How much of a bottleneck will my CPU be?

[Mudig88]

I currently have my old build from back in 08 and have decided to upgrade my graphics card(GTX 280). I'm looking at the GTX 770 right now and I'm wondering how much of a bottleneck will my CPU be: QX 9650 @ 3.0Ghz. I know it will be a bottleneck but will it be so bad that I won't even get an improvement from my GTX 280?

 

[sadams04]

You will hit the limits of the CPU before the new GPU, but I doubt you will be hobbling the GPU much until you start pushing larger resolution past one monitor. The QX 9650 responds well to overclocking if you are open to that...

 

[Mudig88]

You will hit the limits of the CPU before the new GPU, but I doubt you will be hobbling the GPU much until you start pushing larger resolution past one monitor. The QX 9650 responds well to overclocking if you are open to that...

I can only get it to about 3.5. Anything above that it crashes. Any suggestions?

 

[sadams04]

I can only get it to about 3.5. Anything above that it crashes. Any suggestions?

If you are stable at 3.5GHz after an hour or so of Prime95, then go with that. Some people may get a 9650 higher, but 3.5GHz is respectable for that CPU.

 

[Mudig88]

I can only get it to about 3.5. Anything above that it crashes. Any suggestions?

If you are stable at 3.5GHz after an hour or so of Prime95, then go with that. Some people may get a 9650 higher, but 3.5GHz is respectable for that CPU.

So about each core when playing Crysis 3 is above 95%.

 

[sadams04]

So about each core when playing Crysis 3 is above 95%.

Crysis is a demanding game. Your CPU is about "maxed out" at 3.5GHz so there isn't much more you can do there. Replacing the GPU is still a good option. It will give you higher frame rates now, and also move to a new build down the road.