Bottleneck of Gaming Rig. What is the weakest component?

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VesoRakia

New member
Hello guys,

My current PC is:

Motherboard: Gigabyte B75M-D3H
PSU: Turbo-X 750w
GPU: 2x Geforce GTX 660 SLI 2GB DDR5
CPU: intel i7 3770 (non K) 3.4 GHz
RAM: 8GB
SDD: 64 GB (only OS on it) HDD: 1 TB
OS: Windows 8.1 64bit
Monitor: LG D2542, 24" + passive 3d
Audio: Logitech Z506 5.1, & Headphones: Razer Kraken 7.1

I've been abusing it for over a year and am starting to feel it getting slow with games like AC: Unity, Shadow of Mordor, FarCry 4 etc. Although i still get 30 fps at mid settings, I am used to play at least 30fps on MAX. This is why i decided the best (value/money) thing to do is go for a second GPU and SLI them. This way for around 200$ I suppose I will bring the rig back to top notch form, ready for Max Settings for the next gen AAA games.

My question now is - is there some component that you believe will be the bottleneck (the weakest link in the chain). From what I've read although my CPU is still pretty good, it's hardly Overclockable. My question is do you believe the i7 3770 at stock speeds, would bring my FPS down on the abovementioned games or is it completely enough for now.

As for RAM, I don't believe anything more than 8GB is usable by games, but that's just my poorly informed opinion, so feel free to prove me wrong.

Will be glad to hear your opinions guys !
 
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Looking at your rig it's definately gonna be your gpu, your cpu is only last gen and literally a few percent slower than Haswell. 8 gig of ram is fine for gaming.

Grab yourself a second hand 780 or if you can afford it a 970 and you should be fine
 
Your CPU is fine. The thing holding you back is your GPU and you should definitely get a nicer power supply. Don't wanna risk having a crappy PSU with nice components. It's an easy mistake that many builders make
 
The guy is Greek and his system is Turbo-X OEM a brand by a major retailer Plaiso.
He should buy a better PSU that won't explode and a 280x and will be fine!
 
1) Upgrade your power supply to something more reliable, like a Corsair RM PSU
2) Upgrade your graphics card to whatever it is you can afford. If you want a great card, go for the 970. If thats too expensive, go for the 280X or wait for the 960.
 
Yeah don't even try to SLI on that PSU, that's asking for trouble. As someone who's PC blew up because of a cheapo PSU, I would advise you to investing something decent before upgrading
 
performance wise the GPU will make the biggest change but tbh the end user needs changing too for buying such a shit PSU
 
The abomination continues the specific retailer has stopped selling most branded psu and now even mobo models for their mobos that are foxconn made (you know the iSlave company)
 
I doubt dual SLI would on those cards would be any good, your better off getting the best GPU you can afford along with a better supporting maybe 450/500W reliable PSU from a reputable company.

Another down side to SLI is the so called "AAA" titles and other new titles tend not to support SLI/X-Fire near release and some games are still broken for 1 GPU ;)
 
VesoRakia said:
I've been abusing it for over a year and am starting to feel it getting slow with games like AC: Unity, Shadow of Mordor, FarCry 4 etc. Although i still get 30 fps at mid settings, I am used to play at least 30fps on MAX. This is why i decided the best (value/money) thing to do is go for a second GPU and SLI them, as both my motherboard and PSU can support it. This way for around 200$ I suppose I will bring the rig back to top notch form, ready for Max Settings for the next gen AAA games.
Will be glad to hear your opinions guys !
Click to expand...

Shadow of Mordor is the only good game on that list. The other 2 are shit and it shows with their performance. Don't mind them because on any GPU they struggle. Badly optimized. SoM is easily capable of running max settings on decent rigs without Ultra textures. a 660 would probably be about 40ish fps and with 2 much higher. My 7950 runs about 55fps on avg. Its not only a good game but very optimized unlike the other 2.

Your best upgrade path is 1) new psu and 2) sell the 660 and put the money towards more of something like a 970/290. Should be able to do that but if budget won't allow it you are better off buying second 290s/780s. Anything less is sort of wasted money tbh.
 
Thanks for all the insights. In every single one of them the PSU is described as crap and i tend to believe you. @tinytomlogan Not that it's an excuse but as Thelosouvlakia stated it is OEM build, and I had no choice in it whatsoever.

You all put enough doubt in it's ability to power the SLI I am planning to do but I am not completely sure in your objectivness. Since It's a Greek made (or at least rebranded the probably chinese parts), i seriously doubt any one of you (except Thelosouvlakia) to actually have experience with that particular manufacturer. I don't say that I don't believe it's crappy, but so far I haven't had a single problem with any of the TURBO-X components that I have used (Keyboard, The Case and the PSU), apart from some speakers, but i tend to burn through all speakers no matter the manufacturer in a matter of months (I like the windows to tremble when I play :).

That being said, and the fact that my second GPU arrives later today, I am sure the uncertainty you've planted into me, won't be enough to offset the urge to instantly try the SLI. I will inform you how it went. Even if I burn down the whole room, I won't hide it from you to avoid the "I told you so" comments :)

Other than that, I will change it (PSU) as soon as I can, so thanks for the info.
 
ITs not so much about the power requirement or it putting a strain on the psu, its more the fact that the power it gives out watch this video and it will make more sense, as thats what we worry about, 750W on a decent PSU is more than ample for your SLI



Hope that helps
 
@remember300 Now that really explained what the concern is. Thanks for the proper argument there mate.

Having used this PSU for over a year without any sorts of problems makes me have some confidence in it (not too much, but i am loyal to whats been working for me:). Although I understand from the video that the extra power I would demand from it with the SLI would amplify it's flaws, it would still require far less wattage than the max is stated @ 750w, so I'd take the risk to at least give it a go. I would be very careful though if i feel any strange noise or temperature rise from the PSU or the cables themselves. Also i'd monitor the Voltages that GPU-Z reads from the cards.

One additional question that I have is this. Since the PSU only has one 6pin PCI-E coming out, i tried using the 2x 4pin MOLEX -> 6Pin PCI-E adapter, and the PC won't even turn on. But using a single 4pin Molex -> 6Pin PCI-E works (powers the card with no problem). The thing is that in every single topic mentioning this, the 2->1 is highly recommended to the inferior 1->1 adapters and I didn't see anyone having the same problem as me (2->1 not working and 1->1 working fine) ?
 
I dont have any experience with you power supply but my general rule is if you don't have a plug on the PSU then its not suited for you, since working with a few networking engineers while i was at secondary school.
Either they wanted to scare me or put some truth into it, but its fine using gender changers and things like molex to sata in most respects as they tend to share similar rails and come off the same part of the PSU modulation circuits for that voltage, by trying to use them to drive high amperage demands like GPU's can cause over work for the PSU circuitry and can deliver power like in that video.
I may not be booting up due to the PSU maybe seeing an error or a problem with a short circuit maybe and is going into a self protect mode, or your simply overloading something i'm not sure, sorry.
But i still stick to my first statement if the PSU does not have what you require get one that does... Plus i had a customer who melted a molex head trying to go 2 x molex to Pci 8pin... was funny to me cause i warned him, he then listened to me and got a PSU to do the job he wanted ... Did not get an apology tho but i guess he was stuffed full of humble pie lol...
 
The PSU doesn't have enough Amperage on the molex rail and it refuses to turn on so it doesn't explode or cause serious system instability
 
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