Bottleneck

[Komomu]

When they say your cpu bottlenecks your gpu what do they mean by bottlenecking?

And would a AMD X26000+ bottleneck a Sapphire 4670 1GB?

 

[rewindlabs]

Mine does....very much so

You will want to get a 512mb 4670 over the 1gb version though...

Your CPU shouldn't bottleneck the gpu to bad....

 

[daedalus685]

A confusing word. Most people use it incorrectly.

A bottleneck is any aspect of a system that is slower than another aspect of the same system limmiting the final product. Such as the neck of a bottle limitting the flow of a fluid trough it. We can call something a bottle neck whether it be a hard limiter (such as a flow regulator in a pump system), or a soft limit such as a computer.

Most people use the term to describe a system that runs slow due to some magical mismatch of hardware. In reality every system has a bottleneck somewhere. No CPU/GPU/hdd/etc. are perfectly missmatched, the final performance of your system will be hindered by one component out pacing the other. However a computer is not a hard limitted system, it is a non linear system. Increasing one aspect will always grant "some" gains, even if another aspect is far slower but the level of improvement will be less and less and less as the ratios become more and more out of whack.

A more correct question would be "What is the curent primary bottleneck of my system?"

In which case the answer would be your GPU. Hense, if your specs are correct, your money is probably best spent on the gpu upgrade. In your curernt system the GPU is the bottelneck, with a new GPU your CPU would be the new bottelneck (generally). But if you are asking will your performance increase, of course. And if you are asking which will grant more gains. The gpu upgrade would give you the best performance per dollar than the cpu upgrade.. Obviosuly upgradign both would give the most improvement.

People need to understand it is the level of bottlenecking a component provides, and limitting this factor, that is important. The answer is always surely yes if the question is "Does my system have a bottleneck?" One component will ALWAYS hold another back to some degree, however small.

 

[Komomu]

Thanks I have already ordered my 1GB 4670 though but planning to upgrade my psu then the mobo and cpu

 

[daedalus685]

The price difference between the 1gig and 512 is only $10. I wouldn't worry about it. Though Rewind is correct. Since that card cant really tackle high resolution gaming at all there is little use to the extra RAM, probalby get you 1 or 2 fps here and there.

 

[Komomu]

The price difference between the 1gig and 512 is only $10. I wouldn't worry about it. Though Rewind is correct. Since that card cant really tackle high resolution gaming at all there is little use to the extra RAM, probalby get you 1 or 2 fps here and there.

I saw that it wasn't a huge performance difference but I got the 1gig for $80.00 the same price as the 512mb at the time

 

[Dekasav]

Most 1gb HD 4670's have slower RAM, though, which will make it lose performance, while offering nearly nothing in return.

 

[lejay]

Most people use the term to describe a system that runs slow due to some magical mismatch of hardware. In reality every system has a bottleneck somewhere.

[...]bottleneck is a phenomenon by which the performance or capacity of an entire system is severely limited by a single component.

RandomGuyOnTheInternets vs. Wikipedia
FIGHT!

 

[rewindlabs]

Most 1gb HD 4670's have slower RAM, though, which will make it lose performance, while offering nearly nothing in return.

Yeahp

I really didn't want to point that out that is the reason not to get the 1gb...not the 10$

 

[jennyh]

A 6000+ X2 will not bottleneck a 4670. That looks like a pretty good match to me actually.

 

[rewindlabs]

A 6000+ X2 will not bottleneck a 4670. That looks like a pretty good match to me actually.

I kind of spent a little extra for mine

Its overkill *sigh*

 

[jennyh]

I kind of spent a little extra for mine

Its overkill *sigh*+

Well at least it's an AMD so you can plug in a cheap cpu like a 720 x3 and get the most out of the 260 still.

The 6000+ isn't a bad chip though. I think it's top limit is 8800gt/4830 or thereabouts, anything above that will start to be held back a little by it.

 

[rewindlabs]

Well iv only spent 300$ on the whole pc...i got most of the parts for free and bought ram/psu/cpu cooler/gpu

If i can just get it running...my psu was doa..freaked me out..its off to rma..i still managed to run the system for a few hours whilst gaming...and its already blown my freaking mind

I actually would have already stuffed a 720 or better in here but after a ton of research my pos motherboard won't support it

Its a prebuilt GT5656 gateway so i have a reason to call it a pos


All i can't run is crysis and gta iv...hell i may run gta iv on lan and i bet i can get stable performance for some mp atleast...

but il be on an X4 cpu and mobo in a month or so...iv got to get a new case as well..

 

[jennyh]

Haha.

Yep I had a dell a few years back that was similarly pos. Couldn't even overclock a 2.1 athlon 4200+ with it. At least they hold their value on the second hand market though.

 

[rewindlabs]

Iv actually got a nice little lenovo amd 4400+ im about to drop the 4770 in and it overclocks pretty well with a software clock of around 300-400mhz via clockgen...it will be enough for l4d and a few titles like that....simple lan rig for friends

 

[daedalus685]

RandomGuyOnTheInternets vs. Wikipedia
FIGHT!

Isn't that what I said? There are some dozen definitions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottleneck

Any part that limits the function of the system as a whole is a bottleneck, regardless of its severity. The quote you give from wiki only has one source. it is also, by definition, some other random guy on the internet. I just wanted to ensure the op doesn't think a bottle neck means his system wont work, which it seems most people think when they ask. If something is "bottle necking" something it doesn't mean replacing the component that is being bottle necked wont increase performance was my only point, it is not a hard limit in a computer (at least the cpu vs gpu bottleneck isn't) however convoluted I may have seemed.

At work some applications 1% loss in performance may be severe.. in other applications 50% may not be anything to worry about, We'd have to link a hundred definitions of the definitions to fight about the semantics not worth it

Edit: I did not realize the 1gig had slower RAM, didn't really look, sorry.

 

[jennyh]

Of course either the gpu or cpu will be weaker, what you need to avoid is one part being wasted by the other.

I have a Q6600 and 4870 512mb, and the Q6600 is a bottleneck on the 4870 at stock speeds. When i overclock it to 3ghz, they become a good match. I'm sure a bunch of people will disagree but I actually have both components and I know it's the case.

 

[rewindlabs]

Of course either the gpu or cpu will be weaker, what you need to avoid is one part being wasted by the other.

I have a Q6600 and 4870 512mb, and the Q6600 is a bottleneck on the 4870 at stock speeds. When i overclock it to 3ghz, they become a good match. I'm sure a bunch of people will disagree but I actually have both components and I know it's the case.

That is the best way to avoid "bottlenecking" and describe it///

As long as one part isn't being wasted and it is being pushed to what its worth then there is no real bottleneck...you just need to upgrade as there is no true bottleneck just parts aren't comparable to whats out now etc