CPU Bottleneck · DIGIT-ARC

Hi,
Iam currently upgrading my old C2d setup with a new gfx card (7850 most probably).While on the search for the new gfx card came up on CPU bottleneck . There are many articles on the term which also states that if you have an old CPU and very new GPU, it will result in a CPU bottleneck causing slowness in game play i.e no improvement on gameplay (and huge wastage of money).
So, my question is how do i identify my graphics card limit based on my CPU.For all those who have the answer, please do tell.It might help a lot of people who want to just upgrade their GPU on existing setup.

You didn't mention the exact model of the CPU. If it is the last gen of C2D, like e7400 or e8XXX models then you can opt for a HD 7770 max or a GTX 560 may be. Anything over that and your CPU will bottleneck the GPU. A GTX 650 Ti can be added but for that your CPU needs to be overclocked to 3.5 GHz+ level.

Cilus said:
You didn't mention the exact model of the CPU. If it is the last gen of C2D, like e7400 or e8XXX models then you can opt for a HD 7770 max or a GTX 560 may be. Anything over that and your CPU will bottleneck the GPU. A GTX 650 Ti can be added but for that your CPU needs to be overclocked to 3.5 GHz+ level.

Mine is C2d E6500 - 2.33 MHz. Tell me for both stock and overclocked cases.

Someone please suggest!

HD 7850 will surely bottleneck your card, in fact by a high margin. Get GTX 650 Ti. Your CPU can be overclocked up to 3 GHz but for this you need a good Motherboard as well as a good CPU Cooler. Sadly you didn't mention what Motherboard you have currently, so I can't comment. Better sell of your old rig. it will fetch you some money. With that, get a Pentium G645 + Gigabyte B75 Motherboard combo around 8K.

Cilus said:
HD 7850 will surely bottleneck your card, in fact by a high margin. Get GTX 650 Ti. Your CPU can be overclocked up to 3 GHz but for this you need a good Motherboard as well as a good CPU Cooler. Sadly you didn't mention what Motherboard you have currently, so I can't comment. Better sell of your old rig. it will fetch you some money. With that, get a Pentium G645 + Gigabyte B75 Motherboard combo around 8K.

I have just purchased P5G41TM-LX last week. I have also purchased DDR3 RAM also. So I can't go for an upgrade now. What is the best card that I can buy on this set up?. I would also like to know a good CPU cooler recommendation if overclocking is the only option.

jackal_79 said:
I have just purchased P5G41TM-LX last week. I have also purchased DDR3 RAM also. So I can't go for an upgrade now. What is the best card that I can buy on this set up?. I would also like to know a good CPU cooler recommendation if overclocking is the only option.

why did you purchase an old generation motherboard?

bet cpu cooler for its price is the cooler master hyper 212 evo. 2.2k-2.5k retail price.

protip : trash the motherboard+cpu and go for a 2nd hand cpu+mobo. or replace your E6500 with a 2nd hand E8400.

doomgiver said:
why did you purchase an old generation motherboard?

bet cpu cooler for its price is the cooler master hyper 212 evo. 2.2k-2.5k retail price.

protip : trash the motherboard+cpu and go for a 2nd hand cpu+mobo. or replace your E6500 with a 2nd hand E8400.

My motherboard had gone faulty. So I replaced it with one supporting DDR3 RAM. So iam not planning to change my CPU also. Now I want to buy a GPU without bottlenecking the CPU. So what are my options?

Your Motherboard is good enough for decent level of overclocking. Get a Cooler like Hyper 212 Evo (around 2k) or Hyper TX3 Evo (around 1.4K) if you are in tighter budget. For Graphics card, getting anything over GTX 60 Ti will be a waste unless you have plan to upgrade in near future.

Cilus said:
Your Motherboard is good enough for decent level of overclocking. Get a Cooler like Hyper 212 Evo (around 2k) or Hyper TX3 Evo (around 1.4K) if you are in tighter budget. For Graphics card, getting anything over GTX 60 Ti will be a waste unless you have plan to upgrade in near future.

Thanks. Please suggest a good model from both green and red camp. Can I expect to play crysis with those? Also is it Gtx 60 ti or 660 ti?

MAximum you can go is GTX 650 Ti. In fact there will be some bottleneck but that is still under control. Anything over it will suffer from serious Bottleneck. AMD option is HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 around 13.7K for the Gigabyte Model.

Cilus said:
MAximum you can go is GTX 650 Ti. In fact there will be some bottleneck but that is still under control. Anything over it will suffer from serious Bottleneck. AMD option is HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 around 13.7K for the Gigabyte Model.

So do you mean that I can go with my original idea and buy 6870 or 7850 if I overclock? But I thought the equivalent of 650ti on the red camp was 6850 or 7770?

I have bought MSI hd 7750 Oc version. Thanks for all the help. This thread maybe closed.

Congratulation brother. That card is actually perfect for your rig.