A "bottleneck" question

Forum Graphics & Displays : Graphics Cards A "bottleneck" question

Ok, my current PC Specs:

ASUS nForce 4 based motherboard
AMD X2 +4200 (939)
2GB Corsair DDR400
150GB Raptor HDD
eVGA 7800GT PCIe Card

SO, id like to get the 8800GT or 8800GTS (G92) video card for xmas.

Will I be able to appreciate the power of those cards, or will my system be the bottleneck?

Thanks in advance!

Reply to rallyimprezive

Ive been playing COD4 and Unreal Tournament 3, and some Quake Territory

Of course id love to play Crysis....

I just know from past experience that sometimes the card isnt able to run at full swing because its waiting on the CPU and memory bus. Is this the case if I get a 8800 series?

Reply to rallyimprezive

Yes it will be (the cpu) the bottleneck for your system, and I will say it 1 more time. The single most gaming improvement a gamer can make is to upgrade his card. No, you wont be pulling the top framerates with that cpu, but if you game at 10x12 res or higher you wont see much bottlenecking, or, enuff for you to not appreciate your upgrade

Message quoted 1 times

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Reply to JAYDEEJOHN

JAYDEEJOHN wrote :

Thanks for the information, that is exactly what I needed to know.

My computer is hooked up to my 40" 720p LCD so I end up playing games at 1360 x 768, not a really high resolution. Sounds like I wont need a new mobo/CPU/memory for a bit longer!!

Thanks again!

Reply to rallyimprezive

Yeah I have an Athlon X2 3800+ only clocked to 2.3 ghz and I can play Crysis with everything on High, no AA, on 1280X1024 and still squeeze out 30-40 fps with my 8800GT. You should be fine with that 4200+ of yours but it sucks that they discontinued all the 'good' CPU for socket 939 like the 4800+ and FX-60. AND PLEASE get yourself a 8800GT or ATI's Radeon 3870 and STAY AWAY FROM THE 8800GTS. If you go for the GTS you will be kicking yourself in the future.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by deltabullet on 12-11-2007 at 07:40:43 PM

Reply to deltabullet

deltabullet wrote :

Yea, I am leaning towards the 8800GT. And if prices come down a bit in the future, may choose to go with a 780i in and 2 8800GT in SLI. But one 8800GT is a great value and will let me take "baby steps."

I cant really afford to drop 1k on a PC ya know, id rather make a house payment.

Reply to rallyimprezive

FYI - Best buy has the BFG - NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT OC Graphics Card on sale for only $238.

Reply to rockyjohn

1360 x 768 is pretty lowactually, and your CPU might bottleneck a tad with older games.

However, if you want to play new titles like Crysis, the CPU will make little difference, the graphics card will be the deciding factor. Especially if you want to add a bit of AA.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ Cleeve
Hardware Editor, Tom's Hardware Guide
Reply to Cleeve

Well thank you everyone, I really appreciate all the great information! Now I just need to wait for that x-mas gift money!!! =)

Reply to rallyimprezive

I see what you're saying, but I did mean older games...

Next-gen games like crysis, that require the pixel shading power of high-end cards, will be more videocard dependant and show less of a bottleneck with the CPU at low resolutions I reckon...

Message edited by Cleeve on 12-12-2007 at 08:29:35 PM

------------------------------ Cleeve
Hardware Editor, Tom's Hardware Guide
Reply to Cleeve

The 8800GT or 3870 would be a great upgrade for your system.

------------------------------ The Truth About GPU Power Consumption
Home: E4600@3.6Ghz|AC7|P35|4GB|640GB|8800GT|Vista64|24" P-MVA
Work: Phenom9500@2.5Ghz|AC64|690G|3GB|500GB|8600GT|XP|2x22" TN
Reply to TSIMonster

Just been checking my system after what cleeve said about newer and older games and i have tested in oblivion and found the CPU to be bottlenecking so when i played Crysis i assumed it was the CPU again but i just oced the graphics card and instant frames Cheers Cleeve
Im off to see how hard i can push it now.
Mactronix

Reply to mactronix

Heheh. Yeah, I hear you. Not even disagreeing with you.

------------------------------ Cleeve
Hardware Editor, Tom's Hardware Guide
Reply to Cleeve

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