GPU Question - Would My PC "bottleneck" With An ATI 5 Series Card?

GreenDolphin

Junior Member
Oct 14, 2009
2
0
0
Alright, quick question.

So far I have knowledge of the release of the ATI 5 Series GPUs not too long ago. I thought that if in the future I do plan to upgrade my GPU, would my system be able to keep up the operation within the card range?

Currently the main components of my PC are listed below:

Main:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo e6850 3.00GHZ @ 3.60GHZ
GPU: BFG 9800GTX+ 512MB Superclocked in 2-way SLI
GPU2: BFG 9800GTX+ 512MB Superclocked in 2-way SLI
RAM: 4GB DDR2 (2x2048MB) OCZ 800MHZ
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint 1TB 7200RPM
Mobo: Nvidia Nforce 680i SLI
PSU: Corsair HX 1000W
More information regarding the Motherboard: http://techgage.com/article/evga_nforce_680i_sli/

So far my main concern is with the CPU.
Will it be able to keep up with the operation of the GPU even in its overclocked state?
Even with this configuration, what card within the 5 series could be recommended?
Can a single 5870 (or unlikely higher model) be fully compatible with my system?

If I do need to upgrade the CPU, then the only choices of CPUs available to me which are fully compatible with my motherboard are these:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 8mb L2 1066Mhz 65mn
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 2.66GHz 8mb L2 1066Mhz 65mn
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 3.0GHz 8mb L2 1333Mhz 65mn
Even with a CPU upgrade, could it still be recommended for fully a compatible use?

Reason I asked this is because I've noticed and felt that anything over the performance of a GTX295 will "bottleneck" my system. I am also not very knowledge on ATIs side of GPU marketing.

Edit:

Also I do not plan buy a new GPU anytime soon.
Instead I made this thread so I can have prior knowledge that if in the far future I do decided to upgrade my PC, I will have a better understanding of what options are available to me.

Thanks for the current responses.
 

crisium

Platinum Member
Aug 19, 2001
2,643
615
136
Dual Core is still the sweet spot for PC gaming, and a Core 2 Duo well into the 3GHz range is plenty of power mate. Even Far Cry 2 does well with something like that. I would currently see only 1 game bottle necked by dual core CPUs that fast: Grand Theft Auto IV.

Btw, Radeon 5870 is not "over the performance of a GTX 295". It's a bit slower with settings below 8x AA, currently. But it has DX 11, lower power, blah blah blah most people prefer the 5870 to the 295.
 

dflynchimp

Senior member
Apr 11, 2007
468
0
71
your specs are perfectly fine for gaming. The cpu shouldn't present any noticeable bottlenecking for a 5XXX
 

v8envy

Platinum Member
Sep 7, 2002
2,720
0
0
There are only a few games which are currently limited by high clocked dual cores. Notably ArmaII, GTA IV, SupCom... Other than those you're good to go. I don't consider going from extremely high frame rates on a duo to ludicrously high frame rates on an i7 in Resident Evil 5 as being "held back."

If you find the games you play giving you terrible *minimum* frame rates even if you crank down details and resolution then consider a CPU update. Either way, with a 5870 you'll be able to crank video quality settings and enjoy.

In summary, your "bottleneck" will NOT be severe enough to settle for a lower grade card or hold off an upgrade until a complete system overhaul. Go get it!
 

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
0
I would go no higher than a 5850 just because its a better value than the 5770. I also would just keep your cpu instead of upgrading to a core 2 quad. just wait till later and do a platform upgrade to an i5/i7.
 

Spikesoldier

Diamond Member
Oct 15, 2001
6,766
0
0
5850 1gb sounds like a good match for that system. like others have stated, stay dual core and most importantly stay 4gb ddr2. max out at 8gb like me and your max oc may shrink due to an overstressed memory controller.

im debating breathing some life into my second system, a e6420 @ 3.0 on abit ip35-e with 4x1gb memory config, by splitting my 8gb ocz to 4gb in each system. with generic PC2-6400 cherry picked for its ddr2-800 @ 1.8v (2x1gb) i was able to hit 3.4 on the same e6420 with ease. i also have a 30gb ocz agility ssd also that should be here tommorow that I'll get to play with.
 

LCD123

Member
Sep 29, 2009
90
0
0
I wouldn't upgrade anything. Your video cards are just fine. Save your money in this slow economy and get a whole new computer in 2 years.
 

cusideabelincoln

Diamond Member
Aug 3, 2008
3,268
11
81
Your system won't bottleneck even ATI's fastest single card, the 5870.

And like mentioned, don't bother upgrading to a C2Q. Just save your cash to do a complete motherboard, CPU, and RAM upgrade whenever you feel the need for more performance. There are only a few of games which benefit going from dual to quad core. Is there a particular game in which you're not getting good performance?
 

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
0
Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
Your system won't bottleneck even ATI's fastest single card, the 5870.

And like mentioned, don't bother upgrading to a C2Q. Just save your cash to do a complete motherboard, CPU, and RAM upgrade whenever you feel the need for more performance. There are only a few of games which benefit going from dual to quad core. Is there a particular game in which you're not getting good performance?

yes it would hold it back a little compared to an overclocked i7 but just not enough to really matter except for GTA4. that game needs an i7 for best results so yeah going to a Core 2 Quad would not be worth the trouble of upgrading.
 

bryanW1995

Lifer
May 22, 2007
11,144
32
91
well, 5870 is about 5-10% slower than gtx 295, so if your info is correct then you'll be gtg with one.
 

GreenDolphin

Junior Member
Oct 14, 2009
2
0
0
Thanks for the response guys.
Also I do not plan buy a new GPU anytime soon. Instead I made this thread so I can have prior knowledge that if in the far future I do decided to upgrade my PC, I will have a better understanding of what options are available to me.
 

cusideabelincoln

Diamond Member
Aug 3, 2008
3,268
11
81
Originally posted by: toyota
Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
Your system won't bottleneck even ATI's fastest single card, the 5870.

And like mentioned, don't bother upgrading to a C2Q. Just save your cash to do a complete motherboard, CPU, and RAM upgrade whenever you feel the need for more performance. There are only a few of games which benefit going from dual to quad core. Is there a particular game in which you're not getting good performance?

yes it would hold it back a little compared to an overclocked i7 but just not enough to really matter except for GTA4. that game needs an i7 for best results so yeah going to a Core 2 Quad would not be worth the trouble of upgrading.

Sigh... do we really have to do the dance all the fucking time? Only in the heavy hitters for the quad core would his CPU become the bottleneck, but there aren't very many of these games out right now so it's a non-issue until he states what games he would be using.

His processor is completely fine. It won't bottleneck the 5870 to the point where it would perform like a 5850 in his computer, which is what I would take as bottlenecking.

Performance would improve if he moved to a faster processor, but this performance would improve over a whole host of different video cards. And for most games, the improvement wouldn't even be noticeable, if at all.

it would hold it back a little

Holding back is not the same thing (all the time) as bottlenecking.

Get off your damn high horse. You are actually becoming quite annoying.
 

betasub

Platinum Member
Mar 22, 2006
2,677
0
0
Originally posted by: GreenDolphin
Also I do not plan buy a new GPU anytime soon. Instead I made this thread so I can have prior knowledge that if in the far future I do decided to upgrade my PC, I will have a better understanding of what options are available to me.

Discussions about the "far future" are little more than crystal ball gazing, and aren't likely to apply to your situation when the time comes. What we know best about the "far future" is that it will be very different to what we think now.
 

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
0
Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
Originally posted by: toyota
Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
Your system won't bottleneck even ATI's fastest single card, the 5870.

And like mentioned, don't bother upgrading to a C2Q. Just save your cash to do a complete motherboard, CPU, and RAM upgrade whenever you feel the need for more performance. There are only a few of games which benefit going from dual to quad core. Is there a particular game in which you're not getting good performance?

yes it would hold it back a little compared to an overclocked i7 but just not enough to really matter except for GTA4. that game needs an i7 for best results so yeah going to a Core 2 Quad would not be worth the trouble of upgrading.

Sigh... do we really have to do the dance all the fucking time? Only in the heavy hitters for the quad core would his CPU become the bottleneck, but there aren't very many of these games out right now so it's a non-issue until he states what games he would be using.

His processor is completely fine. It won't bottleneck the 5870 to the point where it would perform like a 5850 in his computer, which is what I would take as bottlenecking.

Performance would improve if he moved to a faster processor, but this performance would improve over a whole host of different video cards. And for most games, the improvement wouldn't even be noticeable, if at all.

it would hold it back a little

Holding back is not the same thing (all the time) as bottlenecking.

Get off your damn high horse. You are actually becoming quite annoying.

if anybody is annoying it is you. you act like a jerk that cant stand for anybody to have even a slightly different opinion than yours. you break out the foul language and passive aggressive comments even when I am basically agreeing with you. bottlenecking can simply mean holding something back a bit and thats exactly why I said in this case it wouldnt do it enough to matter. all I said was that it would hold it back compared to having an overclocked i7 and even then only noticeably in GTA4. thats pretty much the same thing you are saying now isnt it? stop acting like your opinion or interpretation of something is somehow more valid.


bottlenecking: to slow down or impede by creating an obstruction
 

cusideabelincoln

Diamond Member
Aug 3, 2008
3,268
11
81
Originally posted by: toyota
Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
Originally posted by: toyota
Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
Your system won't bottleneck even ATI's fastest single card, the 5870.

And like mentioned, don't bother upgrading to a C2Q. Just save your cash to do a complete motherboard, CPU, and RAM upgrade whenever you feel the need for more performance. There are only a few of games which benefit going from dual to quad core. Is there a particular game in which you're not getting good performance?

yes it would hold it back a little compared to an overclocked i7 but just not enough to really matter except for GTA4. that game needs an i7 for best results so yeah going to a Core 2 Quad would not be worth the trouble of upgrading.

Sigh... do we really have to do the dance all the fucking time? Only in the heavy hitters for the quad core would his CPU become the bottleneck, but there aren't very many of these games out right now so it's a non-issue until he states what games he would be using.

His processor is completely fine. It won't bottleneck the 5870 to the point where it would perform like a 5850 in his computer, which is what I would take as bottlenecking.

Performance would improve if he moved to a faster processor, but this performance would improve over a whole host of different video cards. And for most games, the improvement wouldn't even be noticeable, if at all.

it would hold it back a little

Holding back is not the same thing (all the time) as bottlenecking.

Get off your damn high horse. You are actually becoming quite annoying.

if anybody is annoying it is you. you act like a jerk that cant stand for anybody to have even a slightly different opinion than yours. you break out the foul language and passive aggressive comments even when I am basically agreeing with you. bottlenecking can simply mean holding something back a bit and thats exactly why I said in this case it wouldnt do it enough to matter. all I said was that it would hold it back compared to having an overclocked i7 and even then only noticeably in GTA4. thats pretty much the same thing you are saying now isnt it? stop acting like your opinion or interpretation of something is somehow more valid.


bottlenecking: to slow down or impede by creating an obstruction

I think you're purposely doing it (singling me out to an extent); that's why it's annoying. You were saying the same thing I was in your conclusion, but you attacked in a way such as to be in opposition to me.

We obviously have different takes on bottlenecking. I don't look at the dictionary definition of the word, which you obviously did just to counter whatever I said. A fast dual core, right now, which is what the OP has (one of the fastest dual cores) is sufficient to drive a 5870 in all but a few games (which is what I said). Just ask BFG101k. Sufficient, and here's where my definition comes in, such that a faster card will still provide noticeable improvements over the next slower card, and it would be insufficient such that a CPU would bottleneck a card to make it perform no different, in a given setup, than another slower card.

I think you need to learn the definition of passive aggressive. Nothing I said was that. If anything, I was clear (and I usually am) in what I say, so you could just consider it flat out aggressive.

Your "curse word argument" is also extremely weak. Actually it's pretty much irrelevant to whatever you said.
 

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
0
Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
Originally posted by: toyota
Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
Originally posted by: toyota
Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
Your system won't bottleneck even ATI's fastest single card, the 5870.

And like mentioned, don't bother upgrading to a C2Q. Just save your cash to do a complete motherboard, CPU, and RAM upgrade whenever you feel the need for more performance. There are only a few of games which benefit going from dual to quad core. Is there a particular game in which you're not getting good performance?

yes it would hold it back a little compared to an overclocked i7 but just not enough to really matter except for GTA4. that game needs an i7 for best results so yeah going to a Core 2 Quad would not be worth the trouble of upgrading.

Sigh... do we really have to do the dance all the fucking time? Only in the heavy hitters for the quad core would his CPU become the bottleneck, but there aren't very many of these games out right now so it's a non-issue until he states what games he would be using.

His processor is completely fine. It won't bottleneck the 5870 to the point where it would perform like a 5850 in his computer, which is what I would take as bottlenecking.

Performance would improve if he moved to a faster processor, but this performance would improve over a whole host of different video cards. And for most games, the improvement wouldn't even be noticeable, if at all.

it would hold it back a little

Holding back is not the same thing (all the time) as bottlenecking.

Get off your damn high horse. You are actually becoming quite annoying.

if anybody is annoying it is you. you act like a jerk that cant stand for anybody to have even a slightly different opinion than yours. you break out the foul language and passive aggressive comments even when I am basically agreeing with you. bottlenecking can simply mean holding something back a bit and thats exactly why I said in this case it wouldnt do it enough to matter. all I said was that it would hold it back compared to having an overclocked i7 and even then only noticeably in GTA4. thats pretty much the same thing you are saying now isnt it? stop acting like your opinion or interpretation of something is somehow more valid.


bottlenecking: to slow down or impede by creating an obstruction

I think you're purposely doing it (singling me out to an extent); that's why it's annoying. You were saying the same thing I was in your conclusion, but you attacked in a way such as to be in opposition to me.

We obviously have different takes on bottlenecking. I don't look at the dictionary definition of the word, which you obviously did just to counter whatever I said. A fast dual core, right now, which is what the OP has (one of the fastest dual cores) is sufficient to drive a 5870 in all but a few games (which is what I said). Just ask BFG101k. Sufficient, and here's where my definition comes in, such that a faster card will still provide noticeable improvements over the next slower card, and it would be insufficient such that a CPU would bottleneck a card to make it perform no different, in a given setup, than another slower card.

I think you need to learn the definition of passive aggressive. Nothing I said was that. If anything, I was clear (and I usually am) in what I say, so you could just consider it flat out aggressive.

Your "curse word argument" is also extremely weak. Actually it's pretty much irrelevant to whatever you said.
I have never singled you out and if you look at my posts that do involve you I am usually agreeing with you on some level. you take your own interpretation of words like bottleneck and try to make an absolute blanket statement. all I did was explain that yes some bottlenecking would occur compared to having an overclocked an i7/i5. everything else I mentioned was actually in agreement with you. you need to look at your posts because the only person that started being aggressive was you.

 

cusideabelincoln

Diamond Member
Aug 3, 2008
3,268
11
81
You quote me all the time, dude. In this particular case you could have just as easily responded to the OP's question with your post. The fact that you quoted me and responded the way you did is why I assumed what I previously stated.

I also never claimed you were being aggressive (I said annoying). I admitted I was. Again you state something that is completely irrelevant, other than to showcase some kind of pompousness.
 

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
0
Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
You quote me all the time, dude. In this particular case you could have just as easily responded to the OP's question with your post. The fact that you quoted me and responded the way you did is why I assumed what I previously stated.

I also never claimed you were being aggressive (I said annoying). I admitted I was. Again you state something that is completely irrelevant, other than to showcase some kind of pompousness.

I had already replied once in this thread. YOU made a blanket statement about his cpu not bottlenecking a 5870 because YOU have your OWN definition of bottlenecking. thats why I quoted YOU. I have explained exactly what I meant which is basically the same thing you are saying now. I even later posted the definition of bottlenecking just for you so we can get passed this. if look through my 1600 posts on here and you will see that I probably havent even quoted you 20-25 times since you been here. most of those probably are just replies where you have actually quoted me first anyway.