren't higher than 60C then you should still be able to OC slightly.

You could try buying new cpu heatsinck fan like the hyper 212+ which should allow for a good OC.

 

[jawhnay]

Can bottlenecking cause any hardware damage? Or does it just keep my GPU from being able to give max performance.

 

[esrever]

it can't do any damage, just means your gpu can't give you to most fps. also you might have some jittery game play sometimes.