Do i have a bottleneck ?

[briggs]

Hello
i would like to ask you guys if i have a potential bottleneck

System Specs
Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit

Motherbord- Intel DH55TC

Cpu- i5 3.20GHZ

Ram-6 gigs 1333Mhz

GPU-GTX660 OC edition 2048mb DDR3

 

[Chevron]

Hard drive? SSD?

 

[briggs]

Hard drive -Samsung HD 103SI ATA

 

[Totempole]

CPU could be a bottleneck, the old I5's are much slower than the newer Sandy/Ivy Bridge CPU's.

 

[Dean]

Hard Drive will always be a bottleneck in modern PCs.

 

[Totempole]

Hard Drive will always be a bottleneck in modern PCs.

Hard drives are unlikely to impact gaming performance in terms of framerate, an SSD will only speed up load times.

 

[Chevron]

In that case you need an SSD. The hard drive is your bottleneck.

 

[Chevron]

CPU could be a bottleneck, the old I5's are much slower than the newer Sandy/Ivy Bridge CPU's.

I don't think you know you what "bottleneck" means. Why not tell him his graphics card is slower than a titan?

 

[EmileS]

Everyone rushing to conclusions...

briggs, why ask this question? Are you experiencing any difficulty in certain applications or games? What do you do on your PC on a day-to-day basis? You can't pinpoint a bottleneck with the components you have, bottlenecks will differ with different applications or use. Especially since all your components are decent(ish). If you had an Pentium 4 with a GTX660, then there is a clear indication where that will be, but not in your case.

Also, it will be a lot more helpful if you could provide us with a full list of components (with model names).

If you are a gamer, it is most likely the CPU. The GTX660 OC will still be able to punch the numbers on 1080p without breaking too much sweat.

If you are just getting frustrated with how slow your software loads (Windows, MS Office, etc.), it is more linked to the HDD. Get an SSD and install Windows and your programs onto the SSD, it will make a massive difference in using those programs and loading Windows. If you don't like the idea of an SSD (or don't have any cash to spend), then do a format and reinstall Windows, without all those extra programs you don't use... <-- This won't make much of a difference.

If you are doing more specific things like Video editing or Graphic design. Then we are talking a different ballgame.

Are you looking to upgrade a certain component to improve the PC performance for your intended use? If so, how much are you willing to spend (your budget)?

Upgrading you CPU will force you to upgrade your motherboard as well, which is a good thing for all the extra features you can get. For what you have at the moment, the GPU seems like the only component not to upgrade on that PC, and the RAM.

 

[Totempole]

I don't think you know you what "bottleneck" means. Why not tell him his graphics card is slower than a titan?

I was under the impression that a bottleneck referred to the component(s) which hold the system back from performing optimally for a certain task. My answer referred to gaming performance, because a gaming graphics card was included in the question.

The CPU is what's holding this system back the most in terms of gaming performance. The performance per core of the I5-650 is not very good by today's standards.

 

[Dean]

Hard drives are unlikely to impact gaming performance in terms of framerate, an SSD will only speed up load times.

Yours is the only mention I see of gaming in this thread... there is more to PCs than gaming

 

[Totempole]

Yours is the only mention I see of gaming in this thread... there is more to PCs than gaming

True, but what else would you buy a GTX 660 for? HD Video Playback?
Would be a little overkill for that.

I believe EmileS made a reference to gaming as well in his post.

 

[bekdik]

You will always have a bottleneck, but whether it needs tio be addressed is the question.

 

[Aghori]

This is the best kind of bottleneck!





View attachment 88963

 

[Dean]

True, but what else would you buy a GTX 660 for? HD Video Playback?
Would be a little overkill for that.

I believe EmileS made a reference to gaming as well in his post.

Hey don't tune just cause I like my HD video playing back with at least 2GB of graphics RAM

 

[cerebus]

In a true sense there isn't really a bottleneck in a PC - it's a parallel environment not an upstream one. A faster cpu will give faster benchmarks; a slower cpu or gpu will give slower benchmarks. There isn't a point at which the threshold of performance for one component will have been reached so that it's pointless to upgrade because you're on full throttle. That said, yes change your CPU please.

 

[Chevron]

I was under the impression that a bottleneck referred to the component(s) which hold the system back from performing optimally for a certain task. My answer referred to gaming performance, because a gaming graphics card was included in the question.

The CPU is what's holding this system back the most in terms of gaming performance. The performance per core of the I5-650 is not very good by today's standards.

His CPU though is still more than good enough to keep up with a 660. He'd need something much faster to be CPU bound.

 

[Chevron]

What's with all the people saying upgrade CPU?

Have you actually seen any gaming benchmarks?

The only "slow" thing in his pc is his hard drive. Then next graphics card. And lastly CPU.

 

[cerebus]

What's with all the people saying upgrade CPU?

Have you actually seen any gaming benchmarks?

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/144?vs=287

Just as a rough-and-ready guide. That CPU is now 3 generations old, and 1156 was a slower mainstream version of 1366, and even by 1156 standards the 650 was piddling.

 

[Chevron]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/144?vs=287

Just as a rough-and-ready guide. That CPU is now 3 generations old, and 1156 was a slower mainstream version of 1366, and even by 1156 standards the 650 was piddling.

Did you even look at the link you sent?

In Crysis Warhead there's a 4fps difference between his and the latest and greatest and the game where's a 50% difference his CPU already gives him 100fps.

And this is at 1680*1050. At higher resolutions there'll be even less of a difference.

Once games start going at 30FPS on his CPU then maybe he can look at upgrading. But he's graphics card will be the bottleneck long before that happens.

It sounds like you guys want him to upgrade just for the sake of it.

Just because it's older, doesn't mean it stops being good enough.