Will a Q9300 bottleneck a GTX 460?

[Dryst999]

So I have an old HP Elite Pavillion m9550f desktop that I got back in 2009 for cheap that has a

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.5GHz - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-043-_-Product
8gb DDR2 800 (PC2-6400)
Radeon 4850 512mb
Piece of doodoo 460wat OEM power supply


The 4850 has always ran hot getting up to 90+ under load and idling in the 50's, lately though it's idling in the 80's and getting up to 120 under load unless I ramp the fan up to 100% at all times in which it idles at 60 and gets to mid 90's under load. I've made sure there was 0 dust and have applied some fresh artic paste to the GPU's heatsink and reinstalled the drivers. It's still doing the same thing so I imagine the card or power supply is going bad.


Performance wise i'm actually pretty happy with my PC. It's plenty fast and handles all the games I play (Left 4 Dead 2, WoW, Battlefield 2) on high settings with good FPS, the only thing that has always disgusted me about this PC is the airflow inside the case and the horrible temps.


Right now i'm debating on pulling out a few more years on this PC with a new GPU/Powersupply or just building a completely new machine. My biggest concern is my CPU bottlenecking any of the newer cards. The Q9300 isn't a bad CPU but the mobo that came with the PC doesn't allow for overclocking.


I'm looking at getting this GTX 460 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127510

Not sure on the power supply yet, i'm probably going to get something compatible with i5/i7 for future builds. Will my current setup bottleneck this card? If it will greatly hinder performance for the 460 I will probably just build a completely new rig, if not I think I might be cheap and upgrade what I got. Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[Termie]

Your clockspeed will bottleneck you in older games for sure. In modern games that use more than two cores, you'll get satisfactory performance with a GTX460.

That being said, the GTX460 is EOL and is no longer competitively priced. I'd cross it off your list for that reason, but also because it may be too power-hungry for your stock power supply.

Instead, I'd recommend an HD5770, like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102873. It will run cool, won't stress your power supply, and will still be up to 50% faster than your 4850. Plus it's much cheaper right now than a GTX460.

If you feel you really want to spend more money, get an HD6850 (such as this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102908). Another great option is this fantastically priced HD5850: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102932

Both cards would be bottlenecked, just like a GTX460, but both are also cheaper, faster, and use less power than a GTX460.

 

[MrWizzard]

Don't worry about it. The amount of bottlenecking would really not be something you have to worry about. Yes your CPU would be a bottleneck but the impact is so small don't worry about it.

Just be sure to get a good power supply. Have fun.

 

[tweakboy]

HELLO NO!

Your going to get all the frames per second the card dishes out

If he had 2 dual core then thats a problem. But 4 cores PLus if he didnt OC it would be a bit of a bottleneck,, other then that its fine,, dont worry it will fly , you wont believe how much faster the 460 is compared to other video card you have now. Thanks

A Quad especially OCed ,, should you can take that to 3.6Mhz .. thx

 

[nanaki333]

HELLO NO!

Your going to get all the frames per second the card dishes out

If he had 2 dual core then thats a problem. But 4 cores PLus if he didnt OC it would be a bit of a bottleneck,, other then that its fine,, dont worry it will fly , you wont believe how much faster the 460 is compared to other video card you have now. Thanks

A Quad especially OCed ,, should you can take that to 3.6Mhz .. thx

he has an HP so i doubt he can OC

 

[Dryst999]

Yes i'm unable to OC which I didn't realize until after I bought the machine... I got it for $500 in 2009 which was a steal back then, first machine i've gotten that I didn't build myself so I didn't realize that you couldn't OC it =(

 

[happy medium]

Dryst999, in case i missed it, what resolution is your monitor?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Instead, I'd recommend an HD5770, like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102873. It will run cool, won't stress your power supply, and will still be up to 50% faster than your 4850. Plus it's much cheaper right now than a GTX460.

The 5770 is a good suggestion, but are you certain that the 5770 is 50% faster than a Hd4850? I thought that they were roughly equivalent speeds, although the 5770 is DX11.

 

[happy medium]

but are you certain that the 5770 is 50% faster than a Hd4850?

I would say more like 15% faster. A 4850 is about = to a 5750.
I dont think a 5770 is a good upgrade in this case.

 

[lavaheadache]

HELLO NO!

Your going to get all the frames per second the card dishes out

If he had 2 dual core then thats a problem. But 4 cores PLus if he didnt OC it would be a bit of a bottleneck,, other then that its fine,, dont worry it will fly , you wont believe how much faster the 460 is compared to other video card you have now. Thanks

A Quad especially OCed ,, should you can take that to 3.6Mhz .. thx

Tweak wants you to downclock your processor down to 3.6mhz. I wouldn't take his advice i doubt you could even get it that low anyways.

 

[Termie]

The 5770 is a good suggestion, but are you certain that the 5770 is 50% faster than a Hd4850? I thought that they were roughly equivalent speeds, although the 5770 is DX11.

I said "up to" 50% faster to indicate that that was a maximum. In fact it's usually about 30%: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/177?vs=172

I would say more like 15% faster. A 4850 is about = to a 5750.
I dont think a 5770 is a good upgrade in this case.

No, it's much more than 15% faster. Even the 5750 (which you once owned) was faster than a 4850: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/177?vs=173

And remember, the OP said he's happy with the performance of his card, but given the temps, it's clearly malfunctioning and if it regularly runs over 100C, it will quickly fail. For his purposes, an HD5770 is a good replacement for a faulty card in a system with a limited power supply and a CPU that cannot be overclocked.

Either way, a GTX460 is the wrong choice right now for his system (and note that I have one and like it). It's too expensive, and the HD6850 would be more in the right power use range for his PSU (which while 460w, is probably a weak 460w).

 

[Dryst999]

Dryst999, in case i missed it, what resolution is your monitor?

28inch 1900x1280...


Yeh the 5770 looks like a good card but since i'm going to buying a new one I want a little better performance increase than it would give, I don't mind spending $150-200. Anyone know which runs cooler... the GTX 460 1gb or the HD6850? The airflow is bad in my case so cooler is better even if the performance increase is slightly lower.



Edit:
Actually nvm, I see the Aandtech benchmark link now... that should work thanks!

 

[nanaki333]

i'd say the gtx 460 would be the better option in terms of performance and cooling. you have a ton of non-reference design cards with very nice cooling on them.

 

[Termie]

28inch 1900x1280...


Yeh the 5770 looks like a good card but since i'm going to buying a new one I want a little better performance increase than it would give, I don't mind spending $150-200. Anyone know which runs cooler... the GTX 460 1gb or the HD6850? The airflow is bad in my case so cooler is better even if the performance increase is slightly lower.

Technically, the GTX460 runs cooler in most configurations, but it also uses more power, so it puts out more heat. I'm also not comfortable with your PSU in this application. Under full load, it can use 55w more than an HD6850: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/313?vs=291

The HD6850 uses essentially the same amount of power as an HD4850 while delivering almost twice the performance. If you want to spend $150, that's the way to go. The modern cooler designs are far superior to the single-slot cooler you likely have on your HD4850. Don't worry about the heat output of the 6850 - it will not strain your system.

 

[happy medium]

28inch 1900x1280...

gtx460 or 6850 whichever is cheaper. Your psu will power either, rather easily.

You might want to wait for the gtx560 non ti, it should be released in a few weeks. At the very least you might find the gtx460/6850 a little cheaper by then.

 

[RussianSensation]

Core 2 Quad 9300 will certainly bottleneck a GTX460 in some games.

Core 2 Quad 9400 + GTX460 = Review

Even at 1920x1080, the performance is often half of what a modern processor can deliver. I wouldn't consider a faster card.

 

[happy medium]

Core 2 Quad 9300 will certainly bottleneck a GTX460 in some games.

I ask myself can a q9300 run any modern game well (above 30fps)? Answer is yes.
ARe most games gpu or cpu limited? GPU limited is the answer.

With most games (95&#37 will I actually see a performance difference when running a q9300 vs a core i7? the answer is no.

If I had a q9300 cpu @1080p res. , what would be the best solution to get the most out of MORE games? A faster video card or a cpu upgarde? Comming from a 4850 like the OP, give me a faster overkill gpu anyday.

I can downclock my q9550 to 2.5 with my gtx460 at stock and run any modern game just fine @ 1080p that I play. My gtx 460 is as fast as a gtx560/5870 so the overclock helps me.

I remember testing Far cry 2 with my cpu @ 2.1 and my 5750 would still gain fps when I overclocked it to 5770 speeds @ 1600x1200.

Which tells me my q9550 at 2.1 can push a 5770 just fine @ 1600x1200.
I'm sure it can push a gtx460 at 2.5, especially at 1900x1080 with high detail levels.

 

[Dryst999]

Thanks for the help guys, I think i'm going to go ahead and get a 6850, it looks to match what i'm looking for and will be a decent card to x-fire with in a new build next year if I decide to scrap the rest of my PC.

So last question, I couldn't find the dimensions of the 6850 anywhere on newegg... anyone know if it's larger than the 4850? Worried about room in my case.

 

[happy medium]

Thanks for the help guys, I think i'm going to go ahead and get a 6850, it looks to match what i'm looking for and will be a decent card to x-fire with in a new build next year if I decide to scrap the rest of my PC.

So last question, I couldn't find the dimensions of the 6850 anywhere on newegg... anyone know if it's larger than the 4850? Worried about room in my case.

gOOD CHOICE. :thumbsup:

 

[VirtualLarry]

So last question, I couldn't find the dimensions of the 6850 anywhere on newegg... anyone know if it's larger than the 4850? Worried about room in my case.

HD6870 is definately larger than HD4850 single-slot reference design, I don't know if the HD6850 is shorter or not than the HD6870.

 

[FalseChristian]

The GTX 460 1GB is much faster than a Radeon HD 5770. It's about equal to a 5850 and the 460 overclocks very high. Also with nVidia you can edit and add any profile you want.

 

[happy medium]

So last question, I couldn't find the dimensions of the 6850 anywhere on newegg... anyone know if it's larger than the 4850? Worried about room in my case.

on average they are about 9 inches depending on the brand.
The gtx460 is about an inch shorter.

Any peticular reason you picked a 6850? Why not this factory overclocked ,twin fan Gigabyte gtx460 for 160$ AR?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...25352&cm_re=gtx460_1gb-_-14-125-352-_-Product

 

[OCGuy]

No, that thing is faster than most AMD chips

 

[Termie]

on average they are about 9 inches depending on the brand.
The gtx460 is about an inch shorter.

Any peticular reason you picked a 6850? Why not this factory overclocked ,twin fan Gigabyte gtx460 for 160$ AR?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-352-_-Product

A factory overclocked GTX460 will use probably 40-50w more on average than an HD6850. I really don't think we can recommend that unless we know the specs on his PSU. He most definitely won't have two PCIe power connectors, and using an adapter on that PSU might be taking a chance depending on how the rails are configured.

Here's his system: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883107870.

By the way, the Sapphire HD6850 is 8.5", and a reference GTX460 is 8.25". Most GTX460 models are probably in the same ballpark (but not shorter).

OP - if you open up your case, you should be able to read the label on the PSU - let us know what the 12v rail rating is.

 

[Dryst999]

on average they are about 9 inches depending on the brand.
The gtx460 is about an inch shorter.

Any peticular reason you picked a 6850? Why not this factory overclocked ,twin fan Gigabyte gtx460 for 160$ AR?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-352-_-Product

6850 draws less power... after doing some more research on my PSU it actually isn't that bad, if I can keep from upgrading it that will save me another 70+

I'm getting off work soon, will update my PSU information then.