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Started by ccjmk | | 6 answers
Old CPU, new GPU, what isn't bottlenecked?
Hello! I'm midway updating my PC; I suffered a thunderstrike at my home and my videocard suffered the hit.

I have an AMD Athlon64 x2 +3800 (2.01 GHz) with 2 gb DDR2 ram. I previously had an MSI Nvidia 7950GTX gpu (512 ddr5 iirc), so I was about to upgrade my mobo+cpu+ram, but the video dying changed my priorities.

I've just bought an XFX R9 280x, planning to upgrade ASAP to an AMD FX x8 (specific model still not decided) w/ 16GB DDR3 ram.

Sorry for the long context intro; my main question is if there are specific video settings I can pump up that go directly through the video without being bottlenecked by my several-years-old CPU. I was considering shadow settings, Antialising, etc. but I'd like to check before overstressing any component.

Thanks in advance

-ccjmk
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October 15, 2014 11:36:22 AM

SSAO runs on the GPU and feel free to bump up your res. I run Eyefinity with an aging Dual Core.
October 15, 2014 11:33:14 AM

Yeah like jas340 said, 8gbs of RAM is enough. tbh games don't even demand that much...But it's better safez then sorry
October 15, 2014 11:31:26 AM

Save yourself $85.00 and forgo the 16GB of RAM. Just get 8GB. 8gigs is all you need for gaming.
October 15, 2014 11:24:42 AM

Shamar Holtz said:
No, regardless of what you do with that Althlon you will experience bottleneck. even if you over clocked it to the maximum you will still have it. (....)
Since you are planning on upgrading the rest of your build then you i guess it fine to have a highend gpu and a below low end cpu


Yes, I'd expect to have all mobo/CPU/ram new by new year at most. Thanks for the quick reply
October 15, 2014 11:23:19 AM

AA , AF , image detail settings

it might also depend on the operating system you have
October 15, 2014 11:22:15 AM

No, regardless of what you do with that Althlon you will experience bottleneck. even if you over clocked it to the maximum you will still have it. Even a Athlon ii x4 which is way better than yours will bottleneck a 280x. As far as you should have went with that cpu is a radeon hd 6850.

Since you are planning on upgrading the rest of your build then you i guess it fine to have a highend gpu and a below low end cpu

Over stressing that old chip will happen. You would probably get high temps on it too

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