What GPU can I get before massive CPU bottleneck?

[TheInternal]

Greetings,

I've seen this question asked in a variety of forms, numerous times, and haven't seen any timely or professional responses written in over 5 years:

"What GPU can I purchase / upgrade to without hitting a major CPU bottleneck?"

It's a question I find myself asking today as I debate over upgrading my old XFX 7950 GT eXtremes in SLI on my now rather aged AMD Athlon 64 x2 4600+ based system (with 4 GB of RAM) running Windows 7 64 bit.

My system has always struggled to run games like Oblivion with adequate frame rates at 1920x1200 with full effects. For the years, I assumed it was my graphics solution that was to blame, but I've slowly come to question that over the years.

Does anyone know if there's some formula for this? I think with the recession / depression in full effect, a well written article by some of the gurus at Anandtech would be VERY timely. Those of us with older rigs can't necessarily afford the cost of having to replace the CPU, mobo, and RAM all in one fell swoop.

Any thoughts, suggestions, and evidence to back what card my system would bottleneck at would be greatly appreciated. I was looking at a Fermi 550 Ti on sale for about $80 after rebate, but I just don't know if that would be wasted on my old system.

 

[s44]

I would get that, because the actual answer (6670 DDR5 or thereabouts, as a guess? - about 8800GTS level) isn't really any cheaper. And the 550 will show better when you upgrade CPU.

19*12 means you were probably hitting the VRAM wall on your cards.

 

[edplayer]

I think the 550Ti will be a lot faster than your current SLi cards but I don't know how well it would do with your cpu. You should probably list which games you play most. At a minimum, it will save a lot of power and still be useful when you upgrade (though pretty much a low end choice, but at least current low end). Though I would guess it would be a pretty decent (and noticeable) improvement.


Not too many good videocard deals lately so that one looks decent.


Though you will have to upgrade everything to run the "latest" at decent settings. Hey, at least ram is cheap! Fry's has a deal for 16GB for $30AR today! If you considering upgrading it all, first say if you are close to a Microcenter. They have the best cpu/mobo deals.

 

[toyota]

actually a single 550 ti will not save a lot of power over a 7950gt sli setup. they probably pull about the same amount of wattage. I think people forget that even mid range cards nowadays are pretty power hungry.

here you see 7950gt sli under full load uses 110 watts. a single gtx550 ti easily pulls that much or more wattage. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-radeon-power,2122-6.html


and a 4600 X2 will limit any decent gpu and even in general is too slow for some newer games.

 

[happy medium]

Grab yourself a gts 450 or 6770 for under 80$, that should be about as fast as your cpu can push and use about the same amount or less power than your using now..

If you can get a 550ti for 80$AR ,I say go for it, your not gonna find a faster card for 80$AR.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130679

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121474


Please overclock your cpu.These gpu's are like 2x faster than your sli setup, at least.

A gts 250 is still worlds faster for 30$AR
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...4G9VUIzf6rIefA

 

[TheInternal]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I figured, like some mentioned, that if the bottleneck wasn't severe, I'd at least have a low to mid-level card for when I can upgrade my processor/motherboard/RAM.

I went ahead and got the Fermi (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?EdpNo=7337565) on one of the black Friday specials, since, for the price, I think it will be hard to beat. Newegg had already sold out of theirs, and the GIGABYTE one will hopefully be quiet-ish with it's big fan.

 

[happy medium]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I figured, like some mentioned, that if the bottleneck wasn't severe, I'd at least have a low to mid-level card for when I can upgrade my processor/motherboard/RAM.

I went ahead and got the Fermi (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?EdpNo=7337565) on one of the black Friday specials, since, for the price, I think it will be hard to beat. Newegg had already sold out of theirs, and the GIGABYTE one will hopefully be quiet-ish with it's big fan.

For 80$ thats a good deal for a 550ti.

 

[skipsneeky2]

My e8200 @ 3.2ghz being a better cpu then yours Op holds back even a 6750 for me in alot of titles.

If your stuck back in 2005 with older games perhaps a 6770 is as far as i will go...