560 Ti going to bottleneck a Core2Duo E6600?

[se124]

Hi all,
I am currently at that point in time where my PC is starting to struggle on the newer games - graphical lag and the like. My current example is that RIFT on full detail will be very jerky at times. I would like to be able to play games like The Witcher 2 on full ramped up detail as well.

My current system is:
Core2Duo E6600 (2.4ghz)
2Gb RAM (Yes I am in the dark ages...)
8800 GTX
SLI Mobo
700W PSU

I had initially thought that by upgrading my GPU I would get the biggest upgrade and would be able to play most games in full detail, however will the CPU prove to be a serious bottleneck?

My current plan is to buy 2x Asus 560Ti DirectCUII GFX cards for SLI this month. I would then be upgrading my CPU/Mobo and RAM to an i5 Sandybridge with 8gb ram within another 1-2 months. Am I likely to see much of an upgrade getting the SLI setup? Will the single 560Ti be bottlenecked or only the SLI setup? Should I swap it round and get the CPU/RAM first?

Regards,
Sean

 

[Jodiuh]

It's really going to depend on the game. For example, L4D2 ran pretty well on an E8400, 4GB, and a 260 216. Then the Bad Company 2 beta came out and it ran like garbage. Upgraded to a GTX 470 and it still ran like garbage. Upgraded to an i5 760 and it finally ran well. I've seen it use 86% of a 4 core chip!

The other thing I wanna caution you about's 560 Ti SLI if they're 1 GB models. While playing the BF3 beta, I ran out of VRAM on the highest settings and the game started freezing.

I guess I would first start by seeing if Rift's still jerky after moving settings down to low. If it's still running rough, then it's probably CPU bound.

I looked around and found this article on optimizing for quads: http://www.brileykenney.com/blog/?p=482

I also saw one poster claim much better performance going dual to quad. And another going from Phenom to i5.

The short of it's that I'd probably wait until you can get everything if I were you. Prices will go down, maybe even a new GPU, but most importantly, you won't have any surprises. Everything will just work as it should.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Correct, games like BC2 or RO2....it will be a bottleneck.

Most other games, shouldn't be an issue.

I just upgraded from E8400 and that was a huge bottleneck (I didn't realize until I upgraded)

 

[toyota]

basically any game that needs a gtx560 ti will be severally limited by your cpu. in many cases you will not even get half of what a card like that can do. and not only is it a bottleneck for any decent card but its a bottleneck just in general. bit will certainly cause some poor playable experiences in some games especially at settings a gtx560 ti can use. heck an E6600 barely meets minimum requirements for many games and some game cannot even do that.

gtx560 ti sli would be laughable on an E6600. best case scenario is you getting maybe getting almost half of what setup can do. on average you will likely not even get one third. in fact you have a pretty good chance of getting worse performance with gtx560 ti sli then with a single card due to all of the cpu overhead.

and 2gb of ram will not cut it for some modern games so dont expect smooth performance there.

 

[exar333]

Your CPU and RAM are holding you back. You could even just get an i3 2100, 8GB DDR3, and a P68/Z68 MB for likely <$300. That would be a huge upgrade, and you could pop-in a faster IB CPU later. Or go for the gusto and get a 2500k now.

2GB RAM was low a couple years ago for gaming, it's really low now. DDR3 is so cheap right now, that less than 8GB just doesnt make sense anymore.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

It's really going to depend on the game. For example, L4D2 ran pretty well on an E8400, 4GB, and a 260 216. Then the Bad Company 2 beta came out and it ran like garbage. Upgraded to a GTX 470 and it still ran like garbage. Upgraded to an i5 760 and it finally ran well. I've seen it use 86&#37; of a 4 core chip!

As an aside, my experience with the E8400 and BC2 was completely different -- I had an E8400 @ 4 Ghz with 8 GB of RAM and an 8800 GTS 512 and was surprised how well BC2 (the released and patched version, not beta) played with most of the settings on high. I had some occasional stuttering that I traced to lack of video RAM and texture swapping and when I upgraded to the 6870 with 1 GB of RAM, it solved that issue. I upgraded to a 2600K earlier this month but in all honestly, my E8400 system probably could've lasted me another 6 months to a year.

OP, I agree with the advice of others here. Even if you kept your current system, 2 GB of RAM is way too low and if you're using a system that uses DDR2 RAM, I wouldn't waste money on upgrading it with more RAM. In fact, I'd recommend the opposite approach -- I'd upgrade to the SB and 8 GB of RAM now and then hold out for the video cards a little longer. If you have a Microcenter or Frys nearby, check out their combo deals.

New cards are going to be released around the holidays or shortly thereafter, so if you can wait a couple of months for video cards, there may be new offerings or at a minimum, the 560 prices might be considerably lower.

 

[happy medium]

cpu, ram first, then buy a new gpu.

 

[Jodiuh]

As an aside, my experience with the E8400 and BC2 was completely different...surprised how well BC2 (the released and patched version, not beta) played with most of the settings on high.

I knew a guy that played it "well" on a 9600 GT. So I guess it really depends on everyone's own definition of "well". Well, my definition of "well" is 60 FPS minimum, 90 FPS average, High detail, 8x MSAA, and absolutely no stuttering/hitching of any kind whatsoever. "Well." <---looks weird now, lol!

...Microcenter or Frys nearby, check out their combo deal...

I have lived down the road from a Fry's since 06, but sadly, they haven't had a good combo deal in years. Whereas MC has $150 2500K's, $100 boards, $400 580's. Not to mention a MUCH wider selection of EVERYTHING PC. The last one I went to in Missouri? or was it Oklahoma? had an ENTIRE isle of water cooling junk. I had/have no interest in it whatsoever, but it was pretty cool to stuff typically only seen on the boutique cooling sites.

...wait a couple of months for video cards, there may be new offerings or at a minimum, the 560 prices might be considerably lower.

This. 1000 times, this.

 

[se124]

Thanks for all of the advice folks. I had a feeling this might be the outcome but wanted confirmation. Looking at going for an i5 2500K, Asrock P67 Extreme 4 Mobo and 8gb RAM instead of the GPU's then. Not 100&#37; on the mobo yet, but this one seems to be fairly well reviewed. I'll take a look at what the GPU market is like a couple of months down the road.

 

[Jodiuh]

Yucky realtek LAN.

ASUS P8Z68-V PRO w/ the Intel LOM would be my pick...mmmm. I'm a total Asus board fanboy though, haah!

 

[mrjoltcola]

2GB of DDR2 is about the price of a large pizza, or assuming you are running 32-bit OS, then 1GB is about the price of a medium pizza.

There is no point in evaluating the performance of a PC when you are low on RAM, though most likely, your avg FPS won't improve much, but you'll see less hitching, and at least the hitching you will see won't be RAM, so you can be sure it is CPU or GPU related.

 

[Jodiuh]

2GB of DDR2 is about the price of a large pizza...

I paid 7 pizzas for my G.Skill's back in 07...a piece. :'(

 

[Denithor]

Stick with the Z68 motherboards.

And I'll suggest - until you get your other parts, try overclocking your E6600 and see if it helps smooth out your game jerkiness. A stock E6600 cannot really push an 8800GTX fully. Have a feeling you will be surprised how much improvement the 2500K/RAM is going to yield.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I have lived down the road from a Fry's since 06, but sadly, they haven't had a good combo deal in years. Whereas MC has $150 2500K's, $100 boards, $400 580's. Not to mention a MUCH wider selection of EVERYTHING PC. The last one I went to in Missouri? or was it Oklahoma? had an ENTIRE isle of water cooling junk. I had/have no interest in it whatsoever, but it was pretty cool to stuff typically only seen on the boutique cooling sites.

The closest MC to me is about 2 hours away in Cincy, and I have seriously contemplated driving over there for a few of their sales.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Thanks for all of the advice folks. I had a feeling this might be the outcome but wanted confirmation. Looking at going for an i5 2500K, Asrock P67 Extreme 4 Mobo and 8gb RAM instead of the GPU's then. Not 100% on the mobo yet, but this one seems to be fairly well reviewed. I'll take a look at what the GPU market is like a couple of months down the road.

Go with a Z68 board unless you get a huge price break for going P67 and don't think you'll ever need SSD caching or the onboard GPU of the SB.

 

[Termie]

I agree with everyone's opinion that your e6600 is topped out - your current 8800gtx could in fact be bottlenecked by the CPU in some situations, as Denithor mentioned. An upgrade of the GPU alone is definitely not going to get you anywhere.

As for z68 boards, there's a very good deal on an Asrock z68 board right here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2198217

By the way, when you upgrade, definitely include an SSD in your budget - even if it's just a 20GB SSD for caching with that z68 board.

 

[gramboh]

If you can OC that CPU to at least 3.4GHz, a single 560Ti will be a nice upgrade, SLI will be massively bottlenecked, but running at 2.4GHz you are going to be hugely limited in most games. About 3 years ago, I used to have an E6600 @ 3.2GHz with a GTX280 and upgraded to a Q6700 @ 3.3GHz, even then it was a boost in games. I recently put a single 560Ti in which was a noticeable improvement, but I know I am still CPU constrained in CPU intensive games.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Upgrade CPU/mobo/RAM and get a single 560 Ti. Then if you still want more performance get a 2nd card when funds permit. Though I find it unlikely you will as the initial upgrade is massive.