Will my Core i5 bottleneck a GTX 660?

[bubbleman441]

I have a two year old build with an Intel Core i5 520 @2.4Ghz / 4GB DDR3 1333. I'm looking to upgrade my GTX 460 1gb to a GTX 660 when it comes out. Will my processor and RAM somehow limit the performance (in games) of the GTX 660?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Are you sure about that? The only 2.4Ghz i5 520 is an i5 520M and is a mobile processor. Are you talking about a laptop?

http://ark.intel.com/products/47341/Intel-Core-i5-520M-Processor-(3M-Cache-2_40-GHz)

Small form factor PC maybe?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Yeah, at first I thought the OP just had a typo and was talking about an i3 520 but I googled it just to be sure

It does not exist. The i3 line starts at the 530.

 

[bubbleman441]

WHOOPS my bad.. correction: it's an i5 750 2.67Ghz. I want to play all games maxed out @ 1080P with my 3D vision kit. I'm big on having smooth game play too.

 

[welshmousepk]

all games maxed at 1080p with 3d vision? good luck, my 680 can't even manage that.

in answer though, no. you have a very powerful CPU there. if you can overclock it a bit that would be better, but it will in no way limit your build (at least, not by any noticeable amount)

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Ahhh a MUCH better CPU. No it will not bottleneck a new GTX 660 level graphics card. Overclocking it would not hurt though. 1080p with 3D vision can be taxing on a GPU from what I understand. I just read a post from a member saying he could not max out games playing at 1080p with a single GTX 680 when using 3D vision. I don't use it myself to confirm that but I trust his post. He has an i7 920 overclocked to 4Ghz with his GTX 680 if I remember correctly.


Edit: ^ Guess I was correct. lol Not even with an 4.8Ghz Sandy Bridge system.

 

[cyansnow]

WHOOPS my bad.. correction: it's an i5 750 2.67Ghz. I want to play all games maxed out @ 1080P with my 3D vision kit. I'm big on having smooth game play too.

gl with one 660 doing this. no single card is capable of running all games maxed at 1080p with 3d, smoothly except for MAYBE a 590/690/6990 but those count as two graphics cards basically. sorry it just is't happening.

your cpu won't bottleneck the 660 when it comes out

 

[welshmousepk]

You need GTX 680 SLI / GTX 690 / 7970 (OC) Crossfire to do what you're talking about (maxed out 3Dvision perfectly smooth)

uh... how exactly do you intend to run 3d vision with a 7970?..

 

[photonboy]

My advice:
- get a GTX670 or GTX680 (or be prepared to drop quality in 3D with a 660)
- get a non-stock CPU HSF if you don't have one and overclock to roughly 3.5GHz

I've got an i7-860 which is the same as an i5-750 with Hyperthreads disabled. I did my research and overclocked it EASILY handles a GTX680 though at slightly lower frame rates at 1920x1080 than with a better CPU. However at 2560x1440 (my monitor) the CPU bottleneck (it's a GPU bottleneck now) is lessened and it performs similar to a better CPU.

*In general, you want to achieve the highest quality settings and resolution which permit you to still cap at 60FPS (Adaptive VSYNC enabled), or 120FPS for 3D mode.

 

[bubbleman441]

Thanks guys. Yeah I don't expect it to play perfectly with every game maxed out. I'll look into the 680. Or I could get a used 3GB 580 for $300. I'd rather not spend $500 on a 680.

 

[Rockdpm]

NO!!!, don't get a 3GB 580... 3GB 580's are for people planning to run in sli 3 way with 3 monitors. Its a card that has enough vram but doesn't have the horsepower to handle the game maxed