GeForce Bottleneck?

[DogSong]

Hey guys, I currently have a Pentium D915 at 2.8 GHz, and I want to get a GeForce 9800 GT 1GB and I was wonder at what point would it bottleneck on games like Mafia II, Farming Simulator 2013, Left 4 Dead 2, and Arma II? Thanks!

 

[Taylorig]

Hey guys, I currently have a Pentium D915 at 2.8 GHz, and I want to get a GeForce 9800 GT 1GB and I was wonder at what point would it bottleneck on games like Mafia II, Farming Simulator 2013, Left 4 Dead 2, and Arma II? Thanks!

Has i have said before it's more down to what you are trying to run as to whether or not the GPU or the CPU is the contributing Bottleneck. Don't get to hung up on bottlenecking. Just try the games and monitor your CPU/GPU usage with programs such as MSI Afterburner/EVGA Precision and watch what percentage of you GPU is being used.

If let's say you are playing ArmA II and you notice only 50% of your GPU being used. That signifies that your CPU is holding it back. Basically you want to be seeing somewhere in the 90%+ region of your GPU being utilized. But on the other hand Arma II is very much CPU dependent and not that well optimized in all fairness.

For instance on my old system with a Q6600@3.2GHz and a GTX 560 i would see around 50 - 60% GPU usage. Now on my i7 2600@3.5GHz and the same GTX 560 i see 99% GPU usage more or less constantly.

So yea. Don't worry to much about bottlenecks. Just try the games and if they aren't running to well then back off some settings etc.

 

[DogSong]

Has i have said before it's more down to what you are trying to run as to whether or not the GPU or the CPU is the contributing Bottleneck. Don't get to hung up on bottlenecking. Just try the games and monitor your CPU/GPU usage with programs such as MSI Afterburner/EVGA Precision and watch what percentage of you GPU is being used.

If let's say you are playing ArmA II and you notice only 50% of your GPU being used. That signifies that your CPU is holding it back. Basically you want to be seeing somewhere in the 90%+ region of your GPU being utilized. But on the other hand Arma II is very much CPU dependent and not that well optimized in all fairness.

For instance on my old system with a Q6600@3.2GHz and a GTX 560 i would see around 50 - 60% GPU usage. Now on my i7 2600@3.5GHz and the same GTX 560 i see 99% GPU usage more or less constantly.

So yea. Don't worry to much about bottlenecks. Just try the games and if they aren't running to well then back off some settings etc.

Okay, update. I took 2 PSUs and wired them together, for power for my video card. I ordered the geforce 9800 akimbo for $35, and it should be here Thursday

 

[BikerEcho]

I took 2 PSUs and wired them together, for power for my video card.

i think your next upgrade should be a new computer.

 

[DogSong]

i think your next upgrade should be a new computer.

Nope, my next upgrade will be a 600 Watt PSU so I don't have to use 2 PSU's.

 

[BikerEcho]

well that would work aswell

 

[DogSong]

well that would work aswell

I just thought it was kinda ingenious to wire them together They both work fine!

 

[DogSong]

Update: The Geforce 9800 Akimbo is installed and working like a dream, but CPU is junk so will be upgrading to Core 2 Duo E8600

 

[BK_123]

Good idea, It should run better with that in there. If you mobo supports it I'd go for a quad core.

 

[DogSong]

Good idea, It should run better with that in there. If you mobo supports it I'd go for a quad core.

Sorry dude, no quad core :/ I checked into that already . Bummer. I thought about flashing the bios, but I was told its risky :/