What exactly is bottleneck?

[mrdoublet123]

I've seen the term "bottleneck" on here quite a bit, but don't know exactly what it means.

I know it has something to do with the video card being so powerful it takes over the cpu and..makes it slower?

If someone could please clear this up that would be great

I am sorry for being a noob.

 

[nikorr]

A bottleneck is a phenomenon where the performance or capacity of an entire system is limited by a single or limited number of components or resources.

The term bottleneck is taken from the 'assets are water' metaphor. As water is poured out of a bottle, the rate of outflow is limited by the width of the conduit of exit—that is, bottleneck.

By increasing the width of the bottleneck one can increase the rate at which the water flows out of the neck at different frequencies. Such limiting components of a system are sometimes referred to as bottleneck points.

So, if u have a latest top GPU, like HD 7970 and pair it with Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 - 2.20GHz CPU running with 2GB of RAM,

than u wasted load of $$$, because rest of the system is so slow, it will degrade the GPU power.

Not that anyone would buy this set up : )

 

[$hawn]

it will degrade the GPU power.

Correct answer, but a small correction It won't degrade the GPU, it just won't let it perform to its full potential.

 

[nikorr]

I said degrade the GPU power, not the GPU.

(processing power)

 

[nikorr]

Or get 2600K with 16GB of RAM and Radeon HD 4350 512MB 64-bit DDR2 and wish for the best.

The GPU will be the hold up in the system.

 

[amuffin]

Or get 2600K with 16GB of RAM and Radeon HD 4350 512MB 64-bit DDR2 and wish for the best.

The GPU will be the hold up in the system.

2500K+5450
[:lutfij:4]

I've ran it before with a 3450 too!

 

[nikorr]

How was it with 3450?

 

[$hawn]

I said degrade the GPU power, not the GPU.

(processing power)

lol...k

 

[randomkid]

I've seen the term "bottleneck" on here quite a bit, but don't know exactly what it means.
I know it has something to do with the video card being so powerful it takes over the cpu and..makes it slower?

Not exactly take over or make it slower. The video card remains very fast & will finish the its job & present the result to the cpu for further processing as quickly as it can. On other hand, the cpu will take the job & process the next step but does it slower such that the video card has to wait very long before it gets the next task... So as $hawn said, the video card can not reach its full potential because it has to & wait long for the slower cpu...

 

[axe1592]

I think the term gets thrown around a little too loosely. Nowadays, if CPU X get 120 fps and CPU Y gets 115, CPU Y is lauded as a horrible bottleneck and a worthless piece of crap worthy only of being a paperweight.

To me, a bottleneck is something that will choke off a significant amount of performance. Something like a 2.2 GHz dual core running a pair of GTX580's would be a bottleneck as youd be losing probably a third of your potential frames per second.

I think its all relative to what youre using. If youre running an Athlon II X3 on a single 6870, then yeah a 3570K would give you a few more frames but it wouldnt be enough that youd notice in actual game play. However, those same two procs powering a pair of GTX670's and youre talking a pretty big difference and that would be a true bottleneck to me.

 

[randomkid]

I think the term gets thrown around a little too loosely. Nowadays, if CPU X get 120 fps and CPU Y gets 115, CPU Y is lauded as a horrible bottleneck and a worthless piece of crap worthy only of being a paperweight.

I don't know where you get that from... speaking for yourself?

 

[mrdoublet123]

Okay then I shouldn't have a problem if I have a somewhat new cpu and gpu.

System:

AMD FX-6100 @ 3.3ghz, Gigabyte 970 (upgrade on the way), Saphire 6870, OCZ 650w.

Off topic, planning to overclock my cpu once I get a new motherboard+cooler. (Stock right now)

 

[nikorr]

Your system is balanced, so there is no bottleneck here.

 

[stanistheman]

Just watch this> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGdo75gasaQ

 

[mrdoublet123]

Best answer selected by mrdoublet123.