Will GPU be choked by a older gen CPU? I am currently using 8800GT in SLI with Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 @ 3.16GHz I plan on getting ATI HD6950. Am i wasting my money because the card may be ineffective, because i am not using an i5 or i7 processor? Or does choking of GPU only apply to really slow processors (mine seems pretty capable to me), and not simply to older-gen cards. Thanks
...there is no such thing as a bottleneck relationship between a CPU and GPU. They are both independent in relation to speed and functionality. - link ...there is no direct correlation in speed between a cpu or a vga. Therefore, no bottlenecking exists. It's simply a lack of better hardware. In your case, you lack a better cpu and that is why your gameplay is as good as it should be. - link The Core 2 Duo's are pretty slow, so if you want to get better game performance, invest in a Quad Core processor. The 8800GT is still a pretty good card. If you don't have socket's that support i7 or i5 processors, then look at the Intel Q9xxx processors.
Thanks for your advice on upgrading CPU but with regards to there being no such thing as a bottleneck relationship between a CPU & GPU, can you clarify on this. From what i read online is that, if is the CPU is too slow in sending information to the GPU on what to do, then the GPU is simply slowed down because it has to wait for instructions from the CPU. Vice Versa, if the GPU is too slow, then no matter how fast the CPU sends instructions to it, the GPU will not be able to follow up on them on the same speed and ends up 'choking' the system.
While browsing I came across an article, hope it will help you http://www.enlighten3d.com/2008/06/17/making-cpu-and-gpu-play-nice-together/
