how can I if my CPU is bottlenecking my GPU?

[Shadow-King]

Im asking as it will help me make a decision whether to buy a new MOBO and CPU in the near future.

Thanks in advance.
PC specs in sig
Shadow

 

[cmndr_andi]

For the vast majority of games a 4.6GHz i3 will be plenty and allow you to get the most out of your GTX 580. However, there will be a small number which are more CPU-heavy and make good use of quad cores, so your CPU will hold you back. Are you finding your system struggles in many games?

If you want to do a relatively low cost CPU upgrade, then I would upgrade to a second-hand i5 750 or 760 quad core for less than £90 and overclock it as far as your existing board will allow.

If you want to spend a bit more to give you even more CPU performance (and the option for SLI and Ivy Bridge in the future), then an i5 2500K and a P67 or Z68 board would be a good move.

 

[Marine-RX179]

Easiest way is to check GPU usage in games. If your getting low frame rate while GPU is not at 99~100%, then you are most likely having a CPU bottleneck.

 

[mickyflinn]

When it comes to games it depends in which games you play, as more and more games start to use more cores then yes would be the answer. Higher clock speed over cores is usually better, but the real sweet spot is the i52500k.

 

[Shadow-King]

Nope don't seem to be getting any problems with
Games at moment, but thinking more towards future
when games will be using quads more. BF3 for example.

What would u class as low Marine? I get about 80fps(average) in bfbc2 dx11,
32AA, 16AF everything on high at 1920x1080.

Running Crysis 2 dx11 ultra settings and high res textures I get highs
of 70fps, lowest about 40fps. Cards temps get a lil higher on crysis 2
about 71/72c.

 

[easyrider]

just get a 760 and plop that in your cuurent mobo?

ONly upgrade to IB when it hits

 

[Marine-RX179]

What would u class as low Marine? I get about 80fps(average) in bfbc2 dx11,
32AA, 16AF everything on high at 1920x1080.

Running Crysis 2 dx11 ultra settings and high res textures I get highs
of 70fps, lowest about 40fps. Cards temps get a lil higher on crysis 2
about 71/72c.

So your lowest is 40fps...what you should do is check if your GPU usage is at 99~100% when you are at 40fps. If it is, it means every bit of juice is being squeezed out of the graphic card. On the other hand if you got 95% GPU usage or below, it means there are still improvement can be made on the CPU side. With faster speed of the CPU side, it will push the GPU usage up higher, which lead to higher frame rate. But I doubt your CPU can be overclocked any higher, so the answer is a better CPU in the future.

But to be fair 40fps minimum is already good performance, so I wouldn't worry too much if the GTX580 do get bottlenecked a little. Like others have suggested, if you really want to get everything that GTX580 has to offer, you could always consider grabbing a cheap i5 750/i5 760 as an upgrade.