Windows 7: Core 2 Quad - bottleneck for GTX 480?

Luckystar · 07 Jul 2010

Hey hey peeps,

I really want to upgrade my Graphics card to a shiney new gtx 480.

Now, I heard that the Intel Core 2 Quad is a bottleneck for the said GFX card.

What is bottlenecking, technically mind? (as i never experienced bottlenecking)

Also, how much of a bottleneck would i experience.

Lucky

fishnbanjo · 07 Jul 2010

A bottleneck is simply like what it sounds like it is. Picture a funnel with the video feed coming from the 480 as the pail of water being poured into you CPU output being the bottom of the funnel, i.e. the GPU (480) is pushing tons of data stream at a time FPS but the CPU can only negotiate the output that it can which is smaller amounts of that stream so the FPS is pinched. How much you feel the pinch is variable if you have a low version if the CPU it won't perform as well as an Extreme version but the i5 and i7 cpu's will outperform them in many ways, the i3 may or may not depending on your current CPU.

MiMA · 07 Jul 2010

Bottleneck means that (in your case) your CPU would be too slow and you wouldn't be able to use your gfx card 100%. For example, with c2q and gtx 480 you can have 20 fps in Crysis (extra high settings), but if you have an i7 cpu you can have like 30 fps on same settings. Note: this is just an example, results can be different.

Fumz · 07 Jul 2010

Quote: Originally Posted by Luckystar

Also, how much of a bottleneck would i experience.

Lucky

CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83Ghz - Oc'd to 3.40Ghz + 1.27v

You'll be just fine. I would not concern myself with terms; terms that are, in your case, meaningless.

JonM33 · 07 Jul 2010

Quote: Originally Posted by Luckystar

Hey hey peeps,

I really want to upgrade my Graphics card to a shiney new gtx 480.

Now, I heard that the Intel Core 2 Quad is a bottleneck for the said GFX card.

What is bottlenecking, technically mind? (as i never experienced bottlenecking)

Also, how much of a bottleneck would i experience.

Lucky

No, your Core 2 Quad is not going to severely limit a GTX 480. There are very few games that even take advantage of that many cores.

Here's a prime example to show you how well your CPU performs in games: AMD's Six-Core Phenom II X6 1090T & 1055T Reviewed - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

They purposely lower graphics settings so the CPU becomes more of a "bottleneck". Once you maximize the graphics settings and run high anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering the CPU isn't even a concern anymore.

In no way is a Core 2 Quad @ 3.4GHz going to be limiting any of today's games. If you got a Core i7 you would be wasting your money and see no performance difference.

Everlong · 07 Jul 2010

You'll be fine with your 9550. I'm running my 9550 at 3.4GHz and every game runs as I'd expect it to.

chev65 · 07 Jul 2010

The larger effect of bottle necking occurs as you go to tri SLI and above. In those cases you would be bottle necking the GPU quite a bit, this shows up in Vantage and other game bench marks. Even in these cases you might not notice any difference in actual game play.

But for a single card with an overclocked quad core you aren't going to see or measure much difference at all between an i7 and an overclocked quad core. With your Q9550 at 3.4Ghz with a GTX480 you will be flying through games.

Davidxtux · 08 Jul 2010

Agreed with above poster. You will see little to no bottlenecking. As I run tri sli I went with 6 core proccessor.

Luckystar · 08 Jul 2010

So from what you have all said, i will be fine.

Bear in mind though, i play things like Crysis, GTA IV + EFLC and Grid (They seem to be the heaviest games i play).

And from what Chev65 said, i should be fine with two way sli?

Lucky

Bootz · 08 Jul 2010

To be honest, i would think your q9550 would limit the performance of gtx 480. At the most the q9550 is barely enough to run games like crysis on very high setting with consistant 40+fps, esspecially if you game at high resolutions. I could be wrong but my 6000+ dual core at 3.2 with my 8800gts only get around 30fps on high settings at 1680x1050 and drops below that during high action.

Just my opinion, but i do not own a q9550 or a gtx480.

Windows 7: Core 2 Quad - bottleneck for GTX 480?

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