CPU Bottleneck? Help appreciated!

[ksred]

Hey everyone,

I recently upgraded my GPU from a GTX 580 to a 780 and I love it, at times...
In singleplayer games such as Bioshock, Borderlands, BF4 Campaign etc it works beautifully maxing everything out perfectly whilst at 98% or so usage.
In multiplayer games that are more CPU dependent, this changes. BF4, GW2 etc all give me a stuttery experience with FPS drops into the 50s whilst at 50-70% GPU usage. Crysis 3 is an exception to this, where multiplayer runs silky smooth with 98-99% usage.
After looking around I hear that my GPU is clearly good enough for BF4 (my main concern) but my CPU may be bottlenecking it. I don't understand much of the technical stuff when it comes to CPUs so I am seeking your wisdom.

i7 980 @ 3.33Ghz, OCed to 4Ghz, water cooled
Zotac GTX 780 3GB AMP! Edition, (idle temp - 29 degrees, load temp - 66-70 degrees.)
12GB RAM
Windows 7 (going to try W8 soon because I hear it is better optimised for multi-core cpus)
Playing at 1080p single monitor

Any help is appreciated, I just want to play BF4 etc with a good fps.
Let me know if you need anymore info.
Thanks!

 

[megagabobe1]

your cpu should be okay, battlefiel 4 multiplayer is very buggy right now for what i've heard, and guild wars 2 is very dependant on the server, it doe not matters how fast is your cpu

 

[ksred]

your cpu should be okay, battlefiel 4 multiplayer is very buggy right now for what i've heard, and guild wars 2 is very dependant on the server, it doe not matters how fast is your cpu

Hmm. I know people with very similar setups that are running BF4 and achieving 99% GPU usage...
Is my CPU good enough to, in the future, add another GTX 780 for SLI without bottlenecking?

 

[Supahos]

Only way to know for sure is what is your CPU usage, and can you get the GPU usage on bf4 up very high? I suspect the CPU would bottleneck the GPU but it shouldn't be severe. I don't think it would be able to feed two of them however, I don't know what one would need two of them to run.

 

[ksred]

Only way to know for sure is what is your CPU usage, and can you get the GPU usage on bf4 up very high? I suspect the CPU would bottleneck the GPU but it shouldn't be severe. I don't think it would be able to feed two of them however, I don't know what one would need two of them to run.

BF4 is updating at the minute and my internet is incredibly slow, so I can't go and test specifics right now.
However, my CPU total usage is normally around 30% if I recall correctly.
I can indeed get the GPU usage up to 99%, generally by looking at the ground/sky or being inside a small room. Whenever my FPS is normally 70+, my GPU usage is shown as 90%+, but as soon as it dips to <60 it shows the usage as anywhere between 40-70%, weird.

 

[Supahos]

That is kind of odd then I wonder if one easier to render places it is a lot easier on the cpu but when you get to moving around the CPU bottleneck shows up and drops gpu usage?

 

[PatriotZKing]

Doesn't look like it would give a bottleneck.

 

[ksred]

I'm really lost on what to do and as you can imagine I am frustrated that my expensive rig isn't performing well.
So is my i7 980 not good or something? I know cost doesn't equal performance but it cost me a lot when I first purchased it and was under the impression that it was one of the best, yet now I'm being told it could be bottlenecking my GPU and wouldn't even really handle a second one...

 

[PatriotZKing]

I'm really lost on what to do and as you can imagine I am frustrated that my expensive rig isn't performing well.
So is my i7 980 not good or something? I know cost doesn't equal performance but it cost me a lot when I first purchased it and was under the impression that it was one of the best, yet now I'm being told it could be bottlenecking my GPU and wouldn't even really handle a second one...

fps drops to 50 are fine. is this happening when intense stuff is happening or is it random? Your cpu is still good, its old though currently we are in the fourth generation of intel i series processors

 

[ksred]

fps drops to 50 are fine. is this happening when intense stuff is happening or is it random? Your cpu is still good, its old though currently we are in the fourth generation of intel i series processors

Not necessarily when intense stuff happens, can just be when certain bits of scenery enter the shot.

 

[PatriotZKing]

As long as it stays at 50 and more fps. it should be fine. You might want to upgrade the cpu when it gets worse

 

[ksred]

So is it worth me seeing if I can sell my CPU and replacing it with a different one that people recommend? My CPU was like £700 or so when I got it and people are saying that £200 ones are giving better performance... So maybe I could change CPUs and save some cash?

 

[PatriotZKing]

So is it worth me seeing if I can sell my CPU and replacing it with a different one that people recommend? My CPU was like £700 or so when I got it and people are saying that £200 ones are giving better performance... So maybe I could change CPUs and save some cash?

How many cores is your CPU figure this out by going to the windows circle (the one on the taskbar) then search for programs and files type dxdiag. find where it says intel i7 etc.. So i can help find out the compatibility

 

[ksred]

So is it worth me seeing if I can sell my CPU and replacing it with a different one that people recommend? My CPU was like £700 or so when I got it and people are saying that £200 ones are giving better performance... So maybe I could change CPUs and save some cash?

How many cores is your CPU figure this out by going to the windows circle (the one on the taskbar) then search for programs and files type dxdiag. find where it says intel i7 etc.. So i can help find out the compatibility

The i7 980 has 6 cores and 12 threads

 

[PatriotZKing]

There is one issue. The I7 980x or 980 uses a socket called FCLGA1366 The latest i7 4 series processors use LGA1150 same with the 3 and 2 series. Therefore, you would have to upgrade the motherboard as well as the cpu.

 

[ksred]

Are you positive...? I have an ASUS P6X58D-E

 

[PatriotZKing]

Yes, if you look at this http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P6X58DE/ it says socket 1366. The newest motherboards are using 1150 for the Intel i Line

 

[ksred]

Oh wow... So this shit just got expensive to fix...

 

[EvgaLover]

Remember to update your bios with the new 700 series from Nvidia

 

[PatriotZKing]

Oh wow... So this shit just got expensive to fix...

One lesson learned from computers oh you want an upgrade? sure all i need is 1500$ please

 

[ksred]

Someone elsewhere suggested I sell my CPU and mobo and buy an i7 4770k and a specific asus mobo which I cant remember atm. Is this a wise decision?

 

[Supahos]

I assume this specific asus mobo was a Asus Maximus Hero shown here --->http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131989


that is a really nice setup and will smack your current rig around even though it only has 4cores 8threads. Should run you about 550 to get both.

 

[ksred]

Ok. I think I'll wait until after xmas and save up some cash, then I'll buy my new case, mobo, CPU and possibly some faster RAM all at once. So I'm presuming when I change this much that it's best to format my SSD and HDDs, find my W8 CD and start fresh?

 

[Supahos]

yes that would be best since you'll be needing new drivers pretty much across the boards. You can reuse your case unless you just want to change.

 

[ksred]

yes that would be best since you'll be needing new drivers pretty much across the boards. You can reuse your case unless you just want to change.

Yep! I'm looking for a new case for better airflow anyway. I'm still trying to get over the fact that a £700 CPU needs replacing for gaming... 😀