Do I have a CPU bottleneck?

[auron007]

Do my Athlon 64 x2 5600+ "Windsor" bottleneck my GPU Radeon HD 5670?
I am currently playing games at 1280 x 1024 resolution, and getting around 30-40 fps but then even lowering it at 800 x 600 i didn't notice any increase in FPS, is this a CPU bottleneck?

my RIG
Processor: Athlon 64 x2 5600+ overclocked to 3Ghz
Memory: 2gb ddr2 800 x2
Motherboard: ECS geforce6100PM-M2 rev 2.0
GPU: Powercolor Radeon HD 5670 1 bg

another thing i think my motherboard PCIe is only 1.x (it's very old) and my GPU PCIe is 2.1 does it also limit it's performance?

thank you..

 

[BSim500]

Yes it sounds like it. If you got higher FPS when lowering resolution, then your GFX card would be your bottleneck.

 

[auron007]

I see, so do you think if I upgrade my CPU but still the same mobo, would it's PCIe x16 1.x would not affect my GPU's performance? It is bugging me for some time..

I really dont have the budget to upgrade including the mobo.

 

[BSim500]

Hmmm. Well that is a very old board. I'm not sure what CPU you could upgrade it to given you're pretty much maxed it out now. Is it not possible to look out for a cheap 2010-2011 era 2nd hand i3 / AMD on Ebay? The problem with that would also be RAM (DDR2 vs DDR3). I'm honestly not sure what to suggest as you can't really upgrade to make a difference without changing your motherboard.

 

[auron007]

i know my motherboard can only support up to phenom x4, I know it's really hard to upgrade but then again Ill try to find good deals on second hand components, or for the mean time stick with older games, thank you.