why cpu/videocard bottleneck ?

[guy93]

i dont understand this, i have a pentium D cpu. its a dual core, ive opened up task manager and i see 2 cores and on websites it says dual core. how come the issue bout bottleneck of gpus comes up with this cpu even though it has 2 cores ?

 

[error8]

The bottleneck concept relies on the fact that a slower cpu can hold back a faster videocard, in the idea that the card will be able to process more data faster and the cpu can't keep up with it, so you run into a frame rate limitation in some resolutions. A pentium D, even though is a dual core, it's one of the slowest you can find, opposed to the current Intel and AMD offer, so you can run into a bottleneck situation with a fast card. Normally, anything from a G80 card and higher, will be limited at some point by the Pentium D. Now the problem is that the bottleneck situation is most of the time overreacted and generally it doesn't mean that much of a limitation, especially at higher resolutions. But of course, it depends on what videocard you have.

 

[guy93]

so putting a 9800 GT with my current cpu would bottleneck at the resolution i play on right ?

 

[Quiksilver]

What resolution?

 

[guy93]

1280x1024 . All i do is Play CS:S though.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: guy93
1280x1024 . All i do is Play CS:S though.

Then there is no bottleneck or if it is, it doesn't matter. A pentium D has enough power for CS:S.

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: guy93
1280x1024 . All i do is Play CS:S though.

Then there is no bottleneck or if it is, it doesn't matter. A pentium D has enough power for CS:S.

If you ever wanted to play other modern games, that card would be very bottlenecked by the CPU and your framerates would suffer.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: guy93
1280x1024 . All i do is Play CS:S though.

Then you need to replace your CPU, not your video card. CS:S is extremely CPU-bound, like the majority of multiplayer games.


edit: Those benchmarks were done with a 7900GT @ stock clocks.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The Pentium D would bottleneck CS:S, but he probably wouldn't notice it since he would get high enough framerates anyway with a 9800GT.

Guy93, if you would like to know what video card would be a good pairing, then I think you would be just as well off saving some money and getting the cheaper 9600GT instead. Heck, a 9600GSO would probably work well too, if you find one that is a good deal cheaper than a 9600GT.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
Heck, a 9600GSO would probably work well too, if you find one that is a good deal cheaper than a 9600GT.

I agree completely, a 384MB 9600GSO would be the perfect match for a Pentium-D (most likely it's an 805) and 1280x1024.