How do I get rid of my CPU bottleneck?

Vegeta

Vegeta

Vegeta

Soldato
Joined
6 Nov 2004
Posts
5,778
Currently running:

Dual Core E5200 @ 3.6ghz
4 Gig Ram
GTX 480
600W Be Quiet! PSU
Gigabye G41M ES2L motherboard.

Just tested two cards a radeon 5850 and my gtx 480 - both cards get exactly the same FPS in Mafia 2 and Crysis benchmarks so it seems my cpu is limiting them both? How do I get rid of the CPU bottleneck all together? I want to do it as cheap as possible so would a cheap I5 or I3 and overclock it be the best option? Or is there a AMD cheaper alternative? Just for gaming needs and get rid of the CPU bottleneck. I'd get a Q6600 but I don't think it would make all that difference considering the E5200 is running at 3.6ghz so it maybe the same in some games which don't utilise 4 cores?
 
The Q6600 has significantly more L2 cache than your current E5200 @ 3.6... even if it was running a lower ghz, it would outperform it. If I remember correctly, games love a good L2 cache. If your planning on staying with S755, I'd say a Q6600 is a good call :)
 
Cheap as possible wise, I'd opt for the Q6600. Rest of the system looks good and if it does what you need, then this would be a nice little upgrade for not too much money. Imo probably the best move for spending as little as possible.
 
Yeah if I was upgradin and money wasn't an option, then Sandbridge would be an ideal platform for a 480. Although as also said above, a Q series quad core would be a 'cheap' way to unlock more potential of your graphics card.
 
When are these new AMD's out?

Those benches don't really mean anything when I will be overclocking my system. And my system is at 3.6ghz. Question is will I benefit from a sandybridge system rather than the AMD one which is over £100 less? And do these AMD's overclock enough like the Intels?

And will my 600W PSU be enough to power a overclocked system and a overclocked GTX 480?
 
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The Q6600 is the obvious choice for you, as many games now utilise the 4 cores and you could likely get the Q to a similar clock as the E, but I really don't think a Q6600 would last you much longer, especially on a 480. Higher-end Q chips (Q9xxx, QX9xxx) are of course an option, but not one I'd tend to go for.

X4 Black Editions, such as the popular 955, tend to reliably hit 3.6-3.8 GHz, and with ease thanks to their unlocked multipliers. You'll see a big jump in performance, which I believe would place the bottleneck in most games firmly back in the court of the graphics card where it should be.

A sandy bridge setup would have course blow away either choice in performance numbers, but I'm not sure if you need the extra performance over the X4.

As for Bulldozer, it's still a way away, and as far as I can tell it's more for performance number-crunching and transcoding than gaming.
 
personally, i think it is the motherboard with might be the bottleneck. the PCI-E slot is only running at x16 which to me would explain the FPS you are getting.

i would suggest moving on from the old quads and get an i5 or i7
 
VARDY said:
personally, i think it is the motherboard with might be the bottleneck. the PCI-E slot is only running at x16 which to me would explain the FPS you are getting.

i would suggest moving on from the old quads and get an i5 or i7
Click to expand...

x16 is the current standard for PCI-E slots, or x8/x8 in SLI/CF. What are you on about?
 
I think you should go for a Q6600 and wait for Bulldozer as you will loose very little money doing this upgrade . Then when Bulldozer hits you can pick which suits your needs better .

1). Q6600, If you are still happy with its performance
2). Bulldozer, Does it beat your current system by much and its price too
3). Sandybrigde, Best performance right now
 
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