[SOLVED] Can CPU bottleneck cause worse perfomance?

[Gebaben]

Hi there!

Before the GPU upgrade I could spawn the max number of bots (8+9) in MW2 and Black Ops 1 offline multiplayer without any perfomance issue. After the upgrade I can spawn only 6+5 without issues. If I spawn max number of bots, the game stutters and lags as hell (because the more AI I guess). There are also freezes for some secs in BO, making the game unplayable. Without bots they run well. In BO the GPU usage is around 40%, while CPU usage 97-100% while using bots. I have a very bad bottleneck for sure. Other games run better with the new GPU except these two.

So, can a CPU bottleneck cause worse perfomance after GPU upgrade?

CPU:intel pentium dual core E5300
Old GPU:Nvidia 9400 GT 1GB
New GPU: Nvidia GT 730 2GB GDDR5

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Yes. In fact, years ago when I upgraded to a gts 450 when that was a new card, I had a dual core CPU. One game in particular would skip so bad I had to update to a quad core before things smoothed out.

 

[Zizo007]

Your CPU is too weak and too old for that GPU. You will get worse performancs vs your old GPU because your GPU is taxing your CPU and your CPU will heat more and maybe throttle.

 

[SamirD]

This doesn't surprise me. I saw the same thing when I pit a 730 against a 9500 gt in an older Dell quad core--the 9500gt was faster.

I would look to move to an older gtx card (2xx, 5xx, or 6xx) and you'll see big improvements. My dell dual xeon went from stuttering on 480p video to 720p fluid by adding a gtx 260.

Also, you might want to consider a processor upgrade if your motherboard can handle it. Almost any lga775 processor is under $10 shipped now.

 

[Gebaben]

Thank you guys very much!

 

[86zx]

Another weird thing I’ve noticed a couple times is sometimes games like more GPUs cores and others like more powerful cores for instance I used a gtx 750 and gtx 295 on Minecraft and even though the gtx 295 has less cores it beats the gtx 750 but in other games the 750 beats the 295. Some games are also better optimized for older hardware. That all being said check the pc manufacturers list of CPUs for your comp I’d recommend trying a q9400 big increase over that pentium and still very cheap

 

[Zizo007]

Another weird thing I’ve noticed a couple times is sometimes games like more GPUs cores and others like more powerful cores for instance I used a gtx 750 and gtx 295 on Minecraft and even though the gtx 295 has less cores it beats the gtx 750 but in other games the 750 beats the 295. Some games are also better optimized for older hardware. That all being said check the pc manufacturers list of CPUs for your comp I’d recommend trying a q9400 big increase over that pentium and still very cheap

His motherboard probably doesn't support a quad since the E5300 is a very old core 2 duo model. If he had an E8400 then yeah maybe.

 

[ceriumin]

Hi there!

Before the GPU upgrade I could spawn the max number of bots (8+9) in MW2 and Black Ops 1 offline multiplayer without any perfomance issue. After the upgrade I can spawn only 6+5 without issues. If I spawn max number of bots, the game stutters and lags as hell (because the more AI I guess). There are also freezes for some secs in BO, making the game unplayable. Without bots they run well. In BO the GPU usage is around 40%, while CPU usage 97-100% while using bots. I have a very bad bottleneck for sure. Other games run better with the new GPU except these two.

So, can a CPU bottleneck cause worse perfomance after GPU upgrade?

CPU:intel pentium dual core E5300
Old GPU:Nvidia 9400 GT 1GB
New GPU: Nvidia GT 730 2GB GDDR5

Bottlenecking is something similar but it is slightly different to what you are explaining. Basically bottlenecking is, you may know, when your cpu is already running at its max and can't push more GPU power, therefore upgrading your gpu would be obsolete. Your cpu is being bottlenecked by the GT730 but you are getting less performance as your cpu is old and probably throttling/downgrading. It could also mean your cpu will be getting hotter thus bringing performance down.

 

[86zx]

Just because I’m curious, if you have the ability to try overclocking the gt730 by 150mhz and vram by 100mhz and test results

 

[Gebaben]

I'm not going to overclock it, sorry. Instead I will buy a new PC.

Sidenote: I tried Black Ops with the card with an I5 2400 CPU and it worked better than ever. So yeah, the perfomance loss caused by the CPU bottleneck.

Thank you all for your help!