Am I Bottlenecking >

[Dive5885]

Hello Everyone! 

 

I have a slight issue here. 

 

I have a 7970 Matrix Edition from Asus. (Amazing card)

 

But here comes the issue.

 

I'm not sure but on certain games I see a slight lag when playing. 

 

I do have a AMD Athlon X4 750K Overclocked to 3.9Ghz. (Not the fastest or best cpu)

 

Not sure on what I should do.

 

All opinions welcome!

[Imabigmac]

Probably. Only way to check is to play the games you have lag in and see whether your cpu is maxed out while the gpu is not being fully utilized. 

[Polyvalent]

That CPU starts bottlenecking cards about the 7870 range.  So I'd say yes.

[Dive5885]

Probably. Only way to check is to play the games you have lag in and see whether your cpu is maxed out while the gpu is not being fully utilized. 

How would I do that ?

[Imabigmac]

How would I do that ?

cpu and gpu usage software. Like NZXT CAM. 

[WoodenMarker]

cpu and gpu usage software. Like NZXT CAM. 

NZXT CAM is new and has many bugs. He'd be better off using something like Msi Afterburner and just Windows Task manager for the cpu. 

[Imabigmac]

NZXT CAM is new and has many bugs. He'd be better off using something like Msi Afterburner and just Windows Task manager for the cpu. 

I just needed something to use as an example and CAM has worked pretty good for me so far. But yes sticking to basics and tried and true functions is probably better anyway. 

[Hacker90]

I have the same problem! I have a 280x and an overclocked FX4100 @ 4.2Ghz(a Mhz more and I start loosing sound in BF games dont know why!) I cannot play 64p. My GPU will not go above 65% and my CPU is 98-100% all the time. Install Afterburner and in monitoring settings tick CPU & GPU usage in OSD and you will see the problem too. 

I am VERY sure its ur CPU!

[harrynowl]

I have the same problem! I have a 280x and an overclocked FX4100 @ 4.2Ghz(a Mhz more and I start loosing sound in BF games dont know why!) I cannot play 64p. My GPU will not go above 65% and my CPU is 98-100% all the time. Install Afterburner and in monitoring settings tick CPU & GPU usage in OSD and you will see the problem too. 

I am VERY sure its ur CPU!

That's a definite CPU bottleneck.

 

FX4100 is kind of slow.

[Hacker90]

I think your CPU is bottlenecking your PC, but if you want to be sure, let open task manager and play a game you say you lag on, ALT + TAB and check the task manager, look if your cpu is at 100% for a long time, if yes, there is your problem.

 

no need to do all that shit. Just install afterburner and tick CPU usage in OSD and you will have realtime monitoring while gaming.

 

That's a definite CPU bottleneck.

 

FX4100 is kind of slow.

Yea I know its the CPU. And yea its shit slow. I mean my phone is faster!

[harrynowl]

Yea I know its the CPU. And yea its shit slow. I mean my phone is faster!

I wouldn't have thought so, I have a Snapdragon 800 Phone and it scores about 40% higher than a Conroe CPU at 2.5GHz in Geekbench

 

No need to install any shit programs only to check the cpu usage. 

Afterburner gives realtime representations of all CPU cores and GPU usage, not sh*t if you ask me

[Faa]

Probably. Only way to check is to play the games you have lag in and see whether your cpu is maxed out while the gpu is not being fully utilized. 

 

You can have your cpu at 100% and your gpu at 99% - the cpu load isn't a bottleneck indicator.

Like here: youtube.com/watch?v=lOYzmu51Zp8 - 50/50 just translates to 99% with a single card.

 

How would I do that ?

By monitoring your gpu load, do this with playclaw 5 it's free - doesnt require you to set it up manually automatically done by default when you launch a game.

If the gpu is below 99% it's a cpu bottleneck. If you have something like 80% with a better cpu that can take the gpu to its full load just expect a 20% gain and thats mostly not worth it. If it runs all the time at 99% and it still performs below your liking, upgrade the gpu but it won't be guaranteed that you'd see an improvement. 

I had it a lot, getting 99% in a game with like 50 fps - ordering a 2nd card - firing the game up seeing each gpu not going above 50% with identical performance, making the investment just literally a waste.

[Imabigmac]

You can have your cpu at 100% and your gpu at 99% - the cpu load isn't a bottleneck indicator.

Like here: youtube.com/watch?v=lOYzmu51Zp8 - 50/50 just translates to 99% with a single card.

I know that and that's not what I said is it?

[Hacker90]

You can have your cpu at 100% and your gpu at 99% - the cpu load isn't a bottleneck indicator.

Like here: youtube.com/watch?v=lOYzmu51Zp8 - 50/50 just translates to 99% with a single card.

 

By monitoring your gpu load, do this with playclaw 5 it's free - doesnt require you to set it up manually automatically done by default when you launch a game.

If the gpu is below 99% it's a cpu bottleneck. If you have something like 80% with a better cpu that can take the gpu to its full load just expect a 20% gain and thats mostly not worth it. If it runs all the time at 99% and it still performs below your liking, upgrade the gpu but it won't be guaranteed that you'd see an improvement. 

I had it a lot, getting 99% in a game with like 50 fps - ordering a 2nd card - firing the game up seeing each gpu not going above 50% with identical performance, making the investment just literally a waste.

 

You are playing in locker, I get the same thing in lockers... both the CPU and GPU usage are high, but when I play something like paracel or resort or Floodzone my GPU just doesnt go over 65. 

 

[Faa]

You are playing in locker, I get the same thing in lockers... both the CPU and GPU usage are high, but when I play something like paracel or resort or Floodzone my GPU just doesnt go over 65. 

 

Yea but your 4100 isn't that powerful as a i3.