CPU bottleneck by Radeon HD 5xxx series GPU's?

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SUMMARY

The Radeon HD 5000 series graphics cards, particularly the HD 5950 and HD 5970, experience significant CPU bottlenecks even with high-end processors like the Core i7 975. The HD 5970, which features dual HD 5870 cores, outperforms a quad crossfire setup of HD 4870s but requires a quad-core processor overclocked beyond 4.0 GHz to eliminate bottlenecks. Users can assess potential bottlenecks using performance testing tools such as PassMark, especially when using older components like the Core 2 Quad Q9400 with an HD 4850 on a PCIe 1.0 slot.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of GPU architectures, specifically Radeon HD 5000 series
  • Knowledge of CPU performance metrics, particularly Core i7 and Core 2 Quad processors
  • Familiarity with PCIe slot specifications and their impact on GPU performance
  • Experience with performance testing tools like PassMark
NEXT STEPS
  • Research how to identify CPU and GPU bottlenecks using software tools
  • Learn about overclocking techniques for Core 2 Quad processors
  • Investigate the performance differences between PCIe 1.0 and 2.0 slots
  • Explore upgrade options for motherboards compatible with Radeon HD 5000 series GPUs
USEFUL FOR

This discussion is beneficial for gamers, hardware enthusiasts, and system builders looking to optimize performance in setups using Radeon HD 5000 series graphics cards and older CPUs.

The_Absolute
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I've read that the Radeon HD 5000 series graphics cards, especially the HD 5950, and 5970 dual-core ones, are being bottlenecked by even today's fastest available processors. Including the Core i7 975.

A single Radeon HD 5970 (Two HD 5870 cores) has even more throughput than Two Radeon HD 4870's quad crossfireX. Which required a quad-core processor to be a clocked past 4.0 GHz with water cooling to completely remove the bottleneck posed by the Four GPU's.

Is there any way of telling if you have a bottleneck? Is there any program I can run to tell me so? I'd imagine my bottleneck is caused by my HD 4850 running on a PCIe 16x 1.0 slot, instead of a 2.0 slot. I can't buy a new motherboard without having to buy new RAM, and possibly a CPU due to bus speed and chipset compatibility issues.

Is my Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz running at it's stock 2.66 GHz enough for my single Radeon HD 4850? My BIOS forbids overclocking of any kind.

I don't have the money to do that at the moment.
 
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