0 CPU-Z & GPU-Z, CPU and graphics card overview software

CPU-Z and GPU-Z, two tools that every computer user should have no matter what since they give you a full overview of your CPU and GPU together. From clocks to temperature, these softwares give you every piece of information you need to know. CPU-Z also gives you the full information about your RAM if you ever need it.

Putting daily usage aside, they are great tools for overclockers since you can verify your data by checking the clock speeds on these softwares.

There isn't really much to say about these softwares as they are pretty straight forward, and they don't really give you the option of doing anything else other than showing you everything what's happening in your computer. (Be happy with that much!)

Maybe it's useless to mention this, but I have to say, these softwares take nearly no space at all as well, so you can feel free to install them on any computer you'd like to, you won't regret it.

I personally use both of these tools for years and I believe it's always handy to have small tools like this in your computer, so you can look up what's happening any time you want.

Click to download : GPU-Z | CPU-Z

0 What Is Bottleneck / How to Avoid?

Before we start talking about bottleneck in computer, let's start with what the term "bottleneck" means.

A bottleneck is when the performance of a system is blocked / limited by a single component of the system.

To relate this to computers, a bottleneck is when one of your parts (CPU, GPU, RAM, Hard drive) are holding the rest of the computer back since they aren't performing good enough to keep up with the other parts of your computer.

In daily life conditions, hard drives are the components which mostly cause bottlenecks. For example when you are copying a file, no matter how fast your CPU is and no matter how much RAM you have, you are limited with your hard drive's writing speed, thus limiting your copying speed to that. The same logic applies to any piece of software you are starting up at the time.

This being the case for years, nowadays there is a solution to prevent hard drive bottleneck. The SSD's seem to be a complete solution to hard drive bottleneck since they offer -really- high speeds compared to typical hard drives. That being said, you shouldn't use your old 7200 RPM HDD with a brand new system you just gathered, since you would bottleneck your system pretty hard with that old hard drive.

Of course, as everything, the SSDs come with downsides as well. First things first, they offer really small storage space, and to add another thing up to that, they are quite expensive even though they offer small storage. Still, I believe it's a logical to move to buy a SSD if you are gathering a new computer up. Using your old hard drives wouldn't be the best option for a brand new computer.

In gaming conditions, your problem won't ever be hard drive bottleneck. (After the game is 'loaded', hard drive goes out of the way, so only slow loading could be a hard drive bottleneck, and nothing else.) Instead, it will either be GPU or CPU bottleneck. Either your CPU will bring your GPU down, or your GPU will bring your CPU down, and you'll end up with low frame rates in both cases.

There's a way to understand if the problem is your CPU or GPU (RAM is rarely the case unless you have -really- low memory). You can start checking the frame rates from low resolution and keep going higher one by one. The CPU load doesn't change by resolution but the GPU load changes since the GPU has to render more and more pixels every time you raise the resolution.

So, if your frame rates are dropping as you increase resolution, the problem is with your GPU.

If your frame rates are constantly low and it doesn't change even when you lower the resolution to give your GPU more space, then the problem is with your CPU.

You can always overclock your CPU or GPU if you don't want to change the parts in your system, and try to make them work optimally with eachother. If that doesn't solve your problems, then I'm afraid you'll have to change your CPU or GPU depending on the problem you are experiencing.

0 Hello everyone & Core i7 3930K vs. Core i7 3960X

Hello everyone! In the first post of my blog which I will be often posting about computer hardwares and softwares, I'd like to do the debut by comparing two high-end processors that gamers would be interested in.

If you are looking forward to gather a new gaming computer up, I suggest that you should not miss this post.

In one side, Intel Core i7 3930K, sitting on 560$ (prices are based on Newegg), and in the other side, Intel Core i7 3960X EE sitting at 1029$.

Let's make a quick comparison between these two processors now.

As you can see, the sole difference between these two processors are that the 3690X has 100 MHz of a higher frequency, and 3MB more of L3 cache. What did we say the price difference was? Around 500$.

Now one might say, the 3690X is a better CPU and has its reasons that its price is a lot higher compared to the 3930K. There's no doubt that 3690X is a better CPU as seen in the values, but the problem being that you'd be never able to feel the difference between these two CPU's on a real life situation, and you can use that 400$ to improve your gaming rig in a better way.

Here's some benchmark results between these processors. As you can see, the difference is minimal. (You can see by checking other CPU's benchmarks and comparing them if you wish)

(Benchmarks from Tom's Hardware & Hexus)

3ds Max Render 1440x1080 Benchmark :

This benchmark shows us everything a lot better and clearer than the other one. Only one second difference between these two processors on a 3DS Max render. Personally, I wouldn't throw 500$ away to save one second!

Most gamers love Call of Duty. (I'm not really a big fan myself) There we see, 3930K even outperforming 3690X in this particular benchmark. That of course, will not be the case for every game or every situation, but it just shows us how close these two processors are in terms of performance.

There are many more benchmarks all over the internet if you are curious about one particular game or a situation, but the difference between these two processors is barely noticable. In gaming terms, it would probably gain you an extra 3-5 FPS if you choose to go with the 3690X (talking in terms of statistics). Then again, with the money you save by buying 3930K, you'll end up with a better graphics card which would top the FPS gain you get from buying the 3690X.

With all being said, there's no doubt that i7 3930K takes the trophy home by far, with its 500$~ price advantage, and even then, performing as good as the 3690X. If you wish to buy a high-end Sandy Bridge CPU, then 3930K will be your best choice.

In the other hand, you'll be better off by spending that extra 500$ on a better graphics card! I don't really suggest spending this much on a processor for a gaming computer at all, since you can get a CPU for 250$~ and clock it up to your needs, and save the cash for a graphics card as I've said.