Recommend me some games to test a CPU bottleneck!

[thilanliyan]

Could I get some recommendations for games to test if my CPU is holding me back? Preferably with a built-in benchmark.

So far on my list is Witcher 2 (since I'm playing it right now), F1 2010, Metro 2033, Mafia II, Crysis. Need to add more. Once done testing I will share the results here.

I'd like to test my FX-6100 at 1920x1200 and see IF I am bottlenecked by my CPU. I don't think I am but have received several suggestions to toss this dozer.

EDIT
LIST:
-Witcher 2
-F1 2010
-Metro 2033
-Mafia II
-Crysis
-Civ V
-Skyrim
-GTA4
-COD 4
-Lost Planet 2
-Resident Evil 5 (maybe)

 

[janas19]

Could I get some recommendations for CPU bottlenecked games? Preferably with a built-in benchmark.

So far on my list is Witcher 2 (since I'm playing it right now), F1 2010, Metro 2033, Mafia II, Crysis. Need to add more. Once done testing I will share the results here.

I'd like to test my FX-6100 at 1920x1200 and see IF I am bottlenecked by my CPU. I don't think I am but have received several suggestions to toss this dozer.

I salute you sir.

 

[KingFatty]

Starcraft II?

 

[Necc]

civ 5

 

[boxleitnerb]

Metro2033, Witcher 2 and Crysis are hardly CPU bottlenecked.

Try Starcraft 2, Skyrim (with the new 1.4beta patch though), GTA4, WoW Raids.
By the way I would rather test the games that you actually play. If there is a bottleneck in a game you don't play/own, what's so bad about that? There is not "the" bottleneck, it depends on the game/scene, settings and GPU.

 

[thilanliyan]

^Yes I am more going to test the games I actually play and/or have in Steam but wanted to test if my CPU is hindering me at all since many people are keen to say dump it.

 

[Rvenger]

Battlefield 3 and Skyrim

 

[ThatsABigOne]

COD 4 is good tester because it is limited by CPU speed nowadays.

 

[thilanliyan]

Are there built-in benchmarks for BF3, Skyrim, COD4, and Starcraft 2?

 

[boxleitnerb]

^no.
Built in benchmarks are not suitable for CPU benching as they generally don't show the actual performance in the game as AI and pathfinding are not computed. There are exceptions, but just look at the GTA4 ingame benchmark. Shows completely different performance characteristics than the game itself.

 

[Prey2big]

Starcraft 2 (already mentioned) will bring that CPU to its knees.
CTRL + ALT + F and check during big late game battles (try 4v4). Not very scientific but you will definately see that the CPU is put to the test.
I have Windows Task Manager up and running at all times just for curiousity, and looking at the CPU graphs after a big battle will show some high peaks. Not 100% but unusually high for my 4.5GHz 2600K.

 

[BD231]

Starcraft 2 is horribly optimized for the kind of title it is, four of your six cores will be useless and all you can really glean from that is single threaded performance. At that res all you need to do is clock the frames of your fave titles with Fraps or Benchmark then compare your average frames to people with faster CPUs and the same video card configuration.

From there you can see what you are or are not missing out on rather than worry about a title you can't even locate.

 

[exar333]

Starcraft 2 is horribly optimized for the kind of title it is, four of your six cores will be useless and all you can really glean from that is single threaded performance. At that res all you need to do is clock the frames of your fave titles with Fraps or Benchmark then compare your average frames to people with faster CPUs and the same video card configuration.

From there you can see what you are or are not missing out on rather than worry about a title you can't even locate.

Oh OK. Note to self: Cannot test games that AMD struggles with OR are single-threaded because IPC limited is definitely not CPU limited.

The CPU is only a bottleneck if you plan to utilize it in a way that COULD bottleneck you. SC and Skyrim are horribly optimized, but if you love those games your 6100 WILL hold you back. Console port titles also fall into this category.

 

[BD231]

Those games aren't CPU limited they're CPU crippling, even intel users b tch about low frames in heavy SC2 battles get real.

 

[Kristijonas]

Already mentioned, but GTA4, Starcraft2 and Civ5.

 

[exar333]

Those games aren't CPU limited they're CPU crippling, even intel users b tch about low frames in heavy SC2 battles get real.

Thanks for proving my point that SC2 is not CPU limited.

Does it matter that CPU 'A' gets 90max/65mean/40min vs. CPU 'B' that gets 70max/45mean/20min? I hope you get the answer right here....

SC2 is a VERY CPU limited game; optimized or not, it shows a CPU strenghts or weaknesses. I would rather have a higher 'low' than the 'lowest low' myself. That means NOT BD.

Edit: The fps numbers are for example purposes only; actual results are easy enough to find in many places...

 

[KingFatty]

Is there any word on whether Blizzard will incorporate better mutli-core CPU support in the planned SC2 sequels?

For the purposes of this thread, is it important whether a game is taking advantage of all the cores or whether it lets some cores just sit there? I could see how you'd like to have a core "free" to take care of any background stuff while gaming, potentially avoiding a jarring change in frames per second because the spare core would be able to tackle the background job without hurting FPS performance of the cores actually doing the work?

 

[exar333]

Is there any word on whether Blizzard will incorporate better mutli-core CPU support in the planned SC2 sequels?

For the purposes of this thread, is it important whether a game is taking advantage of all the cores or whether it lets some cores just sit there? I could see how you'd like to have a core "free" to take care of any background stuff while gaming, potentially avoiding a jarring change in frames per second because the spare core would be able to tackle the background job without hurting FPS performance of the cores actually doing the work?

In the end, something is CPU-limited or it is not. Period. Whether that same application is multi-threaded is a whole other issue.

You will always find applications that span the range of single-threaded to many-threaded. That will never really change entirely. Not everything can be heavily multi-threaded.

 

[tweakboy]

Crysis 2 DX11 patch.
BF3
Mass Effect 2
MW3

To give you a idea,, my dad has the same car as mine but with a 2600K and ssd , his graphics score was 7.9 while my graphics score was 7.6.. I dont know what that is all about, but that proves bottlenecks do happen... But I still dont see how the CPU score affects the graphics to be 7.6 and 7.9 in his rig, its same video card .. soo I guess the CPU is able to push more and help the GPU more, so he got a perfect score. thanks gl


These games will take cpu usage to probably avg 60 percent...

gl

 

[thilanliyan]

Sorry I don't have BF3 or SC2 to test.

I do have ME2...is there a built-in benchmark in that?

 

[ErickMaga]

Anno 2070, huge map, many cities, and stuff.

 

[peonyu]

Supreme Commander Forged Alliance is Cpu heavy once you have 4 AI's running around.

 

[snarfbot]

resident evil 5, it also has a nice benchmark built in.

lost planet 1 and 2 use the same engine so you can try those out as well.

you will be bottlenecked, depending on iq settings and resolution, but only when the frame rate is well over 100fps.

however it does scale very well with clockspeed, additional cores, larger, faster cache etc, so its a good game in general to test a new proc.

fun game too.

 

[thilanliyan]

Thanks for all the suggestions...keep em coming.

If I have the game I will try to bench it. I don't have any SupCom or Anno games to test unfortunately.