Will my CPU bottleneck my GPU?

[Phishy]

Hey guys, Just had a couple quick question for the community. I currently have a AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Dual Core overclocked at 3.6 ghz (can probably hit 4.0 with a non-stock cooler) and a Geforce 9800 GT 1G gpu. I am looking to replace the gpu with a Radeon HD 6870 or a GeForce GTX 460 1G, haven't made up my mind on either one yet. I use my comp for mostly everyday use and a bit of gaming.

My question(s) is, first of all, which card should I get? I have a 1600 x 1050, 75hz monitor that I am not planning on replacing anytime soon so that might actually recommend a different, lower end card. If so, what would the advantages be aside from future-proofing that one of the above mentioned cards would provide.

Secondly, if I were to go with the 6870 or the GTX 460, would my cpu bottleneck the card? My budget is around $200 so any suggestions you guys give would be great. Thanks again for your help!!

 

[micropage7]

bump
first you made double thread
2nd it looks ok for most midrange card, especially if you have oc'ed it but how ever its not depend on the processor clock only but how wide the data could be transfered thru it

 

[Crap Daddy]

Forget the bottleneck there's no such thing. the 6870 is around 15% faster than the 460 but wait and see the new gtx 560 without the Ti what price will have, launch next week, if it's around 200$ price point it'll be the best option.

 

[HD64G]

Power consumption excluded maybe...

 

[micropage7]

Power consumption excluded maybe...

could be, 460 is hungry power.
if he could wait maybe newer card that offer better performance and better power ratio
for amd or nvidia, so far nvidia leads just about several percent

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

You would benefit from a newer proc architecture thats for sure, but changing your gpu to a faster one will also yield faster framerates as well.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

Put simply, no the CPU should not have a huge bottlenecking issue in this instance. The only thing I would ask is do you have a PCIe 2.0 or 1.0 x16 slot? 1.0 has half the bandwidth of a 2.0, but even then you should notice a distinct improvement with either newer GPU.

I would favor the 6870 over the 460. Put simply, it performs slightly better and at a lower peak wattage draw. Assuming you aren't using programs that are GPGPU enabled you won't go wrong with AMD. If you plan on becoming a cruncher go for a 460 or whatever iteration of the 560 whose price you can swallow.

I will say that several iterations of the 6870 are now well below the $200 mark (if you're in the USA). If you catch them on sale some get down to $160 (including rebates, which may be a bit of a long wait). The extra money you save can be put toward a decent aftermarket CPU cooler.

 

[Phishy]

Put simply, no the CPU should not have a huge bottlenecking issue in this instance. The only thing I would ask is do you have a PCIe 2.0 or 1.0 x16 slot? 1.0 has half the bandwidth of a 2.0, but even then you should notice a distinct improvement with either newer GPU.

I would favor the 6870 over the 460. Put simply, it performs slightly better and at a lower peak wattage draw. Assuming you aren't using programs that are GPGPU enabled you won't go wrong with AMD. If you plan on becoming a cruncher go for a 460 or whatever iteration of the 560 whose price you can swallow.

I will say that several iterations of the 6870 are now well below the $200 mark (if you're in the USA). If you catch them on sale some get down to $160 (including rebates, which may be a bit of a long wait). The extra money you save can be put toward a decent aftermarket CPU cooler.

I have a ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO mobo. =) Also, would i benefit in this case from unlocking the cpu to 4 cores? I know i would have to revert the O.C. to unlock the cores and then try to overclock them as well.

edit: I also have 4g 1600 (o.c.) mhz ddr3 memory at 7-8-7-32 speeds.

 

[renq]

Of corse try unlocking the cores Any little bit helps. Phenom II is definately a weaker architecture compared to Intel Core i-series (especially 2nd gen s1155), but there shouldn't be too much bottlenecking in games, especially if you could unlock the extra cores and OC as well.

 

[HD64G]

2 high clocked cores with L3 cache is enough for a midrange GPU... If unlocked it will be better especially for some strategy games - i.e. World in conflict.

 

[{JNT}Raptor]

If you wanna unlock the cores....sure...give it a run.....but...as long as you can get your CPU up to around 3.8-4Ghz......you shouldn't be bothered by any bottleneck.

Dual CPU at a high clock's will serve you better than a lower clocked Quad.....FPS wise anyways.

Hope it helps.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

I have a ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO mobo. =) Also, would i benefit in this case from unlocking the cpu to 4 cores? I know i would have to revert the O.C. to unlock the cores and then try to overclock them as well.

edit: I also have 4g 1600 (o.c.) mhz ddr3 memory at 7-8-7-32 speeds.

I see.

In the future it might help if you put your system specs. into your profile. I was assuming next to no knowledge, because assuming otherwise has gotten me eschewed in quite a few cases...

That aside, my GPU recommendation stands. You should not notice a bottleneck, and go with the 6870 unless you want to start crunching.

 

[Dave63]

I have the MSI N460GTX TWIN FROZR II SOC on a amd 2+ mobo and a 550w psu works good. Now the gpu is oc to 925 core and my cpu a p2 X3 oc at 3.5GHz also I play some games NFS pro street, DiRT 2 and run AutoCADD as well as some audio and video editing for my use and do this all at 1080 hd.
Hope this gives you idea of how the 460 will work and you have a much better setup than I do.
And by the way I also have a H50 cooler and 6 120mm case fans on this cheap Best Buy 550w psu that has been running for over a year.

Hope this helps.
Here is a pic of my Beanch I did today.