Which graphics settings to turn down for a CPU bound PC

Reaper 392 · 19 Dec 2014 at 17:51

I've just bought this GTX 970, which was a much needed upgrade over the 768MB GTX 460 but will leave me with quite an unbalanced PC in terms of CPU power. Can anyone suggest which settings are best to turn down to help the CPU along without making things look too much worse, since upgrading it really isn't an option for a little while.

I did have a quick look online, but after finding three different sites which all contradicted each other I figured it was best to just ask.

Reaper 392 · 19 Dec 2014 at 18:10

I will probably be doing that anyway, I was just wondering if some things, such as different AA methods or whatever, would help the CPU more than the GPU.

Reaper 392 · 19 Dec 2014 at 18:44

JustCallMeVlad said:
You need to replace that X4 OP. Nothing you can do will alleviate the problem. Why would you pair a 970 with a 2009 processor?

Because the plan is to replace it, just not for a while. I wanted an upgrade, and the 460 is the bottleneck in every sane situation (700+ part rockets in KSP being the insane situation where the CPU complains). As far as I was concerned, the two options were:
1. Buy a mediocre CPU and GPU upgrade for £300. That would have got me a decent performance increase, but would leave me needing to upgrade everything again very soon
2. Buy a big GPU and hope my current CPU doesn't complain too much before I eventually replace it with a big CPU. While it leaves me with a very unbalanced PC now, it will give me a good performance upgrade and will last for a long time.

In my opinion, option 2 is the best in the long run (and will probably give me more of a performance boost than option 1 anyway since any new CPU would require a new Motherboard anyway).

*edit*
Just to make it clear, I haven't actually got the GPU yet so I have no idea how much or little of a problem the weak CPU will be, but I fully expect to be CPU bound to some extent with this upgrade, hence asking for suggestions to minimise the problem as much as possible

Reaper 392 · 19 Dec 2014 at 20:34

nutsnut said:
He obviously can't use mantle though.

Even without mantle, its a sign that things shouldn't be too bad. Whatever happens it will be way better than the 460, which probably doesn't even meet the minimum requirements for GTAV