E8600 and GTX 570 - Bottleneck?

[DaveR1379]

hi, I'm wondering if someone could give me some insight on this, I currently have a GTX 280, I recently got a good deal on a new 24 inch LCD and with a few new games coming out, I am looking into upgrading to a 570 after hearing tons of positive reviews. However, I am concerned about my processor, an E8600, being a bottleneck with that setup.

There anyone currently running something similar, or could provide some details on how this would work out? Thanks in advance

 

[rolli59]

There will be a bottleneck compared to a fast I5 or I7 setup. Being a fast dual core bottleneck can be reduced with a overclock.

 

[DaveR1379]

Thanks for the info Roli. How much would you suggest OCing it to? I actually have it stable at 3.7Ghz right now.

And on a side note, for as much as I've heard good things about how far you can OC the E8600, I haven't had much luck over 3.7

 

[beltzy]

A dual core processor at 3.7GHz shouldn't limit you too badly even with a graphics card as solid as the 570, but it will limit you to some extent.

This article is a little dated, but it has benchmarks using both an E8400 (OC'ed to 4.4GHz mind you, but should be a nice frame of reference) alongside an OC'ed i7-920. The 5870 and 5970 are on there- the 570 typically falls between the 2 in performance. Make sure to take a look at the resolutions you are playing at (I'm assuming 1920x1200) and you can see that at higher resolutions, the E8400 is really hanging within a few percentage points of the newer platform.

The 570 wasn't out then (in fact the 470 wasn't out then either), but dual-GPU cards are the only ones that are being limited by the CPU at higher resolutions.

Bottom line, if you're looking at straight value you will probably be disppointed by the return on investment from upgrading your platform if you're going with a single card. At the same time, since we're talking about value the 570 may be a bit of overkill- there are some fantastic deals out there on 470's (which are still great cards) as well as 460's, 5850's etc. I'd recommend doing a little homework- check out the types of games/resolutions you're playing and see if a less expensive (but still very fast) card will keep you happy.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

Everyone clear their head and forget the term "bottleneck" for a minute. What you need to think about is, will an e8600 and gtx570 be able to play any game maxxed out at 1080p/1200 (whatever your screen res is). The answer is YES. Overclocking the CPU you will see an increase in framerate, but you wont notice it unless the game is being limited by the CPU and getting under 30fps. Some games are more sensitive to CPU speed than others, but i think you will have no problem with that setup.

 

[purple stain]

Most GPU's benefit from a quad core prossesor but your sheer speed will keep you hanging in there.

What types of games are you planning to play with it?

 

[wolfram23]

*agree with above*

3.7ghz you should be fine. I hope you have at least 4gb RAM tho

 

[galta]

+1 to iam2thecrowe.

There are two "concepts" people have been talking about: bottlenecking and building a future proof system.

About bottlenecking, let's use our imagination and imagine the following dilemma: if we could make them work together, would a 570 bottleneck a PII? It sounds non-sense, but you could say that you PII system would be faster if you could get a 580! So yes, the 570 would be bottlenecking it!
The real question is: I have an E8600+GTX280 system and some $350 to up-grade it. Buying a GTX570 is the best move, or should I get a new mobo+CPU+memory and keep the old GPU?
The best choice is getting the GTX570, even though it would surely be faster on an i7 system.

 

[purple stain]

What socket is your mobo?
Maybe upgrading the CPU to a quad core and getting a lesser card like the 470 or 460.

 

[galta]

What socket is your mobo?
Maybe upgrading the CPU to a quad core and getting a lesser card like the 470 or 460.

He has a 775, doesn't he?
Up-grading the cpu on that mobo makes no sense at all.

 

[HansVonOhain]

Go for that card. I have it myself and the performance is incredible, so are the temps.

 

[wolfram23]

He has a 775, doesn't he?
Up-grading the cpu on that mobo makes no sense at all.

Not entirely true. The 775 quad cores are pretty decent, but yes most definitely they are outstripped by the newer i5/i7 quads. However upgrading to a new CPU, mobo, and DDR3 RAM is a much larger investment whereas a quad core 775 CPU goes for ~$200.

That said, I don't think it would be worth the upgrade at this point, with a 3.7ghz dual core.

 

[plznote]

Yeah, 775 Quads are still like $300 on the egg.

 

[DaveR1379]

thanks everyone for all the feedback! im gonna look into OCing the E8600 a bit more, obviously im not expecting the performance of a I5 or i7, but I wanted to at least know if id be negatively capped with the new card. Thank you again

 

[wolfram23]

^easy enough to test, you can try running FurMark at max resolution and maybe 2x or 4xAA and do it running a couple different CPU overclocks.
That won't give a true indication of how it'll work in gaming due to the nature of FurMark being solely to max out GPU usage but at least if you see a huge difference in FPS you'll know what's up. Maybe down the road you can make a new system and bring the 570 over.

 

[wolfram23]

Yeah, 775 Quads are still like $300 on the egg.

Q9550 is yeah, but they have Q8300 for ~$150 and Q8400 for $185

 

[purple stain]

What type of cooler do u have?

 

[DaveR1379]

For the CPU I have a CoolerMaster Hyper TX2, im checking Everest and Im currently running at 24c with no load

 

[DaveR1379]

Best answer selected by DaveR1379.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey