Question What Is The Best GPU That My PC Can Run At Its %100 Capacity?

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murat guler

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Aug 27, 2013
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Hi All

I have a pretty old PC and I want to replace its Nvidia GTX 970 GPU with a better GPU. My PC consists of....

- Asus Z170P Mainboard

- Intel I5 6600K CPU (OC @4.1 Ghz)

- 16 GB Kingston DDR4 2666 Mhz Ram

- 650W Glacial Power PSU

I want to learn, what is the best GPU that my PC can run at its %100 capacity? I don’t want to make a dead investment by purchasing a GPU that my PC can’t run at its %100 capacity.

Another question... As you know, some of the PC games emphasis on CPU and GPU in a balanced amount but some other games emphasis more on GPU and less on CPU. So, considering this second type of games, is it something logical to put a GPU in a PC which the general system can not always work its %100 capacity?

Thanks
 
The first limitation is how strong of a graphics card your 650w psu can power.
Here is a handy chart to give you some guidance on that:

PSU REQUIREMENTS - RealHardTechX

PSU REQUIREMENTS - RealHardTechX
www.realhardtechx.com
That might be a GTX3070 or a 6800.
Check tom's gpu hierarchy chart to see where your 970 fits and what would be a good jump,
www.tomshardware.com

GPU Benchmarks and Hierarchy 2023: Graphics Cards Ranked

We've run hundreds of GPU benchmarks on Nvidia, AMD, and Intel graphics cards and ranked them in our comprehensive hierarchy.
www.tomshardware.com www.tomshardware.com

The next question is if your cpu is strong enough to allow you to take advantage of a graphics card upgrade.
Try this simple test:
Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
This makes the graphics card loaf a bit.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

Lastly, you really don't want to run at 100% capacity of either cpu or gpu.
If you do, that resource will hold you back when demand exceeds that 100%.
 
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Hey there,

murat guler said:
I want to learn, what is the best GPU that my PC can run at its %100 capacity?
Click to expand...
in modern PC gaming your CPU is a little outdated. It will hold back a really modern GPU. The CPU sends pre-rendered frames to the GPU, and the GPU then displays it on screen with all the bells and whistles. A really new GPU will always be waiting on your CPU as it's just not fast enough to max out the GPU. So, in CPU bound games, the GPU may only be running at 60-70%.

There is a common misconception that if your GPU hits 99-100% all the time, then it's not working optimally and that's bad for performance. That is untrue. GPU's by design are meant to max out to 99-100% to get max FPS (after all that's the main reason for GPU's) If your GPU hit's 100% usage it does not need to dial back, or reduce any metric. Thats the design.

This is different for a CPU and also ram. When your CPU hits 100% usage, you will immediately notice that there is a problem. Your CPU has 4 core/4 threads. No slouch, but nowadays, games are configured to run on multicore chips 6 or more cores, and more threads too. Ram too, when it maxes out 100% starts uising the swap file/virtual mem on your SSD/HDD, which is much slower than ram. This also cause stuttering.

murat guler said:
s it something logical to put a GPU in a PC which the general system can not always work its %100 capacity?
Click to expand...
Not logical, but if you got say an RTX2060 or a 3060, you could transfer it to a new build. You current build is just getting dated now, and more and more often will lag behind for newer games, even with a newer GPU. Looking at a system over haul, might be something more logical to aim at.

General rule of thumb for GPU upgrades is to go a min of two tiers up.
 
@jojesa
This is my monitor...

https://www.asus.com/displays-desktops/monitors/gaming/vg248qe/

@geofelt
My PSU has 2 x 8 pins PCIe connectors

@Avro Arrow
This site says RX 6600 XT is the best GPU that my CPU doesn’t make bottleneck. Do you think the assesment of this site is reliable?

@Roland Of Gilead
I still think that a GPU upgrade like RX 6600 XT is the better option for me and it buys me some time before my next system renewal. After all, I am not a hardcore gamer, just a casual one. I don’t play PC games as much as my youth days.

@sid
This is my PSU...

https://bjorn3d.com/2008/09/glacialpower-gp-al650-650-watt-psu/

A pretty old one, from 2009.
 
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murat guler said:
@Avro Arrow
This site says RX 6600 XT is the best GPU that my CPU doesn’t make bottleneck. Do you think the assesment of this site is reliable?
Click to expand...
No, I don't think that it is reliable because I watched a YouTube video by TechDeals that demonstrates how a GPU as weak as the RX 6600 can be bottlenecked by an i9-10900K, a CPU that is far more potent than the i5-6600K. Like, it's not even close.

Here's the video that I'm talking about. At the 3:00 mark, he shows how the i9-10900K can bottleneck an RX 6600 at 1080p:
Since you have a 1080p monitor, this is quite relevant.
 
murat guler said:
@jojesa
This is my monitor...

https://www.asus.com/displays-desktops/monitors/gaming/vg248qe/

@geofelt
My PSU has 2 x 8 pins PCIe connectors

@Avro Arrow
This site says RX 6600 XT is the best GPU that my CPU doesn’t make bottleneck. Do you think the assesment of this site is reliable?

@Roland Of Gilead
I still think that a GPU upgrade like RX 6600 XT is the better option for me and it buys me some time before my next system renewal. After all, I am not a hardcore gamer, just a casual one. I don’t play PC games as much as my youth days.

@sid
This is my PSU...

https://bjorn3d.com/2008/09/glacialpower-gp-al650-650-watt-psu/

A pretty old one, from 2009.
Click to expand...
Your original question has no answer anybody that says different don't believe them they don't know much.
Different games need different amounts of video card. You can buy X card and it run 100% in one game but run 50% in another game. Games are very different some need more processor some need more video card then the whole thing changes depending on your in game settings.

See what I'm saying? Also never ever use a so called bottleneck calculator it's not even worth the time to go to the calculator site because of the same thing I stated above.

Your 970 is fairly old and a 6600XT would be about a 100% increase in video card performance.

About the only thing I agree with on most of the other post is buy a decent power supply also.
Other than that if you wish run some of your games with the video settings on LOW/OFF this is about all the FPS your processor can give you in that game you can then check benchmarks to see what card about matches that on max or high settings. Again don't ever expect all games to max out the card just not going to happen.

EDIT. reading some of the above post I would agree with some of it a 6600XT would be a good choice @ 300 US bucks.
Your not going to run all of it always but should be a good match.
 
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Avro Arrow said:
No, I don't think that it is reliable because I watched a YouTube video by TechDeals that demonstrates how a GPU as weak as the RX 6600 can be bottlenecked by an i9-10900K, a CPU that is far more potent than the i5-6600K. Like, it's not even close.

Here's the video that I'm talking about. At the 3:00 mark, he shows how the i9-10900K can bottleneck an RX 6600 at 1080p:
Since you have a 1080p monitor, this is quite relevant.
Click to expand...
One hand picked game with unknown settings. (probably everything low/off)

The part after that is a complete joke I think I don't even need to comment on that.

EDIT I love the YT you can hand pick / change settings to make any results you wish.
 
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Zerk2012 said:
Your original question has no answer anybody that says different don't believe them they don't know much.
Different games need different amounts of video card. You can buy X card and it run 100% in one game but run 50% in another game. Games are very different some need more processor some need more video card then the whole thing changes depending on your in game settings.

See what I'm saying? Also never ever use a so called bottleneck calculator it's not even worth the time to go to the calculator site because of the same thing I stated above.

Your 970 is fairly old and a 6600XT would be about a 100% increase in video card performance.

About the only thing I agree with on most of the other post is buy a decent power supply also.
Other than that if you wish run some of your games with the video settings on LOW/OFF this is about all the FPS your processor can give you in that game you can then check benchmarks to see what card about matches that on max or high settings. Again don't ever expect all games to max out the card just not going to happen.

EDIT. reading some of the above post I would agree with some of it a 6600XT would be a good choice @ 300 US bucks.
Your not going to run all of it always but should be a good match.
Click to expand...
I agree .
I have installed the RX 6600 and 6600XT on similar systems, since they can be found at good prices and do not required much power...
There is always a bottleneck somewhere...just enjoy gaming.
 
This type of question depends mostly upon the games you're planning on playing. The other part is do you want to buy something now that you'll likely use whenever you replace your system or not (if so I would generally recommend buying the most video card you can afford).

I would not trust the power supply you have with any modern video card. I don't think I'd put anything higher than a GTX 1070 in there with that PSU because of the split rails (10 series has stable power requirements and doesn't have as high of transient spikes as newer cards). If you cannot afford to buy a decent modern PSU then I'd suggest not upgrading anything until you can.
 

@Dark Lord of Tech​

Come on maaan, it still works fine with a Nvidia GTX 970. Don’t exaggerate :)​

@Avro Arrow​

It is an interesting video. However I think that, in this video, the bottlenecking of this great CPU with a moderate GPU like RX 6600 is something related with the game’s optimization or something like that. Because I9-10900 works at only around its %20 capacity. This problem can be overcome with an appropriate patch of the game. Anyhow, it is still an interesting video. Thank you.​

@Zerk2012​

It is an enlightening answer so thank you :)​

@The Stryker​

After the GPU upgrade, I want to test my old PSU with the new GPU first. If I have a stability problem, than obviously PSU renawal will be a must.​

 
I agree that it's only one game but it's not a new game. I also hadn't heard that Far Cry New Dawn was a CPU-heavy game like Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I just remember being shocked by it and I showed it to you because I would be remiss if I didn't.

I honestly would've thought that the guy was nuts if I didn't see it with my own eyes.
 
murat guler said:
I want to learn, what is the best GPU that my PC can run at its %100 capacity? I don’t want to make a dead investment by purchasing a GPU that my PC can’t run at its %100 capacity.
Click to expand...
Even with a 1060 in Battlefield V at a locked 60hz, an i7 8700K is going to be a better experience than a 6600K.
Unfortunately if you want to play recently released triple A titles then in my view you need at least 4 cores/8 threads. I think you will probably need a CPU upgrade. Did you have any particular games in mind?
 
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murat guler said:
I generally play game series like Assassins Creed, GTA, Elder Scrolls, Far Cry, Call of Duty. My choices will probably be similar in the future. I play at 1920x1080p resolution.
Click to expand...
its very simple, run any game with your current GPU, reduce resolution/game details to minimum, so that your GPU wont run at 100%
notice how much FPS you get, thats your FPS limit from CPU

once you get your new GPU, you can run at this FPS at much higher resolution/details

if you getting low FPS now at low res/details with low GPU utilisation, new GPU wont magicaly improve it, that being said, 60+fps should be playable
 
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