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how bad will this card bottleneck my system?

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - how bad will this card bottleneck my system?

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namaharg   03-15-2007 at 06:39:02 AM

hey guys..
just a quick question
i want to upgrade the video card on my system to play games like Splinter Cell Double Agent and CC3.
Will an EVGA 8800 GTS 320mb bottleneck my graphics performance? if so...how bad? I know alot of you will say to just build a new computer, i cant afford a new one right now but i will be upgrading in the fall, so for now a new video card will have to do. thanks for all your help :D
Specs:
Thermaltake Soprano
Antec Neo 500w psu
Asus A8N-E mobo
AMD 64 3200
1 gb GEIL ddr 3200 dual channel
seagate 160 gb hd
xfx 6800gs
creative audigy 2 zs
Thermaltake venus cpu cooler
Acer 17" AL1751 lcd monitor

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Primitivus   03-15-2007 at 10:40:47 AM
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Just to clarify, the CPU and the rest of the components will bottleneck your graphics performance, NOT the 8800GTS. The new card will offer a substantial improvement in games but it won't show it's true potential mainly because of your CPU. If you're planning to do a major upgrade later this year... no worries. You'll keep the GTS and you'll be fine.
Not that the A64 3200+ is a bad CPU, most games are still single threaded and that is a decent processor. But by the end of the year I'm sure you'll feel the need (or at least the urge) for something more powerful and with more cores

Reply to Primitivus
ZozZoz   03-15-2007 at 11:08:42 AM
- 0 +

aha. Even my recently gone e6300 bottlenecked the 8800gts.

Best way to test for this bottleneck - overclock your CPU. If you get way more bungholio marks - there's your answer.

Reply to ZozZoz
prozac26   03-15-2007 at 02:29:56 PM
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Also get 2gb of RAM, and overclock the CPU.

1gb of RAM might be a bigger "bottleneck" for modern games. The CPU is still pretty good, but overclocking it would be a very good thing.

IMHO, you should save up for a new system, such as a quad-core rig.

Reply to prozac26
Stewartwi   03-15-2007 at 02:49:01 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

hey guys..
just a quick question
i want to upgrade the video card on my system to play games like Splinter Cell Double Agent and CC3.
Will an EVGA 8800 GTS 320mb bottleneck my graphics performance? if so...how bad? I know alot of you will say to just build a new computer, i cant afford a new one right now but i will be upgrading in the fall, so for now a new video card will have to do. thanks for all your help :D



By the way I don't know how well your into SCDA but if you get an 8800 of any kind more then likely you won't be able to play the game anymore. I'd check out the forums over there if I were you and really into that game. Just a heads up though. I have an 8800GTX and I'm sitting with SCDA installed praying a fix comes out for it.

Reply to Stewartwi
martyjs   03-15-2007 at 03:07:58 PM
- 0 +

I wish I had that card so it could bottleneck my system. :lol:

Reply to martyjs
namaharg   03-15-2007 at 03:23:26 PM
- 0 +

thanks for your help...thats good to know about SCDA, i will do some research on that

Reply to namaharg
rodney_ws   03-15-2007 at 03:24:26 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

aha. Even my recently gone e6300 bottlenecked the 8800gts.

Best way to test for this bottleneck - overclock your CPU. If you get way more bungholio marks - there's your answer.


I completely understand the concept of a bottleneck, but I'd never thought of this simple concept... man, you really nailed it. If you OC a component and your benchmarks don't go up, something else is your bottleneck. If your scores do scale up accordingly, then there's your bottleneck.

For many people, OC'n a CPU is just a waste of time as its impact will be VERY limited if you're GPU limited.

Reply to rodney_ws
Stewartwi   03-15-2007 at 05:36:21 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

aha. Even my recently gone e6300 bottlenecked the 8800gts.

Best way to test for this bottleneck - overclock your CPU. If you get way more bungholio marks - there's your answer.


I completely understand the concept of a bottleneck, but I'd never thought of this simple concept... man, you really nailed it. If you OC a component and your benchmarks don't go up, something else is your bottleneck. If your scores do scale up accordingly, then there's your bottleneck.

For many people, OC'n a CPU is just a waste of time as its impact will be VERY limited if you're GPU limited.

Hey Rodney I see that you use the Geico caveman image as your avatar picture. Well, don't know if you know this but ABC is actually making a pilot episode of a show that is going to use the cavemen from the commericals as the stars of it. It's suppose to be a drama though instead of a comedy so I wonder how that will be but just a heads up since you like the commericals. Sorry to go off topic. -W

Reply to Stewartwi
rodney_ws   03-15-2007 at 05:42:44 PM
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You're not the first to tell me.

Reply to rodney_ws
Stewartwi   03-15-2007 at 06:34:21 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

You're not the first to tell me.



Well, damn now I don't feel special anymore. /cry

Reply to Stewartwi
rodney_ws   03-15-2007 at 06:38:59 PM
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I wasn't trying to be rude... just rather amused at how many times people tell me that.

Reply to rodney_ws
Stewartwi   03-15-2007 at 08:50:32 PM
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Oh I'm just messing with you man. :-p

Reply to Stewartwi
AdamBomb42   03-15-2007 at 09:44:14 PM
- 0 +

Upgrade your processor to an Opteron 170! 8)

Reply to AdamBomb42
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