(Dr.) Bottlenecks: Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Just Buy the GPU - Overclock.net

Ihatethedukes · 05-22-07

Deleted in civil disobedience

Whyifide · 05-22-07

Beautiful.

**SgtSpike** · 05-22-07

Nice post, but I disagree on some points. I do hate that so many people cry bottlenecked all the time... Same thing with powersupplies... the whole "OH NOZ UR RUNNING ON A 480W??? YOU NEED 700W!!!!!!!!" thing.

I know for a fact that my CPU limits Stalker. It plays the same (20-30fps) on medium-high video settings as it does on low, and monitoring the CPU usage shows that it is always at 100% on both cores (btw I'm currently at stock, not OC'd). And guess what? I'm on a Conroe even.

JoeUbi · 05-22-07

Wow, you've got to be kidding me... I was in the process or writing a FAQ on the same exact topic...

PS Images not showing up.

**Boris4ka** · 05-22-07

You're completely right. People should only worry about a bottleneck like that if they are benchmarking.

Nevaziah · 05-22-07

wow, this confirms what i've been really suspecting aLL this time. Moniter is huge, but response time and refresh rates cannot really be uped from 60hz. +1 dood

dskina · 05-22-07

I call for a sticky.

psycho_terrorism · 05-22-07

first post, so my specs arent up yet, but i run an a64 4000 @3ghz and an 8800gts. my oblivion frames are around 20 fps outdoors at 1280x1024 - are you telling me my cpu isn't the bottleneck?

i do see your point, but realistically, a conroe would do much more for my gaming experience than a larger monitor untill my fps hits 60 in every game.

Malaziel · 05-22-07

Several parts of your post are spot on Duke but there are a few holes. If you have an older processor and a modern GPU such as in my system your CPU will frequently be the bottleneck in your system. There are times in CS:S in which I get less than 30 fps. Is this because my GPU cannot handle it? Certainly not and the refresh rate of my monitor is 60hz so thats not it either. Its my processor plain and simple. Same thing with Oblivion. People that play at the same resolution that I do with the same or even slightly worse GPUs play the game and maintain a higher framerate than I do. However if you do have a decent processor especially a dual core there are very few times when your processor is going to be the bottleneck.

Ihatethedukes · 05-22-07

Yes indeed, if you read closely, I said at least in two places where I qualified that unless you're having issues already BEFORE the card upgrade there's no need. Obviously you had issues before. Also, there are game settings that make it hard on the CPU as well. Oblivion is a game that's ripe to make this write up look bad as it's also very simplistic and doesn't take into account RAM size/speed and doesn't take into account how every game is more or less rendered differently and is less or more efficiently coded as certain resolutions and what not than other. There are a MILLION little things and quirks that can make this not work for you. But the main point stand uncontested. If you've got a CPU that can play your games as they are now at good framerates, DON'T DICK AROUND WITH A CONROE. Spend your money on a bad ass monitor.

When you're in a FPS room with 30 people in it along with 5 vehicles and 20 NPCs, you're going to have a major CPU/ram draw as the physics and AI are working overtime. These are tiny niche exceptions to the rule.

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(Dr.) Bottlenecks: Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Just Buy the GPU

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