Bottleneck with 5970

[cythx]

Hi, just a quick question, I'm thinking of buying a 5970 for my first rig, but I'm wondering if my i7 920 (which I'm going to OC) will bottleneck it?

If it will, could anyone offer any advice or suggestions on what CPU to get so I wont get any bottlenecking with a 5970?

 

[hunter315]

what resolution will you be playing at? If you are at 1920x1080 then your CPU isnt going to be the bottleneck but its still alot more GPU power than you need. A 5970 is only really necessary for 2560x1600. As long as you arent playing at 1280x1024 your CPU wont be the bottleneck and even if it is it will bottleneck well above the point where it matters.

 

[jennyh]

For the cost of an i7 and a a 5970 you can probably get a Phenom II, 5870 and another couple of monitors (22-24" at least).

Eyefinity > everything else in gaming.

 

[cythx]

I'm going to be using a 1920x1020 120mhz screen and will want my GPU to be able to run games on high for quite a while.

If I OC a Phenom II to 3.8 Ghz, what will the difference be between that and a i7 OCd to 3.8 Ghz?

 

[jennyh]

Nothing much, 2-3 fps either way depending on the game. So long as you have a decent graphics card the top cpu's are pretty much equally capable at maximum settings.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

i7s are much faster than PhenomIIs clock per clock, but in terms of most games, you won't notice any difference.

 

[cythx]

Ah, thanks. So nothing to worry about

And what're your guys views on eyefinity gaming? To me it only seems worth it for racing, some games don't seem to use it right.

 

[cythx]

Ah, one more question I have is, what's the difference between an i7 920 OCd to 3.2 Ghz and a Stock Clock i7 965 at 3.2 Ghz?

 

[jennyh]

Eyefinity works great in some games yes, and not so great in others it's true.

It really does depend on what you are gonna be playing I guess.

 

[jennyh]

Ah, one more question I have is, what's the difference between an i7 920 OCd to 3.2 Ghz and a Stock Clock i7 965 at 3.2 Ghz?

A lot of wasted cash on the 965.

 

[hunter315]

performancewise? They are nearly identical, there are fractions of a percent differences due to the different base clock on the 920 but they are negligible so a 920 @ 3.2GHz = 965 @ 3.2GHz, but the 965 doesnt require OCing to get there so they feel that they can sell it for wayyyy more.

 

[cythx]

Haha, thanks, so absolutely no point in getting a 965.

 

[jennyh]

http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/cpu_scaling_with_the_radeon_hd_5970,1.html

You really should read that considering your questions so far.

 

[cythx]

Wow holy crap, first of all thanks for that article. Second of all, I had NO idea OCing those CPUs had such little effect on the gaming performance.

It looks like, for gaming, it would be much smarter to get an OCd Phenom X4 considering how it's just as good but a lot cheaper.

But how does it compare to the i7 920 in other areas of computing?

 

[hunter315]

For CPU intensive tasks like encoding the i7 wins, gaming is the only place where they are really even as the i7 has much higher IPCs and hyper threading so i can behave as an 8 core CPU. If you are going to be primarily gaming the Phenom II x4 will do fine, but if you intend to do video editing or encoding as well then the i7 would serve you better.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

Wow holy crap, first of all thanks for that article. Second of all, I had NO idea OCing those CPUs had such little effect on the gaming performance. It looks like, for gaming, it would be much smarter to get an OCd Phenom X4 considering how it's just as good but a lot cheaper.
But how does it compare to the i7 920 in other areas of computing?

Well remember, all of those games were tested at 2560x1600 with max graphical details and max AA. It's not that CPUs have little effect on gaming, it's just that in those tests, you have a huge graphics-card bottleneck.

If you turn the resolution down or lower the AA, you'll notice a much bigger difference when you overclock your CPU.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

For example, with graphics turned down, you'll notice a large difference in fps when comparing OCed CPUs.
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/clock_for_clock_core_i5core_i7core_2_quad_and_phenom_ii_x4_performance,12.html

But you'll be getting so many fps either way that it won't really matter if the CPU is overclocked or not.

 

[darkjuggalo2000]

other areas of computing is where intel gets amd by the balls.....(and not really by much)
But with gaming you cant beat the price/performance that amd has to offer..

 

[cythx]

I might get a Phenom then in that case, since I don't do video encoding or any of that, and if I did, I wouldn't do it nearly as much as I game.

Only question I have now is do I need a different motherboard? I was originally going for a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R, which is a 1366 socket iirc. Is there much of a difference between AMD and Intel motherboards? I heard I need a good motherboard if I am going to OC

 

[darkjuggalo2000]

yea you need an am3 board this is a good one its the one i have

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128416

 

[cythx]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128416

The one you mentioned looked like the one I was gunna get for my intel setup, but for an AMD chip?

Can anyone confirm this?

If it's true I'm just getting that mobo and a AMD P2 X4

 

[Zinosys]

Haha, thanks, so absolutely no point in getting a 965.

^^Well, the 965 has an unlocked multiplier, so you can OC much easier.

The 920 and Phenom 955/965 (don't waste money on the 965, it's just a factory OC...) have almost identical gaming performance. It's "everyday" tasks that are harder for it. Antivirus, File Compression, multi-threaded things in general, run semi-significantly better on the i5/i7.

If your computer is going to be used 70% or more for gaming, then get a Phenom II. If less, get an i5 750. It's pretty much the same as the i7 860/920, just without the extra threads. (for 4/4 instead of 4/8 core-to-thread ratio).

 

[darkjuggalo2000]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128416

The one you mentioned looked like the one I was gunna get for my intel setup, but for an AMD chip?

Can anyone confirm this?

If it's true I'm just getting that mobo and a AMD P2 X4

Yes they are very similar but like i said you need to get the am3 if you are getting the amd PhenomII!!!!

 

[darkjuggalo2000]

you will not regret that setup i have it and am very happy!!!

 

[cythx]

Yes they are very similar but like i said you need to get the am3 if you are getting the amd PhenomII!!!!

GIGABYTE GA-790XTA-UD4 AM3

So the link posted above is the one I should get then?

And thanks Zinosys I'll keep that in mind, I don't think I'll be spending 70% of my time on my pc gaming, but definitely over 70% of the CPU intensive applications I'll be using will be games/HD videos.

Btw, will the AMD chip keep up with the intel chip in applications like PS CS4 and 3DSMax?