CPU vs GPU for games

[Lucrin]

Currently my computer has an intel core i7 920 overclocked stable for many years now running at 4GHz (stock speed is 2.66GHz). My video card is a Radeon 7870 with 2GB of memory. I recently bought and have been playing Assassins Creed 4 and am loving it but I was somewhat disappointment when my computer wouldn't run it well with the settings maxed out at 1920x1200. I have been considering selling my video card and upgrading to a nvidia GTX 780 but I am wondering if my CPU is getting too outdated and will bottleneck the more powerful video card so my frame-rates don't improve much. What do you guys think?

 

[Xtwargodtx]

You probaly should upgrade the cpu but also check if AC4 has VSync on as that will slow your fps down

 

[JOOK-D]

Hi Lucrin,

Monitor both your GPU and CPU usage when playing games, you can use something like Task Manager for CPU usage and MSI Afterburner for GPU usage (keep them running in the background) and when you feel low FPS, tab out and look at the usage. If your CPU usage is maxed, your CPU's holding you back. If your GPU is maxed, then that's holding you back. The i7 920 is somewhat dated but still performs relatively well.

 

[jaguarskx]

I don't know how much AC4 depends on the CPU, but graphically speaking, it is a demanding game.

Below is a benchmark for AC4 with an Intel Core i7-4770K @ 4.2 GHz with resolution set to 1920x1080.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/R9_270X_Gaming/6.html

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_780_Ti_Gaming/6.html

A stock speed i7-920 is still a pretty good performing CPU and should be even better when OC'ed to 4GHz. Below is a CPU benchmark for Hitman: Absolution, a game that is known for being very CPU demanding. As can be seen it performs better than a stock speed FX-8350. However, overall a i7-920 provides slightly lower performance than the FX-8350 in games. About 3% lower based on around 25 - 30 different game benchmarks I have analyzed.

http://www.techspot.com/review/608-hitman-absolution-performance-benchmarks/page6.html

In the end, based on the results of the GPU benchmarks you need a more powerful graphics card if you want better performance.

 

[Lucrin]

Ok I monitored my CPU and GPU usage while playing assassins creed. On default graphic settings it is as follows:
format: Core# [thread1%] [thread2%]

core0: 97% 6%
core1: 30% 7%
core2: 29% 7%
core3: 23% 0.02%

GPU average utilization: 54%

If I change the graphics settings to max everything my frame-rates stutter a lot and my log looks as follows:

core0: 95% 3%
core1: 22% 3%
core2: 23% 4%
core3: 24% 0%

GPU average utilization: 87%

Interesting results considering CPU utilization dropped across almost all threads on max settings while GPU usage jumped up quite a bit. So what do you all think after seeing these results?

 

[jaguarskx]

That basically means your performance is being bottlenecked by the GPU since the drop in CPU usage means the CPU is waiting for the GPU to finish doing it's job.

 

[Lucrin]

That is kinda what I was thinking but just wanted to get a second opinion, thanks!