[SOLVED] is my CPU crap?

[Irontrimp]

Hi, I have a Pc that use to be used by a programmer, I now use it primarily for gaming. When I got it the video card was a built in junk card so I got a GTX1070ti and installed it. Ive also upgraded to Windows 10 because I play a few games that require it. This machine came with 8gb ddr3 and a TB HDD.
The HDD reads 100% when loading os or games and occasionally in game as well. Ive gone ahead and killed any unnecessary tasks to help but it seems t just be bottlenecking the large drives transfer rate. Which makes sense right?
I plan to upgrade to an SSD for os and games and use the HDD for storage. This should fix my HDD problems I believe. But when my games start freezing up I also tend to see a spike in CPU usage, often it maxes out completely. The CPU is an Intel xeon 5150 dualcore @2.66ghz which doesnt seem that bad to me. My question is should I upgrade my CPU? Is this simply my HDD and CPU bottlenecking my system or could it be software related? I don't want to buy a new CPU if I don't really need it especially since it's my understanding that the socket (771 I think) really doesn't have any cpu a great deal better than what I have so I would need to swap out my mobo as well. The SSD I'll be getting either way but if my CPU is not allowing me to get the full use of my GPU, SSD and RAM it's wasted money.

 

[RobCrezz]

To put it bluntly, yes really not suitable for gaming for the following reasons:

1) Low clock speed - Games are extremely clock speed and IPC sensitive for performance
2) Architecture from 2009 - Although CPUs havent advanced massively in the last 10 years, your CPU predates the peaks of the Nehalam and Sandybridge architectures.
3) Dual core - For gaming these days you really want 4 fast cores at a minimum, ideally with hyper threading for 8 threads.

 

[mgallo848]

Robcrezz is correct on all points.

The CPU/mobo combo is dated and considered very low end by todays standards. The 1070ti is actually being bottlenecked by the lack of power from the CPU.

If you're looking at playing modern games changing the CPU/motherboard is more important than thinking about getting an SSD. That dual core cannot handle modern games.

If you're looking to play older or less demanding games like CS:Go or Fortnite then you'll be OK for a little while longer with the Xeon.

 

[geofelt]

By today's standards, yes the 5150 is no good.
It is a dual core with a passmark rating of 1748 and a single thread rating of 1022.
Totally inappropriate for a great card like a GTX1070ti.

$250 can buy you a G5600 4 thread processor with a rating of 5696/2205 8gb of ddr4 ram and a suitable lga1151 motherboard.
You can go up from there.
A I5-8400 6 thread processor would be appropriate for a GTX1070ti.