32 replies to this topic

[JSmith7784]

one of the things I've learned over the years is your PC should be balanced between CPU power and GPU power. Basically if one is causing a bottleneck then it won't matter how powerful the other is.
My current setup has an Intel I-7 950 @3.57ghz and a EVGA GTX770SC. I figure my CPU is the bottleneck and it wouldn't make sense to upgrade to a GTX970 or 980 since my CPU will be holding back the GPU. I'm able to play MWO just fine at very high settings, but figure my next upgrade should be a new CPU/MB combo.
Do you think I would gain anything from moving to a better GPU?
Thanks for any advice

[Iqfish]

Many games are heavily CPU-reliant. MWO is too. Particle effects, physics, all that stuff bumps down to your CPU if the game is not perfectly optimized (MWO is really not) and even more if you're not using DX11.

Just one example:


I could tell you more technical details but the essential thing is this:

YES, move away from your 6 year old processor.

You will get more features, way more power, way less consumption, way less heat/noise with a new CPU. I'd recommend a 4770K, since the new Skylake CPUs (the 5xxx series) isn't that much of a jump at all.
You could keep your old Powersupply.

Sell the CPU, Mainboard and cooler on a paltform of your choice and get a new Mainboard, an i7 4770K and a good heatsink. I am using the Thermalright Macho, it's a great choice for little money.

While you're at it, get a SSD. You will have to reinstall Windows anyways, since you're swapping your PCs heart out, so moving the OS and often needed applications to a fast storage device is a good idea. SSDs are not that expensive anymore and significantly increase the PCs overall performance, not just the bootup speed.

Since you're planning on buying a 980 anyways, you spend less money getting an 4770K, a solid 100$ mainboard (I recommend the AsRock Z97s), a good cooler and a 64-128GB SSD.

Edited by Iqfish, 10 August 2015 - 05:39 PM.

[Mechteric]

Why not just save up and get a better CPU and GPU together? Just saying you dont' want to waste your money now on a GPU that isn't going to last long if instead you can get one that lasts longer.

[Iqfish]

CapperDeluxe, on 10 August 2015 - 05:36 PM, said:

Why not just save up and get a better CPU and GPU together? Just saying you dont' want to waste your money now on a GPU that isn't going to last long if instead you can get one that lasts longer.

A 770 is still pretty okay. Its only last gen. His CPU however is Last-last-last gen.
Also, CPU tend to have way longer half-life periods than GPUs, they are not so different between each generation.

Like I said, spending 700€ now to get a new GPU to get about 20% more graphics performance
or
spending 580€ to get a 4770K, a good Motherboard and a good SSD now to get vastly more overall performance AND more than 20% more graphics perfomance with the OLD GPU.

[xWiredx]

In the US, Skylake CPUs are about the same price as Haswell CPUs. Intel chips do not get huge price cuts when new ones come out. Beside just that reason, Skylake does give more performance with less power draw than Haswell and Haswell Refresh so there isn't much reason to get one of those as Skylake comes into stock at various retailers.

To answer OPs question - to an extent, you will probably still notice an increase with a newer 9xx card but it won't be the full increase if the CPU is a bottleneck. Your minimum FPS will stay about the same, but your maximum will probably go up.

[Flapdrol]

There is no such thing as too much gpu power. Can always burn it up on antialiasing/dsr/vsr.

But if the goal is increased fps you should try and find out if you're cpu or gpu limited by monitoring gpu use and fps.

I'd say an overclocked i7-950 and a 770 are unfortunately quite well balanced if you run games on 1080p without aa, so no obvious upgrade path.

[Golrar]

One thing I have noticed, since I have the king of all bottleneck CPUs, is certain things you think would drop your FPS because of your CPU actually do not. I recently bumped my AA from PostAA to TXAA and everything is shiny now with no drop in frames. So shiny that I am usually getting thumped because I am staring at the water reflections in Viridian.

But you will notice a much greater increase from the CPU upgrade. Although SSDs are nice, the only thing it will help with the game is loading times at the beginning of the match. An SSD will not increase your frames per second, so if you want to stay cheap you can leave the SSD for a later date.

Haswell: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QpbChM $473.95

Skylake: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/g8cZmG $503.96

Very close in price so I would go with the Skylake. Notice the Haswell build is using a very basic MB as well.

[bad arcade kitty]

you easily can have a too powerful gpu for your power supply or your cooling system and it can cause a lot of problems

[JSmith7784]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm tempted to go for the new CPU and probably keep the 770 for a little while longer. I was just reading up on overclocking my I-7 950 to closer to 4ghz. It should be capable since I'm running it at 3.5ghz on air cooling without issue. Thinking of getting a good AIO CLC cooler, possibly corsair H110, and bump the CPU up to 4ghz. Just trying to get more use out of my PC since it still seems capable of running most games without issue at 1080p.

[Iqfish]

JSmith7784, on 11 August 2015 - 02:27 AM, said:

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm tempted to go for the new CPU and probably keep the 770 for a little while longer. I was just reading up on overclocking my I-7 950 to closer to 4ghz. It should be capable since I'm running it at 3.5ghz on air cooling without issue. Thinking of getting a good AIO CLC cooler, possibly corsair H110, and bump the CPU up to 4ghz. Just trying to get more use out of my PC since it still seems capable of running most games without issue at 1080p.

AiO water coolers are a waste of money.
The H110 is expensive and has a very annoying pump noise, the stock fans should be replaced with good ones from Noctua/BeQuiet. Thats another 40$ for fans.

Just get a good aircooler. You cant go wrong with Bequiet, Noctua and Thermalright.

But I'd really recommend getting a new one. Overclocking such an old Processor is not a magic switch that makes everything faster

[Lily from animove]

yes, of cours ebecause if games don't support multi GPU's you won't have much of an effect, maybe even more bugs.
Furtherif you have CPU heavy games, whats the point of more graphic power than required?

[Iqfish]

Lily from animove, on 11 August 2015 - 02:59 AM, said:

yes, of cours ebecause if games don't support multi GPU's you won't have much of an effect, maybe even more bugs.
Furtherif you have CPU heavy games, whats the point of more graphic power than required?

He never said anything about multi GPU. He is talking about getting rid of his 770 and getting a 980.

[Lord Letto]

If your looking for a Water Cooler, I'd recommend getting a Swiftech H240-X:
http://www.techpower...h/H240-X/1.html
http://www.hardocp.c.../4#.Vcn4uflVhBc
https://pcpartpicker...u-cooler-h240x/

[Lily from animove]

Iqfish, on 11 August 2015 - 03:11 AM, said:

He never said anything about multi GPU. He is talking about getting rid of his 770 and getting a 980.

too much GPU does not stop at a single card.

[Rhaythe]

If you don't use it, then arguably, you have *too much* and could have spent your money elsewhere.

But videogames being what they are, graphic fidelity will eventually grow to consume whatever you have. The only thing holding it back, arguably, is that games tend to target console hardware.

[Hawk819]

Iqfish, on 10 August 2015 - 05:35 PM, said:

Many games are heavily CPU-reliant. MWO is too. Particle effects, physics, all that stuff bumps down to your CPU if the game is not perfectly optimized (MWO is really not) and even more if you're not using DX11.

Just one example:


I could tell you more technical details but the essential thing is this:

YES, move away from your 6 year old processor.

You will get more features, way more power, way less consumption, way less heat/noise with a new CPU. I'd recommend a 4770K, since the new Skylake CPUs (the 5xxx series) isn't that much of a jump at all.
You could keep your old Powersupply.

Sell the CPU, Mainboard and cooler on a paltform of your choice and get a new Mainboard, an i7 4770K and a good heatsink. I am using the Thermalright Macho, it's a great choice for little money.

While you're at it, get a SSD. You will have to reinstall Windows anyways, since you're swapping your PCs heart out, so moving the OS and often needed applications to a fast storage device is a good idea. SSDs are not that expensive anymore and significantly increase the PCs overall performance, not just the bootup speed.

Since you're planning on buying a 980 anyways, you spend less money getting an 4770K, a solid 100$ mainboard (I recommend the AsRock Z97s), a good cooler and a 64-128GB SSD.

how would the 5930K i7 and 5820K i7 stack up when playing MWO? Just curious

[Flapdrol]

JSmith7784, on 11 August 2015 - 02:27 AM, said:

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm tempted to go for the new CPU and probably keep the 770 for a little while longer. I was just reading up on overclocking my I-7 950 to closer to 4ghz. It should be capable since I'm running it at 3.5ghz on air cooling without issue. Thinking of getting a good AIO CLC cooler, possibly corsair H110, and bump the CPU up to 4ghz. Just trying to get more use out of my PC since it still seems capable of running most games without issue at 1080p.

you can probably get close to 4 on air.

[Summon3r]

op your 770 is more then enough horsepower for gaming, my HD 7970 handles any game i throw at it at maximum settings including star citizen without blinking, go for a good cpu/mb upgrade

even my old 660ti runs mwo at very high across the board

Edited by Summon3r, 11 August 2015 - 07:43 AM.

[Mystere]

Flapdrol, on 11 August 2015 - 12:03 AM, said:

There is no such thing as too much gpu power.

You can say that again, especially if you're using your GPUs to do this.

[Iqfish]

Lily from animove, on 11 August 2015 - 05:41 AM, said:

too much GPU does not stop at a single card.

That's right but has not anything to do with your statement