is my amd athlon a bottleneck?

[fleshwoundf08x]

Ok i have an amd athlon x4 760k paired with an GTX 660 and i was wondering of its bottlenecking my gpu bc on most games i can get 60 or higher FPS on high or ultra but on Day Z standalone while im in towns it drops to 22 FPS on low settings. I plan on upgrading soon anyways so i was wondering if i can get away with using the gpu for a while longer and save for a 780 or wait until the new series of Nvidia cards come out. Im just wondering if the cpu is the issue?

[TriBeard]

Dayz is just poorly optimized and runs in to issues on a lot of systems. That being said, I wouldn't think you bottleneck too much with your current setup, but you almost certainly will if you upgrade to a 780.

[Manny Calavera]

What cooler or overclock you have? What motherboard you have?

 

True, dayz will bring down even intel system.

[Jeroen1322]

DayZ SA is in alpha! It isn't optimized yet, when it is in beta or full release you could expect better performance.

[wng_kingsley7]

Ok i have an amd athlon x4 760k paired with an GTX 660 and i was wondering of its bottlenecking my gpu bc on most games i can get 60 or higher FPS on high or ultra but on Day Z standalone while im in towns it drops to 22 FPS on low settings. I plan on upgrading soon anyways so i was wondering if i can get away with using the gpu for a while longer and save for a 780 or wait until the new series of Nvidia cards come out. Im just wondering if the cpu is the issue?

DayZ standalone is fairly un-optimized for most PC's, 780 will probably boost your fps by a fair bit. Playing other games beside DayZ you'll still bypass 60fps at 1080p but then you might be bottlenecked by the cpu.

[crunzaty]

Ok i have an amd athlon x4 760k paired with an GTX 660 and i was wondering of its bottlenecking my gpu bc on most games i can get 60 or higher FPS on high or ultra but on Day Z standalone while im in towns it drops to 22 FPS on low settings. I plan on upgrading soon anyways so i was wondering if i can get away with using the gpu for a while longer and save for a 780 or wait until the new series of Nvidia cards come out. Im just wondering if the cpu is the issue?

The cpu is bottlenecking the GPU but as said above DayZ is a badly optimized game. But that being said the higher settings you have the better fps you have.

But as the game requires a pretty good cpu to run more stable (fps wise), also upgrading to a 780 wouldn't be a good idea without upgrading your cpu first.

 

The Arma 3 engine is really weird, as on the lowest settings i get about 35 fps in cites and with everything on ultra with aa, af and so on on i get about 60 fps in cities. (specs below)

[Manny Calavera]

The Arma 3 engine is really weird, as on the lowest settings i get about 35 fps in cites and with everything on ultra with aa, af and so on on i get about 60 fps in cities. (specs below)

cus shadows on low are rendered on cpu

arma 3 has old engine and is poorly optimized / configured, and with higher viewing distance it will bring down any setup

 

OP can you answer my quiestions please, so i can advise you some options.

[Faceman]

Ok i have an amd athlon x4 760k paired with an GTX 660 and i was wondering of its bottlenecking my gpu bc on most games i can get 60 or higher FPS on high or ultra but on Day Z standalone while im in towns it drops to 22 FPS on low settings. I plan on upgrading soon anyways so i was wondering if i can get away with using the gpu for a while longer and save for a 780 or wait until the new series of Nvidia cards come out. Im just wondering if the cpu is the issue?

A 760k + 660 is not going to encounter any bottlenecks whatsoever.  That is a very balanced build, you could even go as high as a 760 before encountering major bottlenecks.  DayZ is a poorly optimized game as everyone mentioned, and it just flat out runs better on Intel because of strong single core performance that Intel provides.  I would not pair a 780 and a 760k.  Your CPU is the issue for this particular game, and other games such as MMOs, ARMA3, etc..

 

Check out this video on the 750k.

 

Depending on the types of games you play, you might be better off upgrading your CPU before your GPU.  Overall, it is a fine system and should last you another year or two, maybe longer if you can run on reduced settings and overclock your CPU.  If your CPU isn't currently overclocked, I recommend buying a Cooler Master 212 EVO for $30 and overclocking your 760k a bit to squeeze as much life and performance out of your current parts before resorting to upgrades.  Every game is different, don't let poor performance in one game cloud your judgement and force you into an unnecessary upgrade.

[fleshwoundf08x]

Ok guys thank you guys. But i plan on upgrading my whole system soon and if i can get me a new cpu and mobo now and still use my 660 for a while and get better preformance then thats what i want to do but if not ill just wait until i have the money for all the parts and upgrade all at once. I plan on getting eather an i5 4670k or an fx 8350. And i havnt overclocked my current system.

[Faceman]

Ok guys thank you guys. But i plan on upgrading my whole system soon and if i can get me a new cpu and mobo now and still use my 660 for a while and get better preformance then thats what i want to do but if not ill just wait until i have the money for all the parts and upgrade all at once. I plan on getting eather an i5 4670k or an fx 8350. And i havnt overclocked my current system.

If you are doing an upgrade, go Intel.  Even an i3 beats out an FX8320. I have an i5-4670k and I absolutely love it.  Also, on June 2nd, Intel is releasing brand new processors, the i5-4690k is going to be what you should target.  The FX series of processors is already 5 years old, Yikes!  Get a Z97 motherboard, pair with a i5-4690k and you can use your 660 for awhile longer because it is still a respectable card.  Honestly though, overclock your current system and squeeze another year or two out of it, you can even use your Hyper 212 EVO on your new CPU that you buy in the future, it is a good $30 investment.  Unless you exclusively play MMOs, or Dayz, then yea, you should upgrade to Intel sooner than later.

 

Welcome to the forum, hope you stick around!  Also, in order to let someone know that you have replied, you need to quote the person or "@" them.

[fleshwoundf08x]

If you are doing an upgrade, go Intel.  Even an i3 beats out an FX8320. I have an i5-4670k and I absolutely love it.  Also, on June 2nd, Intel is releasing brand new processors, the i5-4690k is going to be what you should target.  The FX series of processors is already 5 years old, Yikes!  Get a Z97 motherboard, pair with a i5-4690k and you can use your 660 for awhile longer because it is still a respectable card.  Honestly though, overclock your current system and squeeze another year or two out of it, you can even use your Hyper 212 EVO on your new CPU that you buy in the future, it is a good $30 investment.  Unless you exclusively play MMOs, or Dayz, then yea, you should upgrade to Intel sooner than later.

 

Welcome to the forum, hope you stick around!  Also, in order to let someone know that you have replied, you need to quote the person or "@" them.

@Faceman thanks man and ill keep that in mind. But games wasnt my only focus, i also wanted to do a little video editing and rendering as well. Bc my churches laptop is kinda sucky it takes so long to render out sermons and skits that we post on our facebook page we havnt got around to uploading them yet. Also bc where i live the highest connection i can get from my isp is 1.5 meg upload so it takes all day to render and upload. So i was gonna use my 660 for cuda acceleration and for games until i can get a higher graphics card.

[Faceman]

@Faceman thanks man and ill keep that in mind. But games wasnt my only focus, i also wanted to do a little video editing and rendering as well. Bc my churches laptop is kinda sucky it takes so long to render out sermons and skits that we post on our facebook page we havnt got around to uploading them yet. Also bc where i live the highest connection i can get from my isp is 1.5 meg upload so it takes all day to render and upload. So i was gonna use my 660 for cuda acceleration and for games until i can get a higher graphics card.

Ahh, for editing and rendering, that is where the FX8320 will excel.  Be warned though, the FX series is a very old architecture, with very poor single core performance, which is what the vast majority if things you do on a PC rely on, particularly games.  The i5 will still be able to edit and render, although not as good as the 8320, but much better than the 760k.  It will also handle any GPU and game you throw at it.  The 8320's strength is in editing and rendering, but struggles on some games, and can be a bottle neck to higher end cards.  The i5 is a better all-around chip.  If you have the money, go for an i7.  The i7 will give you superior gaming performance, and vastly superior editing and rendering because of the hyperthreading.

 

Z97 + i7-4790k would be your best option, albeit most expensive.

[fleshwoundf08x]

@Faceman ok so the i7 is my best bet i figured that would be the case. I was just wanting to spend a little bit less but its something i need to help save time. Do you have anymore ideas to make my rig better.

[Faceman]

@Faceman ok so the i7 is my best bet i figured that would be the case. I was just wanting to spend a little bit less but its something i need to help save time. Do you have anymore ideas to make my rig better.

Well, you don't really want to plan out your build until a few days before purchase.  It is a good idea to do research and whatnot, but you want to build your system as a whole, not component by component.

 

What is your budget?  Where are you located?  What components compromise your current computer?  Can we reuse some of these components, such as case, PSU, RAM, SSD, HDD. monitor, etc.. and we already know the GPU can be reused.

 

The new Devil's Canyon CPUs should become available as soon as June 2nd, the Devil's Canyon i7s are supposed to be other-worldly.  Stock speeds of 4.0Ghz, and Turbo Boost to 4.4Ghz-STOCK!  Not to mention, Devil's Canyon and Z97 are supposed to be amazing overclockers, I think it will be possible to achieve 5.0Ghz on the i7 with safe voltages if you get a lucky chip.

Realistically, you could probably be looking to pay in the neighborhood of $400-$500(or less depending on location and pricing.) for a brand new CPU(if i7), motherboard, and CPU Cooler, keeping the rest of your build the same, while remaining highly functional and upgradeable.

 

I need to head out for a few hours, but lets continue talking.  Post back here whenever you have some answers to the questions and we can keep this process moving forward, hopefully others will chime in with their opinions too.

[fleshwoundf08x]

@ Faceman well im pretty sure u can use my ram psu and hdd. I dont have an ssd right now. I have 8 gigs of Corsair vengence ram, a tb WD blue hdd, 500 watt corsair 80 + bronze psu. I got a nice dell monitor but will eventually get a second monitor. Well i will have to save up and buy the cpu and mobo first then later down the road buy the gpu. I live in a small town on north east arkansas so i will have to buy everything online.

[fleshwoundf08x]

Well, you don't really want to plan out your build until a few days before purchase.  It is a good idea to do research and whatnot, but you want to build your system as a whole, not component by component.

 

What is your budget?  Where are you located?  What components compromise your current computer?  Can we reuse some of these components, such as case, PSU, RAM, SSD, HDD. monitor, etc.. and we already know the GPU can be reused.

 

The new Devil's Canyon CPUs should become available as soon as June 2nd, the Devil's Canyon i7s are supposed to be other-worldly.  Stock speeds of 4.0Ghz, and Turbo Boost to 4.4Ghz-STOCK!  Not to mention, Devil's Canyon and Z97 are supposed to be amazing overclockers, I think it will be possible to achieve 5.0Ghz on the i7 with safe voltages if you get a lucky chip.

Realistically, you could probably be looking to pay in the neighborhood of $400-$500(or less depending on location and pricing.) for a brand new CPU(if i7), motherboard, and CPU Cooler, keeping the rest of your build the same, while remaining highly functional and upgradeable.

 

I need to head out for a few hours, but lets continue talking.  Post back here whenever you have some answers to the questions and we can keep this process moving forward, hopefully others will chime in with their opinions too.

I also think i will go ahead and get an h100i to cool to it will be a little bit more expensive then the evo 212 but i think i will have to get a new psu when i upgrade to the 780 right with an overclock and a 780 it will be over the 500 watts?

[Faceman]

I also think i will go ahead and get an h100i to cool to it will be a little bit more expensive then the evo 212 but i think i will have to get a new psu when i upgrade to the 780 right with an overclock and a 780 it will be over the 500 watts?

I wouldn't get the H100i until you figure out how good of a chip you have.  Epsecially being on a budget, there are more important components than CPU cooler.

 

a

for a single CPU, and GPU, both overclocked.

[Faa]

@Faceman he's having 22 fps in Dayz. He's cpu limited there.

@Op I'd get either a i3 or a unlocked i5 if you want more frames in dayz

[Faceman]

@Faceman he's having 22 fps in Dayz. He's cpu limited there.

@Op I'd get either a i3 or a unlocked i5 if you want more frames in dayz

"A 760k + 660 is not going to encounter any bottlenecks whatsoever.  That is a very balanced build, you could even go as high as a 760 before encountering major bottlenecks.  DayZ is a poorly optimized game as everyone mentioned, and it just flat out runs better on Intel because of strong single core performance that Intel provides.  I would not pair a 780 and a 760k.  Your CPU is the issue for this particular game, and other games such as MMOs, ARMA3, etc.."

 

I wouldn't call the 760k a bottleneck, just a bad CPU for that game and many others.

[fleshwoundf08x]

@Faceman thanks man yeah i plan on buying a new cpu and motherboard next month and later down the road upgrade to the 780 or 880(or whatever they are gonna call the new maxwell high end gpu). Also im gonna go ahead and buy a new case but i havnt made my mind up on which one. I really like the define r4 blackout case from fractel design. What do you think?

[Faceman]

@Faceman thanks man yeah i plan on buying a new cpu and motherboard next month and later down the road upgrade to the 780 or 880(or whatever they are gonna call the new maxwell high end gpu). Also im gonna go ahead and buy a new case but i havnt made my mind up on which one. I really like the define r4 blackout case from fractel design. What do you think?

   There are two schools of thought on the subject.  If you are on a strict budget, I would get a less expensive case, anywhere from $30-$60 depending what kind of budget you are on.  You can get an incredible case for $60 by the way.  When you are on a budget, it is best to spend the bulk of your money on components that have a direct impact on performance, case is not one of them.

    By going with a less expensive case, this frees up more money for CPU and GPU.  Going with a less expensive case doesn't have to mean giving up on features either.  Also, you can upgrade less expensive cases by adding in high-end case fans.  TigerDirect and Newegg constantly run specials for high end cases for $30-$60. The Corsair 500R White was on sale for $60 just a week ago!  If you are patient, you can find a good case for a good price.

     The other way of thinking about a case purchase is that a case can be reused in all of your future builds, so buying a really nice, top of the line case is more of an investment, because it is a part that can be used over and over in all of your future builds.  It really depends on what kind of a budget you need to adhere to, and what kind of features you want.  The Fractal Design R4 Blackout case is a very nice case, I think the Windowed version was on sale two weeks ago for $80.

     When constructing your build, think of your build as a whole instead of component by component, this will help you better allocate and prioritize funds to the correct components.

[fleshwoundf08x]

@Faceman Well money really isnt the issue i just like to keep a set amount of money in my savings at all time and since my mother lost her job ive been helping my parents out with bills im at the lost i like to have in there. So i want to wait a month or so to build it all back up since i got my parents caught up on there bills. But yeah newegg has the define r4 for 100 bucks and my curent 60 dollar case just annoys me. But the h100i will be only if or when i decide to oc. Buy im just trying to get advice for the best build for my money that will last for the next 3-5 years.

[Faceman]

@Faceman Well money really isnt the issue i just like to keep a set amount of money in my savings at all time and since my mother lost her job ive been helping my parents out with bills im at the lost i like to have in there. So i want to wait a month or so to build it all back up since i got my parents caught up on there bills. But yeah newegg has the define r4 for 100 bucks and my curent 60 dollar case just annoys me. But the h100i will be only if or when i decide to oc. Buy im just trying to get advice for the best build for my money that will last for the next 3-5 years.

$1,100 to $1,200 should give you the absolute best price to performance.  When I do a build, I like to get the absolute most performance, for the lowest price possible, while remaining upgrade ready.  I don't focus on aesthetics or color coordinating, I focus on pure in-game performance.  You can spend more money to get aesthetics and color matching or higher efficiency PSUs, higher quality CPU coolers.  I would hold off on the H100i, because until you know if you have a good overclocking chip yet, you could be spending $100 on a part that wont do you any good.

 

Here is a quick build, I even color coordinated it.  Should be closer to $1000 after reusing your HDD, RAM, and PSU.  If you can wait, the new Devil's Canyon CPUs should be coming out in either June or September.  The 800 series probably wont come out until Q4 or early 2015.  You can continue to use your 660 in the meantime, its still a plenty powerful GPU.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3QkGN

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3QkGN/by_merchant/

Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3QkGN/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ Micro Center)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($29.94 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($124.99 @ Amazon)

Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($75.60 @ Newegg)

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($79.99 @ Micro Center)

Storage: Seagate Constellation ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($50.00 @ Amazon)

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB DirectCU II Video Card  ($488.79 @ Amazon)

Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Micro Center)

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $1144.28

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-24 21:44 EDT-0400)

[fleshwoundf08x]

Yeah thats sounds about what i want for now. But i think im gonna hold out on a gpu for a while but ive been lookin at that asus dcu2 for a while, my 660 is the dcu2 i think those are some nice coolers. My goal is to have it finished by christmas time kinda my present to myself

[Faceman]

Yeah thats sounds about what i want for now. But i think im gonna hold out on a gpu for a while but ive been lookin at that asus dcu2 for a while, my 660 is the dcu2 i think those are some nice coolers. My goal is to have it finished by christmas time kinda my present to myself

Yea, hold off on the GPU, you can upgrade everything else, and then when the Asus DCUII 880 comes out, then you can upgrade and get the most for your money.  That will be a really nice present to yourself and you deserve it after helping your parents out.

 

Here is what that build minus HDD, RAM, PSU and GPU would look like:

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Qo6w

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Qo6w/by_merchant/

Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Qo6w/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($229.99 @ Newegg) <-- You want the new i5-4690k, should be around $250 or less when it comes out.

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($29.94 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($124.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($79.99 @ Micro Center)

Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $529.90

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-24 23:27 EDT-0400)

 

You could go with a more expensive CPU cooler if you want, but overclocking is kind of a toss up, often referred to as the silicon lottery.  The new Devil's Canyon CPUs are supposed to overclock much better than Haswell.  Haswell is a bit of a toss-up when it comes to overclocking, you never know if you will get a good, bad, or somewhere in between chip.  Wait until some reviews come out for the i5-4690k before investing $100 in a cooler.