What is the best GPU can i use and avoid bottlenecking?

[Austin1]

Hi,
i was wondering what the best GPU i can get for my computer without bottlenecking my CPU??

I have a core 2 quad q6660 (2.4 GHZ) and a intel dg45id motherboard... what would be the best graphics card i would be able to get without it bottlenecking my CPU???

I plan on upgrading my PSU to atleast 500W( currently only have a 380W PSU).. and want to be able to play atleast medium or high on some games.

thanks in advance

 

[Thanatos Telos]

The 7850 would probably be the best if you can OC. If not, the 7790 would work as well.

 

[photonboy]

Firstly, games VARY by how much the CPU and GPU usage is, so some games might be severely bottlenecked with an HD7870 and others might not be very much. I don't have exact details on that.

PCMARK:
Your CPU: about 3000
FX-4100: about 4000
i7-4770K: about 10,000

So there will definitely be bottlenecking.

Secondly,
AMD has a Never Settle package now which is very interesting. You can one game with an HD7770/90 two with an HD7850/70 or THREE with an HD7950/70 so it's difficult to recommend which card to get. You can find an HD7950 for about $240. Sure you'll be severely bottlenecked at times, but you get three games (might have to be careful about choosing though due to your CPU).

If you get THIS HD7770 it comes with an adapter which your current 380W should be able to power. I'd probably need more specs but I calculated that a different CPU and this HD7770 used about 18Amps of power from the 12V line. If you had a minimum of 24Amps I'd say you should be fine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202011

HD7950:
If you have THREE SLOTS, this is a good card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121716

A good 3-slot card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202026

Just remember some games will be very bottlenecked by your CPU. You can often Google to find out how CPU dependent a game is. Far Cry 3 for example likely is. Dirt 3/Showdown likely aren't as much.

If it wasn't for the three games, I would not recommend an HD7950. And remember you need a better PSU. As well, you can look at the HD7850/70 cards but they also require a better PSU. An HD7770/90 is about as far as you can go with 380Watts (and I can't confirm your PSU will actually work as they all vary slightly).

 

[photonboy]

CPU dependency:
Bronze: Dirt 3 or Dirt Showdown recommended

Silver: two of-> Dirt 3, Dirt Showdown, or DMC

Gold: three of-> Dirt 3, Dirt Showdown, DMC, or Tomb Raider

For Gold I'd recommend one of the Dirt games, DMC and Tomb Raider.

 

[Austin1]

Thanks guys for the help

I think im going to serrle with going with the radeon 7770 for now.. i plan on building a custom gaming pc soon and just want toget a decent gpu to play my game at least on medium..(been playing world of tanks). Dont know if it is a cpu based or gpu based game.. the 7770 should atleast be better than the gt 620 i am currently using. Only can play low graphics with that..

 

[photonboy]

World of Tanks would play much better with the HD7770 since it's fairly graphically intensive. CPU usage in games like this often increases significantly during battles as the CPU calculates the firing exchanges.

StarCraft II is similar. It has both a CPU and GPU benchmark (CPU for larger battles) so if your system is balanced you can actually be GPU-bottlenecked at some point then CPU-bottlenecked later.

It's always best to run a game SMOOTHER rather than have it look better but stutter/lag (i.e. below 30FPS). You may even wish to try RadeonPro and the HALF VSYNC method to synch to 30FPS and see if that is a good compromise for you.