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Say I have CPU X and I wanna get a GPU upgrade. House can I determine how big of a GPU to buy without bottlenecking?

Just a guy who peaked at building back in the days of the GTX 980. If you see me here, assume i have technical knowledge akin to a committed hobbyist builder back then. If something's changed, you'll need to tell me(nicely plz). I'm probably asking for help with the modern build scene since I have no clue what's going on.

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https://linustechtips.com/topic/384153-bottlenecks-and-avoiding-them/
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Say I have CPU X and I wanna get a GPU upgrade. House can I determine how big of a GPU to buy without bottlenecking?

 

Money. 

 

Grab an Intel quad core, and the money you have for a GPU will be the determining factor in choosing one.  Display resolution is important as well.

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Money.

Grab an Intel quad core, and the money you have for a GPU will be the determining factor in choosing one. Display resolution is important as well.

So I could throw a titan x in with a core 2 quad 6600, and there would be no bottleneck?

Just a guy who peaked at building back in the days of the GTX 980. If you see me here, assume i have technical knowledge akin to a committed hobbyist builder back then. If something's changed, you'll need to tell me(nicely plz). I'm probably asking for help with the modern build scene since I have no clue what's going on.

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You know you can find stuff like that on youtube as well right? Some even explain them better than us.

I'm not good at picking search terms.

Just a guy who peaked at building back in the days of the GTX 980. If you see me here, assume i have technical knowledge akin to a committed hobbyist builder back then. If something's changed, you'll need to tell me(nicely plz). I'm probably asking for help with the modern build scene since I have no clue what's going on.

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So I could throw a titan x in with a core 2 quad 6600, and there would be no bottleneck?

 

Well done.

 

I should have mentioned a current quad (i5 4440).  Even an oc'd 2500K, or 3570K... they are still very competent CPUs.

 

@waggythegeek  I was just keeping it simple.  You really can't avoid bottlenecks, but you can prolong the instance at which the CPU becomes a factor in FPS loss in a game.

 

Most single player games are usually not CPU intensive.  MMOs, even online shooters, can put a strain on the CPU... and funny enough, that is when most players really want the steady performance.

 

Intel has the fastest/best performing CPUs on the market, you don't get any better right now.

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Its better to have a small bottleneck over having a to cheap GPU! :D

 

But there are limits on HOW MUCH! ^_^

 

FX-83XX should never go above 970 & 290X cause that is their limit. (same for i3)

Pentium is a perfect match for a 960/280X but people still go all crazy and mount it with 970/290X! :P

Zen-III-X8-5900X (Gamestation 5)

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Case: Medion Micro-ATX Case / Case Fan Front: SUNON MagLev PF70251VX-Q000-S99 70mm / Case Fan Rear: Fanner Tech(Shen Zhen)Co.,LTD. 80mm (Purple) / Controller: Sony Dualshock 4 Wireless (DS4Windows) / Cooler: AMD Near-silent 125w Thermal Solution / CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 6-cores, 12-threads, 4.2/4.2GHz, 35,3MB cache (T.S.M.C. 7nm FinFET) / CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, 12(8)-cores, 24(16)-threads, 4.5/4.8GHz, 70.5MB(68,35MB) cache (T.S.M.C. 7nm FinFET) / Display: HP 24" L2445w (64Hz OC) 1920x1200 / GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GD5 OC "Afterburner" @1450MHz (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / GPU: ASUS Radeon RX 6600 XT DUAL OC RDNA2 32CUs @2.6GHz 10.6 TFLOPS (T.S.M.C. 7nm FinFET) R.ID (NimeZ drivers) / Keyboard: HP KB-0316 PS/2 (Nordic) / Motherboard: ASRock B450M Pro4, Socket-AM4 (SAM enabled) / Mouse: Razer Abyssus 2014 / PCI-E: ASRock USB 3.1/A+C (PCI Express x4) / PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2, 550W / RAM A1 & B1: G.SKILL DDR4-3600MHz CL18-20-21-39-60-1T "Samsung 8Gbit C-Die" (2x8GB) / RAM A2 & B2: HyperX DDR4-3600MHz CL16-18-19-37-85-1T "SK Hynix 8Gbit CJR" (2x16GB) / Operating System: Windows 10 Home / Sound 1: Zombee Z500 / Sound 2: Logitech Stereo Speakers S-150 / Storage 1 & 2: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD / Storage 3: Western Digital My Passport 2.5" 2TB HDD / Storage 4: Western Digital Elements Desktop 2TB HDD / Storage 5: Kingston A2000 1TB M.2 NVME SSD / Wi-fi & Bluetooth: ASUS PCE-AC55BT Wireless Adapter (Intel)

 Lake-V-X6-10600 (Gaming PC)

R23 score MC: 9190pts | R23 score SC: 1302pts

R20 score MC: 3529cb | R20 score SC: 506cb

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Case: Cooler Master HAF XB Evo Black / Case Fan(s) Front: Noctua NF-A14 ULN 140mm Premium Fans / Case Fan(s) Rear: Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (red) / Case Fan(s) Side: Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX 60mm Premium Fan / Controller: Sony Dualshock 4 Wireless (DS4Windows) / Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo / CPU: Intel Core i5-10600(ASUS Performance Enhancement), 6-cores, 12-threads, 4.4/4.8GHz, 13,7MB cache (Intel 14nm++ FinFET) / Display: ASUS 24" LED VN247H (67Hz OC) 1920x1080p / GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX Vega 56 Gaming OC GCN5 56CUs @1.7GHz 12.19 TFLOPS (Samsung 14nm FinFET) R.ID (NimeZ drivers) / Keyboard: Logitech Desktop K120 (Nordic) / Motherboard: ASUS PRIME B460 PLUS, Socket-LGA1200 (SAM enabled) / Mouse: Razer Abyssus 2014 / PCI-E: ASRock USB 3.1/A+C (PCI Express x4) / PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2, 850W / RAM A1 & B1: HyperX DDR4-2666MHz CL13-15-15-30-45-2T "Samsung 8Gbit C-Die" (2x8GB) / RAM A2 & B2: Juhor DDR4-3200MHz CL16-20-20-38-72-2T "SK Hynix 8Gbit MFR" (2x16GB) / Operating System: Windows 10 Home / Sound: Zombee Z300 / Storage 1 & 2: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD / Storage 3: Seagate® Barracuda 2TB HDD / Storage 4: Seagate® Desktop 2TB SSHD / Storage 5: Crucial P1 1000GB M.2 SSD/ Storage 6: Western Digital WD7500BPKX 2.5" HDD / Wi-fi: TP-Link TL-WN851N 11n Wireless Adapter (Qualcomm Atheros)

Vishera-X8-9370 | R20 score MC: 1476cb

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Case: Cooler Master HAF XB Evo Black / Case Fan(s) Front: Noctua NF-A14 ULN 140mm Premium Fans / Case Fan(s) Rear: Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (red) / Case Fan(s) Side: Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX 60mm Premium Fan / Case Fan VRM: SUNON MagLev KDE1209PTV3 92mm / Controller: Sony Dualshock 4 Wireless (DS4Windows) / Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo / CPU: AMD FX-8370 (Base: @4.4GHz | Turbo: @4.7GHz) Black Edition Eight-Core (Global Foundries 32nm) / Display: ASUS 24" LED VN247H (67Hz OC) 1920x1080p / GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GD5 OC "Afterburner" @1450MHz (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX Vega 56 Gaming OC @1501MHz (Samsung 14nm FinFET) / Keyboard: Logitech Desktop K120 (Nordic) / Motherboard: MSI 970 GAMING, Socket-AM3+ / Mouse: Razer Abyssus 2014 / PCI-E: ASRock USB 3.1/A+C (PCI Express x4) / PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2, 850W PSU / RAM 1, 2, 3 & 4: Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1866MHz CL8-10-10-28-37-2T (4x4GB) 16.38GB / Operating System 1: Windows 10 Home / Sound: Zombee Z300 / Storage 1: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD (x2) / Storage 2: Seagate® Barracuda 2TB HDD / Storage 3: Seagate® Desktop 2TB SSHD / Wi-fi: TP-Link TL-WN951N 11n Wireless Adapter

Godavari-X4-880K | R20 score MC: 810cb

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Case: Medion Micro-ATX Case / Case Fan Front: SUNON MagLev PF70251VX-Q000-S99 70mm / Case Fan Rear: Fanner Tech(Shen Zhen)Co.,LTD. 80mm (Purple) / Controller: Sony Dualshock 4 Wireless (DS4Windows) / Cooler: AMD Near-silent 95w Thermal Solution / Cooler: AMD Near-silent 125w Thermal Solution / CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K Black Edition Elite Quad-Core (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / CPU: AMD Athlon X4 880K Black Edition Elite Quad-Core (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / Display: HP 19" Flat Panel L1940 (75Hz) 1280x1024 / GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 SuperSC 2GB (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GD5 OC "Afterburner" @1450MHz (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / Keyboard: HP KB-0316 PS/2 (Nordic) / Motherboard: MSI A78M-E45 V2, Socket-FM2+ / Mouse: Razer Abyssus 2014 / PCI-E: ASRock USB 3.1/A+C (PCI Express x4) / PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2, 550W PSU / RAM 1, 2, 3 & 4: SK hynix DDR3-1866MHz CL9-10-11-27-40 (4x4GB) 16.38GB / Operating System 1: Ubuntu Gnome 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) / Operating System 2: Windows 10 Home / Sound 1: Zombee Z500 / Sound 2: Logitech Stereo Speakers S-150 / Storage 1: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD (x2) / Storage 2: Western Digital My Passport 2.5" 2TB HDD / Storage 3: Western Digital Elements Desktop 2TB HDD / Wi-fi: TP-Link TL-WN851N 11n Wireless Adapter

Acer Aspire 7738G custom (changed CPU, GPU & Storage)
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CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600, 2-cores, 2-threads, 2.4GHz, 3MB cache (Intel 45nm) / GPU: ATi Radeon HD 4570 515MB DDR2 (T.S.M.C. 55nm) / RAM: DDR2-1066MHz CL7-7-7-20-1T (2x2GB) / Operating System: Windows 10 Home / Storage: Crucial BX500 480GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5" SSD

Complete portable device SoC history:

Spoiler
Apple A4 - Apple iPod touch (4th generation)
Apple A5 - Apple iPod touch (5th generation)
Apple A9 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
HiSilicon Kirin 810 (T.S.M.C. 7nm) - Huawei P40 Lite / Huawei nova 7i
Mediatek Dimensity 700 (T.S.M.C 7nm) - Cherry Mobile Aqua S10 Pro 5G
Mediatek MT2601 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - TicWatch E
Mediatek MT6580 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - TECNO Spark 2 (1GB RAM)
Mediatek MT6592M (T.S.M.C 28nm) - my|phone my32 (orange)
Mediatek MT6592M (T.S.M.C 28nm) - my|phone my32 (yellow)
Mediatek MT6735 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - HMD Nokia 3 Dual SIM
Mediatek MT6737 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - Cherry Mobile Flare S6
Mediatek MT6739 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - my|phone myX8 (blue)
Mediatek MT6739 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - my|phone myX8 (gold)
Mediatek MT6750 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - honor 6C Pro / honor V9 Play
Mediatek MT6765 (T.S.M.C 12nm) - TECNO Pouvoir 3 Plus
Mediatek MT6797D (T.S.M.C 20nm) - my|phone Brown Tab 1
Qualcomm MSM8926 (T.S.M.C. 28nm) - Microsoft Lumia 640 LTE
Qualcomm MSM8974AA (T.S.M.C. 28nm) - Blackberry Passport
Qualcomm SDM710 (Samsung 10nm) - Oppo Realme 3 Pro

 

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There is no way since different games/apps use resources in different ways. 

The best you can do is watch game/apps benchmarks that use your particular CPU and the particular GPUs you are willing to buy. 

Don't forget to take in consideration extra tasks, if you want to record/stream/etc while doing this or that is also relevant. 

ie: LoL is not a demanding game, but recording software encoded formats in 1080p@60FPS or more while gaming will impact hard in the system. Even if it's an i5 OC 5GHz. 

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