What's my bottleneck?

[gus6464]

So I got into Old Republic beta and my frame rates are seriously lacking even with majority medium settings. I have an X3 720BE and a Radeon 4870 and I'm trying to figure out what my bottleneck is if not both. Current monitor is a 22in LCD at 1680x1050. Will move up to a 23in 1080p when this one dies. I am planning on picking up a 6870 but I am not sure if I should scrap that and upgrade CPU first. What do you guys think?

 

[mnewsham]

Im going to assume the CPU will be your bottle neck, but frankly it is a good fit for your GPU, because i dont know how the Old republic uses resources (really wish i did) i cant say which is limiting you more.

 

[Ken g6]

I'm guessing CPU too. Can you lower the resolution you're playing at for awhile and see if frame rates go up? If they don't go up much it's very likely you're CPU bound. (If they do go up significantly, we're back to guessing.)

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

So I got into Old Republic beta and my frame rates are seriously lacking even with majority medium settings. I have an X3 720BE and a Radeon 4870 and I'm trying to figure out what my bottleneck is if not both. Current monitor is a 22in LCD at 1680x1050. Will move up to a 23in 1080p when this one dies. I am planning on picking up a 6870 but I am not sure if I should scrap that and upgrade CPU first. What do you guys think?

What's the CPU and CPU-NB (Northbridge) frequency of your 720BE?

 

[fffblackmage]

I'm guessing CPU too. Can you lower the resolution you're playing at for awhile and see if frame rates go up? If they don't go up much it's very likely you're CPU bound. (If they do go up significantly, we're back to guessing.)

+1.

Lower the resolution and graphical settings to a minimum.

I know I'm CPU-bottlenecked in GTA4, because I can change my graphical settings to anything I want, but it does nothing for my framerate.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

...lower the resolution you're playing at for awhile and see if frame rates go up? If they don't go up much it's very likely you're CPU bound. (If they do go up significantly, we're back to guessing.)

Start here. :thumbsup:

 

[gus6464]

What's the CPU and CPU-NB (Northbridge) frequency of your 720BE?

I am running it at stock speeds.

So if I change my res to something lower with graphics to minimum and my framerate improves then I am GPU bound?

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

I am running it at stock speeds.

And there's the problem. If you want to avoid bottlenecks get it to around 3.5GHz and 2400MHz CPU-NB. By then it should only slightly bottleneck a Radeon HD 6870. Are you using the stock heatsink?

 

[gus6464]

And there's the problem. If you want to avoid bottlenecks get it to around 3.5GHz and 2400MHz CPU-NB. By then it should only slightly bottleneck a Radeon HD 6870. Are you using the stock heatsink?

Yeah everything is stock. So would oc'ing and getting the 6870 offer the best bang for the buck short of just building a new rig?

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Yeah everything is stock. So would oc'ing and getting the 6870 offer the best bang for the buck short of just building a new rig?

Yes. If you don't have a decent cooler, get one. The Corsair A50 and the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ can be had for only $25-30 and will be more than enough. So your CPU degrades less try to keep the voltage at a max of 1.45V and only increase the CPU-NB one notch if you have a decent motherboard with 6+2 phase power.

If you're planning on a 6870 CrossFire, though, make a new rig.

 

[mfenn]

So if I change my res to something lower with graphics to minimum and my framerate improves then I am GPU bound?

Yes.