Worth the upgrade or bottlenecked??

[jc10376]

Hi all! My little brother has a computer with a Pentium D 820 processor. Since his computer also has 1 GB or RAM, a PCI EX slot and a 550W PSU, I was thinking we could add a 9800 GT, a 2GB stick of RAM and use it for light gaming.

He would be playing at a 1366x768 resolution, obviously without AF or AA, medium settings. Games would mainly be BF: BC2, MW:2, L4D2 and Crysis... lol just kidding with the last one, no Crysis for him.

Since at that resolution games rely heavily on the CPU, will he be bottlenecked? If so, will he get playable frame rates or is the CPU definetly a dealbraker?



As always, your advise is greatly appreciated!!

 

[geofelt]

Hi all! My little brother has a computer with a Pentium D 820 processor. Since his computer also has 1 GB or RAM, a PCI EX slot and a 550W PSU, I was thinking we could add a 9800 GT, a 2GB stick of RAM and use it for light gaming.

He would be playing at a 1366x768 resolution, obviously without AF or AA, medium settings. Games would mainly be BF: BC2, MW:2, L4D2 and Crysis... lol just kidding with the last one, no Crysis for him.

Since at that resolution games rely heavily on the CPU, will he be bottlenecked? If so, will he get playable frame rates or is the CPU definetly a dealbraker?



As always, your advise is greatly appreciated!!

I think he will do well.

Most games are limited by the graphics card, not the cpu.
Look at the GTS450 as a more modern card at a similar price.

Going to 3gb will be a good move also.

 

[Dominaz1]

A 9800 gt for a Pentium D maybe it´s too much(and would be bottlenecked), why not buying a cheaper gpu, like 4650 ddr3?, or 9600 gt, with this you would be able to play crysis on medium-high.

About the ram 2 Gb more would be perfect.