Higher Resolutions to Reduce Bottlenecking?

[Kenneth Versoza]

I read some articles that going to a higher resolution will, in some way, reduce the bottlenecking of CPU to the GPU. I currently have GTX 970 pair with i5 2400 and experience some bottlenecking in 1080p resolution. I plan to upgrade to an i5 3550 and get a 1440p monitor to play latest titles at medium to high settings. Would this plan be better or do you advise that I switch to a skylake system and retain my 1080p monitor? Very hard for me to decide specially coz I am on a budget not like linus (sky is the limit for him!) hahaha..

[The Sloth]

cap at 30 fps or 60 fps, higher fps you have more bottleneck you will have. that's the reason you will hear people go to an i7 for high fps gaming at a lower resolution. 

[ARikozuM]

Depends on the game. Some of the more oft quoted games can be run on i5s at 144Hz, but some need an i7 for the best performance. 

 

Since you're going with a 1440 monitor, I would recommend moving up to Pascal/Polaris.

[Glenwing]

7 minutes ago, Kenneth Versoza said:

I read some articles that going to a higher resolution will, in some way, reduce the bottlenecking of CPU to the GPU. I currently have GTX 970 pair with i5 2400 and experience some bottlenecking in 1080p resolution. I plan to upgrade to an i5 3550 and get a 1440p monitor to play latest titles at medium to high settings. Would this plan be better or do you advise that I switch to a skylake system and retain my 1080p monitor? Very hard for me to decide specially coz I am on a budget not like linus (sky is the limit for him!) hahaha..

It just introduces a GPU bottleneck that supercedes the CPU bottleneck. While it does "prevent" your CPU bottleneck from occurring, it's only doing so by introducing another heavier bottleneck that you encounter before you get to the point where you would encounter your CPU bottleneck.

 

You could accomplish the exact same thing without changing the resolution by downgrading your GPU to something less powerful.

[stealth80]

i wouldnt have thought that an 970 could be bottlenecked by an i5, what games is this?

[ARikozuM]

1 minute ago, stealth80 said:

i wouldnt have thought that an 970 could be bottlenecked by an i5, what games is this?

Probably Crysis 4.

[Kenneth Versoza]

24 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Depends on the game. Some of the more oft quoted games can be run on i5s at 144Hz, but some need an i7 for the best performance. 

 

Since you're going with a 1440 monitor, I would recommend moving up to Pascal/Polaris.

Should I buy an i7 sandy bridge for a boost performance? My budget is like $ 300 - 350ish so a very hard decision for me. I am not planning to upgrade my GTX 970 this year or two by the way.

[Kenneth Versoza]

12 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Probably Crysis 4.

Hahahaha..

 

On a serious note, yes I feel there is really a bottlenecking, I just feel that it is my CPU that causes it.

[Dabombinable]

14 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Probably Crysis 4.

More like Fallout 4. Down town Boston, raining or not, hammers the crap out of them.

[stealth80]

2 minutes ago, Kenneth Versoza said:

Hahahaha..

 

On a serious note, yes I feel there is really a bottlenecking, I just feel that it is my CPU that causes it.

Use monitoring software and look at CPU/GPU utilisation when you "feel its happening"

[Guest]

GTX 970 on a 1440-p will be hard

What are the actual CPU usage? You feel it or you can tell it for sure? 

Feeling the game isn't running as expected could be of a 970 not being a true beast

 

[ARikozuM]

14 minutes ago, Kenneth Versoza said:

Should I buy an i7 sandy bridge for a boost performance? My budget is like $ 300 - 350ish so a very hard decision for me. I am not planning to upgrade my GTX 970 this year or two by the way.

With a 970, you may not get good performance (60Hz) in some titles at 2560x1440 without going lower than medium. I would stick to 1080 and get the i7 unless you can fit an RX 480 or 470 with an i5.

[SkilledRebuilds]

Its a GAME BY GAME determination.

You will see higher GPU utilization at higher resolutions, but your CPU can still introduce drops at higher resolutions too.

 

1440p isn't that hard (Dropping say shadows to High instead of Ultra and such things hardly noticeable in some games) make "most" 1440p games VERY VERY playable on a GTX970. But you WILL absolutely get rekt with higher resolutions VS memory bandwidth on this GPU.

Once your going past 1440p>1600p>1800p you'll lose more than you should be due to your memory bandwidth not being fast enough.

I test DSR with every game I install (cos why not right?) and the GTX970 is still powerhousing games at higher resolutions and when you run out of core grunt, dropping some settings (not that visually different in some cases) you'll still get the resolution crisp benefits and decent performance, but as stated, higher resolutions only go so far on a GTX970.

 

But everyone writes them off, due to wanting ULTRA all the time when Ultra>High mix's of settings, work very well.

But I hardly EVER, have used just a medium preset and called it a day, you can do better still than medium presets in most games.

I feel some of these responses are just guesses,...may not even have GTX970's and nor have tested DSR like I have.

FYI - I have an i5 4690 (3.5>3.9Ghz) + 100Mhz added by me (3 or 4 core load is 3.8Ghz on all cores, 2cores=3.9Ghz, 1core=4Ghz)

I hardly to never see dropping GPU usage unless specifically set by me.

 

Noted examples,

Shitty Game Ports do (Batman b4 Fixed, Ass-Creed UnityCPU load, but happens to not just GTX970's) Pushing 90-100% CPU at times, GPU usage 90-100%

BF1 - CPU @ 90-100% the entire time,... GPU @ 80-100% variable (Game still does 70-90fps though but I'm CPU limited here)

Games with FPS caps (we all get this)

My own Set FPS caps/Vsync in some light games where maximum performance isn't needed.

Majority of time time I leave MSI OSD on, and GPU usage is usually always 97-100% across the board no matter what I play with an unlocked framerate.

 

A CPU upgrade, will give you a good boost. The GTX970, is a great card for any game today, in some games sacrifices must be made, but overall you should be good for some time if you got a CPU upgrade (higher frequency=better seeing as its 2nd gen)