PCIE gen2 causing performance issues?

[shanetemple14]

so recently i have added a gtx 960 to my system to do some more serious gaming after i only had a amd a8 6600k with the integrated gpu,now on the motherboard i have it only ha PCIE gen2 slot,i have been noticing performance issues with my 960 and im trying to work it out,i have had thoughts of not enough psu power,cpu bottlekneck and then i thought well i know that theres is a pretty noticeable differance between pcie gen1 and gen3 so how about gen2? is the gtx 960 being held back by the ageing pcie generation?

 

[herrwizo]

Gen2 still has more bandwidth than even the fastest card on the market today can put to good use. It is most certainly not the issue.

If anything, you are being held back by either:

- overheating on the CPU (check temperatures while gaming)
- CPU being too slow or inefficient for the particular game (always working at 100% on all cores while gaming, GPU usage below 100% at all times --> CPU bottleneck)
- GTX 960 being inadequate for higher details (GPU load 100% at all times, CPU below 100% at all times, but FPS still too low --> GPU bottleneck)

It all depends on games you play, resolutions and level details.

 

[Sakkura]

No, PCIe 2.0 is plenty for a GTX 960, even with a GTX 980 it basically doesn't matter.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_980_PCI-Express_Scaling/21.html

 

[shanetemple14]

Gen2 still has more bandwidth than even the fastest card on the market today can put to good use. It is most certainly not the issue.

If anything, you are being held back by either:

- overheating on the CPU (check temperatures while gaming)
- CPU being too slow or inefficient for the particular game (always working at 100% on all cores while gaming, GPU usage below 100% at all times --> CPU bottleneck)
- GTX 960 being inadequate for higher details (GPU load 100% at all times, CPU below 100% at all times, but FPS still too low --> GPU bottleneck)

It all depends on games you play, resolutions and level details.

Yes a cpu bottlekneck is my main thought but the gen2 issue is a random thought it had, i have overclocked my cpu to 4.4ghz from the 3.9ghz stock and that seems to help a bit but when in msi afterburner the gpu usage shows around 50-60% when playing call of duty black ops 3,is that a sure fire cpu bottlekneck? my psu is 550 watts and both major components are overclock(CPU 4.4 from 3.9 and Gpu +150mhz,all volatages are left at stock)

 

[Faux_Grey]

Then it's definitely a CPU issue.

In task manager is it at 100% when playing games?

 

[herrwizo]

If your GPU is not working at 100% (you say it is only 60%), but your CPU is, then you have a CPU bottleneck. With a better CPU you could squeeze out the remaining 40% performance from your graphics card. But it is in no way related to gen2 - have no fear.

 

[Sakkura]

Worth noting there can still be a CPU bottleneck even if the overall CPU usage isn't pegged at 100%. If one of the game's threads is bottlenecked by a single core, it doesn't matter if there are other cores not working 100%.

 

[shanetemple14]

Worth noting there can still be a CPU bottleneck even if the overall CPU usage isn't pegged at 100%. If one of the game's threads is bottlenecked by a single core, it doesn't matter if there are other cores not working 100%.

i had a session of COD:BO3 and looked at both task manager for cpu usage and msi afterburner for gpu usage and the cpu showed some large spikes in usage, the cpu usually stayed somewhere around 60% to 80 or 90% and the gpu usage stayed the same while lingering around 50 - 60%