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Will Core2Duo E8400 bottleneck HD 6970?

N

nuklep

n00b
Joined
Oct 7, 2009
Messages
27
I have E8400 with a HD6970 setup on a 780i motherboard.

How can I tell if my cpu is bottle necking?
 
If that's stock then yes your cpu is bottlenecking the card in CPU demanding games. But still GPU heavy games would still be bottlenecked somewhat. I tested a 6950 with a e5200 at stock and overclocked. Even when overclocked to 3.75ghz I still scored about 10% less FPS in the Crysis Warhead benchmark than the same card in my 2500K system @ 1920x1080.
 
Possibly the easiest way to check is to benchmark your game at stock CPU and then again at overclocked. If performance goes up then most likely the CPU is holding you back. This will depend a lot on the game of course.
 
or just drop all the gpu related settings in the game check the fps and put them up again check the fps. If the same more or less its a bottleneck.
But it will be more of a bottleneck at lower resolutions than high ones.
 
Ok just ran Unigine benchmark. Got 1022 score. I see online this card gets around 1300. So i guess it is bottle necked.
 
If you wanted a cheap-ish upgrade I'd normally suggest a Core 2 Quad of some sort.

But with recent price drops in the new and used market for new parts, I'd suggest a new CPU, motherboard, and RAM. I mean 8GB DDR3 is $40, and if you live near a MicroCenter you can get a cheap CPU and motherboard.
 
450 said:
If you wanted a cheap-ish upgrade I'd normally suggest a Core 2 Quad of some sort.

But with recent price drops in the new and used market for new parts, I'd suggest a new CPU, motherboard, and RAM. I mean 8GB DDR3 is $40, and if you live near a MicroCenter you can get a cheap CPU and motherboard.
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Yes I've been considering that. I probably won't have time to play all the games until Winter break anyway. Should I wait for Ivy Bridge? Will sandybridge drop further when the next cpu and chipset come along? I can make do with the e8400 until maybe next summer because I still get playable fps on bf3.
 
nuklep said:
Yes I've been considering that. I probably won't have time to play all the games until Winter break anyway. Should I wait for Ivy Bridge? Will sandybridge drop further when the next cpu and chipset come along? I can make do with the e8400 until maybe next summer because I still get playable fps on bf3.
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Personally, I don't see a reason to wait for Ivy Bridge. Any Sandy Bridge quad core will be far superior to what you have now.
 
your e8400 is at its end of life...that said its not really a bad proc at all. The cheapest upgrade is to OC the hell out of it. Even crank the voltage up maybe a little higher than most because you really only need it for a few more months....
 
I wonder if a Q6600 is a better option than the E8400.

Someone might trade you.
 
the q6600 would yield moderately higher synthetic scores (3dmark etc) but almost nothing if left stock and since the Q6600 usually toped out around 3.4 i doubt it would do anything...on the other hand his e8400 can hit 4ghz....
 
you are killing the potential of that 6970 for sure and you could have bought a 6950 and gotten the identical performance with your cpu. not only is your cpu a bottleneck for the card itself but it will also impact playabilty in general in parts of cpu intensive games.

no point in waiting for Ivy Bridge so just get a 2500k and you will be set for probably 2.5 to 3 years. sell your current stuff to offset some of the cost.
 
450 said:
I wonder if a Q6600 is a better option than the E8400.

Someone might trade you.
Click to expand...

nope the q6600 would still be the bottleneck. i have the q6600 oc to 3.6 and its still cant max out my 6950. so ya upgrade if you can.
 
It will bottle neck, i had my e8400 @ 4250 and it still took heavy beating in BF3, switching to 2600k @ 4.8, was like night and day. Games these days are starting to use more than 2 cores and its showing the drawbacks of lower cpu/core count in systems.
 
canmanone said:
nope the q6600 would still be the bottleneck. i have the q6600 oc to 3.6 and its still cant max out my 6950. so ya upgrade if you can.
Click to expand...

Wow. I guess the Q6600 is finally showing its age. Still, what a great run for a CPU.
 
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