What's the bottleneck in this PC?

[magdi_alafifi]

hello,
i'm wondering what holds games frame-rate and Photoshop performance back in my PC

Photoshop performance seems quite slow in 30 MB files or more although when i go back to windows 8 task manager and check it ram barely uses 49% and CPU doesn't usually exceed 30-40% .. this also happens in video games.. they do -most of them- work in full settings, yet the frame rate keeps at 30-40 at Crysis 2 for example -most games goes around that or a little more- .. now it's still comfortable to play like that , but i cant figure out which part is causing the frame-rate to be held low like that as take manager shows the there is still lots space left .. i suspect the Hard drive.. but i'm not sure...

here's the PC specifications....
Operating System: Windows 8 Pro 64-bit (6.2, Build 9200)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: H55M-D2H
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 760 @ 2.80GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM DDR3 1333MHz
Available OS Memory: 8152M RAM
Hard Disk: 1.5T WD 7200 rpm
Graphic Card: ATI Radean 6850 DDR5 250bit
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

Display :-

Card name: Radeon HD 6800 Series
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x6739)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Type: Full Device
approx. Total Memory 4068 MB
Current Display Device : 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)

so what's the bottleneck in this PC?

 

[jmsellars1]

That looks pretty well balanced to me, more RAM might help for photoshop though.

 

[geofelt]

For gaming, the graphics card could be stronger.
For photoshop, you might be able to use more ram.
For both, the cpu could be stronger.

I suggest you conduct some experiments to see how sensitive your apps are to the various componnents.

a) Run your games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 50%.
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.


Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
set to 50% and see how you do.


If your FPS drops significantly, it is an indicator that your cpu is the limiting factor, and a cpu upgrade is in order.

It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system, and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.

Try removing a stick of ram.
I would expect that gaming will not be much impacted.
But if photoshop is, then you can consider adding ram. If available, photoshop can use ram instead of hard drive workfiles.
Ram is cheap, you might go to 16gb anyway.