CPU Bottlenecking GPU

[osiris2k8]

Dear All

I am now in the market for a new graphics card for my pc as my 8800GT just produced an error that cannot be fixed and I have narrowed it down to a hardware problem (BFG no longer does RMA)

I have a few choices including ATI Sapphire 1GB 5770 for ~£100 or a palit sonic gtx 460 1GB for ~£130

Now I can afford to buy either of those now my topic is will my CPU bottleneck these midrange cards or will I get the full performance in games and 3D tasks out of them.

My Setup
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13GHZ
4GB DDR2 667 mhz Ram
ASUS P5NSLI Mobo
Corsair 550W PSU


Thank you for reading this

 

[sportsfanboy]

Your ram is fine, do what malmental said or you might want to consider an upgrade.

 

[sportsfanboy]

Gamer please show some proof of ddr2 667 not running games well, I would love to read it.

 

[sportsfanboy]

Ok a quick lesson in how core 2 systems work since I'm not working today and my coffee came out particularly well.

The OP has an e6400, with a FSB of 266 or 1066 effective. That means he really only needs ddr2 533 to run 1:1 with his FSB the way his system is now. He would need to overclock his computer to at least 2664ghz before his ram becomes a problem. At 2664ghz ddr2 667 will also be 1:1 with the FSB.

So you see his ram is plenty fast even for an overclock, just throwing faster ram with higher bandwidth will do nothing for his performance.

I would overclock that chip to around 2.8ghz and lower the memory timings a tad if not stable and your good to go until a full system upgrade.

 

[sportsfanboy]

Yeah sadly I'm off the coffee when I go back to the gym in two weeks, stupid diuretics, lol

 

[osiris2k8]

Thanks for your input guys (malmental and Sportsfanboy) I cannot read the other guy's posts maybe it was deleted . I am just gonna ask one more thing if you guys do not mind... I am a big noob when it come to CPU overclocking never done it before and I would rather not change my cpu cooler, I checked my temperatures on everest and it showed 45 C whilst multitasking is that too hot to consider overclocking? Also is there a noob starting guide for someone to do such a thing? Thanks

 

[osiris2k8]

P.S. I have already purchased the GTX 460

 

[sportsfanboy]

Max cpu temperature is around 62c and around 90c for the cores for your chip. Try to keep the cpu temp under at or under 55c and at or under 65c for the cores.

You can most likely attempt a mild to moderate overclock without a problem. Just keep an eye on temperatures and keep the voltage under 1.5 for the cpu.