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Does my CPU Severly Bottleneck My GPU?

L

Laziestnoob

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 17, 2012
Messages
64
Hello. the question is straight forward and so ill list what specs i have or think are important. (if i leave out something obviously required forgive me, i learned the difference between CPU and GPU this week... yea im new at this stuff)


ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1090T Processor
Processor Speed: 3804 MHz
Memory: 8190 MB (DDR3)
Platform: 64 Bit
PSU: 850w

i just started upgrading my computer. originally had a 500w psu and a GTX 460 vcard. so far ive swapped those two out with what you see above and now im wondering if i need to get a new mobo and cpu
 
No, but overclocking the CPU will help a lot of games. The trouble is, most games dont take advantage of the six cores, so the clock speed can play a bigger role. Personally Id look for a corsair H50/H60 cpu cooler for $50 on sale, overclock that cpu to around 3.6-3.8ghz and just enjoy it.

i had a similar processor (960t unlocked) with a single MSI 7970 at 1220mhz/1575mem i scored P8857 on 3dmark2011. overclocking the video card made the biggest difference in my score.

edit: nevermind, i see you have it overclocked to 3.8ghz. What GPU do you have now?
 
holy shit thank you for replying so fast. please stay here as long as u can caause ill be here live waiting for replies.

so i currently have a Radeon 7970. ive got my CPU clocked higher now and as someone learning about all this ive noticed something that may be an issue and a big hit in FPS.
ObTNj.png



While stessing my hardware in game, i watch my CPU and GPU and i notice my CPU @ 30-50% and my GPU around 85% @ about 65-70C, then it will suddenly go down to 20% GPU and everything will lag, then it climbs back up. is it overheating @ 65-75?

my friend has an almost identical setup and he gets 50-70FPS in rift and can play BF3 max'd i cant do either of those and im trying to find out why.
 
PS: if anyone is willing to commit and come on skype for faster chat i would greatly appreciate it. if not thats fine because i will be here for the next hour watching this thread.
 
extide said:
Yes, that cpu will be limiting a 7970.
Click to expand...

so what sort of CPU would "NOT" choke it. Intel i7? + would i need a new motherboard or would intel work on my current one. Also how much would it be choking my GPU. for example in RIFT i see my GPU working @ 90% and skipping back to 20% making everything lag for 20seconds, and my CPU is @ 30-50% entire time.
 
The description of the problem sounds more like the card throttling and/or unstable overclock more than anything CPU related. Drop it back to stock clocks and see what happens.
 
Mr Spocko said:
Someone has spent too much time reading "Tom's (sponsored by Intel) Hardware" :eek:
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Agreed. A X6 running at almost 4 GHz will NOT bottleneck a 7970. Techpowerup.com ran a comparison with a Bulldozer, i7-920 and i5-2500K all running a single 7970 and aside from Civilization V and Starcraft 2, there was very little difference and none thar you'd see in actual game play. And since A X6 is faster than a 8150, that means a X6 would perform even better. I ran a X6 at 4 GHz for over a year and it was a great performer and I was able to equal any 5870 benchmark on review sites that were using Intel procs.

Don't forget to also overclock the CPU/NB. Get that sucker up to 2600 MHz and you'll see a very nice jump in performance.
 
i dont know how to up my CPU/NB, if you could give me some quick info about that im a fast learner..

also under stress my CPU is at about 65C, i dont know temp requirements so please let me know if thats bad.

also in BF3 max settings im getting 60FPS when my GPU is at 95%+ but then it keeps dropping to 50% and i dont know why. 65-70C
 
LigTasm said:
The description of the problem sounds more like the card throttling and/or unstable overclock more than anything CPU related. Drop it back to stock clocks and see what happens.
Click to expand...

setting it down to stock right now. ill brb with results (THE GPU) which was only overclocked inside the AMD vision control center. no 3rd party software (yet)
 
GPU was stock settings.

GPU would still go up and down but now i noticed my CPU reached 75% @ about 65C
 
Laziestnoob said:
i dont know how to up my CPU/NB, if you could give me some quick info about that im a fast learner..

also under stress my CPU is at about 65C, i dont know temp requirements so please let me know if thats bad.
Click to expand...

I'm not an AMD CPU expert but I think Thuban max temp is in the 60s somewhere. If usage suddenly drops something is throttling, possibly the CPU in this case.
 
LigTasm said:
I'm not an AMD CPU expert but I think Thuban max temp is in the 60s somewhere. If usage suddenly drops something is throttling, possibly the CPU in this case.
Click to expand...

do you think that might be the problem? can being a bit hotter than its suppose 2 cause stuff to fail.
 
Laziestnoob said:
do you think that might be the problem? can being a bit hotter than its suppose 2 cause stuff to fail.
Click to expand...

It could be. The CPU/GPU will drop frequency if they are too hot causing performance to drop.
 
ok ill try setting my CPU and GPU to stock. brb with update

Update #1: Clock is now 3200MHz. going to test in BF3
 
Last edited:
LigTasm said:
Are you using the stock CPU cooler?
Click to expand...

i dont know if its stock because when i had it built i had to choose what cooling i had. if i open the case are the fans all named and such?

i know there are like 5 fans in there. only room for 1 more on the side panel. front is already taken by a LED lit fan (making me think it cant be stock)




UPDATE: Everything is STOCK SETTINGS now and in BF3 my GPU stays at 99% which is great no more jumping. but is it normal for bf3 to make a radeon 7970 99%? also CPU is strock'd at 3200MHz. FPS is about 35-50, better but still not smooth @ max settings
 
Laziestnoob said:
UPDATE: Everything is STOCK SETTINGS now and in BF3 my GPU stays at 99% which is great no more jumping. but is it normal for bf3 to make a radeon 7970 99%? also CPU is strock'd at 3200MHz. FPS is about 35-50, better but still not smooth @ max settings
Click to expand...

Try OC'ing the GPU again now that the CPU is not throttiling. If it drops below 99% again you are CPU limited. You may need a better heatsink to OC as much as you had. Can you post a pic of the inside of your machine?
 
ill get a Pic ASAP. unclocking has made a huge difference but still not perfect yet. 3200MHz CPU is choking my GPU now isnt it? which would explain why its a lot better but still not perfect.
 
also please make sure im clocking my GPU correctly. im using the software that came with the card as i said before and this is what it looks like. (below) im wondering since its called overdrive and it says these settings only take place when in high performance mode if they are causing it to throttle between what ever mode it is and then high performance, in which case is there a way to make it always high performance. or am i just overthinking this part.
2jWsq.png
 
Its not choking the GPU, since the usage is at 99%. Try overclocking the CPU as far as you can without hitting 60*C or whatever is too high for the X6 (I seem to remember 62*C or something like that) and see if it helps. I would invest in a good CPU heatsink though to help the life of your CPU.
 
Yeah you've got the GPU muscle taken care of, you just need to bump your CPU.

In the BIOS, there should be a setting for CPU/NB. Clicking it should bring up a drop down menu to where you can choose a speed. Bump the CPU/NB up to 2609 and the CPU multiplier to x18 so you're running 3.6 GHz and see how your temps are. Also DISABLE Turbo and the cool and quiet features. Set the CPU voltage to MANUAL and set it to 1.35. Now stress test and see what your temps are. If they stay under 61C (my own personal max) on the CORE TEMP and not the CPU temp. The CPU temp is the motherboards socket sensor. The core temp is the actual CPU temp read by the CPU itself. That's the one you want.
 
MacLeod said:
Yeah you've got the GPU muscle taken care of, you just need to bump your CPU.

In the BIOS, there should be a setting for CPU/NB. Clicking it should bring up a drop down menu to where you can choose a speed. Bump the CPU/NB up to 2609 and the CPU multiplier to x18 so you're running 3.6 GHz and see how your temps are. Also DISABLE Turbo and the cool and quiet features. Set the CPU voltage to MANUAL and set it to 1.35. Now stress test and see what your temps are. If they stay under 61C (my own personal max) on the CORE TEMP and not the CPU temp. The CPU temp is the motherboards socket sensor. The core temp is the actual CPU temp read by the CPU itself. That's the one you want.
Click to expand...

Here's someone who has a clue with AMD processors, do what he says :D

I just knew you were throttling something based on your post. The GPU will only reach max clocks at "3D" usage, AKA anything stressful on the GPU. It will clock itself down at idle and "2D" (desktop) environments to save heat and power. Don't worry about that too much, you don't want that card stuck at 1Ghz 24/7.

A pic of the system internals will still help us determine if you have the stock heatsink on the CPU or not. If you do, something like the CM Hyper 212 is cheap and a good cooling solution.
 
MacLeod said:
Yeah you've got the GPU muscle taken care of, you just need to bump your CPU.

In the BIOS, there should be a setting for CPU/NB. Clicking it should bring up a drop down menu to where you can choose a speed. Bump the CPU/NB up to 2609 and the CPU multiplier to x18 so you're running 3.6 GHz and see how your temps are. Also DISABLE Turbo and the cool and quiet features. Set the CPU voltage to MANUAL and set it to 1.35. Now stress test and see what your temps are. If they stay under 61C (my own personal max) on the CORE TEMP and not the CPU temp. The CPU temp is the motherboards socket sensor. The core temp is the actual CPU temp read by the CPU itself. That's the one you want.
Click to expand...



Before i do this i just want to show you this screenshot and have you give me the thumbs up to do what you have just said.
(ran Prime for about 5minutes)
7gEsy.png


is it already too close to hitting 60 without doing what you said?
 
ok while i wait for Macs reply. ill go get a shot of my system. if i dont have 1 ill be back asap gotta take it apart and take the shots for you. brb asap
 
Ok i found a picture taken about a week ago and i hope its good enough to see everything.
there is 1 more fan on the front bottom of the tower not in the shot.

ISjQ6.jpg
 
Check what CPU cooler you have.

Also your Voltage is too high, that's not stock volts. Which is why your temps are high at stock speeds.

EDIT: You ninja'ed me.

Anyways, ok thats an aftermarket CPU cooler, not sure exactly what model but its probably decent.

Also, that motherboard doesnt have heatsinks on the VRM's. I wouldnt go too crazy overclocking with that motherboard.
 
Exactly. That's why I said to set it to manual cause AUTO keeps it too high. 1.35 is where you want to be cause that'll be enough to run 3.6 and keep your temps in the low 50's.

So yes, bump the CPU/NB up to 2600 and set the CPU clock to 3.6, stress test with Prime's Small FFT test for 10 minutes to see if your temps are fine. If they are then fire up BF3 and see how it goes.
 
If I was you I would aim for 3.8ghz with the lowest voltage that's stable. If you get good temps at 3.8ghz I would then try 3.9ghz and then 4.0ghz, again using the lowest possible voltage to achieve said clocks.

Voltage is the #1 producer of heat, so the lower the better.

EDIT: Also yeah, make your Northbridge and Hyperthread speed at least 2600mhz as posted above, you can notice huge performance boosts.
 
leeleatherwood said:
Check what CPU cooler you have.

Also your Voltage is too high, that's not stock volts. Which is why your temps are high at stock speeds.

EDIT: You ninja'ed me.

Anyways, ok thats an aftermarket CPU cooler, not sure exactly what model but its probably decent.

Also, that motherboard doesnt have heatsinks on the VRM's. I wouldnt go too crazy overclocking with that motherboard.
Click to expand...


it has to be stock, BIOS set to defaults and its all on Auto. i have nothing changed
 
Laziestnoob said:
it has to be stock, BIOS set to defaults and its all on Auto. i have nothing changed
Click to expand...

Go into the bios and disable turbo boost and cool and quiet, then manually set your voltage to 1.325v (thats stock)

Then check your temps.

Turbo boost is great for stock processors, but when it comes to overclocking its a huge hassle.
 
ok so slight problem. this is what ive changed.

Disabled Cool & Quiet
Disabled AMD Turbo Core Tech (same as Turbo boost right?)
set CPU to 1.35v (didnt change any other volts such as DRAM or CPU NB volts which are still auto)
Multiplier is set to 18

Problem is it still shows 1.45v. did i change the wrong one?

aDqUq.png




ALSO fun fact, does that look right?
W2tUf.png
 
Also.. Holy fuck thank you all. so much support on this forum. i love this community, /favorite hardforum :)
 
Ok so popped BF3 open and i think ive done something wrong. waiting for a response for info above.

CPU USage was about 80-95%
GPU Usage was about 85%

temp on both were about 64C

FPS: 15-30
 
i think i found the solution for the wrong voltage. AMD Overdrive may have been changing it so thats why it never sat @ default so ive disabled AMD overdrive so it can not affect my CPU but it still lets me use my control center to OC my GPU

DCbhK.png
 
^^K that should help. As far as the cooler, that looks like the Cooler Master Hyper TX3. If it is, that's great for lowerend CPUs like the one I have, but for the X6 you want something with a bigger fan, like the Hyper 212+ and its 120mm fan. I'd look into better cooling.
 
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