First gen i7 vs 980ti

[Hunter259]

Video review in case you hate reading :

Now for the written version.

So you have an older PC and really want to play those new AAA games at Max settings at 60fps but don't have the money for a whole new system? Well I'll answer the question of how bad could it be bottlenecked. I picked up a Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 980ti fro $375 off of Reddit.com/r/HardwareSwap . 

Here are the specs of the rest of the machine.

And here are all the benchmarks.

http://imgur.com/a/WQCGn

The CPU is almost identical to a i7 3840QM to where the Xeon wins by a few points in both Single and Multi Core. In CPU-Z the Xeon rocks the 8150 in single core performance but looses in the multi core due to the 8150's 8 true cores although it does not loose by much at all. Only 100 points or so.

All games preformed extremely well all things considered for such older hardware. The only game that truly had an issue was the GTA benchmark that I ran but I chose not to use multiplayer and use the built in benchmark so most likely it will perform better. 

The conclusion is that you should do your homework. You should not be buying extremely high end hardware if the games your play, or your resolution is too low, are bottlenecked by CPU. With DX12 and Vulkan we should see CPU's getting rocked less and less.

Here is the current pricing for the main parts of my rig.

For under $100 you can get a quad core with hyper threading and a board(not mine but the -E model) with USB 3 and SATA 6 if you look hard enough. This would be an excellent budget gaming rig that even AMD can't touch.

 

TLDR : Yes it can bottleneck it but only at around 1080p and only in certain titles. Otherwise it is more or less unaffected. 

[EazyHTML]

For $60 you can get a 8 core with HT so 8 cores and 16 threads

Spoiler

Xeon E5-2670

 

[Hunter259]

3 minutes ago, EazyHTML said:

For $60 you can get a 8 core with HT so 8 cores and 16 threads

  Reveal hidden contents

Xeon E5-2670

 

I assume you are talking about 1366? Well their motherboards are a good bit more expensive than what I found for 1156.

EDIT - Read it wrong. X79 boards are few and far between and are VERY expensive in comparison the 1156 or 1155 or even 1366.

[EazyHTML]

Just now, Hunter259 said:

I assume you are talking about 1366? Well their motherboards are a good bit more expensive than what I found for 1156.

No,i'm talking about 2011,and don't even look on Ebay since ebay always has the craziest prices but i found this http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-X79-Socket-R-LGA-2011-ATX-Motherboard-DDR3-PCI-E-PCIe-3-0-x16-CrossFireX-/222203211794?hash=item33bc57f012:g:MbUAAOSwEjFXey~t

 

As for 1366 we have this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-X58-ATX-LGA-1366-Computer-Motherboard-Support-LGA-1366-Socket-B-NEW-/191816977347?hash=item2ca92ecbc3:g:wDEAAOSwWTRW1a1R

[Hunter259]

Just now, EazyHTML said:

No,i'm talking about 2011,and don't even look on Ebay since ebay always has the craziest prices but i found this http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-X79-Socket-R-LGA-2011-ATX-Motherboard-DDR3-PCI-E-PCIe-3-0-x16-CrossFireX-/222203211794?hash=item33bc57f012:g:MbUAAOSwEjFXey~t

 

As for 1366 we have this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-X58-ATX-LGA-1366-Computer-Motherboard-Support-LGA-1366-Socket-B-NEW-/191816977347?hash=item2ca92ecbc3:g:wDEAAOSwWTRW1a1R

I dont even know what on earth that x79 board is and I would not trust it. X79 boards are always 150+ no matter where you look and that x58 is board is in Britain and one of the lower end boards.

[EazyHTML]

1 minute ago, Hunter259 said:

I dont even know what on earth that x79 board is and I would not trust it. X79 boards are always 150+ no matter where you look and that x58 is board is in Britain and one of the lower end boards.

Well its still a motherboard and not a PSU,you can find pretty cheap depending where you look

[Hunter259]

1 minute ago, EazyHTML said:

Well its still a motherboard and not a PSU,you can find pretty cheap depending where you look

I have gone looking. X79 is just not something you find for very cheap.

[EazyHTML]

1 minute ago, Hunter259 said:

I have gone looking. X79 is just not something you find for very cheap.

Well yea but ebay is not the place to look since they have the most expensive shit ever,i found on my homesites a X79 board for 200e but you can probably get the seller down to 150e its a Asus X79 Extreme 7

[Hunter259]

Just now, EazyHTML said:

Well yea but ebay is not the place to look since they have the most expensive shit ever,i found on my homesites a X79 board for 200e but you can probably get the seller down to 150e its a Asus X79 Extreme 7

Asrock* But I assume that is euro? It's still going to be more expensive by quite the margin. And ebay really lines up with the reddit and craigslist pricing and thats just down to the rarity of these motherboards.

[EazyHTML]

1 minute ago, Hunter259 said:

Asrock* But I assume that is euro? It's still going to be more expensive by quite the margin. And ebay really lines up with the reddit and craigslist pricing and thats just down to the rarity of these motherboards.

Well a 150e is $167 which is still not bad considering its Asrock

[Hunter259]

3 minutes ago, EazyHTML said:

Well a 150e is $167 which is still not bad considering its Asrock

Yeah but with a CPU that brings it over $200. If you have the budget and were considering an 8350 then people should go with cheap x79. If they are tighter then 1156 and 1366 are still very good options.

[EazyHTML]

Just now, Hunter259 said:

Yeah but with a CPU that brings it over $200. If you have the budget and were considering an 8350 then people should go with cheap x79. If they are tighter then 1156 and 1366 are still very good options.

Well consider that the FX 8350 has A MUCH higher TDP,needs beefy cooling,and a really good motherboard if you want to OC + kinda has 8 cores kinda does not + lacks HT

 

Spoiler

The FX 8350 has 8 cores but not actual 8 cores,it has 4 modules and in those 4 modules are 2 cores per each model,so its kinda like cheap HT which makes the cost goooo way down

 

[thekeemo]

What I know for sure that a stock 920 will bottleneck a 760

[Hunter259]

3 minutes ago, thekeemo said:

What I know for sure that a stock 920 will bottleneck a 760

Well thats down to the terrible stock frequency it runs at. If its overclocked to 3.6+ it can still do some really good work. But even then where would a 920 bottleneck a 760?

[thekeemo]

Just now, Hunter259 said:

Well thats down to the terrible stock frequency it runs at. If its overclocked to 3.6+ it can still do some really good work. But even then where would a 920 bottleneck a 760?

From my experience

Everything

In my opinion no bottleneck means same performance as that GPU with something like my daily driver a 4790k which did not happen

[Hunter259]

Just now, thekeemo said:

From my experience

Everything

In my opinion no bottleneck means same performance as that GPU with something like my daily driver a 4790k which did not happen

Given sandybridge would give maybe 5% less performance I'd say a 920 might could do 10% less but I don't see that as a major bottleneck until you've lost 20+

[thekeemo]

Just now, Hunter259 said:

Given sandybridge would give maybe 5% less performance I'd say a 920 might could do 10% less but I don't see that as a major bottleneck until you've lost 20+

It was 20+

3 weeks of testing

[Hunter259]

Just now, thekeemo said:

It was 20+

3 weeks of testing

I'm sorry but I just can't believe that was just a CPU problem. Especially in GPU demanding games.

[thekeemo]

4 minutes ago, Hunter259 said:

I'm sorry but I just can't believe that was just a CPU problem. Especially in GPU demanding games.

Same drive/install of windows

Same GPU

Consistent results over the past 3 years

[Hunter259]

Just now, thekeemo said:

Same drive/install of windows

Same GPU

Consistent results over the past 3 years

Maybe it was the low frequency. I know my chip at its fairly low 3.6 is not bottlenecking my 980ti much at all. Maybe 10% at max. 

[thekeemo]

Just now, Hunter259 said:

Maybe it was the low frequency. I know my chip at its fairly low 3.6 is not bottlenecking my 980ti much at all. Maybe 10% at max. 

Probably

stock is 2.66

Friend has his around 4

[Hunter259]

Just now, thekeemo said:

Probably

stock is 2.66

Friend has his around 4

Nahalem is known for having very good scaling when upping the frequency. That might be it.

[thekeemo]

1 minute ago, Hunter259 said:

Nahalem is known for having very good scaling when upping the frequency. That might be it.

Yup

I cant OC it any because its 70c idle (thanks egypt)

[Hunter259]

Just now, thekeemo said:

Yup

I cant OC it any because its 70c idle (thanks egypt)

Dear christ. You using the stock cooler?

[thekeemo]

1 minute ago, Hunter259 said:

Dear christ. You using the stock cooler?

Yup

Its my old system so I dont want to sink money into it 

It has one of the best motherboards with a giant ass heatsink