Will my CPU "bottleneck" my GPU?

Hi, I have a Dell M1330

Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 @ 2.00Ghz
Windows XP
4 GB RAM

If I was to hook it up with an ATI Radeon 5850 HD, would my cpu "bottleneck" my GPU?

 

i'm not sure that a 5850 would be compatible with your machine - are you talking about a ViDock solution?

 

If you're talking about a ViDock, unless you do a x2 connection(through 2 mPCIe slows), your mPCie's bandwidth will already bottleneck the HD5850's performance(can go as high as 50% loss I'm told).

Nonetheless, it all depends on the games you play but in general I'd say your CPU would bottleneck a bit.

 

Yup, DIY Vidock, most likely with a high-performance x2 link.

Is there like an FPS scale for these types of things?

I've ran Crysis on my 8400m gs, everything minimum at the lowest resolution, averages about 30-40 fps.

 

you might want to step down to a 5770 rather, as i'm not sure the performance scaling. you might be spending a bit more than what you're getting.

 

You may even want to get a 5750 rather than a 5770.

 

Nando4 tried playing RE5 at max res, and averaged 53.3 FPS on a GTX 260. Seems decent, not sure what the scaling is.

 

With a 5850 I would guess you'd see a bottleneck. I have a T5750 in my notebook (see sig) and a HD 4650 and it doesn't bottleneck though (In game FPS has always been GPU limited, except in ridiculous cases like GTA4).

I would definately suggest a 5770 (a better deal would be a 4770). But its not that cut and dry, it really depends on what games your interested in and what settings are important to you.

 

Get a T9300 and ATI 5770 minimum... problem solved

 

Just be aware that dell sometimes uses special 800mhz FSB designs/CPUs.

 

lol are u sure? Nver heard of anything like that.