Bottlenecking?

[BlackHoleSon]

So i have always been known for having a lower end computer, until 5 weeks ago. i saved up and spent a total of $584 dollars on my new system, and while i say it was worth it, and i love my system, it may not be performing up to its full potential.

I think my CPU may be bottlenecking my video card a little bit. if so, i would like recommendations for a more suitable AMD CPU.

Specifications

GPU: ATI Sapphire HD 4870 512MB DDR5 (Core clock at stock, 750MHz)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102810

CPU: AMD Athlon 6000+ 3.1GHz Dual core
(cannot currently find a link)

RAM: OCz DDR2 1066, 2 sticks of 1GB (2 GB total)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227178

Motherboard: AMD Biostar 790GX Crossfire motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138128

Hard drive: 500gb, i forget which maker.

Power Supply: 750 watt, 84% efficient.

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3

any other info, just ask. Nothing is overclocked, because i dont want to overheat or have my warranties voided.

So im running all my games at 1280 X 1024, with full available graphics. while playing some games, rendering the graphics is not a challenge, but games with lots of action (like Left 4 Dead during major hordes/ etc. and crysis during the ending) seem to drop my framerate some.

So all im asking, is my Processor, or any other component causing my video card to perform worse than it could be?

[Bridget]

At maximum settings, frame drops are expected when tons of stuff is going on. You have to deal with it or lower your settings. No computer is going to maintain 'no action' fps in a 'heavy action' scenario. If the FPS drop is massive, then, I'm not sure what the problem is.

[BlackHoleSon]

Originally Posted by Bridget

At maximum settings, frame drops are expected when tons of stuff is going on. You have to deal with it or lower your settings. No computer is going to maintain 'no action' fps in a 'heavy action' scenario. If the FPS drop is massive, then, I'm not sure what the problem is.

during a major left 4 dead horde, i would get lets say 35 frames per second. not bad, but a guy i was playing with had the game blasted with an 8800GT, a lot higher resolution, a quad core CPU, and 4 gigs of ram, and he said he was above 95 frames during the major horde.


Maybe its the fact that L4D's horde and AI director rely heavily on the CPU, and i just need to consider getting a new one when i can?

[Bridget]

Make sure no background programs are eating your memory or cpu?

[theqwert125]

Not sure if this applies, but always a good thing to check anyway.

Make sure you have the latest drivers for your hardware, the ones on the CD are always way out of date. NVidia's latest drivers apparently boosted L4D FPS by 10% and fixed some stuttering issues, for example. Look here for your card's latest drivers.

[BlackHoleSon]

Originally Posted by theqwert125

Not sure if this applies, but always a good thing to check anyway.

Make sure you have the latest drivers for your hardware, the ones on the CD are always way out of date. NVidia's latest drivers apparently boosted L4D FPS by 10% and fixed some stuttering issues, for example. Look here for your card's latest drivers.

Good suggestion, thank you, but i am always on top of keeping my drivers to date.

I have had ATi's latest 9.1 driver for a while now, as well as the one previous.

[yfni&len]

If source games (and anything valve~ish) are your thing you can consider buying a new cpu. (very cpu intensive)

Most other games will rely more on your gfx card and you will be fine with what you have.

If I were you I would not upgrade/change at this moment in time. Just do what you always did with your low end crap. Lower settings..... And when you no longer can get the performance you want then upgrade...