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Intel 2600K (Sandybridge) Gaming BottleNeck?

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deadman_uk

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 30, 2003
Messages
2,036
So I've had my Intel 2600K (Sandybridge) for a good number of years now and have overclocked it from the default 3.40GHz to 4.4GHz for a nice speed boost. I have 16GB of DDR3 RAM and my GPU is an MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB. I can't help but think what impact this older CPU is having on gaming at 1440 resolution.

I generally get 60fps in most games at max settings (with lower AA settings) but games like Guild Wars 2 lower my FPS to around 25-30 in heavy city areas. GTA V runs good but again, fps do drop sometimes below 50. I appreciate I can lower graphics to get some performance back but is my CPU a bottleneck in 2016?
 
you may want to push it more, as yes, as you noticed in some games at 4.4ghz the old and venerable 2600K are starting to show the age.. so as the easiest cheaper option and having also an old 2600K my best advice would be just overclock it to 4.7-4.8ghz as should be somewhat easy with that chip those tend to top out at 5.0ghz - 5.2ghz so 4.8ghz isn't really a issue..

I faced similar problems with my ivy 3770K at 4.5ghz, solution was to overclock at 4.9 ghz but the voltage needed made me feel uncomfortable.. so just replaced it with a newer 6700K all problems went away.. If I were you I would just overclock the hell out of the CPU and see how behave the desired games, if you still doesn't like it, then it's upgrade time..

Now, about guild wars 2 as happen with RIFT, LOTRO, SWTOR and any other similar MMO game, those games tend to be obnoxiously bad optimized and server/engine limited, Most of the time doesn't matter how good your machine is, they will have poor performance without a notable or specific bottleneck, you may see low fps and still see each CPU core at low utilization, low ram utilization, low gpu utilization, low disk utilization, those problems are always due to the game engine as said, due to engine limitations or server limitations that can't keep up with newer and stronger machines, so nothing too much we can do in those areas except increase single thread performance from the CPU which its always what tend to help more..
 
I don't think I am comfortable pushing it more, I think a 1GHz increase is nice enough and would it really make such a difference? I don't know how to overclock manually, I have used my motherboards auto overclock setting which does all the work for me. It can go as high as 4.8GHz I believe but I don't think I am comfortable running it at that speed. I am just wondering if I would get a big performance gain from using a more modern CPU. I have the money but feel too lazy to pull my PC apart and install it and then redo Windows.

Regarding Guild Wars 2, the client has recently gone 64-bit which I am sure helps on paper, in reality, I don't see much difference. How would I increase single thread performance? By disabling the other 7 cores in task manager?
 
you may try just disabling Hyper-threading in the BIOS that will make each 4 cores to utilize fully the resources making it to work more efficient if its requested to work purely as single thread operation, this tend to help in those kind of games, but the only way to increase single thread performance it's by increasing the core clock so each clock will have more performance, you can trust me, at 4.4ghz you have still A LOT of room to overclock and improve the performance, you will feel the difference gaming between 4.4 and 4.8ghz let's say, and you will still be far from pushing it to the limits, sandy bridge was the last generation with such high overclocking margins, so make use of it, you will be happy with the end result.

to make in perspective your first paragraph, a current gen i7 6700K versus your i7 2600K you need to run at above 5ghz to be close to what the 6700K can offer at stock settings so you can still overclock the i7 6700K and get a bigger boost so its a really no brainer if you have the money and do not care to use it to upgrade the platform, but the short answer it's yes of course, newer and modern CPU will offer a considerable performance gain, but you can also may be able to make some gains by overclocking your chip even more, you will not damage that chip so easily, don't worry..
 
I just want to throw it out that that even with a 3930K at 4.3GHz, or a 1650V2 (4930K) at 4.5 GHz, or a 5820K at 4.4 GHz (all with a 1454MHz 980 Ti), Guild Wars 2 is a shit fest in player-dense areas.

That's because it is a DX9 game where many of the things handled by the GPU in DX11 (or 12) are instead processed by the CPU. Shadows and player models (the number) are a HUGE culprit to FPS tanking. And don't get me started on world boss fights.

Even if you had the yet-to-be-released i7 6950X running at 10GHz the game would still run like shit. Don't use it as a benchmark because you'll never be satisfied (like I had been, hence the 3930K through the 5820K).

Edit: For reference, in GTA V I also get FPS drops. I notice it when I die and get teleported to the hospital, and I assume it is due to textures being loaded in to VRAM. Also seems to happen when driving fast - I am assuming for the same reason as well. I run ALL in game graphical settings maxed out at 1080P.
 
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I'm currently running the CPU at 4.6GHz now and no issues but don't want to increase it any further due to temperatures and reducing the life of the CPU even more than I am doing already. I know Guild Wars 2 isn't that well optimised but it was an example. I feel GTA V would perform even better than it does now if my CPU was upgraded. I have 6GB of VRAM on my card and 16GB of system RAM. I am confident if I gamed at 1080, I could crank the AA further and have better fps but 1440p, I feel my CPU is letting me down.


So looking forward, are there any CPUs due to come out soon that would perform better than the current i7s? I don't plan to but if I were to upgrade this month, is it worth waiting?
 
Then I may put the effort in to upgrade then, I'll google "Kaby Lake" and read up on it. Thanks
 
deadman_uk said:
So I've had my Intel 2600K (Sandybridge) for a good number of years now and have overclocked it from the default 3.40GHz to 4.4GHz for a nice speed boost. I have 16GB of DDR3 RAM and my GPU is an MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB. I can't help but think what impact this older CPU is having on gaming at 1440 resolution.

I generally get 60fps in most games at max settings (with lower AA settings) but games like Guild Wars 2 lower my FPS to around 25-30 in heavy city areas. GTA V runs good but again, fps do drop sometimes below 50. I appreciate I can lower graphics to get some performance back but is my CPU a bottleneck in 2016?
Click to expand...
Why dont you check?
 
Nenu, I'm not exactly going to spend half a grand on new parts and go through all the hassle of installation just to try. It's far easier and cheaper to ask someone who knows from experience.
 
I didnt say "spend half a grand", I said check.
ie check if you are cpu bound or not.
 
What do you think the purpose of my thread was for? I am asking if I may be cpu bound... This is the whole reason I posted here to ask. How else can I check? I'm not following what you're trying to say.
 
deadman_uk said:
What do you think the purpose of my thread was for? I am asking if I may be cpu bound... This is the whole reason I posted here to ask. How else can I check? I'm not following what you're trying to say.
Click to expand...
And I answered that you can check for yourself but that seems to be completely off your radar.
You've been here since 2003, I probably wrongly assumed you had a bit of clue about it.
Up to you if you want to know for certain.

Use a tool to check CPU use.
MSI Afterburner is what I use.
 
I have a regular 2600, 16GB ram and 780 Ti and am not limited in games at 1080P. The problem for you is that you want 60fps constant so have you determined if the games you're playing are gpu limited with the 980 Ti as well using 1440P/Ultra, plus will a faster cpu get you there or do you need to upgrade both? At 4.4GHz with a single 1440P monitor you shouldn't be too cpu bound if at all but your rig seems to be right on the edge. I'm not sure just updating the cpu will get you the results you desire is what I'm saying?
 
arestavo said:
Google to the rescue! This should help you determine whether or not you are CPU bound (again, don't use GW2 for a reference).

Will Your CPU Bottleneck Your Graphics Card? | PC Gamer
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yet another PCGAMER crappy and misleading article.. those guys knows nothing about CPU bottleneck, just look at this:

72874004c0d02911fadfece6c0b97174-650-80.png


then they boldly say, there's no CPU bottleneck there.. and in every single game tested the GPU is bottlenecked, Thing will be even worse with a 980TI included, they just think that the CPU have to be 100% loaded to mean a bottleneck when in fact a game can be single-thread bottlenecked if a 4 core CPU have one core at 100% load that will mean the overall CPU load will be 25% that still will be bottleneck but they don't even try to explain that.. that's why precisely I hate those guys and that page. always misleading..
 
The OP needs to keep in mind GTA V is one of the most graphically intensive games out there even if it doesn't look like it. You need a really beefy machine to run it well and I'm not sure if its possible to hit constant 60fps on a single card above 1080P?
 
Bowman15 said:
The OP needs to keep in mind GTA V is one of the most graphically intensive games out there even if it doesn't look like it. You need a really beefy machine to run it well and I'm not sure if its possible to hit constant 60fps on a single card above 1080P?
Click to expand...

for sure its possible, at moderate levels of AA. but yes that game destroy every card in the market with every graphic slider maxed out at 1080P.. but mainly because AA settings.. I would for sure sacrifice some AA levels for more Distance objects and terrain..
 
Araxie said:
yet another PCGAMER crappy and misleading article.. those guys knows nothing about CPU bottleneck, just look at this:

72874004c0d02911fadfece6c0b97174-650-80.png


then they boldly say, there's no CPU bottleneck there.. and in every single game tested the GPU is bottlenecked, Thing will be even worse with a 980TI included, they just think that the CPU have to be 100% loaded to mean a bottleneck when in fact a game can be single-thread bottlenecked if a 4 core CPU have one core at 100% load that will mean the overall CPU load will be 25% that still will be bottleneck but they don't even try to explain that.. that's why precisely I hate those guys and that page. always misleading..
Click to expand...

Those games at 60 FPS (or very near) look like they have VSYNC enabled or forced enabled by the game engine.

That F1 2013 looks to be CPU bound. Aaand it is a horribly optimised title - F1 2013 - PC Performance Analysis The first paragraph says it all.

Yes, in poorly optimised games a 2600K will suffer much more in single threaded use than a newer CPU will. Yet hopefully DX12 will render that a nearly moot point. Until then, just realise that even with the latest CPU over clocked beyond what is usually possible, those same games will still show a lot of CPU bound problems. Not that you can't get above 60FPS where the 2600k still struggles, but CPU bound the game remains.
 
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