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The Game Rundown: Finding CPU/GPU Bottlenecks, Part 2

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We're back with Part 2 of our bottleneck exploration in a mainstream gaming PC equipped with a Core i5 and GeForce GTX 460, ready to dive into test results from ten additional games. All of the results are summarized and analyzed in our conclusion.

20 Games To Help Uncover Bottlenecks And Test Settings

Let’s reiterate a few background points for this two-piece article. We decided to analyze many popular PC games across a range of hardware and settings in an effort to identify key bottlenecks you might encounter on a fairly mainstream gaming PC. Do you need more than two processor cores for immersive gaming? Will a powerful graphics card work well, even if the CPU is weak? How much CPU and GPU performance do you really need?

In Part 1 of this article, we looked at Alien vs. Predator, Alpha Protocol, Anno 1404, Avatar, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Bioshock 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Divinity 2: Ego Draconics, Dragon Age: Origins, and GTA IV EFLC. All were tested on an LGA 1156-based system. The Core i5-750 processor was configured with one, two, and four active cores and a 3 GHz clock speed. Additionally, we tried out four cores overclocked to 4 GHz. For graphics, we used a GeForce GTX 460 card, which provides sufficient performance for a solid gaming experience, but we also added a AMD Radeon HD 5870 here and there to look at potential benefits when pursuing high-end graphics.

So far, the results make clear that two cores are usually enough for gaming, but many games have specific requirements and performance characteristics. Let’s now look at ten more games and summarize the findings.

Nvidia and ATI Graphic Cards
CPUIntel Core i5-750 @ 4 GHz (21 x 190 MHz), Lynnfield design, 1.26875 V core voltage, 45 nm, LGA 1156
MotherboardGigabyte P55A-UD7, PCIe 2.0, 3-Way SLI
ChipsetIntel P55 Express
MemoryOCZ3G2000LV4GK, PC3-16000 Golden Series, 2 x 2 GB DDR3, 2 x 570 MHz 7-7-7-19 Timings
AudioRealtek ALC889
LAN2 x RTL8111D
HDDsSATA 3Gb/s, Western Digital Raptor WD300HLFS
DVDGigabyte GO-D1600C
Power SupplyCooler Master RS-850-EMBA 850 W
Drivers & Configuration
GraphicsATI Catalyst 10.7, Geforce 258.96
OSWindows 7 Ultimate 32-Bit
DirectX9, 10, and 11
ChipsetIntel 9.1.1
93 Comments Comment from the forums
  • nativeson8803 08 October 2010 13:22
    It's disappointing to see that devs still aren't taking advantage of multiple cores like they could.
    Reply
  • KingArcher 08 October 2010 13:35
    Would there be any performance difference between windows 7 32bit and 64bit?
    Assuming you use the same amount of RAM .
    Reply
  • slayvus 08 October 2010 14:15
    Great run down guys. I would of liked to see a three core benchmark thrown in there, but what can you expect from a dual core with HT.

    @KingArcher Unless the program was designed for x64, you had more than 4GB of unused RAM that the game could use and could use more than 4GB I highly doubt whether or not your on x86 or x64 would matter.

    @nativeson8803 What difference would it make on games that are still GPU limited at two cores? Even then, there were games limited by the GPU at four cores. Taking advantage of a CPU with four cores or more is going to be hard when you need more GPU to get more frame rates.
    Reply
  • palladin9479 08 October 2010 14:43
    @Slayvus almost true. The difference would be @2 GB of available memory. NT x86 kernel only allows an application to access 2GB of address space with the other 2GB reserved for kernel use. In NT x86 world each application can only access 2GB of memory, with the application getting rather unstable once it goes over 1.8 GB. This limitation also applies to the NT x64 kernel running a 32-bit problem through WOW64. Its something left over from the NT 4.0 / 5.0 world.
    Reply
  • archange 08 October 2010 14:46
    Just keep in mind that these result are relevant in the context of using the GTX 460 768 MB, which is the real bottleneck here. Better GPUs and/or multi GPU setups would shift the bottleneck towards the CPU.

    In the end, it's all about finding the perfect balance in hardware. If you want my advice, pair the GTX 460 768 MB with a fast dual core, but get a good quad with higher end model GPUs.
    Reply
  • deisu 08 October 2010 15:12
    This methodology should be used to new cpu/gpus/games reviews.
    Reply
  • 08 October 2010 16:00
    I'd like to see them test the first Supreme Commander.

    It still taxes the most powerful systems
    Reply
  • 08 October 2010 16:09
    They should have used Phenom II X6 and test with 1/2/3/4/6 cores enabled. This made me want more of this because there aren't any 6-core benchmarks.
    Make a Part 3.
    Reply
  • Mobutu 08 October 2010 16:23
    +1 deisu
    Reply
  • lashabane 08 October 2010 16:40
    archangeJust keep in mind that these result are relevant in the context of using the GTX 460 768 MB, which is the real bottleneck here. Better GPUs and/or multi GPU setups would shift the bottleneck towards the CPU.In the end, it's all about finding the perfect balance in hardware. If you want my advice, pair the GTX 460 768 MB with a fast dual core, but get a good quad with higher end model GPUs.I totally agree with archange. I understand that you're trying to go for the "norm", but if you're looking for bottlenecks, you need to remove said bottlenecks to see where it truly lays. Start with a quad core clocked at ~3.5ghz and swap out gfx from there. Push and push to see where it truly lays instead of going for a baseline. Although you can use that baseline to see what the "average" person might use. If the article is truly about the bottleneck, use something beefier than the 460.
    Reply