Is my GTX 470 a bottlneck?

[Balforth]

I am building the following PC:

Asus p8p67 pro motherboard
Intel i7-2600k Sandy Bridge
EVGA GTX-470 SuperClocked
2xG.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
CORSAIR 650W PSU
Western Digital Cavair 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 7200RPM HD
Crucial SATA 6gb/s 64GB SSD

This will be for a home theater gaming PC... it will be used 90% for media center/hulu etc and occasionally for gaming. Is the GTX-470 a bottleneck?

I'm torn between the i7-2600k and the i5-2500k... if the video card is a bottleneck with the i7, would it be with the i5?

 

[Lonyo]

Assuming it's hooked up to a TV, you're only going to be running 1920x1080, so the GTX470 will be fine for that.
If anything, it's complete overkill to get all that for just an HTPC, unless you are also encoding/ripping stuff.
Also IIRC the main difference between the 2500 and 2600 is HT, and most games don't use more than 4 cores/threads, so there's minimal gaming difference between them really.

 

[JAG87]

There is hardly any difference between the 2600K and the 2500K for gaming, until developers start supporting hyper threading properly in games.

Don't worry about your GPU being the bottle neck. That's what you aim for when buying a new platform.

 

[tweakboy]

Why would the 570 be a bottleneck ?

You have the newest CPU that just came out, of course it can handle gaming you will get full FPS with that CPU, Soo youll get all the GPU can offer,, There is no bottleneck,,,

 

[Edrick]

This will be for a home theater gaming PC... it will be used 90% for media center/hulu etc and occasionally for gaming. Is the GTX-470 a bottleneck?

Yes, your GTX470 will be your bottleneck. But your bottleneck is so far up there, that you may never hit it until much later in time. And if you ever do, upgrade the card.

Even in my system below, my GTX570 is my bottleneck. But I am sure I will not hit it for a long time.

 

[Balforth]

Thanks for the responses, but I think everybody might have missed my real point.

If my 470 is a bottleneck with the i5, then there is no reason for me to spend the extra $100 on the i7.... right?

 

[betasub]

Heh, can't believe I agree with tweak...

Bottleneck, schmottleneck!

But, yeah, the step-up in price is a lot for not much extra. For most ppl the i5 is more than enough.

 

[Termie]

Thanks for the responses, but I think everybody might have missed my real point.

If my 470 is a bottleneck with the i5, then there is no reason for me to spend the extra $100 on the i7.... right?

Of course it is, if you're talking about gaming. You'd need far more VGA power than that to push any i5/i7 quad-core to its limits. And I don't think you'll be doing that in an HTPC.

That being said, do you already have the GTX470? Not really the ideal HTPC card.

 

[schmunk]

I have an HTPC and one of my goals is to have it energy efficient and also low heat. Of course I have the luxury of also having a gaming PC, because the hardware for one isnt always a good fit for the other. For instance for the HTPC I want to get a 2TB AV-GP WD harddrive for low power and quiet high capacity storage, but in my PC I have a black series 650GB for quick boot and game load times.

If I was going to spend 90% of a new build for the HTPC purpose, I would go with something that uses less power. Even a GTX460 could game efficently at that resolution, and use less idle and load power than the GTX470. There is also a GTX560 coming out that will again use less power.

In my opinion, that build is way over the top for an HTPC, in fact you wouldn't really need a quad unless you are encoding and ripping a lot of movies, most games wont use the extra cores.

 

[Edrick]

Thanks for the responses, but I think everybody might have missed my real point.

If my 470 is a bottleneck with the i5, then there is no reason for me to spend the extra $100 on the i7.... right?

The i5 2500K will easily power a GTX 580...and have more to spare. So does that answer your question.

I was also torn between the 2500 and 2600, I choose the 2600 just because I wanted HT and the 2MB of extra cache.

 

[imaheadcase]

Actually the 1TB hardrive is the bottleneck if you want to get specific.

 

[happy medium]

Actually the 1TB hardrive is the bottleneck if you want to get specific.

Or his monitor.

 

[Vdubchaos]

NO

 

[cusideabelincoln]

For only 10% gaming I would suggest getting a cheaper, lower power, and cooler video card, like a GTS 450 or HD 5750 and up to a GTX 460 or HD 6850.

 

[Balforth]

forget that i ever said 10% gaming...

i am married with 5 children. i am a former avid gamer and can no longer game very often, but when i do.... I WANT TO GAME WITH AWESOME GRAPHICS

and forget that I said HTPC... the only thing that makes it an HTPC is the case and the quiet fans i'm putting in it.. this is a GAMING HTPC.

*MY* focus is on gaming. the rest of my family's focus is on HTPC.

There is nothing different from my desires for gaming quality than anybody elses. So there you have it... *MY* time on this rig is 100% gaming.

Sorry for the confusion

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Then I don't see anything wrong with your setup.

Now if your torn on whether to get a 2600K + GTX470 or 2500K + GTX 570, then go with the latter. 2500k + GTX570 (or HD 6970) would be faster.

 

[djnsmith7]

I don't see a GTX470 being a bottleneck in either option. Build it, enjoy it. Done.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Your set up is fine and 470 is a great card.

 

[blanketyblank]

I don't think 470 is a good htpc card though since it's louder than a lot of other cards. Of course that's going to depend on what cooler it has as well.

 

[Balforth]

Thanks for all the advice...

There's an MSI 470 on newegg that comes with custom cooling that will keep the fan noise levels down

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127513

 

[lavaheadache]

that is a horrible price

 

[Balforth]

So, I made the purchase... I got the i5 processor and bought this graphics card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125338

Now the question... since it's well established from this thread that my graphics card is the bottleneck, although that's not a terrible thing, should my first upgrade be a second card running SLI? Will this help with being able to turn up AA etc?

I have the ASUS p8p67 deluxe mobo with a corsair 850w psu.

 

[digitaldurandal]

So, I made the purchase... I got the i5 processor and bought this graphics card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125338

Now the question... since it's well established from this thread that my graphics card is the bottleneck, although that's not a terrible thing, should my first upgrade be a second card running SLI? Will this help with being able to turn up AA etc?

I have the ASUS p8p67 deluxe mobo with a corsair 850w psu.

It depends on what you want.

470sli at 1080p is definitely going to be over kill. If we knew you were considering SLI I think a lot of people may have suggested 460sli.

I doubt that your 470 will not be able to run AA on almost any game except for some that are notorious for running slowly (ie they didn't bother to optimize their graphics engine) like metro2033.

I don't think you will find many settings you cannot use at least for a year or two maybe then games will come out that push your card to the limit - but until the next generation of consoles come out I doubt it.

 

[tweakboy]

Core 2 Quad is not a bottleneck for any game or GPU today.

Why would the 2600K not be able to handing a 470 or 580 or SLI 580.

thx

 

[Qbah]

You went with a GTX470 for $290? D: That is very expensive for what it offers...

You could get a Vapor-X HD5870 which is:
1. Cheaper
2. Faster
3. Quieter

Oh well... Your new i5 will be able to power any modern graphics card without a single issue.