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CPU Bottlenecking System?

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neuen

neuen

Member
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Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Location
USA
I recently upgraded my video card from 8800 GTS 340MB to MSI R5770 Hawk Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5.

The problem is, after the upgrade, i noticed very minimal fps increases. GTA4 which could play at minimum resolution and graphics settings on the 8800 did not change one bit with the upgrade (except obviously it allowed me to push the setting up to the max settings but the game was unplayable).

Is my CPU bottlenecking my system and stunting any graphics increases I would receive from my HD5770? And if so should I return the GPU and upgrade the CPU or CPU/Mobo? (System specs below)

Motherboard: DFI LP DK 790FX-M2RS AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6GHz AM2 65W Dual-Core Black Edition
GPU: MSI R5770 Hawk Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
Memory: CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Hard Drives: 36GB 10000RPM and 80GB 7200RPM

For CPU only upgrade considering: MD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition 3.0GHz AM2+ 125W Quad-Core

Thanks for any help and recommendations
 
Gta4 is a cpu intensive game, poor cpu and the highest card available will not allow you to play this game at high settings.

Also, I don't think this game has been well optimized for pc,

I have x2 4890s which is the highest end 4 series, anddon my old 955 and overclocked, it ran poor, crysis ran better.
 
I was actually having problems with BFBC2 as well. With pretty low setting only getting up to about 22 FPS.
 
EarthDog said:
Keep your current card (5770) and upgrade the CPU.
Click to expand...

X2

Both those games are resource (cpu) pigs. Indeed I think your CPU is the bottleneck. It's also probably more pronounced with those two games as they have been ported over from consoles. It's all about the code.

With BFBC2 and a 4ghz e8600 runs one core darn near maxed out, barely touches the other core...fps are not the best. Runs better on a slower quad, uses a little bit of every core. Weird stuff, lol.
 
I also agree, get a faster CPU.
That AMD quad for $125 looks pretty good to me. If you can afford a C3 955 that'll likely OC further, but that may or may not be worth the money to you.
 
Bobnova said:
I also agree, get a faster CPU.
That AMD quad for $125 looks pretty good to me. If you can afford a C3 955 that'll likely OC further, but that may or may not be worth the money to you.
Click to expand...

C3 955 is AM3 isn't it? Which wouldn't work with my AM2+ I'm pretty sure, but would be the next step up. That AMD was pretty much top of the line I could find for AM2+ Sockets.

Also how far do you think I could get my current CPU OC'd; with stock voltages I got it to 3Ghz but it run VERY cool (35C i believe tops on full load).

I found if I bumped the multiplier any higher with stock voltages and speeds I got some serious instability; should i push the voltage to even it out or tinker with the memory speed.

Thanks again for all the help :clap:
 
AM3 CPUs will run in AM2+ boards if the motherboard manufacturer writes a BIOS update for them.

That being said, I'm pretty sure (though not 100% positive) that board will support the Phenom II 920 and 940BE - both are AM2+ chips. You should check with DFI for a list of supported CPUs ... ;)
 
neuen said:
Yea according to the latest bios it does support AM3. My question is would I need to get new DDR3 Ram or at least overclock my DDR2 800 Ram to use an AM3 processor.

The following is what the product page says about the AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 AM3 FSB : 800 MHz , Ratio : 16, 3.2GHz, L2:512KBx4,45nm, 125W,DDR3-1333/DDR2-1066,BE
Click to expand...

So this motherboard supports both DDr2 & DDr3? If so either will work. The link didn't really take me anywhere other than DFI's site.

AM3 CPUs have both DDr2 & DDr3 IMC (integrated memory controllers) so they are very flexible and will work with either. So if it was me, I spend all you got on the new CPU and run the snot out of your DDr2. Meanwhile start saving up for some DDr3 (and maybe a AM3 motherboard to match.)
 
spend all you got on the new CPU and run the snot out of your DDr2. Meanwhile start saving up for some DDr3 (and maybe a AM3 motherboard to match.)
Click to expand...

ya i think i will do that.
 
DFI has an updated BIOS to support the 955BE but I wouldn't count on that board supporting DDR3 RAM. I think that part about DDR3 RAM is just the CPU specification (and an old one at that), not the board spec ... ;)
 
Yea, I was wondering about that. I have seen a few mobos that have both ddr2 and ddr3 physical slots, but they are rare and generally suck, lol.
 
Ya good point. I saw that and I looked up supported memory and it does have faster speeds but they are all DDR2. So ya when I upgrade the motherboard eventually I will have to switch memory as well.
 
So I went with the AMD 955 Quad Core BE however now I've run into a new problem which is kinda strange. I'm using the same heatsink as the dual core. I cleaned a properly applied the arctic silver to my antec cpu fan, but now my cpu is idling around 40C apposed to the 25C it was running with the dual core.

Any suggestions for the huge heat bump?
 
Can you change your fan speed, also how do your games play now?:)

You might need a new high performance heatsink fan.
 
Last edited:
neuen said:
So I went with the AMD 955 Quad Core BE however now I've run into a new problem which is kinda strange. I'm using the same heatsink as the dual core. I cleaned a properly applied the arctic silver to my antec cpu fan, but now my cpu is idling around 40C apposed to the 25C it was running with the dual core.

Any suggestions for the huge heat bump?
Click to expand...
You might check the vCore setting if it's on Auto - a lot of BIOS's want to bump that vCore (above "stock" sometimes!) so it's something to check. Stock vCore is 1.35v and most of these processors can run stock speeds at less vCore than that. My 940BE would do 3.0 GHz (stock speed) at only 1.15 vCore, which ran very cool even at load.

The quad will be hotter then any dual-core, though, no way out of that. It's not just the 2 extra cores, it's also 6 Mb of L3 cache you're powering there ...
 
QuietIce said:
You might check the vCore setting if it's on Auto - a lot of BIOS's want to bump that vCore (above "stock" sometimes!) so it's something to check. Stock vCore is 1.35v and most of these processors can run stock speeds at less vCore than that. My 940BE would do 3.0 GHz (stock speed) at only 1.15 vCore, which ran very cool even at load.

The quad will be hotter then any dual-core, though, no way out of that. It's not just the 2 extra cores, it's also 6 Mb of L3 cache you're powering there ...
Click to expand...

Ya it currently is on auto and that might be whats doing it and I really didn't pay much attention to the voltage since it read the rest of the clocking setting correctly.

Also would the AMD Cool and Quiet have an adverse effect on the heatsink? I know with the dual core and had it disabled mostly for o/c purposes which I will most likely do when I begin (if I can reduce the heat) to o/c this cpu.

Thanks again for all the help!! :thup:
 
I don't think CnQ has a bad effect on anything except a very small performance hit and getting in the way of OC'ing (though many have managed to use it once an OC is achieved). CnQ can certainly reduce the overall temp but 100% is 100% load and nothing will change that ...
 
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