EVGA GTX 660 Ti (3GB, SC) Bottlenecking

Erwiind

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Jan 28, 2013
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Hello there!
I have recently gotten myself a new GTX 660 Ti for my relatively old PC.
My question is, how much will my Pentium Dual-Core E5400 (2.7GHz) bottleneck my performance?

My current setup is:
CPU: Pentium Dual-Core E5400 (2.7GHz)
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti Superclocked (3GB)
Power Supply: THERMALTAKE 530W (or I can get a 630W)
RAM: 4GB
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

Games: Borderlands 2; Far Cry 3; Planetside 2; League of Legends(This doesn't really count.)

I am aware that is a 4-year-old CPU, but I was just wondering how much will it limit me. I do not desire playing in fully maxed settings, I can settle for medium or high in less than 1920x1080 resolution.

Would you mind giving me some recommendations if I were to need an upgrade?

Thank you very much in advance!
 

beltzy

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Jan 25, 2010
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The bottom line question you should be asking is "is the performance I'm getting not meeting my needs/expectations?" If you're already getting the kind of framerates at the settings/resolution you want, don't worry about spending more money- I would suggest you OC your CPU though (free performance increase).

As far as the bottleneck, it really depends on the specificss. The lower your graphics settings, the MORE you will be bottlenecked by your older CPU (meaning your GPU can handle more but your CPU is max'ed). At higher resolutions/higher settings in demanding games, your graphics card is going to limit your system more than your cpu. You'll certainly see a hit to performance with your older CPU, but you can minimize that by OC'ing. The bump in gaming performance you'll get will be much less significant than you'd see upgrading your GPU.

The link below is a story that TH did a couple of years ago; the specific hardware is outdated but the principle is the same- as resolution/settings goes up, only the very high end GPUs (dual GPU cards,etc) see really substantial performance gains when going between less capable processors (OC'd) to a more modern quad-core OC'd CPU. There are games that require more CPU muscle. When you factor in the fact that you'd be required to make a pretty big investment changing platforms, you get less bang for your buck than with upgrading a GPU.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/balanced-gaming-pc-overclock,2699-8.html
 

ashharun

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Dec 28, 2012
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In my opinion with your current spec you didn't get for what you pay for that card. The fps will be same with mid class card. I had Athlon 64 7750 before and use it to play Sleeping Dogs with 4830, framerate pretty bad, only 24-31fps with normal settings. When i upgrade to i5 3470, with same card i got 38-52 fps. Need CPU upgrade surely.