Search
Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Solved

How bad would my cpu bottleneck a video card?

Last response: in CPUs
Share

Hello everyone, i come with a question...

I am looking to purchase a video card to put into an aging system that i recently acquired from my folks. I had posted in the graphics forum of a few cards that i may look into buying, and asked for suggestions on a suitable card. During said post, i was informed that regardless of what card i purchase, it may experience some serious 'bottle necking' due to the limits of my aging system. Most notably the cpu... What i want to know is, is there anyway to tell how bad the bottle necking will be prior to purchasing a card? I am on a extremely tight budget, and thus i would hate to drop what i feel is a significant amount of cash on a card, that barely gives me any performance boost...

My goal is to make my system into a gaming machine, if all possible..
Here is my systems specs:
foxconn m61pmv board
amd athlon 64 x2 dual core cpu 4800+ 2.5ghz
3 gigs ram (ddr2 800 i believe...?)
a recently installed corsair cx500 psu (bought on sale, and in case i can handle a good video card.)

My budget range for a card is $150-$200, which id like to lean more towards 150 (or even less if possible)
the following cards have caught my attention, or have been recommended to me:
amd radeon hd 6670
radeon hd 7750
radeon hd 7770
radeon hd 7850
nvidia geforce gtx 650 ti

With this all being stated, how bad would my rig (in particular cpu) bottle neck any video card? to be specific, can i run any somewhat 'modern' games on borderline medium-high graphics?? or am i forever doomed with this rig? (hope not :( )

here are a few of my more graphically intensive games i'd like to play (that i have via steam)
counter strike: go
fallout: new vegas
metro 2033
saints row the third
darksiders
company of heroes
team fortress 2
portal 2
borderlands
assassins creed
bioshock

i say graphically intensive for some of these games, since rest of my steam games are indie/retro nostalgic games :) . if i can get a card that handles these games respectively, then i am set!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: forgot to mention this... there any way that i can upgrade the cpu at all? the manual that came with my board says it supports am2/am2+ amd cpu's. tried looking at newegg, can't seem to find any...

Brian

More about : bad cpu bottleneck video card

Register or log in to remove
Related ressources
Ask the community

ok, from that list of game mentioned... if i can get cs: go, fallout nv, and maybe borderlands working well, then i'll be content. oh, forgot to mention left for dead 2 as well.
and thanks for input guys.
so say i get either the 7770 or 7750, put it into my system... as was said, it'll bottleneck but still be playable. what kind of specs could i look to seeing? or will that just vary from game to game?

dgriffs said:
I wouldn't spend too much on a video card unless you plan on upgrading the later on which would require a new cpu, mobo, & ram. Newer games will definitely stressing the cpu. HD 7750 would be fine for older/indie games.


well dgriffs, here's where that begins to become an issue... as i believe i mentioned before, i am on a tight budget as is. Hence, my small budget for getting a card.

As far as looking to do an overhaul... that won't happen for quite awhile. I just have way too much else going on in my life to drop a pretty penny for a overhaul. Just not in the cards. :/  if there's anyway to upgrade the cpu (and in a budget price range) i'll do that maybe alongside a gpu upgrade.


rolli59 said:
With that resolution games are CPU bound and you get more out of the CPU upgrade.


as mentioned before, as soon as i can get a larger monitor with higher resolution, i shall.
also another note, i can't find any more am2+ cpus for cheap :(  there any way to upgrade my board to support am3?

:)  Thanks! In that case, have another potential issue. I've been able to locate amd phenom 9750 processors via ebay for a range of prices. what i wish to know, is how much of a performance gain would i receive if say i ordered a 9750 quad core (which is a 2.4ghz) to replace my athlon, which has 2.5ghz? obviously i'm losing just a .1 rating in speed, but is the trade-off of upgrading from a dual to core worth a .1 stat loss? if there's only a marginal increase in cpu performance then i won't even bother. I got this pc for free as is. lol

alright folks, one final post here. lol
i have narrowed down my selection to a few cards. would like anyone's opinion/input on the cards, if possible. i think, regardless of which card i choose it'll be a huge improvement in my pc. :) 

first, the 770's-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

now the 7750's-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

ok, added one more 7750.. althought not sure if i even need a card this small. Just, hard to ignore so many overwhelming positive reviews!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
let the fight, begin! lol

Thanks, though my plans may have changed. I'll go with the vapor x if i decide on a 7770. What is changing, is the fact that i found an amd phenom 9750 95w cpu on ebay, and ordered it. :D  Dropping money for that may make me swing more towards a cheaper card. (7750)
Register or log in to remove
Ask the community
Read discussions in other CPUs categories
!