Bottleneck much? (X4 955 w/ HD 7870)

[Rhezuss]

Hey...I currently have a X4 955 at 3.7GHz and a HD 6950 2gb, unlocked and slightly OCed at 840/1325.

I'm eyeing a HD 7870 GHZ edition which look cool but only a little better than what I have.

First, it'll probably not be a huge improvement but could OC better and i'd get nice performance with it.

Second, i fear that my current CPU will bottleneck the new card...

Buy or let go?

 

[tulx]

1. Do a benchmark in the most graphicaly intensive game you have.
2. Set your card back to stock clocks.
3. Do the exact same benchmark again. If the results don't differ or are with margin of error, you won't benefit from a faster card.

 

[Spjut]

A single HD 7870 shouldn't be bottlenecked by a Phenom II x4 at 9.7 ghz as long as the game/app has good multicore support. A game like SC2 though, which only uses 2 cores, will be bottlenecked

 

[Leyawiin]

1. Do a benchmark in the most graphicaly intensive game you have.
2. Set your card back to stock clocks.
3. Do the exact same benchmark again. If the results don't differ or are with margin of error, you won't benefit from a faster card.

Exactly. I tested my GTX 460 1GB on a few games at both 875 Mhz and the stock 675 Mhz with my Phenom II @ 3.7 Ghz. Got about 10-15% better FPS at 875 Mhz (so I figure I'm good for one more upgrade - something like a GTX 660 when it comes out).