Is it always beneficial to get a better graphics card, or is performance capped by your processor?

[AntMatter]

Hello, I was just wondering if your processor limits your graphics card performance. An example would be if it is beneficial to get a Titan with a i5 processor. I know that your possessor can limit the performance of a graphics card, but does that mean that there is a cap on a graphics card based off of your processor? If so, is there any documentation of limits for cards based on processors?

Thanks,
Ant

 

[greens]

Hello, I was just wondering if your processor limits your graphics card performance. An example would be if it is beneficial to get a Titan with a i5 processor. I know that your possessor can limit the performance of a graphics card, but does that mean that there is a cap on a graphics card based off of your processor? If so, is there any documentation of limits for cards based on processors?

Thanks,
Ant

Your CPU needs to be able to saturate the GPU, this doesn't really take all that much in reality, but it can definately be an issue on older systems.
After the GPU is saturated, there is still a fair amount of work to be done for the CPU. This is where older CPUs start to suffer. In heavy graphics games they keep up just fine, as long as the GPU is saturated you'll be fine. Other games depend heavily on the CPU, you start to run into problems then.

I'm not aware of any source that outlines this clearly with examples, but maybe someone else will.

What i5 do you have specifically? There are 6 generations with different models in each, just i5 doesn't tell us much at all.

 

[AntMatter]

Hello, I was just wondering if your processor limits your graphics card performance. An example would be if it is beneficial to get a Titan with a i5 processor. I know that your possessor can limit the performance of a graphics card, but does that mean that there is a cap on a graphics card based off of your processor? If so, is there any documentation of limits for cards based on processors?

Thanks,
Ant

Your CPU needs to be able to saturate the GPU, this doesn't really take all that much in reality, but it can definately be an issue on older systems.
After the GPU is saturated, there is still a fair amount of work to be done for the CPU. This is where older CPUs start to suffer. In heavy graphics games they keep up just fine, as long as the GPU is saturated you'll be fine. Other games depend heavily on the CPU, you start to run into problems then.

I'm not aware of any source that outlines this clearly with examples, but maybe someone else will.

What i5 do you have specifically? There are 6 generations with different models in each, just i5 doesn't tell us much at all.

I have an i5-6500 3.2GHz.

 

[inerax]

if its a newer i5 you should be fine. Post your system specs and what you are looking to do and we can help out. if you are looking to get a new card tell us your budget and what games you play. We can point you in the right direction.

 

[inerax]

Hello, I was just wondering if your processor limits your graphics card performance. An example would be if it is beneficial to get a Titan with a i5 processor. I know that your possessor can limit the performance of a graphics card, but does that mean that there is a cap on a graphics card based off of your processor? If so, is there any documentation of limits for cards based on processors?

Thanks,
Ant

Your CPU needs to be able to saturate the GPU, this doesn't really take all that much in reality, but it can definately be an issue on older systems.
After the GPU is saturated, there is still a fair amount of work to be done for the CPU. This is where older CPUs start to suffer. In heavy graphics games they keep up just fine, as long as the GPU is saturated you'll be fine. Other games depend heavily on the CPU, you start to run into problems then.

I'm not aware of any source that outlines this clearly with examples, but maybe someone else will.

What i5 do you have specifically? There are 6 generations with different models in each, just i5 doesn't tell us much at all.

I have an i5-6500 3.2GHz.

a 6500 will run any GPU today. Are you looking for better performance in games?

 

[AntMatter]

Hello, I was just wondering if your processor limits your graphics card performance. An example would be if it is beneficial to get a Titan with a i5 processor. I know that your possessor can limit the performance of a graphics card, but does that mean that there is a cap on a graphics card based off of your processor? If so, is there any documentation of limits for cards based on processors?

Thanks,
Ant

Your CPU needs to be able to saturate the GPU, this doesn't really take all that much in reality, but it can definately be an issue on older systems.
After the GPU is saturated, there is still a fair amount of work to be done for the CPU. This is where older CPUs start to suffer. In heavy graphics games they keep up just fine, as long as the GPU is saturated you'll be fine. Other games depend heavily on the CPU, you start to run into problems then.

I'm not aware of any source that outlines this clearly with examples, but maybe someone else will.

What i5 do you have specifically? There are 6 generations with different models in each, just i5 doesn't tell us much at all.

I have an i5-6500 3.2GHz.

a 6500 will run any GPU today. Are you looking for better performance in games?

Yea, I like playing with higher graphics settings but I still want good fps, I was thinking of getting one of the new 1060 Cards, but I wasn't sure if it would bottleneck my pc. I have about a 250-350ish budget. I also do bits of video editing and rendering. I just thought it was interesting how there weren't many resources about graphics card bottle necking for different cpus.

As well as my i5-6500 3.2GHz I also have a Gigabyte GA-H170 GAMING Motherboard.

 

[kansaw]

"Is it always beneficial to get a better graphics card, or is performance capped by your processor?"

For system upgrades (not new builds) "bottlenecking" statements can confuse and mislead. Mild bottlenecking does NOT damage anything in your computer. Don't be afraid to try stuff out. Are we afraid that someone will spend and extra $50 on a graphics card for features that they can't see on their screen today? How price sensitive are they?

There are situations where a new board will not physically fit/work in someones motherboard. Insufficient power supply, RAM, BIOS, etc.

If there are gray areas and the person has plenty of money, let them try stuff out. They can always use the new board in their next new build. Tell them they might be wasting money but everything should work fine.

 

[nforce4max]

If you want a good 1060 get a non reference model for reasons other than just performance, I really do not like the design of the reference 1060 and the vrm is pretty lean. If you live in a hot climate definitely get a custom model.

Someone has already done a review on youtube using a i5 750 with a 1080 just to test this and at low res it bottlenecks horrendously but at high res especially 4k it runs fine (better than 980). Your current cpu won't be a problem for a long time