Quick question about bottlenecking

[snuggler]

I have a pretty outdated PC. Core 2 Quad 6600 processor, 8GB DDR2. A few months ago I picked up a 1GB GTX 750 card and it's been pretty good, but today I ordered a 4GB GTX 960 because I plan to slowly beef up / rebuild my computer over the next few months.

I understand that there can be bottlenecking issues between CPUs and GPUs.

My question is: is it possible that installing this new GPU and leaving all the other components as-is for now, am I running a risk of actually decreasing performance in games? For instance, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes looks and runs fantastic on my computer's current configuration. Could installing the new GPU possibly make it run worse? Just as an example.

Thanks.
To further clarify my question: Fallout 4 is obviously not running well on this computer. This was not a surprise to me, but I though I'd check it out and see what would happen. It's actually somewhat playable on the lowest of the low settings. What confuses me about the concept of bottlenecking is, could installing the new GPU actually make it run worse? Or am I bound to see an improvement with new hardware?

This ended up not being such a quick question.

 

[Brandon-]

I have a pretty outdated PC. Core 2 Quad 6600 processor, 8GB DDR2. A few months ago I picked up a 1GB GTX 750 card and it's been pretty good, but today I ordered a 4GB GTX 960 because I plan to slowly beef up / rebuild my computer over the next few months.

I understand that there can be bottlenecking issues between CPUs and GPUs.

My question is: is it possible that installing this new GPU and leaving all the other components as-is for now, am I running a risk of actually decreasing performance in games? For instance, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes looks and runs fantastic on my computer's current configuration. Could installing the new GPU possibly make it run worse? Just as an example.

Thanks.
To further clarify my question: Fallout 4 is obviously not running well on this computer. This was not a surprise to me, but I though I'd check it out and see what would happen. It's actually somewhat playable on the lowest of the low settings. What confuses me about the concept of bottlenecking is, could installing the new GPU actually make it run worse? Or am I bound to see an improvement with new hardware?

This ended up not being such a quick question.

Hi snuggler, pretty sure that CPU will bottleneck that Graphics Card. Just to be safe I'd tell you to look at the i5's and i7's but i7's really aren't needed right now they just come with hyperthreading and maybe a 2-3 fps increase but, if you have the money and wanna get an I7 thats awesome for futureproofing, its really your call though.

 

[utroz]

The new gpu should not cause a decrease of gaming performance. It should help some but yes your current CPU will bottleneck the 960 and the amount will depend highly on the game.

 

[snuggler]

The new gpu should not cause a decrease of gaming performance. It should help some but yes your current CPU will bottleneck the 960 and the amount will depend highly on the game.

So I'll probably see some improved performance, but I just won't be getting the full benefit of the GPU?

 

[utroz]

The new gpu should not cause a decrease of gaming performance. It should help some but yes your current CPU will bottleneck the 960 and the amount will depend highly on the game.

So I'll probably see some improved performance, but I just won't be getting the full benefit of the GPU?

Correct, but it will still be a good sized boost in some games..

 

[snuggler]

Thanks for clearing it up for me guys!