Will my i5 750 @ 2.67GHz bottleneck a GTX 970

[-Stevo]

Hi, I'm thinking of upgrading my setup, but I only have the budget to upgrade the GPU and CPU.

The main purpose of my rig is for pure gaming and I want to upgrade my 560ti to a 970.

My question is will my "i5 750" CPU bottleneck the 970 to where I will not get near the full potential of the card?

 

[margibso]

Yes a i5 750 will bottleneck a GTX 970. The degree to which it will depends on the game. If you like to play BF4 or other big multiplayer map shooters (Planetside, ARMA) it will be pretty sever. Highend games like Crysis 3, and Metro Last Light will also abuse it.

 

[iballew]

You should look into upgrading to an i7. What model motherboard do you have?

 

[-Stevo]

@margibso Yeah I want to be playing 90% of games on ultra. I know that wont be possible with the current CPU I have unfortunately, but I can currently run battlefield with low setting moderately well with my 560ti.

@iballew My current mobo is pretty bad also I believe this is it - http://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/P7P55D_LE/ (that's what CPU-Z says)

 

[Eximo]

i7-860 would be an interesting upgrade. Cost you between $80-90 on Ebay right now.

I don't think it would be too bad with just the i5-750. If you can overclock it, give that a try, and go ahead and get the GTX970. Worst case scenario, you need to upgrade, but in the meantime the GPU will still be there and will still be an improvement.

 

[Eximo]

@margibso Yeah I want to be playing 90% of games on ultra. I know that wont be possible with the current CPU I have unfortunately, but I can currently run battlefield with low setting moderately well with my 560ti.

@iballew My current mobo is pretty bad also I believe this is it - http://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/P7P55D_LE/ (that's what CPU-Z says)

That was quite a good motherboard for its time. And you will be able to overclock on that one.

 

[-Stevo]

i7-860 would be an interesting upgrade. Cost you between $80-90 on Ebay right now.

I don't think it would be too bad with just the i5-750. If you can overclock it, give that a try, and go ahead and get the GTX970. Worst case scenario, you need to upgrade, but in the meantime the GPU will still be there and will still be an improvement.

I'll have a look at the i7-860, my main concern is that the i5-750 would bottleneck it to where I wouldn't see much of a difference.

 

[-Stevo]

@margibso Yeah I want to be playing 90% of games on ultra. I know that wont be possible with the current CPU I have unfortunately, but I can currently run battlefield with low setting moderately well with my 560ti.

@iballew My current mobo is pretty bad also I believe this is it - http://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/P7P55D_LE/ (that's what CPU-Z says)

That was quite a good motherboard for its time. And you will be able to overclock on that one.

That's very good to know, will the 970 fit perfectly in my current motherboard with it being quite old now.

 

[rhysiam]

I'm with Eximo's suggestion to overclock. The best CPU upgrade you can pull is an i7-860, which only gives you a slight clock speed increase and hyper-threading. The latter offers very little to gaming and the former can likely be matched by an OC on your current CPU. It's always a bit of a risk going second hand, you never know if you get something that's been heavily OC'd for years.

My suggestion is to get a good CPU cooler that's compatible with both your current chipset and the new Intel chipset... most should be. That should get you a little longer out of your current build and then you can re-use the cooler if you decide to upgrade later.

People treat a CPU bottleneck as if it's a terrible thing. While it means for some games you could have bought a cheaper GPU and got the same performance (BF4 multi-player is definitely in this category), there's plenty of other games, like Tomb Raider for example, that aren't really affected by CPU at all (within reason of course!) Naturally in a perfect world it'll never happen, but as long as you're aware that some games your CPU won't allow the GPU to fully stretch it's legs and can still justify the investment, it's still a good purchase. Without doubt you'll get a better experience over your current 560ti that's for sure.

 

[-Stevo]

I'm with Eximo's suggestion to overclock. The best CPU upgrade you can pull is an i7-860, which only gives you a slight clock speed increase and hyper-threading. The latter offers very little to gaming and the former can likely be matched by an OC on your current CPU. It's always a bit of a risk going second hand, you never know if you get something that's been heavily OC'd for years.

My suggestion is to get a good CPU cooler that's compatible with both your current chipset and the new Intel chipset... most should be. That should get you a little longer out of your current build and then you can re-use the cooler if you decide to upgrade later.

People treat a CPU bottleneck as if it's a terrible thing. While it means for some games you could have bought a cheaper GPU and got the same performance (BF4 multi-player is definitely in this category), there's plenty of other games, like Tomb Raider for example, that aren't really affected by CPU at all (within reason of course!) Naturally in a perfect world it'll never happen, but as long as you're aware that some games your CPU won't allow the GPU to fully stretch it's legs and can still justify the investment, it's still a good purchase. Without doubt you'll get a better experience over your current 560ti that's for sure.

Thanks for the response I will be upgrading my current motherboard and CPU in the coming months.

I will most likely be getting a i7-4770k or a i7-4790k could you recommend some good motherboards to go with it please.

I found these bundles but I know very little about motherboards.

- http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-008-MS&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=2858
- http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-013-AS&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=2858
- http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-005-GI&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=2858

What are your opinions on these thanks.

 

[-Stevo]

Does anyone have any opinions on these cpu/motherboard parts?

- http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-008-MS&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=2858
- http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-013-AS&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=2858
- http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-005-GI&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=2858

 

[Eximo]

Those are all high end boards. When you get to that level you need to look at the features you plan to use. Most of them will overclock about the same with a given chip.

 

[-Stevo]

Those are all high end boards. When you get to that level you need to look at the features you plan to use. Most of them will overclock about the same with a given chip.

Thanks for the response, is there any cheaper boards you would recommend?

 

[Eximo]

Any Z97 board at or around $100 is pretty much interchangeable. Best overclocking at the least price is probably the Maximus Hero series from ASUS. Aside from the usual DOA, not seen anyone complain about any of the ROG boards.

Gigabyte Z97X SLI is about the cheapest I usually go when making a build. Offers all the basic features, plus SLI if that ever becomes a factor.