I have a 6870 and think I'm cpu bottlenecked: need advice

[amddude]

I have an aging e6550 with 4gb of ram. BFBC2 seems to drag since I upgraded my video card at settings that don't seem super high.

I expected this because my cpu is pretty slow. Is it safe to say I'm being bottlenecked by the cpu?

If so, is there a 775 cpu that would be fast enough to resolve my situation?

 

[nanaki333]

what res are you playing at?

 

[amddude]

what res are you playing at?

Apologies, 1680x1050

The settings I'm using now which I would consider below playable are:
Level of Detail: Med
Texture Quality: Med
Shadow Quality: Med
Effects Quality: Med
MSAA 4x
AF 8x

 

[toyota]

what res are you playing at?

the resoltion is only part of it because his cpu a bit too slow to be paired with a 6870 in general. all a lower res will mean is that even more of what the 6870 could do is going to waste.

 

[toyota]

I have an aging e6550 with 4gb of ram. BFBC2 seems to drag since I upgraded my video card at settings that don't seem super high.

I expected this because my cpu is pretty slow. Is it safe to say I'm being bottlenecked by the cpu?

If so, is there a 775 cpu that would be fast enough to resolve my situation?

yeah your cpu is a major bottleneck for even a 6850 especially in more cpu intensive games like BC2.

 

[Termie]

You have a serious CPU bottleneck. This test of the HD5870, similar to your HD6870, proves it: http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/battlefield_bad_company_2_tuning_guide,7.html

At 1680 with no AA/AF/high, the most you could possibly get is about 50fps. You are at 1680/medium, but with AA/AF, which should work slightly better than the settings tested by legionhardware, simply because high quality affects the CPU, whereas AA/AF do not.

Even so, you might try turning a few settings down to low (staticobjects perhaps), and set sound to "headphones".

Any quadcore s775 CPU would solve your problem, but it's up to you whether that makes sense. Might wait for a platform upgrade.

 

[nanaki333]

the resoltion is only part of it because his cpu a bit too slow to be paired with a 6850 in general. all a lower res will mean is that even more of what the 6850 could do is going to waste.

that was my point in asking. the lower the res the more cpu bound you become.

 

[toyota]

with a 6550 he would not even average more than 30-35fps during most of BC2.

 

[toyota]

that was my point in asking. the lower the res the more cpu bound you become.

well I was just saying this is one of those cases where the cpu is completely mismatched. in some games that cpu is not even going to provide decent frame rates at settings that a 6850 is capable of. even in less cpu intensive games it will be a fairly large waste of performance regardless of the res. he could have bought a cheaper 6850 and gotten the exact same performance.

 

[nanaki333]

but if you read his original post, he said it slowed down after he upgraded to the 6870. which leads me to believe it was quite playable before the upgrade.

 

[toyota]

but if you read his original post, he said it slowed down after he upgraded to the 6870. which leads me to believe it was quite playable before the upgrade.

well some games default to higher settings with a faster card. some of those settings impact the entire pc including the cpu. BC 2 is less cpu dependent in DX9 than it is in DX10 or DX11.

 

[amddude]

but if you read his original post, he said it slowed down after he upgraded to the 6870. which leads me to believe it was quite playable before the upgrade.

I worded it stupid. I can edit it but I meant that it was not much "faster" with the new card.

To everyone, would a Q9550 be sufficient or do I need to go higher?

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Overclock and you'll see nice performance gains.

Otherwise any Core 2 Quad will be an upgrade for you.

To everyone, would a Q9550 be sufficient or do I need to go higher?

Yes, that is sufficient for a single 6870.

 

[nanaki333]

I worded it stupid. I can edit it but I meant that it was not much "faster" with the new card.

To everyone, would a Q9550 be sufficient or do I need to go higher?

ahhhhh.. you may have worded it correctly and i just read it wrong. but we are all in agreement. UPGRADE THAT CPU! :awe:

 

[Termie]

Hey "amddude",

I just started a thread on a hot deal on an AMD system at Newegg: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2140495.

Honestly, before you consider any s775 upgrade, take a look at this Athlon II X4 640 full system deal for $280AR/FS.

 

[AtenRa]

1: OC your current CPU and you would be fine

2: or buy a Core 2 Quad like Q9500/9550

 

[RavenSEAL]

1: OC your current CPU and you would be fine

2: or buy a Core 2 Quad like Q9500/9550

LOL, i OC my E8500 and i'm still not fine with an HD6850. He needs a new CPU, and so do i.

 

[MangoX]

Huge bottleneck. I tested a e5200@3.74ghz with a 6950 2GB @ 1080p and the card was seriously bottlenecked.

 

[Arkadrel]

A athlon II x4 stock 3.0Ghz oc to @3.9~4.0 Ghz isnt a bad cpu considering its 99$ pricetag, alot of CPU/$.

Exsample of CPU performance impacting on gameing performance.
A Athlon II x4 640, would be higher than the 635 by a little, overclock and it ll probably be pretty close to those stock 920's ect, for a 99$ cpu thats not so bad.


I couldnt find a 750 or a 920 on newegg, but the 950 costs about 300$, and the Phenom II x4 965 around 150$. The althon II x4 overclocked could probably performance wise in games reach around the same heights as those more expensive cpus, alteast you wouldnt have a cpu bottleneck for most but the most insane of grafics cards.

99$ for ~80 fps (stock), vs a 300$ cpu (stock) giveing like ~110 fps.
300% cost for ~30% increase in fps.

So for budget people, a Athlon II x4 + overclock that cpu is pretty good value.

 

[tincart]

I have my Phenom II 955 running at 3.8 now and it compares very nicely with the i7's in gaming performance. Of course, those i7's are at stock frequency, but at least I don't have to upgrade.

I see no reason to go for an Athlon II when the Phenom chips are only marginally more expensive with the recent price drops.

 

[-Slacker-]

I wouldn't bother with anything more expensive than a second hand Q8300 (and, obviously, not with anything less expensive either, because you need a quad core).

 

[Termie]

I see no reason to go for an Athlon II when the Phenom chips are only marginally more expensive with the recent price drops.

You're right that a Phenom II is generally a better investment, but for people on a budget, $35 (or 35% more) isn't marginal:

Athlon II X4 3GHz ($99): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103871
Phenom II X4 3GHz ($135): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103675

Also, the Athlons are often sold in very discounted package deals with other components. That's not always true with the Phenoms.

 

[Arkadrel]

@-Slacker- a new Q8300 costs 150$ on newegg.

99$ for a athlon II x4 640
53$ for a ASRock A770DE+ (can Crossfire 2 cards (16x + 4x), 4xram slots)

he could use ram from his old rig.
Q8300 vs Athlon II x4 640, the 640 comes out on top..... OC it to 3.9-4.0 Ghz and be done with it.

 

[tincart]

Q8300 vs Athlon II x4 640, the 640 comes out on top..... OC it to 3.9-4.0 Ghz and be done with it.

An after-market cooler would be a good investment too. The stock coolers for AMD are whiny and not particularly good for OC'ing.

 

[Vdubchaos]

LOL, i OC my E8500 and i'm still not fine with an HD6850. He needs a new CPU, and so do i.

I'm sorry, I have E8400 and 460 1gb and I max out all the settings at 1920x1200.....AA/AF/VSync on and 8x

:\