Received 2x GTX 770 as a gift, but my system is older, should I upgrade?

[Scarier]

Hi fellas,

Wanted your opinions on this setup.

My old computer is an i7 920 which i've o/c to about 3.7ghz and it's running on an EVGA 1366 SLI mobo, with 6gb of rams.

Would it make sense for me to SLI these GTX 770s on this system or is it time to upgrade?

 

[Eureka]

Depends on what you play. The i7 overclocked, while older, is still pretty capable.

Start playing some games, run HWInfo to see if your CPU is being pegged at 100%, and if so then replace the CPU and motherboard.

 

[Termie]

Welcome to the forums, Scarier!

I'd definitely see what your GPU usage is during gaming. Viewing CPU usage, suggested above, probably won't be very accurate, because an 8-thread CPU will never have all threads at 100% in gaming even when it's completely overwhelmed by GPU data.

Just use MSI Afterburner to view your GPU usage. I'm guessing you won't be close to 100%, as a single GTX 770 could be bottlenecked in some situations on your CPU, and in fact could be bottlenecked on any CPU to a certain degree.

 

[ZGR]

CPU bottlenecks occur in many games (especially those that can support up to two threads, ugh). I would have a second window open during some games to monitor CPU and GPU usage.

If GPU usage is below 100%, you have a bottleneck somewhere.

 

[Scarier]

Thanks for the advice folks, I'll see if SC2: HOTS and FFXIV:ARR are eating up my cpu.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

i7 920? You can push that thing a little further if it's a gaming ONLY rig, otherwise for data integrity you are cool at 3.7Ghz and should be good in most games at 1080p

 

[Eureka]

Welcome to the forums, Scarier!

I'd definitely see what your GPU usage is during gaming. Viewing CPU usage, suggested above, probably won't be very accurate, because an 8-thread CPU will never have all threads at 100% in gaming even when it's completely overwhelmed by GPU data.

Just use MSI Afterburner to view your GPU usage. I'm guessing you won't be close to 100%, as a single GTX 770 could be bottlenecked in some situations on your CPU, and in fact could be bottlenecked on any CPU to a certain degree.

CPU bottlenecks occur in many games (especially those that can support up to two threads, ugh). I would have a second window open during some games to monitor CPU and GPU usage.

If GPU usage is below 100%, you have a bottleneck somewhere.

The problem is that with a SLI setup, GPU usage can still be under 100% and bottlenecked. But monitoring both CPU and GPU can give you an idea where the bottlenecks are.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

One of the best ways to see if you are CPU bottlenecked is to see what happens with your FPS when you turn down the resolution while ingame

 

[jacktesterson]

It should be fine in most games @ 1080p. Enjoy it.