AMD Phenom II x3 710 2.60GHz will bottleneck?

[MadDog121]

Is my AMD Phenom II x3 710 2.60GHz going to bottleneck a Sapphire AMD Radeon 7870 OCed 2gb?
Quick answer yes or no.

 

[geofelt]

Quick answer: no.
Longer explanation:
There is no such thing as a bottleneck.
If you are upgrading your graphics card, a stronger card will always do better.
It is just a matter of how much better, and is the cost of the improvement worth it.

It also depends on your game and how cpu intensive it is.
BF3, for example plays well with modest cpu needs in single player, but in multiplayer, it bogs down witn a weak cpu.

To help clarify your 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 cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 50%.
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.


Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
set to 50% and see how you do.


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.

 

[Brett928S2]

no

 

[baronduff]

Just an insight; was playing with a friends Phenom II x4 630 at 2.8Ghz/Radeon 7770, cpu seems to perform miserably to gaming as i have the same graphics but i5 3750k and i pull playable fps with settings his system just won't run... I know it's a different situation just a comparison...

 

[MadDog121]

Sorry for this bumping but i just wanted to answer that with this CPU i am getting above 60fps when on lowest graphics and lowest res with an old hd4650 1gb on bf3 multiplayer... So i guess for my resolution(1366x768) a 78702gb oced will be an overkill but that's what i want(to be future proof) and later i might upgrade to a better cpu. Now i heard that there are frames dropping when going down with the resolution, is that true?

 

[iceclock]

well its fine for now, but for certain games that are cpu demanding, a quadcore would help out, but u should run good until u upgrade ur cpu.

 

[MadDog121]

Best answer selected by MadDog121.

 

[MadDog121]

Thanks for the help! I'm getting one of these.

 

[iceclock]

excellent 😀