How to tell what is bottlenecked?

[cabaton]

Hello, I was hoping someone could explain to me a way of finding out what is bottlenecking my system; whether it be GPU or CPU. I have a i5-3570k overclocked to 4.3 ghz and a gigabyte 660OC GTX. Now I am aware that my GPU is most likely the bottleneck, but how do I find out FOR SURE?

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

Both are good. But what are they bottlenecking?

 

[siddharthmukul007]

the bottleneck in your system is your 6600 gtx.....you processor the 3rd gen i5 is capable enough to run almost all the current titles without any problem.
the games become gpu bound much much earlier than cpu bound.

 

[Sumukh_Bhagat]

the bottleneck in your system is your 6600 gtx.....you processor the 3rd gen i5 is capable enough to run almost all the current titles without any problem.
the games become gpu bound much much earlier than cpu bound.

A GTX 660 is a powerful card. It can handle any game at 1080p at ultra with very good fps.
So no way of Bottleneck through GPU or even CPU side.

He didn't even mention what problem he is getting.
There might be issue with powersupply.

 

[manofchalk]

There isn't any bottlenecking in that system, the components are quite balanced.
Though we will need to know the rest of the system to say for sure.

 

[bigcyco1]

I agree with manofchalk also some do not think the 660 is a very good gaming card because of memory it's just because they are not very informed and believe everything they read at 1080p the 660 can play all games on high to ultra settings with decent fps .

 

[abbadon_34]

Looks like sidd misread the "660 O"C GTX as "6600" GTX.

+1 on all the above, the CPU and clock is about as good as you can get for gaming, and the 660oc is in only 2 steps from the top single nvidia card. Running a 680, sli or a 690 will improve surround gaming and 4k resolution, but this config is hardly bottlenecked. "Bottleneck" has become an overused and misundertood term. I'd ask what's the real PROBLEM, or is this just an academic bechmarking question?

 

[siddharthmukul007]

sorry I misread the 660 oc gtx as 6600...
there should not be any bottleneck with this system unless the cpu oc is stable enough...though 4.3ghz is not much...you never know coz all chips are unique.

 

[michaelmk86]

generally speaking, you can find the bottlenecking by lowering the resolution to half and if you see almost double the fps then the cpu is not bottleneck, if you see a little to no fps change then the cpu is the bottleneck etc

 

[bigcyco1]

Could you open task manager, press Show processes from all users, maximize the window, sort it by user name, take screenshot and upload it? Maybe... you've got some extra processes running in the background which are crippling your performance.
Run a scan with Malwarebytes AntiMalware. http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5756 Remove whatever it finds.Then turn off windows upate
Uninstall the drivers.
Download driver fusion http://treexy.com/
Reboot system in safe mode and run driver fusion.
Reboot again.
Re-downloaded drivers http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
Turn on windows updates.
make sure your motherboard and 660 bios are up to date.
This would be a good time to consider installing Simple Perfomance Boost http://majorgeeks.com/Tweaking.com_-_Simple_Performance_Boost_d7176.html to optimize your Windows settings. It’s easy, safe and fast. Here is a video on doing this optional step: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyJoGOYXfHs

 

[cabaton]

Hey sorry for taking so long to reply everyone. My apologies, I think I have misused the word "bottleneck" here. Although I would still like to know what component that is bottle-necking my system, if any, I really meant to ask what component(s) I should change to get the best performance increase overall.

I have been considering getting another 660 and a SSD. Should I run the 660's in SLI or just get a newer card? I am pretty sure I can avoid micro-stuttering as I can run higher FPS than my monitors refresh rate with two of those...right? Also, sorry if this is the incorrect forum.

PSU: Corsair HX750W
GPU: Gigabyte 660OC GTX
MOBO: ASRock Z77 Extreme4
CPU: i5-3570k at 4.3
RAM: 4GBx2 G. Skill 1600
HDD: 1 TB Western Digital 7200
OS: Windows 7
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Gaia SD1283

 

[abbadon_34]

GPU then. Two 660's would be technically be faster than a single 680. An SSD for your boot will be a marked improvement, but unrelated to FPS. If you're happy with you're gaming, prioritize the SSD.

 

[manofchalk]

For gaming performance its pretty obvious, a bigger graphics card. I would sell the 660 and get a stronger single card, Crossfire/SLI is only really worth doing at the higher end of cards (there are exceptions like the 560Ti was back when Fermi released).

For video editing/compute performance, an i7 and 8GB more RAM.

For general usage, an SSD.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

if you were going to upgrade anything, the video card would give you most gain. probably best to sell the card for a better single card, but if the performance is acceptable then no need to upgrade.

 

[cabaton]

Best answer selected by cabaton.