'Max' GPU for a 5 yo PC? i7-920 etc

[rakenven]

The ebay and Paypal policies are all in favor of the buyer, and you can get your money back if the item is not as described.

Very true. Making sure you don't miss the 45-day interval for opening a case is key. My conservative bidding habits come from before the paypal protection was a big thing like it is now.

 

[Blue_Max]

Closer = faster = getting in that window easier. Thanks for the tips!

 

[Arg Clin]

How about an i7 920 at stock speed, where overclocking is not an option (power draw, bad steeping, whatever). I assume it would major cpu bottleneck in most games on a R9 290...? Or am I too pessimistic about the 920?

 

[ocre]

I'm going to try using ebay again after so many years and making the same decision now.

I can get the x5670 for almost the same price as the x5650 so I have to ask the resident experts:

Is there something about either that makes it a more stable overclocker than the other?

The x5650 is a "Top Rated Seller" with way more feedback (99.3% + 830 ratings)... would you consider that a safer purchase than [100% +, 40 ratings, USA]?

Thanks!

I got my 5670 from a 100% all star seller with a couple thousand sales. Actually, the chip lopked like brand new. No weat or sign it had ever been used. Most cpus look clean
but this one had no signs of any cooler marks. I can look the seller up when i get home if u like

As for highest overclocks, any of them should get over 4ghz. Its just how high or hard u want to push it. Many are only limited by their owners, either a max voltage they decided to stop at or temps related to their cooler. See, once u get to 4.4ghz, it takes more and more voltage for every 100mhz. The westmeres seem very happy at 4 to 4.5ghz. They will go higher but need a lot of voltage. 1.5v lands in the 4.8-5ghz range if your motherboard can handle high blck.
And thats where we get into multipliers. I suggest chips with higher multipliers just because it should be easier on your board. Also, the higher multiplier usually allows 4gjz+ with lower voltage. But there is not a huge difference. Its just that i want my build to last. A 4790k would be an expensive side grade if my board gives out.

 

[ocre]

How about an i7 920 at stock speed, where overclocking is not an option (power draw, bad steeping, whatever). I assume it would major cpu bottleneck in most games on a R9 290...? Or am I too pessimistic about the 920?

Of course it will bottleneck. How much depends on the game and its settings. Looking around at CPU test on newer games like Inquisition and we can see that a 6 core phenom 2 can play acceptable frame rates with great detail on a gtx 980. A 4770k is much faster but the more you turn up the details, the more the load shifts to the GPU. An i7 920 at stock should get you buy. An upgrade to the 290x will absolutely allow higher settings and details. Its not so slow that its pointless but its also true that the low clock speed can hold the 290x back. The higher the details and the more you put on the GPU, the less the CPU bottleneck becomes.

Its still a per game basis. The ipc of the 920 is strong, its just got a rather low clock speed. But i would say that every game should be able to get playable frame rates. A powerful GPU should be set to the highest settings to try to get the most out of the system.

If you can overclock the 920 then its bottlenecking is not much of an issue. But a faster CPU will be able to support higher frame rates. This is always the case. The key to this is to put the highest load on the GPU as possible. Cause a CPU bottleneck is simply the inability to crunch and feed data to the GPU as quickly as the GPU is ready for it. By making the GPU work harder and longer on each frame, the CPU bottleneck becomes less of an issue.

As an example, lets say a game is running at 800x600 low settings.
The GPU is ready for the next frame as fast as the CPU can send it.
A 4790k is able to push out 200fps and the GPU is still waiting on the CPU.
a 920 stock is only able to push 89 fps while the GPU is waiting half the time.

Turn up the settings and resolution to double 1080.
We know the 4790k can feed the GPU up to 200fps but the GPU is now stuck working longer on each frame and can only accept the data when the GPU is ready. The 4790k is now waiting on the GPU which can only pump out 80fps.

The 920 stock system now has more time inbetween because the GPU is taking much longer on each frame. While the 920 may not be able to match the 80fps the 4790k system is pushing out, the 920 still is waiting on the GPU and can do much of the work while the GPU is at work to.
The 920 stock system could get 70fps.

See, the huge bottleneck in the first scenero becomes really a small issue in the second. Actually, the harder the GPU has to work on each frame, the less and less a CPU bottleneck becomes. This is the typical scenario.

But you see there are also the exception to this rule. Some games can be so CPU extensive, where the work leading up to each frame is so consuming....the CPU just cannot put out acceptable frame rates.

But in a case like that, the CPU will never be able to have high frame rates. Not at 800x600, not at low. never.
There are CPUs way to slow for gaming but the 920 stock should be strong enough to give playable frame rates in just about any game. A faster cpu is always faster, but the higher the GPU load the less and less it matters.