G73JH-A1 which is the gaming bottleneck? The CPU or GPU?

Hey all,

If I was going to upgrade one or the other down the line on the G73JH-A1 which one should it be? The CPU or the GPU?

Which between the two is the gaming bottleneck? If either?

(Ideally this would be when there is a worthy GPU upgrade to the current 5870 that would justify the expense to have it professionally installed)

I've seen some posters on here have gone ahead and upgraded their CPU already. Is it worth it for gaming performance if that was the sole reason/consideration for the upgrade?

Are you getting double the fps or something?

Btw, I love my machine as is. Works flawlessly. Couldn't be happier. But, you know, just gauging my options.

Thanks for any input!

 

The GPU will be the bottleneck for 99% of games. As for the upgradability, don't expect any since Asus uses a reverse MXM connector for their GPUs. Plus, it should be a while before it is "out of date" at which point it'd probably be cheaper/easier to buy a new machine.

 

The only game I have that is bottlenecked by the CPU is Flight Simulator (FS9 FSX) due to the 720QM's low clock speed.

GTA IV is relatively CPU-intensive but is still bottlenecked by the 5870M.

 

Sweet. Thanks for the info.

 

It depends on the game, for most RTS games, and Blizzard games, the CPU will often be the bottleneck.