• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Q6600 GFX upgrade?

pinkgold

pinkgold

pinkgold

Associate
Joined
3 Oct 2008
Posts
4
Morning all,

Current rig

Q6600 - 3.6ghz
260gtx 216 - 705/1203
680i sli

This rig has lasted me a long time. However, with the release of GW2 I'm thinking about an upgrade. I get playable FPS (30-40) on medium settings, but would ofc like slightly more / higher settings. I relise that the system is dated and that ideally a new build is the best way forward. However, my question is this, on the basis, that, as a student, I can't afford a complete upgrade, is there a GFX in the £100-150 price range that would offer a reasonable increase in performance in my current rig? I was thinking perhaps 560Ti / 6870 / 7850.

Thanks for any advice!
 
pinkgold said:
Thanks for the reply.

Do you think the the CPU / mobo bus type would represent a significant bottleneck?
Click to expand...
For GW2 it could be, as it seem to only uses two cores, and the game itself is quite CPU demanding.

I think you should get try the game first with your current set up first, and may be try using FXAA only but with no MSAA and see how the performance (frame rate and the GPU usage) is first and then go from there.

My secondary PC's E5200 overclocked to 3.75GHz would bottleneck my 9800GTX+ (GTS250) in DC Universe Online, which is a mmo that also only uses two cores. If GW2 is actually more demanding on the CPU side, then upgrading your graphic card or lowering graphic settings in game might not give you better frame rate (as two cores of Q6600 at 3.6GHz actually might struggle to keep up with a single GTX260).
 
Last edited:
pinkgold said:
Thanks for the advice .... marine ... I have the game ... tested and FPS in OP.
Click to expand...
So how is the performance? Have you checked how is the GPU usage for your GTX260? Don't get me wrong, I use to own a Q6600 overclocked to 3.6GHz myself as well, and I always found it was my CPU holding back my frame rate the most when having a 5850 playing mmos, frequently with GPU usage dropping down to 50% or lower and frame rate dropped to low 20s during the more intensive scenes or busy areas. After upgrading to my current i5 2500K overclocked to 4.5GHz, in the same games my GPU usage on the 5850 increased to 70%+ at all time, and would pretty much hold the frame rate at constant 55fps+. Had I upgraded graphic card instead of the CPU, I would have still got the same low frame rate as before. You can also check the capability of your Q6600 at 3.6GHz in GW2 by putting all the graphic settings to lowest may be, and then see what kind of frame rate you get. But the easiest way to make sure that your CPU is not holding back your graphic card is use may be MSI Afterburner's on screen display to show GPU usage while you are in game. If the GPU is always far lower than 99% even with all graphic settings at highest, then you'd know it your CPU is holding back even your GTX260, and upgrading to a fast graphic card might not help with increasing frame rate.
 
Last edited:
pinkgold said:
Ah I see, Il have a look tonight. Thanks
Click to expand...
The biggest shame about mmos is the developers simply don't seem to like making their games use 4 cores or above. Vast majority of the mmos uses 1-2 cores, and some rare ones using 3 (i.e. Global Agenda). WOW using mostly only 1 core at least got the excuse of having a old game engine which cannot be changed; Global Agenda released in 2009 (if I remember correctly) would usage 3 cores, but in that game my Q6600 at 3.6GHz would still hold back my 5850 with GPU usage dipping to 60-70% and frame rate down to 20s at times...and then fast forward to today- GW2, a high profile mmos in 2012 that's developed by a team of 250 developers....yet it still uses only two cores...I seriously dunno what are the mmo game developers so afraid of making their games to use 4 cores or more :o

When you check the performance of your current system in GW2 again, I suspect in none-intensive moments or busy area, even your GTX260 could probably hold 50fps+ at ease...what you really want to know is during intensive scenes when your frame rate fall to hell, is the GPU at 99%, or is it at much lower than that. If it stay at 99%, it would points to the GTX260 not fast enough to hold decent frame rate, however if the GPU usage is much lower than 99%, then you'd know it is your CPU holding the frame rate back, rather than the GTX260. Hope it is clear enough for you.
 
Last edited:
I had a Q6600 at 3.6ghz and played a whole host of games with a 560ti with no bottlenecking at all... and got a good upgrade in FPS by switching to a 580

there are a couple of specific games where a Q is an issue but in general it's a good CPU capable of running most modern games... my advice would be to try a GPU upgrade (the cheapest option) and see what results you get

Marine seems to only play single core games because it's all he bangs on about... having said that, if you are specifically just playing GW2 then it would appear that is one of the few that is CPU bound
 
Last edited:
Ignore whatever Andy said about me...he's got something against me for saying an overclock Q6600 would bottleneck a GTX580. I already put him on ignore list.

He keep banging about overclocked Q6600 overclocked would not bottlenecking his GTX580 base PURELY on playing BF3 on ultra settings on multiplayer, when the fact is that ultra settings would push the frame rate of GTX580 down to the simliar frame rate as the overclock Q6600 so the CPU bottleneck won't be much on those settings, ignoring that when playing people that prefer higher frame rate play at high settings instead of ultra (want to have minimum 45fps+) the CPU bottleneck would clearly show its ugly head and the Q6600 would struggle to deliver that. Most mmos out there they are not as graphic demanding as BF3, so the CPU bottleneck would become much more apparent. Also we clearly disagree on what bottleneck represent, he see it as as long as the frame rate is playable it is not a bottleneck, whereas I and most reviewers see bottleneck as one CPU delivering higher frame rate than another by a fair margin (more than 5fps) instead of having close to identical frame rate (with 1-2fps margin of errors), or overclocking the CPU higher can still provide higher frame rate when on the same graphic card. The CPU only becomes not bottlenecking the graphic card when overclocking to higher clock speed no longer increases frame rate.

He seems to think FPS games or standalone single player games performance stands for everything, and when people play CPU demanding games that run on low number of threads/uses low number of cores (i.e. mmorpgs), his simple response would be something along the line of calling people fools for choosing to play those games or nobody tells them to play those games, ignoring that are millions of people out there that DO play mmos, and they don't have exactly have a choice and there's not much they can do increase th performance except for upgrading their CPU (and platform) when the mmos game developers keep on refusing to make the games use 4 cores on the games they play. I simply don't agree with someone that don't even play mmos generalising overclocked Q6600 won't bottleneck a GTX580, when I have personally experience CPU botteneck in almost EVERY mmos I played on my Q6600 at 3.6GHz on my 5850, and with other members also confirming overclocked Q6600 bottlenecking their graphic cards.
 
Last edited:
I used to game on A Q8400 @ 3.2 and a 560TI and "never noticed" a bottleneck. I played GW and it felt realy smooth (no idea on fps though), no jerks or stutter. In seriousness there could be a bottleneck but it will be a massive improvement over your current GPU.

Also I will add a 7850 would be my choice if you can stretch a little further.
 
gregster said:
Also I will add a 7850 would be my choice if you can stretch a little further.
Click to expand...
Yea the 7850 would be the logically next step upgrade for the graphic card, if the OP confirm that his GTX260 is indeed at 99% usage when frame rate drop a lot during intensive fights/battles.

If that is the case, upgrade to the 7850, and try to save up money as quickly as possible toward a i5 upgrade would be the way to go.
 
Last edited:
lmao, I think most of what you've posted marine applies in reverse... I tend to post up a wide variety of games and situations, you post up a scant few examples, usually at weird settings that no one actually uses or situations where the difference in FPS, whilst big, wouldn't actually make a difference between playable or not playable

you also specifically tried to tell me that I was using single player BF3 as an example and that multiplayer BF3 would be CPU limited which is an utter lie

I talk in generalisations across many games (and admit that in certain limited situations such as apparently GW2) that a game CAN be CPU limited, however marine tries to tell me that games and modes I've specifically played are also CPU limited when I know for a fact it's not true

there's other many page threads on this subject so I'm not going to bother going over the whole lot again

I used to play WoW, Eve online, Conan and many others with no issues so a bit weird to say that I never play mmo's when you have no idea what games I've played

I also like that you have me on ignore yet reply to me!
 
Only read the OP, i had a Q6600 runing on a 5770. I decided to put my 7950 in that rig just for fun. Nothing ran better, telling me the Q6600 was bottlenecking the much better 7950.

I didn't benchmark, i only ran the games that i knew were not performing as good as they could have been, and none of them showed any improvement on the 7950 vs the 5770.

Put your money towards a better CPU, mobo TBH
 
pinkgold said:
Ah I see, Il have a look tonight. Thanks
Click to expand...
Just want to add by upgrading to for example a 7850, it should allow you to play at best appearance preset/highest setting with FXAA, but the frame rate isn't gonna be much different from what you currently got, even if your drop the graphic setting from best appearance preset (highest) down to balanced preset (medium) when using the 7850.

Also seen a bench on a test system of Intel Core i7-3960X at 4.25GHz which a GTX550Ti and 7750 can do minimum of 40fps and average of 46fps on balanced detail preset (medium) on 1920 res plus FXAA. Considering these two cards are pretty much same performance as the 5770 and GTX260, if you are not getting simliar frame rate with your GTX260 (especially since the game doesn't use dx11), then the chances are the Q6600 could be holding the GTX260 at this setting. But like I said before, best to check the GPU usage with MSI Afterburner's on screen display.
 
Last edited:
I would take the 7850. They are available for amazing prices at the moment! (cheapest available is on OCUK I believe) By far the most powerful of the 3 cards you mentioned.
 
GW2 is CPU heavy, I would say if your upgrading for that just get a current CPU and 7850 if you can afford to. A Q6600 will bottleneck most recent gfx anyway
 
MrMoonX said:
GW2 is CPU heavy, I would say if your upgrading for that just get a current CPU and 7850 if you can afford to. A Q6600 will bottleneck most recent gfx anyway
Click to expand...
Andy would like to have a word with you :D He's been haunting me like a ghost and giving me BS on every bottleneck related post ever since the day that I said his overclocked Q6600 would bottleneck his GTX580...

Shame ignore feature for this forum would only hide the post content, but I would still see people that are on ignore list making a post (but with the content hidden). I didn't read what he posted above, but with his post right after mine after I mentioned bottleneck, no doubt it is the same old BS with more personal attacks/insults just like before I put him on ignore.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom