I7 3820 Bottleneck SLI 680s?

[Russell_PC]

Hi everyone

Quick question for you all,
Will my i7 3820 running at 3.7ghz bottleneck sli 680s?

also,
will it running at 4.5ghz bottleneck 4 way sli 680s?

and also what are ur recommended ghz for:
1 card,
2 cards,
3 cards,
and 4 cards,

feel free to comment if you have any suggestions

thanks again!!

 

[WR2]

What resolution? 5760x1200 Eyefinity?

Which game? World of Warcraft?

 

[Russell_PC]

which game = all games Metro 2033, BF3, Crysis, Crysis 2, GTAIV, GTAV (when it comes out), etc etc etc. honestly, all games haha

and resolution atm its 1080p, but dont let that matter,
cause im only using 1080p for now, and i have every intention to upgrade to 3d surround, or eyefinity in the future.

 

[Robi_g]

Don't bother with a 4 way SLi, 3 way is lots of overkill as it is. Really depends on the game, some games are more processor dependant so it probably will bottleneck for those ones

 

[bwrlane]

CPU bottlenecking is a bit of a myth if your CPU is "fast enough". This sounds like a circular statement but the reality is that provided you are running at standard resolutions (ie 1080p+) at max settings, your rig will almost always be GPU bottlenecked, even with the most powerful GPU setups. CPUs for which this is true include all quad core i5s and i7s of this generation and the last and probably also quad core AMD processors at 3GHz plus.

If you ARE being CPU bottlenecked then at least one of the following statements will be true:

- You are running a low end or old CPU
- You are running your gaming at very low settings (in which the frame rate will be so crazy high that CPU bottlenecking doesn't matter at all)
- You are running a GPU setup that's so powerful that it has not yet been invented
- You are running an extremely CPU intensive game

Your i7 3820 is similar in power to my 2700k. I run a single 680 and can confirm that the CPU is barely even 20% utilised when the GPU is maxed out at a constant 100%. Simple arithmetic shows that 3 screen surround will require triple the GPU power of 1080p, yet with dual SLI you only have double the power, so no, your i7 3820 will not be a bottleneck (or even close)

 

[Russell_PC]

Best answer selected by Russell_PC.

 

[Russell_PC]

thanks a heap
that answers all of my questions,
so glad I wont have to worry about CPU bottlenecking now.

cheers!

 

[deathengine]

- You are running a GPU setup that's so powerful that it has not yet been invented

^This is a great answer

 

[WR2]

so glad I wont have to worry about CPU bottlenecking now.

We're all glad you're no longer worried.