At what point would a GPU be so fast that my CPU be the bottleneck?

[ICN3D]

I have some money and want to get a new GPU, but I don't want to spend money just to have the fastest just for the sake of having the fastest.

My mobo is PCIe 2.0. Either way, I looked at some of the Nvidia 600 series and the speed on some of them are reeeeeally fast, but most that aren't $600+ are only 256bit.

Anyway, my main question is:

At what point will the GPU be so fast that my CPU can't keep up which would make me miss out on some of the power of the GPU.

 

[itzdanielp]

Depends on what CPU you have

 

[ICN3D]

Wow....I guess that would be a good thing to add to the post.....HA!

CPU is an i5 760 2.8Ghz 8MB cache

Edit: Also....are there any single card dual GPU made by Nvidia besides the 460?

 

[itzdanielp]

Depending on your RAM, I would say it is pointless to go above GTX 5series, or ATI 68xx

Even with a GTX 580 you might be slightly CPU bottlenecked, but not by a whole lot.

Yeah, GTX 590 and 690. Also ATI 6990.

Also, EVGA made a custom dual GPU. EVGA 560Ti 2win.

And the grandaddy of all dualGPU's the Asus Mars II

 

[ICN3D]

Is this the EVGA one? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130758

Otherwise I can't find it.

Edit: actually I can't find either one.

 

[itzdanielp]

Nope, that is an overkill 560Ti, performs just under a 570.

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=02G-P3-1569-KR&family=GeForce 500 Series Family&sw=

Btw, it is generally cheaper and better performing to get 2 cards and go SLI than trying to go with a dual GPU single card.

They are also power hungry and generally very large.

 

[ICN3D]

Thanks, btw.

I don't have a SLI capable mobo, but I was thinking about it and having 2 cards in 1 slot doesn't sound to effecient...power wise or speed wise.

I mean, I know it gets fast benchmarks now, but I have a feeling it's going to meet it's maker closer down the road.....I dunno how to explain it.

 

[itzdanielp]

dual GPU cards always perform well, and if you don't have an SLI capable board, that is the best way to go.

dual GPU's generally perform at about 85% of the same card in SLI. So, definitely a lot better than a single card. Just make sure your case / psu can handle it. also remember they get hot.