CPU bottleneck with new GPU

[TheCynicalCris]

Hi,

 

now I've got an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 overclocked to 2,8GHz (280cb i Cinebench) and GTX 650Ti overclocked to 1333MHz (around 35fps in Heaven on Ultra). 

 

Anyway I want to upgrade my GPU but I'm wondering how high in GTX series can I go without CPU limiting the performance. On my current setup I can't find a game that hits the limit of my CPU, only GPU.

[Imakuni]

8 minutes ago, TheCynicalCris said:

Hi,

 

now I've got an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 overclocked to 2,8GHz (280cb i Cinebench) and GTX 650Ti overclocked to 1333MHz (around 35fps in Heaven on Ultra). 

 

Anyway I want to upgrade my GPU but I'm wondering how high in GTX series can I go without CPU limiting the performance. On my current setup I can't find a game that hits the limit of my CPU, only GPU.

What's the best GPU you can afford?

[TheCynicalCris]

2 minutes ago, Imakuni said:

What's the best GPU you can afford?

I can even afford a 1080, been saving for quite a while =).

[knightslugger]

then buy the 1080. sometimes the CPU is used heavily, sometimes it isn't. I will tell you that the 1080 is more portable to an upgraded system than the Core2...

[LabRat]

buy a new platform. you will gain next to nothing upgrading the gpu.

[Rodniz]

Hell no, dont go for a 1080 with that cpu. I would go for a RX480 and spend the rest of the money on a new cpu+mobo

[i_build_nanosuits]

1 minute ago, LabRat said:

buy a new platform. you will gain next to nothing upgrading the gpu.

^^this...you could always go up to a GTX 950 but i would recommend a full upgrade.

[jjohnthedon1]

Chuck ur pc In the bin and start fresh with that budget 

 

[Imakuni]

6 minutes ago, TheCynicalCris said:

I can even afford a 1080, been saving for quite a while =).

In that case, get a 1060 and replace your entire system. Start with the CPU, mobo and RAM, get yourself a new skylake machine and sell all of your old stuff. Including your GPU. Once you do, then grab the new graphics card; maybe even a 1070 if money is nice. Otherwise, 1060 it is.

[typographie]

22 minutes ago, TheCynicalCris said:

Anyway I want to upgrade my GPU but I'm wondering how high in GTX series can I go without CPU limiting the performance.

What games do you want to play? What resolution/settings do you expect? What framerate do you expect to achieve?

[TheCynicalCris]

1 minute ago, Imakuni said:

In that case, get a 1060 and replace your entire system. Start with the CPU, mobo and RAM, get yourself a new skylake machine and sell all of your old stuff. Including your GPU. Once you do, then grab the new graphics card; maybe even a 1070 if money is nice. Otherwise, 1060 it is.

Basically I wound't gain much by getting 1080 with current CPU vs. 1060 with new CPU?

[TheCynicalCris]

1 minute ago, typographie said:

What games do you want to play? What resolution/settings do you expect? What framerate do you expect to achieve?

No specific titles, but yea mostly recent games. I expect 1080p between 20-60fps

[Imakuni]

Just now, TheCynicalCris said:

Basically I wound't gain much by getting 1080 with current CPU vs. 1060 with new CPU?

If you already intended to replace the CPU a bit later anyway, you might as well get the 1080. That's what I did, I bought a 970 and waited for Broadwell (though Intel trolled, so I ended up waiting some more for Skylake).

 

If you don't, however, 1060 + new PC is going to perform much better than just a 1080.

[Imakuni]

Just now, TheCynicalCris said:

Basically I wound't gain much by getting 1080 with current CPU vs. 1060 with new CPU?

If you already intended to replace the CPU a bit later anyway, you might as well get the 1080. That's what I did, I bought a 970 and waited for Broadwell (though Intel trolled, so I ended up waiting some more for Skylake).

 

If you don't, however, 1060 + new PC is going to perform much better than just a 1080.

[typographie]

5 minutes ago, TheCynicalCris said:

No specific titles, but yea mostly recent games. I expect 1080p between 20-60fps

You don't need a GTX 1080 for that, no matter what CPU you're using. It is way more powerful (and expensive) than you need for 60 FPS at 1080p. It's probably more than is necessary even for new games over the next few years.

 

I don't really have a problem recommending a GTX 1060 or 1070 though. The Core 2 may severely harm performance in some games, but the only solution to that is a new CPU. When that day comes you won't want to be stuck with some low-end video card that you only bought because of the old CPU.

[TheCynicalCris]

13 minutes ago, typographie said:

You don't need a GTX 1080 for that, no matter what CPU you're using. It is way more powerful (and expensive) than you need for 60 FPS at 1080p. It's probably more than is necessary even for new games over the next few years.

 

I don't really have a problem recommending a GTX 1060 or 1070 though. The Core 2 may severely harm performance in some games, but the only solution to that is a new CPU. When that day comes you won't want to be stuck with some low-end video card that you only bought because of the old CPU.

Yea, I know. Imakuni just asked what's my budget, that's all. I've never inteneded to buy a 1080 anyway. What I only ment is that money doesn't play a role here.

[TheCynicalCris]

30 minutes ago, Imakuni said:

If you already intended to replace the CPU a bit later anyway, you might as well get the 1080. That's what I did, I bought a 970 and waited for Broadwell (though Intel trolled, so I ended up waiting some more for Skylake).

 

If you don't, however, 1060 + new PC is going to perform much better than just a 1080.

No, actually I don't intend to buy a new CPU for now. For real, I'm a web developer and sysadmin, and that Quad still works really well, especially after overclock. It's basically on the level of my i5-32100M in MacBook Pro, mid 2012. Anyway that quad-core paired with SSDs and 16GB of RAM is pretty nice (maybe not the power use =P).

[TheCynicalCris]

And on the other hand that's looking promising:

http://www.3dmark.com/search?_ga=1.250516997.229877798.1472564447#/?mode=basic&url=/proxycon/ajax/search/cpuname/spy/P/Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q8300&cpuName=Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q8300

 

[elago]

Buy the 1080 and use VSR, that'll reduce CPU bottlenecks and make games look nicer. When you have money again buy the new platform.

[Ellyroo]

If you have the budget for a 1080 i'd recommend going with a locked i5 (6500 + a decent h170 board) + GTX 1070 as you can get that within the budget

[NavyCuda]

I know someone who is running a new 1080 on pcie 2 16x, with a second gen I7 and his benchmark numbers are very close to published results.

[TheCynicalCris]

19 hours ago, NavyCuda said:

I know someone who is running a new 1080 on pcie 2 16x, with a second gen I7 and his benchmark numbers are very close to published results.

Exactly, that's why I was wondering about the whole CPU upgrade =).

 

[sgloux3470]

On 8/30/2016 at 7:52 AM, knightslugger said:

then buy the 1080. sometimes the CPU is used heavily, sometimes it isn't. I will tell you that the 1080 is more portable to an upgraded system than the Core2...

I mostly agree, but honestly for the price of the 1080 he could replace the mobo +CPU + RAM and still get a very powerful GPU.  If he's gaming at 1080p maybe it's more logical to get something like a RX480 or a GTX1060 and upgrading the entire system.  The GTX 1080 is massive overkill for 1080p.

 

 

[Urishima]

23 hours ago, elago said:

Buy the 1080 and use VSR

What is VSR?

[Urishima]

Dunno what happened here...