It seems my FX-55 is bottlenecking my HD3850

[gegt_canadian]

Does that seem right to you guys? cause i got a stock 3dmark06 score of 5400. Then i OC'd my FX-55 only 200mhz and got over 800 more points. What do you think is wrong?

 

[cleeve]

An FX-55 will bottleneck 3dMArk06, but it won't bottleneck gaming much as long as you're running games at high resolutions.

 

[rgeist554]

Look at it this way:

At the resolution 3DMark06 runs at (default at 1280x1024) your CPU will not be able to keep up with the amount of rendered frames the GPU is cranking out.

Ex.

@1280x1024: GPU is putting out 100FPS - CPU only allows 70FPS - That's a 30% loss.

@1920x1200: GPU puts out 60 FPS - the CPU allows 55 FPS - Only a 9% loss.

So at a higher res, your CPU will be less of a bottleneck. At least, this is the way I understand it... Hopefully I didn't confuse you.

Anyways, a faster CPU or an overclock should always net you a few more frames from your GPU.

 

[gegt_canadian]

Oh thanks strangestranger for making me feel welcome with my first post. Anyways to those of you who are being helpful, thank you for answering. So a score of ~6200 3Dmark06 points with a 3850 sounds right to you guys? it just seems like all of the reviews i've seen it has scored 8000 to 10,000 depending on the setup. So I'm guessing the Core2's are rocking my FX-55 as bad as it looks? haha thanks!

 

[Shadow703793]

^Even a E2180 can pwn the FX-55. once the E2180 is OCed in most cases.
http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=dodzmgtgxlw&thumb=6
http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=ftenwyjdddn&thumb=4

 

[gegt_canadian]

Wow ok well thanks for your input. I'm guessing i need a larger heatsink to OC my FX-55 to the max for the time being, because a college student has trouble finding the money to get the HD3850, let alone a whole new build. Thanks to all who helped.

 

[Dirty_Harry2]

gegt_canad ian, I had an FX-55 that was bottlenecking my 2900 XT severely. I had it OC'ed all the way to 3.2 ghz and it still did not help much. Do yourself a big favor, upgrade to dual or quad care. When I changed, my avg frames in CSS went up by 70. I play all games at 1600x1200.

BTW welcome to the froums and apologies for some rude ppl.

 

[gegt_canadian]

yea ive been looking into it a lil bit, but an upgrade for me wont happen for a while, due to having pretty much no cash ...but thanks for your input, and what processor did u upgrade to from the FX-55, dirty_harry2?

 

[chuckshissle]

Do not judge your system by using 3dMark06 and other bencmarks. It only shows you how fast your system using that benchmark. It does not accurately shows how your system will handle specific peformance and games. Dual core would help, quad core will be pushing it since most games and application still don't fully use quad core chips.

A dual core would be a good improvement on your system. So I think you're good to go with just getting a new cpu and motherboard to go with the rest of your system now.

 

[GREASEMONKEY]

Listen to chuck on this one.Your taking about a 1,200 point hit on 3d06 just because you have a single core proc(which is bullcrap).In the real world of FPS in games at good resolution,IMO,that 3850 is good match for your FX-55.

 

[yipsl]

I've felt that there should be a reliable listing of the CPU's that bottleneck specific cards at low resolution. I've been gaming with an Athlon X2 4600+ and a 7600GS at 1024 x 768 or 1280 x 1024, so no bottleneck, but I'm upgrading to a 3870 once income tax refunds arrive.

Because of the low res bottlenecking issues, I've also decided that I can justify a nice Viewsonic 20" LCD to replace the 17" Viewsonic CRT. That way, the CPU should be less of an issue. So, let's lobby for a Tom's Hardware CPU/GPU Bottleneck interactive chart!

 

[Dirty_Harry2]

I upgraded to an AMD 6400+ gegt_canadian, hell of bang for the buck.

 

[TSIMonster]

Yeah, just search for a 939 dual core and then you'll be fine!

 

[cleeve]

ONce again: the FX55 will be bottlenecked in 3dMark.

In an actual game, at 1600x1200 or above, it's not going to matter much - if at all. The graphics card becomes the bottleneck.

 

[rgeist554]

bottleneck. :x I'm just kidding, forgive me!

 

[randomizer]

Well on a multi-threaded game you are gonna lose alot of performance vs a dual core CPU. I found my FPS more than doubled in some games (yes games, not benchies) when I got my E6600 over a 3700.

 

[cleeve]

There are only a handful of games that can multi thread. Oblivion, Supreme commander... maybe cutting edge titles like crysis. And then, the performance increase is usually around the 10% area (supreme commander being the exception to the rule)

If you saw huge gains, chances are it wasn't from multithreading.

 

[goonting]

I hope my P4 531 3.0GHz can cope with the Radeon HD3870 512MB
hehehehehe... i just want to slowly migrate and later on this will follow you guys. I'm having trouble with my XPC SB81P supports single cores only...crazy

 

[Dirty_Harry2]

In an actual game, at 1600x1200 or above, it's not going to matter much - if at all. The graphics card becomes the bottleneck.

This is wrong! I play at 1600x1200 on all my games. Results speak for themselves. I had an FX-55 running with my 2900 XT, and when I upgraded to my 6400+, I went up in frames in all my games...

Now I know what you are thinking, faster processor, more frames right? Well I had my FX-55 OC'ed to 3.1 ghz. Also my 7950 GT was getting more fps than my 2900 XT. CSS I went up by 70 fps, BF2142 30 fps, crysis 10 fps, COD4 20 fps and DOW I don't know because it is capped at 60 fps on fraps. However I never dropped below 40 like I did on the old setup.

 

[ro3dog]

Something is deffinately holding you back waaaay back. http://service.futuremark.com/orb/resultanalyzer.jsp?projectType=14&XLID=0&UID=13487461 .hopefully you cant look at my scores and settup as refference. good luck

 

[Dirty_Harry2]

What Mobo/and or chipset are you running. Nforce 4 will hold you back a little...so I have been told.

I base no evidence on that though.

 

[Dirty_Harry2]

strangestranger

I did not mean to sound so forward in my correction of cleeve. I am going on all personal experience. I feel that the FX-55 was a bottleneck though. Please however prove me wrong, I need to learn more stuff.

 

[ZOldDude]

If your on 939 the Optron 175 was like $100 online this week....and it will do 3-3.2Ghz on air @ stock volts...some run them up to 3.4Ghz with a volt boost and ram settings.

 

[randomizer]

There are only a handful of games that can multi thread. Oblivion, Supreme commander... maybe cutting edge titles like crysis. And then, the performance increase is usually around the 10% area (supreme commander being the exception to the rule)

If you saw huge gains, chances are it wasn't from multithreading.

Yea it wasn't because of multi-threading, BF2142 more than doubled in FPS and that is single-threaded. I think my mobo had some serious issues, it did die a few months later (I think it died, something died anyway).

 

[gegt_canadian]

Wow. ro3dog is the 2900pro supposed to be the same as a HD3850? yes i believe its an Nforce4. SLI 32x Asus board.