Is this system bottlenecked?

Jamie1994 · 9 Dec 2011 at 23:41

Hi all,

Few weeks ago I bought a HD6950 2GB, it's OC'd to 840core/1325mem.
Not sure If I'm just being unreasonable but I was expecting slightly more out of this card. Most new games will run at round 45-55 FPS and a few will stay a solid 60 but it just seems a little "stuttery".

I.E Saints Row 3, everything maxed gives about 30-40 FPS.
Arkham City gives 25-30 on DX11 and a solid 60 on DX9 (this I expected, although wondering why it's so much worse on DX11, I've heard the game is buggy at the moment but we will see).

I am thinking of upgrading the rest of the machine which is about a year and a half old now. Specs are as follows;

Gigabyte P43 something mobo.
Intel E8400 @ 3.6Ghz
4GB DDR2 (1333mhz)
Usually running at 1920x1080 but at 1360x768 currently until my VGA->DP adapter gets here...
It's mainly the CPU I'm worried about, is it really just time for an upgrade now?

cmndr_andi · 9 Dec 2011 at 23:52

Hi there,

Looking at this and this Saints Row 3 doesn't seem to offer great performance at the moment - even on top-end systems. I would suggest dialling down things a bit so you get an experience which is smooth enough for you and hope some patched/new drivers roll along soon.

As for your CPU specifically, the game doesn't seem particularly limited by a dual core - so I wouldn't rush out to upgrade quite yet.

Jamie1994 · 9 Dec 2011 at 23:56

Mmmm, many of the games I've tested it on are recent AAA releases ported from consoles hence me being wary it wasn't just badly optimized games.

Only thing stopping me upgrading is the fact that If I'm going to do it, it's going to be to a i5 2500k probably which is going to require a new mobo and RAM on top of the CPU. Look like atleast 400 quid to make it worth while.

EDIT: Speaking of the i5 2500k, is it still one of the best chips available for gamers? Is there anything coming that I should consider holding off for?

cmndr_andi · 10 Dec 2011 at 00:06

Yea, unfortunately a fair few games are pretty shoddy console ports but I guess it is better that than not getting the games at all. I remember Saints Row 2 (which I really loved, especially playing internet co-op with a friend) and that game only just ran acceptably on my i7 920/GTX 295 rig.

As for the i5 2500K upgrade - yea that is definitely the way to go. If you are looking for a good value option then this OEM version of the CPU, this excellent value board (review here), this great value RAM and this cooler total up to £285 excluding delivery (you will get free delivery from OCUK with 24 more posts). If you already have a decent CPU cooler then you may be able to just pick up a cheap LGA1156/1155 mounting bracket and use your existing cooler on the new CPU.

Jamie1994 · 10 Dec 2011 at 02:29

cmndr_andi said:
Yea, unfortunately a fair few games are pretty shoddy console ports but I guess it is better that than not getting the games at all. I remember Saints Row 2 (which I really loved, especially playing internet co-op with a friend) and that game only just ran acceptably on my i7 920/GTX 295 rig.

As for the i5 2500K upgrade - yea that is definitely the way to go. If you are looking for a good value option then this OEM version of the CPU, this excellent value board (review here), this great value RAM and this cooler total up to £285 excluding delivery (you will get free delivery from OCUK with 24 more posts). If you already have a decent CPU cooler then you may be able to just pick up a cheap LGA1156/1155 mounting bracket and use your existing cooler on the new CPU.

Thanks for the build, all looks good and it's much cheaper than the parts I found. Almost certainly go for it unless something better is around by the time I get round to it.