Amd athlon 620 and Gtx 960 Bottleneck?

[bradley_alv]

I have this old amd athlon 620 and i was looking to upgrade it to a gtx 960, but i want to know if it would bottleneck at all. i will upgrade the cpu to a fx 8350 in 4 months after the gpu purchase.

 

[geofelt]

There is always a limiting factor, usually cpu or gpu.
I think the cpu will be the most restrictive component, and perhaps even a FX-8350(what is your motherboard? some will not support a FX-8)

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To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one core. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option. set the number of processors to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many cores.

If your FPS drops significantly, it is an indicator that your cpu is the limiting factor, and a cpu upgrade is in order.

It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system, and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
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