Is my CPU a bottleneck?

[wolfslab]

I have had previous posts where people say it is and some say its not. I have a AMD FX-4300 at 4GHz. A EVGA GTX 750 TI ACX SC 2G. I want to play GTA 4 with graphics mods and i can play with the CryEnb at medium PC config and boosted godrays at about 25-50 FPS. Average is in the high 30s. I do plan to upgrade to a FX-8350, because upgrading to intel is way out of my budget. I have my GPU overclock with these settings: GPU Offset +291MHz. MEM clock offset +116 MHz. The rest of my specs are on my profile.

[AlwaysFSX]

It shouldn't be, check your CPU and GPU usage while gaming. If the CPU usage isn't pinned and the GPU usage is staying around 99% the card isn't being bottlenecked.

[Castdeath97]

The 750ti isn't a strong card, nor is the fx 4300 a good CPU. I'm not sure but I guess it won't be Terrible.

[wolfslab]

It shouldn't be, check your CPU and GPU usage while gaming. If the CPU usage isn't pinned and the GPU usage is staying around 99% the card isn't being bottlenecked.

My GPU when im playing battlefield hardline it is around 60%. It doesnt go to 100%. 

[AlwaysFSX]

My GPU when im playing battlefield hardline it is around 60%. It doesnt go to 100%. 

Check your CPU usage.

[SkilledRebuilds]

It's not a very good CPU, but it shouldn't really bottleneck a 750 Ti. 

This pretty much...

Also...Some games are worse than others...

 

 

Check your CPU usage.

Little to no point IMO..., you do not need high CPU usage to get a GPU bottleneck. A slow CPU will do it regardless of CPU load.

Games also do not load all cores,.. a game that uses the first 2 CPU's to 50-80% and leaving the rest alone, can still do it too, also can a CPU being used 60% across all cores.

[Hieb]

Depends on the game and the settings. I couldn't tell you specifically for GTA IV unfortunately, I'm not particularly brushed up on it.

Having said this, upgrading to an FX-8350 for gaming is a bit of a waste. Very, very few games show any improvement with the extra cores. Even in Battlefield 4 (for example) which is a pretty well threaded game has a relatively small gap between FX-4300, 6300 and 8320/8350.

 

I'd say if you want a CPU upgrade, save your dollars until you can afford to upgrade to Intel, or until AMD has their Zen CPU in 2016.

[wolfslab]

What would be the biggest GPU i could get with this CPU without bottleneck?

[Hieb]

What would be the biggest GPU i could get with this CPU without bottleneck?

 

Depends entirely on the game and settings.

 

It isn't the power of the GPU that inherently requires more CPU power, it's higher framerates and more advanced graphics settings. The CPU processes a certain amount of data for each frame. Higher settings = more processes per frame, and more frames = more frames to process per second.

 

This is why you usually don't see much difference between low and high end CPUs in 4K benchmarks, but in 720P benchmarks there is a huge difference.

[SkilledRebuilds]

What would be the biggest GPU i could get with this CPU without bottleneck?

You just said it before your already dropping GPU usage now... stick with what you have until your CPU upgrade.

[Majestic]

No point, you do not need high CPU usage to get a GPU bottleneck. A slow CPU will do it regardless of CPU load.

Games also do not load all cores,.. a game that uses the first 2 CPU's to 50-80% and leaving the rest alone, can still do it too, also can a CPU being used 60% across all cores.

 

So check CPU load per core.... that still gives you a lot of information.

[SkilledRebuilds]

So check CPU load per core.... that still gives you a lot of information.

I didn't mean to overshadow your post, sorry about that, I only meant to explain a lesser known truth.

OP feel free to provide this info if you can.

[Gix7Fifty]

My GPU when im playing battlefield hardline it is around 60%. It doesnt go to 100%.  There are far more variables involved than just the CPU and GPU in isolation. Your video card's GPU may be bottlenecked by its VRAM speed (rather than amount), or the CPU bottlenecked by its system RAM, for two examples. Or a game might show both at 60% utilization while the actual bottleneck were insufficient PCIe or HyperTransport bandwidth or even single-threaded performance bottlenecking draw calls made by DirectX.

There are far more variables involved than just the CPU and GPU in isolation. Your video card's GPU may be bottlenecked by its VRAM speed (rather than amount), or the CPU bottlenecked by its system RAM, for two examples. Or a game might show both at 60% utilization while the actual bottleneck were insufficient PCIe or HyperTransport bandwidth or even single-threaded performance bottlenecking draw calls made by DirectX.

Your best bet is simply to check whether performance improves through lowered resolution. The general rule of thumb would suggest that you're GPU limited if it does and CPU limited if it doesn't.

 

[Majestic]

I have had previous posts where people say it is and some say its not. I have a AMD FX-4300 at 4GHz. A EVGA GTX 750 TI ACX SC 2G. I want to play GTA 4 with graphics mods and i can play with the CryEnb at medium PC config and boosted godrays at about 25-50 FPS. Average is in the high 30s. I do plan to upgrade to a FX-8350, because upgrading to intel is way out of my budget. I have my GPU overclock with these settings: GPU Offset +291MHz. MEM clock offset +116 MHz. The rest of my specs are on my profile.

 

You're not upgrading to a 8350 on that board. You'd need a new board. And if that's the case, you might aswell just go Intel. FX-4300 and 750TI are a somewhat "ok" balance, but they're both not stellar. You'd be better off saving for a new system instead of upgrading either.

 

I didn't mean to overshadow your post, sorry about that, I only meant to explain a lesser known truth.

OP feel free to provide this info if you can.

 

Overshadow which post? I mainly corrected you, once.

[SkilledRebuilds]

Overshadow which post? I mainly corrected you, once.

You said to check the CPU usage, I told him not to for ..reasons stated.

You didn't correct me.. you said it may still be useful.. I still disagree, but its not my thread so OP can if he feels he must.

[Majestic]

You said to check the CPU usage, I told him not to for ..reasons stated.

You didn't correct me.. you said it may still be useful.. I still disagree, but its not my thread so OP can if he feels he must.

 

But you're assuming one or more cores are fully saturated. With exactly what to show for it in terms of evidence? As OP never showed any.

And you can still very easily spot a bottlenecking CPU by looking at the per-core load graphs. Especially when you hold them side by side with the GPU load graph. To dismiss both points of data for... subjective reasoning, is not really a strong argument to make.

[IateMApoo]

FX 4300 goes very well together with 750 Ti, overclocked even with GTX 960.