MSI GTX 580 XE mismatched with a AMD Phenom II X4 945?????

[combatengineer]

I went out and bought a new video card, but didn't think if it would be a mismatch to my system or not. Obviously I have an aging system on my hands, but I remembered that the video card usually didn't matter a whole lot when it comes to up grading. I mean usually you don't have to worry about whether or not you're mismatching a video card, because that component can be upgraded the most. However I really think I may have spent too much money on my card and I am wondering how much I am out of pocket for it. My system seems really fast but I don't know if I will even get to over clock the video card or not. I think that CPU and RAM will be a bottle neck on the computer. Later when I start playing newer games if it isn't already with optimum settings. I can play Crysis 1 on max settings, but I have never tested my frame rates. Not sure how to do that. Anyone have any thoughts?????


Here are the specs of PC:

AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb (Overclocked to CPU 3.75GHz, NB & HT Link 2500mhz stable) Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor
GIGABYTE GA-MA785G-UD3H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
COOLER MASTER V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
Kingston HyperX T1 Series 8GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KHX8500D2T1K2/4G
MSI N580GTX 3GB Lightning Xtreme Edition GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 3072MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
4 Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
XION Power Real XON-1250P14HE 1250W ATX 12V v2.2 / EPS 12V v2.91 / SSI v2.92 SLI 3 ways SLI supported.
Thermaltake Element S VK60001N2Z Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

 

[sosofm]

Is not mismatch. If the games runs smooth wat is the problem ? That video card is excelent even for your future upgrade. 8GB RAM can't be bottle neck. For wath you need to test frame rates ? if a game run smooth with no lag or freeze is perfect. And yes the CPU is the only think week in your system.

 

[combatengineer]

Crysis 1 for example runs smooth to a point on max settings. I am gaming at 1920x 1200 so I know that I do challenge my system with that high of rez. But some times its hard to tell if a game is poorly coded with a myriad of bugs or its my processor dropping down frame rates far enough for me to notice a some lag here and there. I am comparing my system to console gaming when it comes to frps. I hate to see it because it brings down the experience for me when some lag comes out of no where when I am aiming with my cross hairs during FPS. I guess the question that I have is whether or not I will ever be able to overclock my video card? If not then I have done a stupid thing and should of bought a card to match the other hardware. Do I experience lags?? Well yes sometimes when things get crazy graphically I do see some drops in frames. And videos from other people on youtube show the same card I have with no drops in frames at all. Like on the last level of Crysis 1 there is some slight lag here and there. And RAGE will lag sometimes during the races. I don't know if I am going too picky or if my processor is bottle necking. I guess I could alt tab and see if that CPU is max or not but I would like to be able to view my frame rates during the game too. That might be able to tell me if the video card is maxing out or not. Any ideas on how???

 

[MasterMace]

You're asking if the CPU is bottlenecking the GPU? Depending on the game, yes. Does that mean you should get a worse GPU? No.

First off, it's the best card on the market atm. Next, all bottlenecking means is the card isn't performing to it's max capacity. In a system, one part will always bottleneck another. It is better to have the graphics card bottlenecked by the CPU than the other way around. Reason being: CPUs are cheaper to upgrade, and GPUs have a bigger impact on your performance.

 

[combatengineer]

I see. I guess in a couple of years or so I could buy a 6 core processor for this computer at lets say 75 bucks or something. But the RAM is so old I wonder if it would be worth any more investment into this machine. But it would be cheaper then buying a whole new system. Especially if I could over clock the RAM. See this is why PCs are better then Macs. I don't have to throwaway the computer, I simply can just put a new processor in and now the system is capable of doing the tasks I now need it to do. =) One last question though. Lets say I do get a new processor and the RAM bottle necks my games... What is that going to look like? Drops in frame rate or something else?