750 ti will bottleneck with a E7400 processor?

[Laaderlappen]

I was planning on buying a 750ti, my only concern is if it would cause a bottleneck with my E7400 processor.

My rig is: Intel Core 2 Duo e7400 2.8Ghz
Motherboard: Intel DG31PR
4 gb RAM 800 mhz
500 watts PSU


I have a GT 440, I want to improve a little my gaming performance as im unable to run next gen games and I cant afford a new PC.

if the 750 makes bottleneck, which graphic card will be fine with my system?

 

[chris987]

unfortunately, yes E7400 will bottleneck even if you o/c it! i would save money for an system upgrade!

 

[gopher1369]

Your processor will definitely be an isue in modern games, it's fairly old and only dual core so it will be limiting. You should still get the 750Ti though, it's a great card and will be a significant improvement for you over the old 440.

Your motherboard does support quad core processors, if you can't afford to buy an entire new system you can pick up something like a Q9400 from Ebay quite cheaply:

http://processormatch.intel.com/Processors/CompatibleProcessors?componentName=DG31PR

Note that even switching to a quad core, the CPU is still going to be slow, you're on an old platform (socket 775), but switching to a core 2 quad will definitely help.

 

[mapesdhs]

The 750 Ti has about the same 3D power has a GTX 580, so yes an E7400 will be a bottleneck in some cases.
You could alleviate this to some extent by oc'ing it, or replace it with an E8400/E8500 instead and oc that,
or better still as gopher1369 says, replace it with a good quad-core, though hunt around, you may be able
to bag a Q9650 or something for a good price (I did), assuming your mbd can use them. Even then though,
there are limits. A newer platform will still give a much larger boost overall, especially if you're only using
moderate DDR2 RAM just now. Beyond a certain point, upgrading an older platform is not worthwhile, unless
there are other reasons for retaining an old system.

Is your E7400 running at stock speed?

NB: probably not a good idea to consider a quad-core such as the Q6600 unless you're
really going to oc it well, because it has a lower base clock. If you upgrade to any 4-core,
get a 9K series. The advantage of the Wolfdale Core2Duo was its ability to run at a high
clock (4.5 not untypical), offsetting having just 2 cores instead of 4. I almost bought an
E8400 setup way back, until X58 burst on the scene and so - after waiting a bit - I bought
a P55/870 setup instead. I do have an E8400 now though, and a Q6600 & QX9650 (for
benchmarking), not done much with them yet though, not had time (ironic as after 2 years
hunting I did manage to bag an ASUS Striker II Extreme for a good price, which does at
least use DDR3).

Ian.

 

[jenojaxx]

The 750 Ti has about the same 3D power has a GTX 580, so yes an E7400 will be a bottleneck in some cases.
You could alleviate this to some extent by oc'ing it, or replace it with an E8400/E8500 instead and oc that,
or better still as gopher1369 says, replace it with a good quad-core, though hunt around, you may be able
to bag a Q9650 or something for a good price (I did), assuming your mbd can use them. Even then though,
there are limits. A newer platform will still give a much larger boost overall, especially if you're only using
moderate DDR2 RAM just now. Beyond a certain point, upgrading an older platform is not worthwhile, unless
there are other reasons for retaining an old system.

Is your E7400 running at stock speed?

NB: probably not a good idea to consider a quad-core such as the Q6600 unless you're
really going to oc it well, because it has a lower base clock. If you upgrade to any 4-core,
get a 9K series. The advantage of the Wolfdale Core2Duo was its ability to run at a high
clock (4.5 not untypical), offsetting having just 2 cores instead of 4. I almost bought an
E8400 setup way back, until X58 burst on the scene and so - after waiting a bit - I bought
a P55/870 setup instead. I do have an E8400 now though, and a Q6600 & QX9650 (for
benchmarking), not done much with them yet though, not had time (ironic as after 2 years
hunting I did manage to bag an ASUS Striker II Extreme for a good price, which does at
least use DDR3).

Ian.

Same 3d power , yeah , NO .
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

 

[Laaderlappen]

Your processor will definitely be an isue in modern games, it's fairly old and only dual core so it will be limiting. You should still get the 750Ti though, it's a great card and will be a significant improvement for you over the old 440.

Your motherboard does support quad core processors, if you can't afford to buy an entire new system you can pick up something like a Q9400 from Ebay quite cheaply:

http://processormatch.intel.com/Processors/CompatibleProcessors?componentName=DG31PR

Note that even switching to a quad core, the CPU is still going to be slow, you're on an old platform (socket 775), but switching to a core 2 quad will definitely help.

The 750 Ti has about the same 3D power has a GTX 580, so yes an E7400 will be a bottleneck in some cases.
You could alleviate this to some extent by oc'ing it, or replace it with an E8400/E8500 instead and oc that,
or better still as gopher1369 says, replace it with a good quad-core, though hunt around, you may be able
to bag a Q9650 or something for a good price (I did), assuming your mbd can use them. Even then though,
there are limits. A newer platform will still give a much larger boost overall, especially if you're only using
moderate DDR2 RAM just now. Beyond a certain point, upgrading an older platform is not worthwhile, unless
there are other reasons for retaining an old system.

Is your E7400 running at stock speed?

NB: probably not a good idea to consider a quad-core such as the Q6600 unless you're
really going to oc it well, because it has a lower base clock. If you upgrade to any 4-core,
get a 9K series.

Ian.

It is running at stock speed, so, better invest in a 9k series processor than a new graphics card?

I can only buy 1 now, im studying right now, so is a little difficult to me to save $$$ for a new PC.

 

[mapesdhs]

Same 3d power , yeah , NO .http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

Passmark is useless. Means nothing.

I've tested numerous 580s (owned more than a dozen in the last 18 months), compared the results
to 750 Ti reviews, cross-checked on toms and anand bench charts. Overall the 750 Ti is about the same;
sometimes better, other times it's slower, and occasionally the margin can be larger than one might
expect for various reasons (the 580 has an extremely strong shader arch and a lot of bandwidth, very
different to the Maxwell design which uses much lower clocked shaders, a choice NVIDIA made to be
more power efficient). The 750 Ti's big advantage is much lower power/noise & of course smaller size.

See:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/nvidia-geforce-gtx-750-and-750-ti-review,17.html

Compare to my results:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/8484092
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/8484126

Leaves the Ti in the dust for the more-important X score.


Laaderlappen writes:
> It is running at stock speed, so, better invest in a 9k series processor than a new graphics card?
> I can only buy 1 now, im studying right now, so is a little difficult to me to save $$$ for a new PC.

Hmm, that's a tricky one. Normally, for gaming, it's best to upgrade the GPU first, as at the very
least in this case it would give more performance headroom, reduce power/heat, etc., which
means a CPU oc will be easier if you can get a better CPU later.

What mbd do you have? What cooler? I'd suggest getting the 750 Ti now and oc to whatever
extent you can, but note that better Core2s like the E8400 really do go for quite low amounts
these days, like less than $20 or so I mean. If your cooler isn't that good, a used TRUE is
also very cheap now and still very capable.

Do though check that your mbd supports any newer CPU you might consider. Not all S755
boards support 45nm Core2s.

Ian.

 

[jenojaxx]

Well , i'd say to wait and save money for a new system . But i guess you already considered this . Yes the cpu will bottelneck it kinda , but you'll see improvements regardless .
This may sound wierd , but i'd go for a gtx660 or amd equivalent if the power supply is a good one . This is gonna have a big bottleneck , but when you upgrade your MB+RAM+CPU (possibly an SSD and PSU) you already have the gpu .
But if you're not planning on upgrade in the next year , than get a gt740 or 750non ti or amd equivalent to avoid bottleneck . Also i won't encourage you to buy a used core2quad because that motherboard is weak .

 

[jenojaxx]

Same 3d power , yeah , NO .http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

Passmark is useless. Means nothing.

I've tested numerous 580s (owned more than a dozen in the last 18 months), compared the results
to 750 Ti reviews, cross-checked on toms and anand bench charts. Overall the 750 Ti is about the same;
sometimes better, other times it's slower, and occasionally the margin can be larger than one might
expect for various reasons (the 580 has an extremely strong shader arch and a lot of bandwidth, very
different to the Maxwell design which uses much lower clocked shaders, a choice NVIDIA made to be
more power efficient). The 750 Ti's big advantage is much lower power/noise & of course smaller size.

See:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/nvidia-geforce-gtx-750-and-750-ti-review,17.html

Compare to my results:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/8484092
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/8484126

Leaves the Ti in the dust for the more-important X score.


Laaderlappen writes:
> It is running at stock speed, so, better invest in a 9k series processor than a new graphics card?
> I can only buy 1 now, im studying right now, so is a little difficult to me to save $$$ for a new PC.

Hmm, that's a tricky one. Normally, for gaming, it's best to upgrade the GPU first, as at the very
least in this case it would give more performance headroom, reduce power/heat, etc., which
means a CPU oc will be easier if you can get a better CPU later.

What mbd do you have? What cooler? I'd suggest getting the 750 Ti now and oc to whatever
extent you can, but note that better Core2s like the E8400 really do go for quite low amounts
these days, like less than $20 or so I mean. If your cooler isn't that good, a used TRUE is
also very cheap now and still very capable.

Do though check that your mbd supports any newer CPU you might consider. Not all S755
boards support 45nm Core2s.

Ian.

LoL i'm surprised thx for the info . And i agree , the wattage is super low on 750ti , like under 70w.

 

[mapesdhs]

Deliberately choosing a weaker GPU to avoid a bottleneck now doesn't make sense. It leaves no room to grow
the overall performance if the CPU is oc'd or upgraded/oc'd later. And like I say, the 750 Ti offers a power/heat
advantage which will also aid oc'ing (the only thing I don't like about the 750 Ti is the lack of an SLI option).

Besides, the degree of bottleneck depends entirely on the games one plays, at what resolution, detail settings, etc.
If he's a big fan of Call of Juarez or similar games, then there'll be almost no bottleneck at all, whereas games like
Crysis work best on a balanced system. Then there's multiplayer stuff which does work better with more cores, etc.
Choosing a weaker card now to avoid any bottleneck at all means some games will be slower than would otherwise
be the case because they're less CPU-dependent. That's why it makes sense to get a stronger card to move the
bottleneck sweetspot upwards, give room to grow.

And until AMD really improves its drivers, I wouldn't buy an AMD card. In all the benchmarking I've done (most
recently with 7970 CF), I keep finding AMD's drivers to have a far greater prevalence for weird glitches, app
hangs, etc. I'd hoped they'd improved it since I benched 5850s way back, but nothing's changed. The performance
is great, but the drivers are a total pain at times (not that NVIDIA never screws things up, but I've had far fewer
issues dealing with NVIDIA cards). This is a portion of my GPU collection, I do a lot of GPU testing (about
20 cards not shown here as they're in systems or on mbds).

Ian.

 

[Laaderlappen]

Taking note on all your recommendations guys, I will wait and save all that I can to buy all 3 things at once (Video Card, CPU and MOBO). I guess Im going to spend the next months playing old games like Half Life 2 and making them 100% completed

No next gen for me LOL


Thank you for all.

 

[gopher1369]

Taking note on all your recommendations guys, I will wait and save all that I can to buy all 3 things at once (Video Card, CPU and MOBO).

4 things, you'll need new RAM as well.

There is no need to wait, you can safely buy the GPU now and then get the motherbaord/RAM/processor upgrade at a later date. The 750Ti will be compatible with both your old and new system, so there is no advantage in not buying it right away.