What CPU to get with 8800 GTX?

[mongoosed]

What CPU (athlon perferred) would i need to get that will not bottleneck my 8800 GTX?

 

[desidude006]

well i would recommend going the Intel way (due to their oc'ing capability). Get an E4600 or E6300 and oc them. E6400 and above should be fine w/ or w/o oc.

 

[AndyAldrich]

Hi there,
You haven't stated your budget for the CPU. At the moment the Intel Core 2 Duo are the best overclockers. If you have the cash then go for a decent dual core such as the E6600 and a decent cooler then you'll get VERY nice framerates so long as you get some fairly decent RAM that won't restrict your overclock.

If you're going to go for a lower price CPU then the 6300s are also proven to overclock amazingly, just get some decent RAM and even a modest upgrade in cooler.

The 8800GTX is a massively powerful card and no CPU can currently push out enough data to make the GTX be the weakest link in your system - this means that if you get the CPU of your choice now dependant upon your budget and then upgrade later, perhaps when they finally finish with socket 775 and the top-end chips become el-cheapo then you'll have a CPU that can make full use of that beast of a GPU.

Just a little food for thought there.

 

[mongoosed]

Well the average FPS i am trying to get is at least 50 fps. So keep that in mind for the cpu bottlenecking.. i thought that cpu bottlenecking was only a big problem with FPS > 100?

 

[prozac26]

Every single CPU out there, is a bottleneck. No matter how you look at it.

I would suggest a Core 2, and overclocking it.

 

[fredgiblet]

An 8800gtx can take any CPU that you can throw at it.

 

[Heyyou27]

Well the average FPS i am trying to get is at least 50 fps. So keep that in mind for the cpu bottlenecking.. i thought that cpu bottlenecking was only a big problem with FPS > 100?

50FPS in what? Oblivion? Half-Life2? You have to be more specific about the types of games you plan on playing.

 

[mrmez]

I assume u wanna stick with AMD cos u dont wanna pay 4 a new mobo etc...

In that case, throw the most expensive chip u can afford at it. Simple as that.
If a new sys is on the cards, u would be silly NOT to go Intel. They r ripping AMD apart and seem to have development on the cards to at least keep them equal wit AMD for the next 3-5 years.

 

[nightscope]

If you already have an Am2 board, then go with an X2 5600+. If you are going to buy a motherboard, then get an E6420 Core 2 Duo when price cuts occur (rumored on the 22nd).

 

[rammedstein]

I say wait, because depending on barcelona (and its derivatives) you may want to stick with AMD, wait until the 23rd/24th and find out how barc performs, if it is good, go for an am2 processor so you can swap out to a barc when the time comes. If you already have an AM2 board, get a Gigabyte 965P DS3 and a E4300, that way, you can have performance now for cheap, as well as having the upgrade path to barc when the time comes.

 

[Opterondo]

Uhhh .. get an $240 X2-6000+ if you must have AMD, but there are better options in CPUs today than a year ago.

 

[mongoosed]

How do i check what motherboard i have?

 

[senor_bob]

How do i check what motherboard i have?

Download cpu-z from www.cpuid.com and then run it. You can look at the CPU tab it starts on and tell us what the package (socket) type is or what the core codename is, or you can go to the mainboard tab and check there. You are upgrading an existing system, right?

 

[blade85]

In that case, throw the most expensive chip u can afford at it. Simple as that.

I was gonna suggest the same thing. Still have to agree with the rest aswell that core 2 duo would be a better option, but if you want to stick to amd, then the fastest chip you can afford would be your answer.

 

[speedbird]

u would be silly NOT to go Intel. They r ripping AMD apart

The Hi-end market is dominated by Intel mainly at present, But the low - Mid market AMD still has some relevance. AMD still offers great value for money specially for people on tighter budgets. In the Toms hardware CPU chart benchmarks the 4800 X2 is not exactly a huge distance behind a stock E6400 Core 2 Duo, but comes in at a nice price tag and the 5600+ usually comes in reasonable. Overclock a E6300 then yes it will leave AMD trailing and Intels top line processors will leave AMD trailing also, but it all depends on someone's budget and if they are willing to over clock. If I was in the market for a PC now I would most likely go Core 2 Duo , but the point I was making was AMD isn't knocked out yet.

 

[jitpublisher]

Agree with everyone, very simply -get the fastest CPU you can afford. Whether it's an upgrade AMD on your current board, or a complete motherboard CPU upgrade, you cannot buy enough CPU horsepower to feed that card to it's full potential, yet.

 

[Talon]

Get the best you can afford. Intel is on top in all ranges pretty much IF you are ok with overclocking, once you overclock they blow AMD away even on the low end.

If you must stick with AMD then get the best you can afford in dual core assuming your board will handle that.

As for those who say cpu is always a bottleneck for the 8800GTX and such, that all depends on what resolution and graphic options you game at. At high resolutions or with all the pretty effects enabled in games you can absolutely throw the burden off on even the mighty 8800GTX.

Give more info as to what resolution you play at, which games etc and someone could address that question a bit more properly rather than giving a false blanket answer thats so dependant on other variables.