How Would 6800 GS Perform on an Athlon 64 3300+?

[Darren480]

Hi!

My system is a year-and-a-half old HP with an Athlon 64 3300+ processor.

I'm considering nVidia's new GeForce 6800 GS graphics card upgrade because the price is reasonable.

I noticed most benchmarking is being done on Athlon's 64 FX-57 CPU.

My Question: Would the config of my current CPU (3300+) using the GeForce 6800 GS give me decent performance playing a game like COD 2?

As you know, the COD2 game engine is a system hog. The card itself seems like a pretty good choice, but I wondered if running it with my current processor would limit performance too much.

Any thoughts from the brain trust out there?

I suppose an alternative is waiting for the GeForce 7800 series to come down in price, but that'll be a while.

 

[shata]

Well i run a 6800gt on a 3000+ @1.9ghz (for now it will be 2.4ghz soon)
And i have no problems with Doom3 on Ultra
I can max pretty much everything, The gs is almost as good so i think youll be fine on medium to high settings.

 

[Darren480]

Thanks Shata.

Good to see that your platform isn't getting in the way of the GPU. That's a great card too from what I've read.

It seems that COD2 creates some unique issues when it comes to taxing hardware. A benchmark article on ExtremeTech's site tried it on HL2, Doom 3, Far Cry, Chaos Theory, F.E.A.R., and COD2...and out of all (even F.E.A.R.) COD2 had the lowest FPS for some inexplicable reason.

Granted they were testing the Demo. I haven't been able to get anyone to answer whether they've tested the full version of the game.

BTW, I did buy a 6800 GS tonight. Found one online for $199 at mwave.com. Hopefully I'll have it Saturday or Monday. We'll see what happens. Not so worried about the rez as much as how far I can push the AA/AF and texture/lighting/smoke FX. Pretty psyched though.

Nice thing is, if it will handle COD2, it should handle most any current title. I might actually get F.E.A.R. to work as well.

Thanks again!
Darren480

 

[shata]

Ya thats a good deal, i think you will do fine @1024x768 i play all my games on that and its nice looking with Max settings and max aa/af

(you might be able to pull that off with the GS but not sure)

 

[MercilessDeadlyRaven]

Well i run a 6800gt on a 3000+ @1.9ghz (for now it will be 2.4ghz soon)
And i have no problems with Doom3 on Ultra
I can max pretty much everything, The gs is almost as good so i think youll be fine on medium to high settings.

The GS is better then the 6800GT. So, in your face!

 

[Pain]

The GS is better then the 6800GT. So, in your face!

Um, not really.

To the original poster, if your machine is 1.5 years old, I hope it has a pci-e slot? You checked that, right?

 

[Darren480]

The GS is better then the 6800GT. So, in your face!

Yeah. I agree with Shata on this one. The 6800 GS, while built on the same technology, is not quite as powerful as the GT. It's close in many ways, but not quite. What's notable is that it is reasonably strong performance-wise and GT can't beat it for the price. That's where it wins. At $125 less than the GT, it's certainly the card to get for the average guy who wants to play the latest without spending an arm and a leg. If you don't care about the cash and simply have to have the newest gear, you hold out for the GT. Me? I expect I'll be pretty happy with the GS and feel better about a getting a great deal.

Darren480

 

[Darren480]

To the original poster, if your machine is 1.5 years old, I hope it has a pci-e slot? You checked that, right?

You know. I missed that. I'll have to check. I'm pretty sure I'm ok. Good thing is that mwave.com where I bought the card has a 30-Day return policy with a full refund, so at least I'm covered there.

I tried to be as thorough as possible, but you know...you always seem to miss something.

Thanks for the heads up. If there isn't, is there a way to easily install something like that?

Darren480

 

[Pain]

No. You must purchase the correct card for your slot. You're right on the edge in the timeline for when PCI-e came out.

 

[Darren480]

I've been scrambling since your first post, trying to verify my info and you're right....my system is an HP a520n and the system isn't PCI-e compatible. This really sucks. Looks like I'll be cancelling my order.

So, is there any card you might recommend that would handle the DX-9 demands of COD2 (which is what I've been trying to play) that will work with a system having only 3 PCI and 1 AGP 8x/4x (1.5Vonly) slots?

I'm going to take a look now, but I'd be grateful for any advice. I can't justify buying a new system after just a year and a half. Any possible solutions would be welcome.

Thanks,
Darren480

 

[Pain]

You wouldn't go wrong with a 6800gt, but you better hurry cause they are getting hard to find. Or, you could wait for the GS, which is suppose to be out now but isn't, and I can only assume it will be, but you never know.

If I were you, I think I might go ahead and pick up a GT. I have several machines I need to upgrade, but my main machine already has a GT so I can afford to wait a bit longer and see if the GS cards are ever coming out.

 

[Darren480]

Yeah, I hear you.

I was thinking of doing just that. At least I could buy the 6800GT, and have it in hand to test out and if it doesn't perform the way I'd like, send it back to NewEgg. That way I'd at least have it in hand before they go up more.

So, you're still going to run AGP? Have you played COD2 on the 6800GT system you mentioned and if so, was it playing ok?

BTW...in case you hadn't seen my other post, thanks for saving my butt on the pci-e 6800GS i'd ordered. I was able to cancel in time.

 

[Pain]

I have not run COD2, but I've run D3 and Q4 and it plays well.

I am sticking with AGP because I've got fairly decent machines now, and I just updated a few machines to the same platform, so I want them all to be the same (xp3200+ [not 64's] with 1G of ram). They play well enough but are more for non-gaming.

When I'm ready to upgrade again in a year or 2 then of course I can switch over to PCI-e. For now, I've got so many spare parts for AGP platforms that it didn't make sense to switch at this point in time.

 

[Darren480]

Yeah. I'd like to stretch this system at least another year and a half before having to make the switch. I just got it about 18 months ago.

I'm probably going to just get the 6800GT and test it on COD2.

The engine Infinity designed for it is specifically peculiar. So, it wouldn't surprise me that running D3 or Q4 in DX9 would still play well. There's just something stupid about the way they designed the thing that really taxes a system. They probably should have just learned from Valve.

Thanks!

 

[Samsa]

Yeah. I'd like to stretch this system at least another year and a half before having to make the switch. I just got it about 18 months ago.

I'm probably going to just get the 6800GT and test it on COD2.

The engine Infinity designed for it is specifically peculiar. So, it wouldn't surprise me that running D3 or Q4 in DX9 would still play well. There's just something stupid about the way they designed the thing that really taxes a system. They probably should have just learned from Valve.

Thanks!

The only problem I see with getting the 6800GT AGP right now is that its price is going way up because nvidia stopped manufacturing their chips and supply is drying up (same with the Ultra model). You may also consider getting a standard 6800 AGP for about half the price of a 6800GT (if not less). You can then download and use Riva Tuner to unlock the pixel pipelines and it will run just as well as a GT.

I personally have my eye on this one, because it comes with the GT HSF parts on it already, so it'll probably overclock very nicely.

Apollo 6800 128-RD Geforce 6800 128MB 256-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X

And good luck trying to install it in your HP case...no HP case I have cracked open has been end-user friendly in terms of upgrading hardware. :?

 

[Darren480]

Thanks Samsa,

Already got the card, though...just before they started going up again. It was $284 at newegg.com on Friday when I bought it. Now, don't see any less than for between $300 and $475.

I am going to get a new PSU however. The card requires a 350watt supply and my system is only config for 250watt. I've spent all day talking with people from the forums and support.

At first I was afraid that my HP was proprietary. But they've confirmed it is indeed upgradeable and is based on standard ATX. They just try to recommend staying with the default system to cover their asses for liability issues. A friend who services Dells and runs a PC business where I live told me I'm ok and don't have to worry about it.

Just have to make sure it fits the case properly. I'll let you know.

Thanks!
Darren480

 

[Samsa]

Thanks Samsa,

Already got the card, though...just before they started going up again. It was $284 at newegg.com on Friday when I bought it. Now, don't see any less than for between $300 and $475.

I am going to get a new PSU however. The card requires a 350watt supply and my system is only config for 250watt. I've spent all day talking with people from the forums and support.

At first I was afraid that my HP was proprietary. But they've confirmed it is indeed upgradeable and is based on standard ATX. They just try to recommend staying with the default system to cover their asses for liability issues. A friend who services Dells and runs a PC business where I live told me I'm ok and don't have to worry about it.

Just have to make sure it fits the case properly. I'll let you know.

Thanks!
Darren480

Yeah, you should be able to install it. I've only had troubles with putting in some SCSI cards on some of the older models that I've worked with. I'm just saying it might be more of a pain than it probably should be. And good call on upgrading the PSU.