My family and I, are about to give my brother a new GPU in birthday gift, and we can afford a EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 2.0 for his computer. I know that the computer is a bit old, the CPU is an Intel from about 2008 or 2009, i think it was a i7-920 or a i5-760. The motherboard has a PCI-E 2.0 slot for the GPU.
I know that the CPU will bottleneck the GPU, but how much? Is the card still worth bying for him? Or should we aim for something like a GTX 960?
If it is overclocked to 4ghz it will be OK. If still on 2.66ghz it will limit a lot in games that are not graphics demanding. But he can use it for a year and then start to think about a new PC.
Thanks for the fast reply, when it's time, I'll make sure that he will get a decent motherboard and CPU. I have a nice CPU cooler that i could give him too, then i can overclock the CPU for him. Is it easy to overclock? I do only have experience with a 3570k
If it is overclocked to 4ghz it will be OK. If still on 2.66ghz it will limit a lot in games that are not graphics demanding. But he can use it for a year and then start to think about a new PC.
False, even at stock he will be fine. 4.0GHz will help with framerates but certainly not a bottleneck. I suppose next month you will tell people a 990x is a bottleneck lol.
False, even at stock he will be fine. 4.0GHz will help with framerates but certainly not a bottleneck. I suppose next month you will tell people a 990x is a bottleneck lol.
If increasing the CPU frequency increases FPS, then the CPU is a bottleneck. Every computer has a bottleneck (i.e. a component that limits it's performance), and this bottleneck is usually application dependent.
E.G. BF4 Singleplayer is GPU dependent because it usually puts more pressure on the GPU
E.G.#2 Arma is CPU dependent because it puts more pressure on the CPU.
Therefore, if OPs bro wants to play BF4 he'll less likely be impaired by his CPU. However, if he wants to play Arma, he'll probably be CPU constrained.
If increasing the CPU frequency increases FPS, then the CPU is a bottleneck. Every computer has a bottleneck (i.e. a component that limits it's performance), and this bottleneck is usually application dependent.
E.G. BF4 Singleplayer is GPU dependent because it usually puts more pressure on the GPU
E.G.#2 Arma is CPU dependent because it puts more pressure on the CPU.
Therefore, if OPs bro wants to play BF4 he'll less likely be impaired by his CPU. However, if he wants to play Arma, he'll probably be CPU constrained.
Doesn't mean the games will be unplayable though, so it's not really an issue.
OP can your brother overclock a bit? Main issue with 1156 is the low clock speed. depending on what he has the i7 at 3.2-3.3 and the i5 at 3.5-3.6 should be good unless he is obsessed with tweaking stuff. Both shouldn't need much more than stock voltage.
Doesn't mean the games will be unplayable though, so it's not really an issue.
OP can your brother overclock a bit? Main issue with 1156 is the low clock speed. depending on what he has the i7 at 3.2-3.3 and the i5 at 3.5-3.6 should be good unless he is obsessed with tweaking stuff. Both shouldn't need much more than stock voltage.
Gaming felt really different when i oc to 3.9 much more fluid in crysis/crysis warhead and that was with a gtx 580, gtx 970 are between 50 to 130% faster in games. CPU is even more important in flight simulators. But it is true it is very game depended. But he can blow the extra speed on AA
If increasing the CPU frequency increases FPS, then the CPU is a bottleneck. Every computer has a bottleneck (i.e. a component that limits it's performance), and this bottleneck is usually application dependent.
E.G. BF4 Singleplayer is GPU dependent because it usually puts more pressure on the GPU
E.G.#2 Arma is CPU dependent because it puts more pressure on the CPU.
Therefore, if OPs bro wants to play BF4 he'll less likely be impaired by his CPU. However, if he wants to play Arma, he'll probably be CPU constrained.
i7 920 @ 3.8GHz with a 780
Judging by those percentages used, I think a 920 will suffice till Skylake. Even at stock. To the OP enjoy the graphics card.
False, even at stock he will be fine. 4.0GHz will help with framerates but certainly not a bottleneck. I suppose next month you will tell people a 990x is a bottleneck lol.
Allow me to give some insight considering I paired a 780Ti with a i7 950, He will be "bottlnecked" if he is playing at any resolution below 1080p. This is due to the fact that 720p Give or take a little. Is a more cpu intensive resolution.
LOL at you guys, i just search google for 2 mins and benchmarks show an i7-920 at STOCK getting = to or up or down 5 FPS in bf4 and other games as a 8350. 2.6ghz vs 4.0ghz
Allow me to give some insight considering I paired a 780Ti with a i7 950, He will be "bottlnecked" if he is playing at any resolution below 1080p. This is due to the fact that 720p Give or take a little. Is a more cpu intensive resolution.
LOL at you guys, i just search google for 2 mins and benchmarks show an i7-920 at STOCK getting = to or up or down 5 FPS in bf4 and other games as a 8350. 2.6ghz vs 4.0ghz
"LOL at you guys" what are you 6? This is OCN we don't mock others for being wrong. Take your immature toxicity elsewhere. Edit OOPS, you are on our side. buy still dont be rude XD
Lol iv had fanboys tell me there fx 6300 etc destroys my cpu. Im just like /facepalm lol. Heck this 980x at 4.4ghz is still faster then 95% of desktop cpus out now. It was on the very very very small list of items that were future proof in the PC world. Before the 5960x came out i thought the same thing for it. Im sure the 5960x is gonna last 3 to 5 years easy.
Iv been saving for an upgrade, but i really don't know what lol.
"LOL at you guys" what are you 6? This is OCN we don't mock others for being wrong. Take your immature toxicity elsewhere. Edit OOPS, you are on our side. buy still dont be rude XD
"LOL at you guys" what are you 6? This is OCN we don't mock others for being wrong. Take your immature toxicity elsewhere. Edit OOPS, you are on our side. buy still dont be rude XD
That's for the OP to see not to waste money. Others need to wake up and smell the Hommus. I should know I had a 920 @ 4.2GHz. Just sold off my Z97 and CPU and went back to Sandy hex core. Why you ask? Encoding time is cut in half and was more than half the price of a Haswell-E setup. Cannonlake 10nm will be the next worthwhile upgrade. I just don't think Skylake has it yet not unless we get more than 16 lanes and a 6 core mainstream cpu.
Lol iv had fanboys tell me there fx 6300 etc destroys my cpu. Im just like /facepalm lol. Heck this 980x at 4.4ghz is still faster then 95% of desktop cpus out now. It was on the very very very small list of items that were future proof in the PC world. Before the 5960x came out i thought the same thing for it. Im sure the 5960x is gonna last 3 to 5 years easy.
Iv been saving for an upgrade, but i really don't know what lol.
A stock standard 3930k is exactly the same as a 4790k overclocked to 4.6GHz with the uncore at 4.6GHz as well. An overclocked 3930k to 4.6GHz is well.........ummmm.........Good value?
A stock standard 3930k is exactly the same as a 4790k overclocked to 4.6GHz with the uncore at 4.6GHz as well. An overclocked 3930k to 4.6GHz is well.........ummmm.........Good value?
Ya i was planning on buying new GPU's but ever since i saw the benchmarks for 4k, my 290s overclocked are = to or beat out the sli 980s at 1150 dollars lol.
Not for me but others the best deal iv seen was the 5820k 12 thread cpu at microcenter 299 bucks. That seems like a really good value.
Ya i was planning on buying new GPU's but ever since i saw the benchmarks for 4k, my 290s overclocked are = to or beat out the sli 980s at 1150 dollars lol.
Not for me but others the best deal iv seen was the 5820k 12 thread cpu at microcenter 299 bucks. That seems like a really good value.
Unfortunately here in Australia microcenter doesn't exist and the exchange rate is higher now plus the already ridiculous pricing puts that 5820k back at over $500 in most places. Coupled with a minimum $329 and about the same for the most basic RAM it starts becoming prohibitively expensive.
EDIT: CPU is $509, Mobo is $329 for cheapest Gigabyte board, the UD3 and $299 for 16GB 2400MHz CL16 RAM. So $1137 plus shipping for some so say $1200. Here in Aus a 4930k and Mobo can be had for $600. People will re use the ram they have or sell it and get new ram. So total average cost for a X79 setup will be less than $750. And for people like me that still have a 4960x as an upgrade path if I need it along with faster memory.
My family and I, are about to give my brother a new GPU in birthday gift, and we can afford a EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 2.0 for his computer. I know that the computer is a bit old, the CPU is an Intel from about 2008 or 2009, i think it was a i7-920 or a i5-760. The motherboard has a PCI-E 2.0 slot for the GPU.
I know that the CPU will bottleneck the GPU, but how much? Is the card still worth bying for him? Or should we aim for something like a GTX 960?
It will be a great upgrade, and one that could easily transfer to a new rig. The 960 is definitely NOT worth it.
I paired a GTX550ti with a socket 939 AMD 64 x2 4200+ @ one point, that was a circa 2004-2005 cpu with a 2011 gpu... it still showed huge gains. The x2 4200+ was MUCH futher behind 2011 cpu's then your 920 is to today's cpus. He'll be fine
I've played a ton of Arma, I can tell you with confidence that you shouldn't be using it as an example. The optimization in Arma 2 and 3 (haven't bothered with the first) is just terrible. The performance varies ridiculous amounts across different game modes when there isn't much reason for a lower frame rate. Other issues include the game oddly capping your FPS at strange points(often 22-ish) regardless of video settings, which has reoccurred for me across 4 different machines. In certain game modes in Arma 2 it seems to do that odd FPS capping thing for faster systems? For example, my friend has an FX4100 @ 4.6ghz and a 7870, and I had a 3570k @ 4.5ghz + GTX 780, and in certain game modes he gets significantly better frame rate caps than I do on the same video settings. This was tested when we were driving in a truck together, the framerate did not vary for me regardless of where I was looking, and my friend's minimum framerate was always higher than my maximum... I've played around with different hardware and have done multiple RMAs for different components (some because they were broken, not because of arma) but to no avail; Arma is just really ****ty in terms of optimization. /rant
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