Bottlenecking

[Franklinwallbrown]

What is better: having your whole PC the same speed or having some components slightly less than avg. of the same speed PC & some components faster (eg the HD is slower but the CPU is lightning fast)? What components would be faster?

[sneekypeet]

I dont think you asked the right question here but let me try to answer.

You HDD at any speed right now is a bottleneck, thats why there are RAID and Raptor drives. They try to help in the lack of speed.

A CPU bottleneck , well it just sux, because it hinders everything from gaming to CD writing , down to webpage loading.

Ram is pretty standard now , adn it usually isnt the bottleneck , unless you are trying to overclock on crap Ram.

lastly in my mind is the GPU. Bottlenecking there is all in what you need. If its pretty and it plays the games , so what. If it is a bottleneck and slows down gameplay it can be a real drag.

Hope this helps!

[Franklinwallbrown]

So, the fastest HD you can get would be good (10K) & RAID helps?

To take care of CPU bottleneck you just need a fast CPU right?

For RAM all you need is good OC'able RAM (suggestions?) & it goes by your FSB, right?

For the GPU you try to get as close as you can to your FSB or CPU speed (which seems crazy to ask because it would probably be the same thing unless you messed with your multipliers a lot), and OC it as much as you can?

[sneekypeet]

RAID or 10,000 RPM Raptors help yes

The CPU needs to be quality in silcon so it will oc well. Speed isnt everything here!

RAM easy answer is Crucial as it is lifetime warratied and has MicronD9 chips on it ( clocks like mad)

GPU there is no relationship to the CPU really. THe CPU does process its info , but the clock dont need to "match". Just buy the best card your money will get ya.

If you are thinking of building a new system , start a new thread and supply members with your budget. These guys can find some sweet deal and great builds. Also pleas supply info on what the PC will be used primarily for!

[Franklinwallbrown]

Does 10K & RAID help. Are there any articles on it (I know I could be looking it up myself, but I am swamped with homework right now, because it is close to Christmas break).

[sneekypeet]

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=26630&highlight=Tach

That is a huge compilation of fellow TPU'ers HDD performances with the same bench test on all of them....I know its long but the results found there will explain it better!

[Franklinwallbrown]

Thank you sir. Oh, yeah, and I can't drop a price tag right now; it's Christmas, I'm broke!

[DanTheBanjoman]

The harddrive can be a huge bottleneck yes, however it really depends on the application. For games for example it doesn't matter that much, you'll only notice the difference during loading. You won't get a higher framerate or anything.

Besides, RAID was never meant for performance, it's meant for redundancy. The improved performance some levels offer is welcome though. Also, 10K drives have lower access times, this is what mainly gives them the edge. 15K drives even more so.

[Franklinwallbrown]

Yeah, but to get a 15K HD in a desktop you would need a server grade MB wouldn't you? because I heard that the controller cards aren't worth squat.