[smartasien]

Hey guys, been a lot of talk about bottlenecks with AMD setups, so I was wondering if swapping to an intel build might be worth it.

Cheapest I've seen the 2500k was $150 at Fry's. I'd be looking to OC to 5ghz since I got water.
Not too familiar with intel mobos but I found this P67 board ASRock P67 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA $155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157265

I have no idea how Intel ram works (does it still use triple channel?)
Would my current set be okay? Or would that lead issues?

So at minimum I'm looking to spend $330ish on the intel setup to fix my gtx 470 sli bottleneck. Though, if I can sell my current setup I can probably get around $120ish back.

Speaking of benefits, what should I be expecting? a 30fps increase in BF3? Or is that over exaggerated? Heres a chart I found in another thread comparing fps between a thuban and a 2500k with SLI at 1920x1080.

Thanks in advance!

 

[anubis1127]

p67/z68 boards use dual channel ddr3. Most motherboards call for 1.5v RAM, so that's the only thing I would worry about, if you can run your ram with looser timing/less volts you may want to start there when attempting to OC.

 

[Blindrage606]

Z68 chipset is works with dual channel DDR3 1600 RAM... You're prob looking at a 5-10 +/- FPS in games, as more modern games are highly dependent on GPU setups. A 2500k is a great start, although for 24/7 5Ghz OC, i'd recommend a 2600k.

 

[Bobotheklown]

$150 on a 2500k is a steal! Grab that while you can!

And that motherboard you picked out is perfect, same one I'm getting.

As far as ram goes it looks like you currently have ddr2. You'll need a dual channel kit of ddr3 like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231461

30 fps jump is probably not going to happen man, you'll definitely be faster, but not 30 fps faster in bf3

 

[smartasien]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobotheklown;15296088
30 fps jump is probably not going to happen man, you'll definitely be faster, but not 30 fps faster in bf3

dam. well how much fps should I be expecting realistically? 30fps is definitely worth the jump but if its like 10-15... not so much. i think i could live w/o that honestly.

Blindrage606: you mean the bottleneck would only account for 5-10 fps?

anubis1127: my ram runs horribly, I couldn't loosen it to 9-9-9-24 before, I tried :/ but may be it was the mobo.

 

[GanjaSMK]

In all honesty, I think you're pumping too much voltage for your chip even under water. Not to mention it is an 'unlocked cores' chip which could have an impact on performance that you're just not seeing.

A better bet would be to purchase a cheap CPU upgrade that fits your current board, 1100T, 1090T, even a 955/965/970/980, if you can get any of those for a good price. Better to overclock those higher than your current 4Ghz on a possibly under-performing chip with less voltage for higher gains.

Just my thoughts.

Don't get me wrong, a in i5 2500K setup is madly enticing.

 

[smartasien]

wasn't sure what you meant by "Not to mention it is an 'unlocked cores' chip which could have an impact on performance that you're just not seeing."

did you mean in terms of stability? I've already primed 72 hr stable. lol. yea i'm ocd. Theres no doubt higher vcore will reduce the lifespan on the chip, but its cheap and i don't plan on using it forever

the thing about upgrading to a thuban is that u wouldn't c any potential benefit in terms of the sli bottleneck. thats the main issue here.

 

[GanjaSMK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smartasien;15296300
wasn't sure what you meant by "Not to mention it is an 'unlocked cores' chip which could have an impact on performance that you're just not seeing."

did you mean in terms of stability? I've already primed 72 hr stable. lol. yea i'm ocd. Theres no doubt higher vcore will reduce the lifespan on the chip, but its cheap and i don't plan on using it forever

the thing about upgrading to a thuban is that u wouldn't c any potential benefit in terms of the sli bottleneck. thats the main issue here.

Because the chip you're using was a dual core chip with two locked cores. Just because you're P95 stable (who knows how long ago that was, not to mention) doesn't mean you're stable. I've seen plenty of failure/inconsistency/errors on supposedly 'stable' rigs who were primed 24+ hours. It happens.

Plus, if you were to get a really good, lets say 970 or 980 that could do 4.4Ghz under water at 1.45~1.5v, you'd probably minimize that bottleneck quite a bit.

And what kind of bottleneck are you seeing? I mean, are you playing on a 1680x1050 or 1920x1080 screen with SLI470's? You should be playing on a triple-monitor setup or at least 1440p+ with that kind of power (in my opinion, and to each his own).

I mean I play at 1920x1080 on a single 6850 because it provides me with enough performance and eye candy for the games I play.

 

[anubis1127]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smartasien;15296169
dam. well how much fps should I be expecting realistically?

anubis1127: my ram runs horribly, I couldn't loosen it to 9-9-9-24 before, I tried :/ but may be it was the mobo.

The FPS jump is going to vary game to game. In some games, I think you could expect to see 30ish fps increase, but not for bf3. I agree with around 10, I don't think any of us will know for sure until the retail game drops.

As far as your ram goes, I didn't notice you had ddr2, so you'd have to pick up a ddr3 kit. 8gb kits are pretty cheap though.

It sounds like you are not leaning toward a SB build at this point, but if you change your mind, newegg also has a z68 extreme4 gen3 board for $130 right now. That's another alternative for you to consider, and save you some money for ram.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[smartasien]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GanjaSMK;15296421
Because the chip you're using was a dual core chip with two locked cores. Just because you're P95 stable (who knows how long ago that was, not to mention) doesn't mean you're stable. I've seen plenty of failure/inconsistency/errors on supposedly 'stable' rigs who were primed 24+ hours. It happens.

Plus, if you were to get a really good, lets say 970 or 980 that could do 4.4Ghz under water at 1.45~1.5v, you'd probably minimize that bottleneck quite a bit.

i disagree, theres no difference then between a unlocked and nonunlocked chip in terms of stability. 24+ hrs could mean failure on ANY cpu not just an unlocked one.

no point spending money on a dying tech. still, if I were to get lucky and get a 970 at 4.4ghz i'd still be largely bottlenecked. pretty much the only thing thats going to solve this is an intel build. but as anubis said, the difference will more likely be ~10-15 fps not 30 fps. Therefore, i'd rather hold out for now. If BF3 runs fine at even high settings @1920x1080 I probably won't even bother.

btw anubis my ram is actually ddr3 i just said 800mhz but running at ddr1600

 

[anubis1127]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smartasien;15297424

btw anubis my ram is actually ddr3 i just said 800mhz but running at ddr1600

Ah, gotcha, I was reading the thread off my phone at the time, and the previous poster had said it was ddr2.

I would definitely hold off until you at least try the game out. It probably won't be hard to find a 2500k owner with sli 470's setup to compare your results. Then make your decision.

I had sli 470s until I fried one of them, otherwise I'd share results with you. Now I have a gtx580 on the way for bf3, and will be putting the functioning gtx470 in my htpc. Its rather disappointing to downgrade my gaming rig to a gtx580, but at the same time is cool to upgrade my htpc to a light gaming htpc.

 

[Kvjavs]

There wouldn't be a bottleneck on an AMD system for BF3.

Most games that are "bottlenecked" by AMD in CFX/SLI are games that favor Intel CPUs. Even with a single card set up the Intel CPU would be better.

Fortunately BF3 isn't a game that favors either CPU, and in the tests I've seen, it actually likes AMD CPUs. Even Bulldozer.

If you're going to be playing BF3 religiously and already have an AMD set up, just keep it. If anything get an x6 or one of those 960T Zosma CPUs and hope it unlocks to an x6.

Also think of it like this, you'll still be getting quite a performance boost, even if it's bottle necked. It's not like the second GPU won't be used at all. Just not as much as it can.

 

[DNytAftr]

hmmm... didnt read everything in the thread kinda skimmed it.. but shouldnt have an issue with a 2500k and bottleneck if you do switch, im using a i7 920 with tri sli 470's (at stock speeds) and according to the numbers ive tested so far i havent seen any bottleneck.

I was playing around with my GF's rig with a 2500k @4ghz and sli 460s (1gb, which perform pretty similar to 470's) with a 450 for physx and it played with out any issues

havent played with bf3 on eather rigs but on bfbc2 (max settings with 4x aa 1920x1080) on my sig rig i got ~120fps (though i have a 60hz monitor) and on her rig i think it was around ~70-80fps .. somewhere around there

 

[ZealotKi11er]

If all you are going to play is BF3 then wait for the game and some benchmarks to come and then see. Personally i think your CPU is fine especially considering in the Beta PII was as good as SB for the most part.

 

[anubis1127]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNytAftr;15298531
hmmm... didnt read everything in the thread kinda skimmed it.. but shouldnt have an issue with a 2500k and bottleneck if you do switch, im using a i7 920 with tri sli 470's (at stock speeds) and according to the numbers ive tested so far i havent seen any bottleneck.

I was playing around with my GF's rig with a 2500k @4ghz and sli 460s (1gb, which perform pretty similar to 470's) with a 450 for physx and it played with out any issues

havent played with bf3 on eather rigs but on bfbc2 (max settings with 4x aa 1920x1080) on my sig rig i got ~120fps (though i have a 60hz monitor) and on her rig i think it was around ~70-80fps .. somewhere around there

Bf3 is a whole new monster compared to bc2.

 

[DNytAftr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by anubis1127;15298596
Bf3 is a whole new monster compared to bc2.

yeah i know, been reading all about it

but thought i would throw out some numbers for some "food for thought" kinda thing. But from what i read, bf3 could be giving my rig a run for its money >_>

 

[anubis1127]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNytAftr;15298642
yeah i know, been reading all about it

but thought i would throw out some numbers for some "food for thought" kinda thing. But from what i read, bf3 could be giving my rig a run for its money >_>

Right on, I should hope your 3 470's will be OK. From what I'm reading the main concern would be the VRAM. I will probably have issues running it ultra with single 580, but hopefully I can find a happy medium of settings that look good and run well.

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