[SOLVED] Best possible GPU for an old system ( bottleneck question)

[monokiller]

Hello! So i am upgrading my old ivy bridge pc and i am going to get i7 3770 for a good price. So i was wondering which is the best GPU possible that i can get which will not be bottlenecked by the i7?
My specs are:
Z77 Pro 3
16gb Corsair Vengance

 

[hotaru.hino]

A GTX 1660 of some flavor should be fine. If you want to dabble in RT games since RT is GPU bound, no higher than an RTX 2060 or 3050.

If you need a plan B in case the motherboard doesn't like the GPU for some reason, a higher end GeForce 600 or Radeon Rx 200 is about the best I'd recommend.

 

[King_V]

There's really no "perfect balance" between a CPU and GPU . . so the idea of a "bottleneck" between a supposedly mismatched CPU and GPU is a fiction, and the term "bottleneck" is abused to the point of uselessness.

Also, NEVER use a bottleneck calculator. Those are absolute garbage.

It really depends on the monitor, resolution, refresh rate, CPU, amount of RAM, GPU, and, most importantly, what specific games you're playing, as well as if you're going for max details, max frame rates, etc.

While one game may be heavily GPU dependent, thus making the GPU the "bottleneck", another game might be easy on the GPU and hard on the CPU, making the CPU the "bottleneck" on the same system.

 

[monokiller]

A GTX 1660 of some flavor should be fine. If you want to dabble in RT games since RT is GPU bound, no higher than an RTX 2060 or 3050.

If you need a plan B in case the motherboard doesn't like the GPU for some reason, a higher end GeForce 600 or Radeon Rx 200 is about the best I'd recommend.

Thanks, that was useful but gtx600 in 2022 ?

 

[monokiller]

There's really no "perfect balance" between a CPU and GPU . . so the idea of a "bottleneck" between a supposedly mismatched CPU and GPU is a fiction, and the term "bottleneck" is abused to the point of uselessness.

Also, NEVER use a bottleneck calculator. Those are absolute garbage.

It really depends on the monitor, resolution, refresh rate, CPU, amount of RAM, GPU, and, most importantly, what specific games you're playing, as well as if you're going for max details, max frame rates, etc.

While one game may be heavily GPU dependent, thus making the GPU the "bottleneck", another game might be easy on the GPU and hard on the CPU, making the CPU the "bottleneck" on the same system.

I was not really asking for the best combo just for the adequate one, like it will be stupid to put 3080 with an 2012 CPU so you get me.
I litteraly play what catches my eye from FIFA GTA to flight sims.. so i want to upgrade the overall performance, also atm i am playing on 1080p 60fps but i want to upgrade to 144hz 1080 to play shooters primarily and i am not really sure if the 3770 lets say with a 3050 will handle 144hz in warzone pubg etc.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Thanks, that was useful but gtx600 in 2022 ?

The problem is later cards use a UEFI compatible vBIOS. It's supposed to play nice with legacy BIOS systems, but sometimes they don't.

 

[King_V]

I'm not personally a high-framerate kinda guy, so I'm a little out of my element in that regard.

What are you using as a GPU now?

A simple thing to do to test your CPU's capabilities is to turn the resolution and details down to the minimum. Do the games run at 144fps or more, or is the CPU maxed out below that? If the CPU is maxed out, then no GPU is going to help it get you to 144fps.

If the CPU can handle it, then you're looking for a GPU that can do 1080p @ 144fps consistently. That's where you'll have to poke around and see what GPUs are needed to get that kind of framerate at 1080p with the details you want.

EDIT: @hotaru.hino brings up an excellent point. Some older motherboards, particularly OEM boards from Dell, HP, and so on, are notoriously finicky about working with newer cards. If the motherboard doesn't support UEFI, it may not work with cards in the last generation or three.

 

[monokiller]

I'm not personally a high-framerate kinda guy, so I'm a little out of my element in that regard.

What are you using as a GPU now?

A simple thing to do to test your CPU's capabilities is to turn the resolution and details down to the minimum. Do the games run at 144fps or more, or is the CPU maxed out below that? If the CPU is maxed out, then no GPU is going to help it get you to 144fps.

If the CPU can handle it, then you're looking for a GPU that can do 1080p @ 144fps consistently. That's where you'll have to poke around and see what GPUs are needed to get that kind of framerate at 1080p with the details you want.

EDIT: @hotaru.hino brings up an excellent point. Some older motherboards, particularly OEM boards from Dell, HP, and so on, are notoriously finicky about working with newer cards. If the motherboard doesn't support UEFI, it may not work with cards in the last generation or three.

Right now im using 3570 non K and r9 380 sapphire most of the games run fine but reaching 144fps is impossible. Also i heard about the bclk overclock can i do it and is there any sense in that ?

 

[monokiller]

The problem is later cards use a UEFI compatible vBIOS. It's supposed to play nice with legacy BIOS systems, but sometimes they don't.

I get it ... i tought about 980 ti btw.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I get it ... i tought about 980 ti btw.

GeForce 900 is when NVIDIA moved to UEFI vBIOS. I think AMD moved to it for the RX 400.

 

[monokiller]

GeForce 900 is when NVIDIA moved to UEFI vBIOS. I think AMD moved to it for the RX 400.

so are you saying it won't work or maybe it won't ?

 

[hotaru.hino]

so are you saying it won't work or maybe it won't ?

It may not work. I don't have enough experience with UEFI vBIOS video cards and legacy BIOS systems to make a call on this. I know the other way (non UEFI vBIOS on a UEFI system) doesn't work.

EDIT: I should point out this only is a problem in a preboot environment. Once you're in an OS, it'll work.

 

[monokiller]

It may not work. I don't have enough experience with UEFI vBIOS video cards and legacy BIOS systems to make a call on this. I know the other way (non UEFI vBIOS on a UEFI system) doesn't work.

EDIT: I should point out this only is a problem in a preboot environment. Once you're in an OS, it'll work.

thank you for the info!