Possible BF4 bottleneck with new 970 upgrade

Smrtka · 5 Oct 2014 at 22:44

Hello Everyone,

I Am about to buy GTX 970 to upgrade my current GTX 570 (elderly fella) and I am concerned that there will be bottleneck in my system.
I mainly play BF4 and that would be fairly disappointing if it would be choked by my cpu.

My rig :
i5 2500 (non K)
asus p8p67-m
gtx 570 (want to get msi or gb 970)
650W psu (hoping this will be enough for the 970)
16gb ram
crucial ssd 120

Screenshot from test range : (cpu doesn't go over 75-80%)

Is it worth upgrading ? do I need to save up some more and get a new cpu ?
I presume its not a good idea to get 1155 socket anymore so I would need to upgrade my mobo too...

I briefly searched the forum and could find my answer or any active post to write this, so I apologize if this has been discussed anywhere else.

Minstadave · 5 Oct 2014 at 22:45

What resolution do you play at?

Smrtka · 5 Oct 2014 at 22:56

1080, I've got 144Mhz 24 inch screen so hoping to get to 120fps

bungle · 5 Oct 2014 at 23:09

I went from a 570 to an 780ti on my 2500K @ 1080p and noticed a huge difference even at stock CPU clocks. A 570 to 970 is a huge upgrade.

Geeman1979 · 5 Oct 2014 at 23:33

You'll be fine and see a big improvement over the 570, even a stock I5 2500's no slouch.

Disco_P · 6 Oct 2014 at 01:45

A stock 2500 is no slouch but it will hold your 970 back in larger servers. When I did some testing at stock with my 780 and 2550k, the overlay clearly showed my system waiting on the CPU to render frames.

However you'll still get a massive performance improvement and other games the CPU will not hold you back as much, if at all. You can also set your CPU to run at 3.8ghz constantly iirc.

Kaapstad · 6 Oct 2014 at 08:26

Go for it

If you do get any bottlenecking you can always pick up a second hand 2600k cheap and that will sort it.

Gregster · 6 Oct 2014 at 08:35

Kaapstad said:
Go for it

If you do get any bottlenecking you can always pick up a second hand 2600k cheap and that will sort it.

This.

Get it and see what is what. I suspect a single card should be fine but if not, you can always swap out the CPU

~>Dg<~ · 6 Oct 2014 at 09:13

i5 will power any single card fine that is out today.

Minstadave · 6 Oct 2014 at 10:09

Will limit your FPS in BF4 though, especially in 64 player maps.

Smrtka · 6 Oct 2014 at 11:38

Well thanks all for the words of reassurance, I'll monitor the fps and cpu when I get the new card and possibly post here for future reference if I won't forget

any preference on MSI or GB 970 or same story flip a coin ?

humbug · 6 Oct 2014 at 14:55

Minstadave said:
Will limit your FPS in BF4 though, especially in 64 player maps.

A Stock 2500 will yes.

Geeman1979 · 6 Oct 2014 at 15:00

Smrtka said:
Well thanks all for the words of reassurance, I'll monitor the fps and cpu when I get the new card and possibly post here for future reference if I won't forget

any preference on MSI or GB 970 or same story flip a coin ?

Flip a coin, both great cards.

~>Dg<~ · 6 Oct 2014 at 15:05

Minstadave said:
Will limit your FPS in BF4 though, especially in 64 player maps.

http://wccftech.com/intel-sandy-bridge-ivy-bridge-haswell-graphics-compared-10-difference-average/

limit nothing.

humbug · 6 Oct 2014 at 15:10

~>Dg<~ said:
http://wccftech.com/intel-sandy-bridge-ivy-bridge-haswell-graphics-compared-10-difference-average/

limit nothing.

Single player, no load on the CPU ^^^^ Multiplayer is very different, Thats where the CPU comes in.

setter · 6 Oct 2014 at 15:16

Cant see it being too much of a limit tbh. I cant recall the speed of a 2500. But I ran mp fine on a stock 3570k.

~>Dg<~ · 6 Oct 2014 at 15:22

humbug said:
Single player, no load on the CPU ^^^^ Multiplayer is very different, Thats where the CPU comes in.

ohh dear sat and benched with many rigs side by side no difference only maybe a two card set up.

i5s can actually sometimes be a little quicker why i dont know but it happens

http://www.hardwarepal.com/battlefield-4-benchmark-mp-cpu-gpu-w7-vs-w8-1/8/

humbug · 6 Oct 2014 at 15:26

~>Dg<~ said:
ohh dear sat and benched with many rigs side by side no difference only maybe a two card set up.

i5s can actually sometimes be a little quicker why i dont know but it happens

http://www.hardwarepal.com/battlefield-4-benchmark-mp-cpu-gpu-w7-vs-w8-1/8/

BF4 MP has specific parts on specific maps that have heavy CPU bottlenecking, especially with full 64 Player maps, do you know where they are?

~>Dg<~ · 6 Oct 2014 at 15:28

lets just say there is nothing much between them is there. its that simple unless you going for a twin card set up and with everything ramped up still wont be much difference.

humbug · 6 Oct 2014 at 15:41

~>Dg<~ said:
lets just say there is nothing much between them is there. its that simple unless you going for a twin card set up and with everything ramped up still wont be much difference.

I'm just wondering given that you don't seem to know about it in your page there, just randomly running around any old map and taking averages does not cite bottlenecking, *with respect*

There are sections on maps where even with a relatively strong CPU you can get significant FPS drops with a card as fast as a GTX 970.