will my i7 3820 bottleneck GTX 1080?

[e.geric50]

will my i7 3820 bottleneck GTX 1080?

 

[bjornl]

nope

There are some few CPU intensive games which bottle neck on that CPU, but in no circumstances will that CPU be the source of a GPU bottle neck.

 

[e.geric50]

yea thanks is one of those games gta 5?

 

[bjornl]

yea thanks is one of those games gta 5?

It is a CPU pig, to be sure. I can't guarantee it won't bottle neck on your rig.

Run malwarebytes anti-malware
empty %temp% and %windir%\temp
check your startup apps with AUTORUNS by sysinternals (free from Microsoft)
Close background apps when gaming.

Those should help some.

 

[TJ Hooker]

What resolution?
4K -> no
1440p -> maybe a bit
1080p -> good chance it will

 

[e.geric50]

1080p

 

[TJ Hooker]

At 1080p your GTX 1080 should be able to pump at least 120 fps or higher in pretty much any game. You need a powerful CPU to keep up with high FPS like that, I would imagine your CPU would start to bottleneck in many games. However, unless you have a 144 Hz monitor, having that high fps is kind of pointless anyway, so you could always turn on DSR to render in 1440p or 4K and downsample for some powerful anti aliasing.

 

[e.geric50]

yea btw this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQG3HE2CfpY have i7 3820 at 4.7ghz (same as me) and gtx 1080 ti and it doesent bottleneck at 4k :0

 

[bignastyid]

Even at 1080p its not going the make the game unplayable. My 3820 has no problem in GTA V with a 980ti.

 

[TJ Hooker]

yea btw this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQG3HE2CfpY have i7 3820 at 4.7ghz (same as me) and gtx 1080 ti and it doesent bottleneck at 4k :0

Resolution has no impact on CPU usage but a huge impact on GPU usage. The higher the resolution, the less likely you are to have a CPU bottleneck. You didn't mention your CPU was overclocked, that would definitely help alleviate any bottleneck you might have at 1080p.

Edit: basically, a particular CPU will have a maximum fps it's capable of running at for each game, regardless off resolution and (most) graphics settings. Let's say your CPU can do 100 fps in GTA V (just making up a number here). If you're gaming at 4K, there's no way your GTX 1080 is going to be able to get 100 fps or higher, so you won't be limited by your CPU. At 1080p, your let's say your GTX 1080 is capable of 140 fps. Now you will be limited by your CPU, AKA CPU bottleneck. FYI every system will typically have a bottleneck somewhere, and it may vary based on game and settings. It's not an inherently bad thing that needs to be avoided.

 

[e.geric50]

Even at 1080p its not going the make the game unplayable. My 3820 has no problem in GTA V with a 980ti.

Did you overclock it?

 

[bjornl]

Even at 1080p its not going the make the game unplayable. My 3820 has no problem in GTA V with a 980ti.

Did you overclock it?

It plays no role in that. The bottlenecking that TJ Hooker mentioned is sort of misleading, though he is completely correct.

At 1080p the GPU can generate so many FPS that the CPU will not keep up. But if you look at the actual FPS being generated they are a useless value unless you have a 144hz monitor. If like most people you play on a 60hz monitor then you don't even want FPS above 60. So you can use fast-sync (in Nvida control panel) or MSI after burner (a free download) or V-Sync (built in to games, but the slowest FPS cap). Keeping your refresh rate and your FPS in sync eliminates tearing.

So the way to look at this in the most helpful way is:
Does this CPU keep the GPU from feeding the monitor 60 frames per second at whatever resolution? And that answer remains no. However there are still games which will bottle neck on that CPU.... But as I said, those are very few.