Several gpu questions for just finished PC build.

[aplipinski]

This is going to be a long post but I would love some help if you all could hear me out. I built my very first PC about a month ago and I love it. However I am wanting to make sure I did it all right. My biggest concern is my cpu bottlenecking my gpu. I don't know anything about this subject but after messing around a bit I have a theory and would like to know if I'm right. I used Valleybenchmark and set it up to ultra settings with 60fps and it runs well. The highest temp I've seen the gpu get was about 80c meaning the gpu is working pretty hard. Can I assume, that if the gpu is working that hard then the cpu is not bottlenecking it? I have got a EVGA gtx 970 ssc paired with an i5 6600. Additionally, I know that this isn't the preferred way to do it but I didn't have enough money for a new monitor, so I hooked the PC up to the 35 inch 1080p smart tv, however when I launched games like fallout 4 or ryse, it switched to 720 on me, is this just the tv or is it the PC? LASTLY, back to gpu temps. 80 degrees C kinda freaks me out but I already have 4 case fans plus two fans on the card, how can I get my card to literally chill out? That is the end of my post. Thanks for hanging in there.

 

[pete_101]

The i5 6600 can handle a 970 just fine, so no bottleneck there. The 720p is interesting, I'm guessing you have tried setting the game resolution to 1080p. Is it possible it's using 720p for a faster refresh rate, say 60fps vs 30 fps at 1080p?
80c is hot enough, but if it gets no worse then it's still ok. Be sure to use Vsync, this will reduce the load on the GPU, no point creating more frames than your monitor/TV can display.

 

[aplipinski]

I've heard people say turn off or on vsync to increase performance, but I've no idea what it is. Any info just to help educate me? Also in your opinion is getting a smaller monitor that can display all 1080 during intense gaming worth it?

 

[pete_101]

Vsync simple matches the number of frames outputted by your graphics card to how many frames your monitor or TV is able to display, it's designed to reduce the load on the GPU. Sometimes though, it can be the cause of issues like screen tearing and control lag, but this is pretty rare.

As for getting a 1080p monitor, well that's upto you. There's no doubt that 1080p looks far better than 720p in gaming (the same is said of 1440p vs 1080p)

 

[aplipinski]

Oh! that brings me to one last question. How do you think a gtx 970 would fair on a 1440p screen? Or a 4K?

 

[pete_101]

Oh! that brings me to one last question. How do you think a gtx 970 would fair on a 1440p screen? Or a 4K?

1440p is questionable, some games it may be fine, others would need the settings turned down. Forget about 4K.