Is my cpu bottlenecking my gpu?

[ChordMelody]

Hey guys! ! First post here! But I've read many threads, and this forum has helped me get into computer building a lot!

I just wanted to ask... if my cpu is bottlenecking my gpu or affecting the performance of games.

Here are my specs to the best of my knowledge.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1035T (I OC'd to around 3.25 ghz)
RAM: Corsair Vengence 2 X 4GB I believe they are black, not sure about clock speeds.
Motherboard: ASUS M5A97 (I believe it's only R1 not the R2)
Graphics card: I recently upgraded from a EVGA GTX 550 Ti to an MSI 7870 Hawk.

Not sure if the other items are important.

Anyways, I am running the Graphics card at stock, but somehow, some games I'm not really getting the performance increase.

Mainly Guild Wars 2, I am getting similar fps at almost maxed settings. (without V sync) Even at low settings, it does not go over 30 fps (which is around the same for high settings).

Battlefield 3 I have only gotten a bit of a performance increase.

EDIT: Running everything at 1920x 1080 by the way!
EDIT2: I know there's another thread like this too... but I'm really not sure ... so asking it here, (hope it's the right section to ask)

Am I doing something wrong guys? ?

Thanks,

Chord.

 

[hbeduryan818]

do you have the latest drivers for the 7870

 

[ChordMelody]

Yep! !

 

[pc 1]

someone in the link below with specs higher than yours and is still getting 30 fps
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1689412

 

[steamroller16]

Easy way to test for CPU bottleneck is to lower the resolution.

If the frame rate goes up, then your GPU is the bottleneck. If it does not go up, then the CPU is the bottleneck.

Honestly, I don't think it is a CPU bottleneck issue. Turn down the resolution to something insanely low (800x600) and see if the frame rate goes up. If it does not go up at all, then there is probably some setting somewhere that is set to limit the frame rate. Some games don't let you go above 30 fps but I'm sure Battlefield 3 is not one of those.

Catalyst control center has a setting that overrides in-game settings for v-sync and other stuff. Make sure v-sync is turned off there as well.

 

[maxalge]

Hey guys! ! First post here! But I've read many threads, and this forum has helped me get into computer building a lot!

I just wanted to ask... if my cpu is bottlenecking my gpu or affecting the performance of games.

Here are my specs to the best of my knowledge.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1035T (I OC'd to around 3.25 ghz)
RAM: Corsair Vengence 2 X 4GB I believe they are black, not sure about clock speeds.
Motherboard: ASUS M5A97 (I believe it's only R1 not the R2)
Graphics card: I recently upgraded from a EVGA GTX 550 Ti to an MSI 7870 Hawk.

Not sure if the other items are important.

Anyways, I am running the Graphics card at stock, but somehow, some games I'm not really getting the performance increase.

Mainly Guild Wars 2, I am getting similar fps at almost maxed settings. (without V sync) Even at low settings, it does not go over 30 fps (which is around the same for high settings).

Battlefield 3 I have only gotten a bit of a performance increase.

EDIT: Running everything at 1920x 1080 by the way!
EDIT2: I know there's another thread like this too... but I'm really not sure ... so asking it here, (hope it's the right section to ask)

Am I doing something wrong guys? ?

Thanks,

Chord.

Guild wars 2 is put together with tape and a prayer, it is horribly optimized and cpu hungry.

You need to overclock to 3.8, which I believe is your CPU's OC sweet spot. If you see better fps, then there is the answer.

 

[ChordMelody]

Thanks guys for the tips! And yeah, I remember in Beta GW2 had horrible optimizations, but I thought they had made it better by now.

I overclocked my cpu to 3.5ghz now, I can't seem to go over without it being unstable or containing errors in prime 95.

I seem to be getting better FPS by doing this.

I also play planetside 2, and I heard the optimization isn't the best on that either.

Going to check out the GPU tip steamroller gave me!