CPU Bottlenecking

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Kalabalana

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 18, 2005
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I just recently got a 3870 and a couple 3870 X2's.
Currently I'm running only the 3870 (Due to PSU and Tower issues).

Is my outdated E6400 bottlenecking my performance? Also, I have a P5W DH Deluxe, what cpu should I upgrade to?
 
I doubt it is. Overclock that also. It'll give you a nice boost. It will be better then spending a few hundred on a new CPU.
 
Is your performance sub-par, are you constantly under 30fps? If so then perhaps it is, if not then i think this would be an odd post, unless you are talking about your cpu being the limiting factor in your pc but then again, that is not what you asked, you asked about your cpu restricting your gaming experience which obviously it isn't otherwise you would be complaining about poor performance, no?
 
yeah, I'm getting the same fps issues regardless of my res, been going through them all, same lag issues.

Also, whatever eye candy I have on or off (HDR AA AF) is not afffecting the fps either.

Performance looks to be the same as my X1900XTX I replaced.

@necro, my fps is varying between 15-70 depending on if I'm looking at a wall, or a bunch of polys.
 
pfunkman said:
If the CPU is the bottleneck resolution very much matters...
Click to expand...

Doesn't the cpu just produce/maintain the polygons, and general graphic engine functions?
I thought all front end items like resolution, textures, shading, hdr, aa, af, etc were handled on the graphics card?
 
If your CPU is at stock speed, it could easily be contributing to poor fps.
Clock it a bit and watch how much it improves.
If the increase in fps is pretty linear, you are CPU limited for sure.
Regardless of GPU, some games need a faster CPU than C2D @ 2.1GHz.
Faster GPU's require faster CPU's to drive them fully so a lack of CPU can drag the GPU down even if it works fine on a lesser GPU.

Its easy enough to check if your CPU is the bottleneck by leaving task manager open while playing the game.
If the CPU is pegged at or very near 100%, you need more CPU power.
 
Nenu said:
If your CPU is at stock speed, it could easily be contributing to poor fps.
Clock it a bit and watch how much it improves.
If the increase in fps is pretty linear, you are CPU limited for sure.
Regardless of GPU, some games need a faster CPU than C2D @ 2.1GHz.
Faster GPU's require faster CPU's to drive them so a lack of CPU can drag the GPU down.

Its easy enough to check if your CPU is the bottleneck by leaving task manager open while playing the game.
If the CPU is pegged at or very near 100%, you need more CPU power.
Click to expand...

wow, that's such a simple way to check, I feel like an idiot for not thinking of that. thank you very much!
 
Kalabalana said:
wow, that's such a simple way to check, I feel like an idiot for not thinking of that. thank you very much!
Click to expand...

lol, the bleedin obvious escapes me at times too.
Too many trees, not enough wood sometimes.
 
haha

Ok, It's not like a contant line at the top at 100%, it just hovers between 95-100%. I'm guessing that means bottlenecking. OC TIME!

thanks again nenu
 
Yeah, thats bottlenecking.
Good luck and let us know what improvement you get :)
 
Kalabalana said:
Doesn't the cpu just produce/maintain the polygons, and general graphic engine functions?
I thought all front end items like resolution, textures, shading, hdr, aa, af, etc were handled on the graphics card?
Click to expand...

At lower resolutions youll be much more reliant on the CPU while at high resolutions it will shift to being all GPU.

Resolution does matter when talking about CPU bottlenecking. If your running 1920+ youll see less of a benefit from a CPU overlcock as you would at 1280x1024.
 
Weird that the CPU would be such a huge bottleneck at that high of a resolution. Depending on the game, a 3870 should be pretty maxed out running at that high of a resolution. (if the game is older older, then this wouldn't be the case)
 
At 1920x1200 resolution my Q6600 is bottle necking performance, after the cpu the next worst hangup is the x86/64 architecture that causes the bottle necks.
 
Forgot to actually check, what game is it we're talking about?

Have i just missed it?
 
Nanan said:
At 1920x1200 resolution my Q6600 is bottle necking performance, after the cpu the next worst hangup is the x86/64 architecture that causes the bottle necks.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my E8400@ 4.0Ghz is bottlenecking my 4870 in UT99 too... my point was what it is actually bottlenecking it in?
 
S3th13 said:
Yeah, my E8400@ 4.0Ghz is bottlenecking my 4870 in UT99 too... my point was what it is actually bottlenecking it in?
Click to expand...

Curious, if you have either Crysis or Warhead, is your e8400 bottlenecking it with the 4870, especially during heavy firefights?
 
Nenu said:
If your CPU is at stock speed, it could easily be contributing to poor fps.
Clock it a bit and watch how much it improves.
If the increase in fps is pretty linear, you are CPU limited for sure.
Regardless of GPU, some games need a faster CPU than C2D @ 2.1GHz.
Faster GPU's require faster CPU's to drive them fully so a lack of CPU can drag the GPU down even if it works fine on a lesser GPU.

Its easy enough to check if your CPU is the bottleneck by leaving task manager open while playing the game.
If the CPU is pegged at or very near 100%, you need more CPU power.
Click to expand...

with the setup in my sig with my cpu OC to 3.2ghz I always have 100% cpu usage on one of my core's... In every game I play.
 
Nenu said:
If your CPU is at stock speed, it could easily be contributing to poor fps.
Clock it a bit and watch how much it improves.
If the increase in fps is pretty linear, you are CPU limited for sure.
Regardless of GPU, some games need a faster CPU than C2D @ 2.1GHz.
Faster GPU's require faster CPU's to drive them fully so a lack of CPU can drag the GPU down even if it works fine on a lesser GPU.

Its easy enough to check if your CPU is the bottleneck by leaving task manager open while playing the game.
If the CPU is pegged at or very near 100%, you need more CPU power.
Click to expand...

I dont think you need any further explanation than that
 
I dont think you can have a cpu bottleneck after what 3.2ghz.
Depending on the res,gpu and game maybe you are the bottleneck
 
What!!!!, we're talking about CS:S here?

I think there must be other issues here as a 2ghz+ core2, hell a 2ghz p4 can handle cs:s.

Hmm, that cannot be a bottleneck as i am sure other people have played that game with no problems on much worse hardware.
 
necrophile said:
What!!!!, we're talking about CS:S here?

I think there must be other issues here as a 2ghz+ core2, hell a 2ghz p4 can handle cs:s.

Hmm, that cannot be a bottleneck as i am sure other people have played that game with no problems on much worse hardware.
Click to expand...

+1...
 
yeah that's what I thought too. Fuck, maybe time for a complete format / reinstall of windows?
 
Do a minty install of windows without deleting your current install and experiment with that if you think the software is at the heart of this. If you're able to replicate the problem, it must be a common factor, which means either hardware, drivers, or steam.

That oughta narrow the root of the problem down.
 
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