bottleneck?

[rodr]

hey all, i currently have a pre-built sony vaio... unfortunately i didnt know buying a prebuild would give me problems.. or at least thats what some ppl have told me. I was lookin for an upgrade within a month or so. 2 x 1024 mb ddr2 667mhz of ram, a new PSU and hopefully one of nvidia 8600 series.

processor: Intel Pentium D 820
chipset: Intel i945P
currently 2 x 256 MB DDR2-SDRAM PC2-4300
mainboard : intel prague

would this bottleneck the vid card even if i get the new RAM and PSU? If so, what would i need to get to prevent this without building a new rig.. sigh. A processor maybe?

 

[Blacken]

Your CPU should do fine paired with the 8600. Your not going to notice much difference in frame rates (if by one or two) or a upgrade worthy load-time increase from 4300 (533) to 5300/5400 (667). It's a pitty about your mainboard being the natively un-overclockable Intel - otherwise, you'd be able to overclock the 820 and PC2 4300 to get full worth. You may just want to focus on a secondary manufacturers motherboard; 975/965 for longevity. Pending on your plans - this is what I would look into.

GL

 

[rodr]

Kind of off topic, can i run DX10 without vista?

also.. wouldnt i notice any differnce from my current RAM, to the 667mhz one?its 533 Mhz vs (667mhz x 2) plus its 2 gigs, not 512 MB.

at first i wanted to go with for sothing with 800mhz but i think my computer isnt compatible with it.

 

[Blacken]

Quanity. Hell yes if your a gamer, tend to run multiple applications at once and for running Vista. Yet the speed is what I was talking about.

Running DX10 on XP will not happen although WineHQ is developing an OpenGL end that will allow you to emulate DX10. Don't get your hopes up though. You'l be stuck with 9.0c at the latest. If you want DX10 in it's full glorry :roll: , you should buy Vista. Vista is backwards compatable, so it will run DX9, 8, and 7 (if I remember correctly). 2gb of ram will have you set with Vista. 512 will be a bit short.

 

[rodr]

i see.. well ill worry about vista later.

actually my point when i asked if i could run dx10 without vista... i meant a DX10 card, not a dx10 game. I mean, running a dx9 game with a dx10 card, without vista, but now i know i can.

i was just wondering this so i have a dx10 ready to move to vista, and still be able to play dx9 games.

but oh well

thanks

 

[-Aerows-]

Good heavens, you will see an immediate performance difference with just the 2GBs of RAM going from 512MB.

You should be fine with an 8600, too. It will be able to play all of the games this year and the next.

Definitely get more RAM, though, even if you decide to wait on the video card! The performance gain in applications will make it worth your while.

 

[rodr]

hehe.. yeah thats what i thought.
thanks.

Also, would i see a difference between 667mhz and 800mhz?