Is my AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Bottlenecking?

[lreyes66]

Ok well im currently playing diablo 3 using a HD 3850 512mb. Im currently playing on High w/ aliasing, and for the most part its fine. Though sometimes during intense battle it might get a little sluggish but still doable.

I want to upgrade my graphics card for better gameplay, but since my mobo is picky i have to pick an a better graphics card then what i have currently. I cant use any of the news ones because ive tried.

Anyways, i went to my friends house and watched him play diablo 3. His rig is somewhat similar to mine, but he has a the older phenom quad core and running HD 4870. His gameplay is wayyy smoother then mine. The texture is aboslutly smooth and no lag during intense battles as well.

Question: will a graphics card upgrade be doable for improving smoothness and gameplay? or will my dual core 6400+ windsor 3.2ghz bottle neck the performance?

 

[lreyes66]

also im looking to buy a 4870/90 if anyone knows where i can still get one

 

[horaciopz]

We need to know whats your PSU and your budget, also if you are using that card which is PCI express, why do you say that you can't run " the new ones" what cards have you tried? Your processor is old school and will bottleneck most of the new cards but you will surelly get a smoother gameplay with a better card.

Something better than the HD4890 would be most HD5800 casds and will using less power, also a 6790 or preferably a 6850 will use as much as power your old HD3850 but will be the double speed and performance .

 

[Vettedude]

Well his HD 4870 is a much better card. You could get a new GPU, just why would you get a 4xxx card? Get an HD 6 or 7 series! Performance would be even better, even with a CPU bottleneck in some games. Note that CPU bottleneck depends on the game. My HD 6850 (great card, I'd recommend it for people on a $130 budget) is bottlenecked in some games by my Core 2 Quad, but in some games the C2Q has no problems.

 

[lreyes66]

I have a 700W PSU.

Well i would aim for a 6850, but as previous threads i made on here, it just isnt compatible with my ASUS m2a-mvp Cross ready motherboard. IDK why.

I tried 2 different HD 6770 from best buy just to try it out. It would never display an image on my monitors (2 of them) The screen would stay blank/off as it doesnt detect any signal. Even on a fresh windows install. Im guessing its a chipset issue. I even tried a GTX 550ti. Would always hang on the inital restart ( stuck on "starting windows" w/ no logo)

 

[theconsolegamer]

The 7770 or 7750 might be a great card for you but we need to know your PSU specs first.

 

[lreyes66]

700w Rosewill PSU


also, before peopel mention to suggest a new mobo/cpu/ram

I currently am tight with money and dont have $400+ to spend

 

[theconsolegamer]

What is your budget then?



Sapphire 7850 @ $260USD is a great card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102984


Edit: 7750 fixed.

 

[horaciopz]

Its kinda hard because an upgrade would be all of the options you said that don't work, what about a new processor? if your mobo is am2 or am2+ you can get a Phenom x4 or a better phenom ii x4 940 or 945... i guess you have a problem your PCIexpress slots, maybe you should try instaling your cards into another slot and test it...

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM2/M2AMVP/#CPUS

I have myself a PCIexpress 1.0 mobo and I use a 2.1 HD6790 on it, its kinda weird that problem... it could be..

 

[Vettedude]

What is your budget then?



Sapphire 7750 @ $250USD is a great card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102984

I was gonna slap you until I clicked the link. You type 7750 instead of 7850. I was worried you were recommending a $250 7750

 

[Vettedude]

Your best plan is to start saving. Save any extra money you can (even if its like $20 every week) and build up your "new computer fund" PCIe 1.0 these days is a PITA.

You'd just have to live with medium settings on D3 for a while.

 

[theconsolegamer]

if you don't understand PC hardware, perhaps you should stick to console gaming feedback

Yeah, it was my bad for just reading the first sentence of this post and skipping the whole post.




"I have a 700W PSU.

Well i would aim for a 6850, but as previous threads i made on here, it just isnt compatible with my ASUS m2a-mvp Cross ready motherboard. IDK why.

I tried 2 different HD 6770 from best buy just to try it out. It would never display an image on my monitors (2 of them) The screen would stay blank/off as it doesnt detect any signal. Even on a fresh windows install. Im guessing its a chipset issue. I even tried a GTX 550ti. Would always hang on the inital restart ( stuck on "starting windows" w/ no logo)"

 

[lreyes66]

Your best plan is to start saving. Save any extra money you can (even if its like $20 every week) and build up your "new computer fund" PCIe 1.0 these days is a PITA.

You'd just have to live with medium settings on D3 for a while.

I plan on recycling my PSU/DVD burner/drive and spending $400-600 on a new mobo/cpu/ram/video card b4 the summer ends, but just need a quick upgrade to play d3 on the smoothness my friend had. I currently am @ high settings and fine. Just want perfect

 

[lreyes66]

budget
$60 and under - 9800GT / ATI 4850 off ebay.

$100 - same card as above with a corsair 430w off newegg

$150 - corsair 430w & Nvidia GTS450 off newegg

I would not spend more money then $150 on your PC since you really need the CPU, mobo, RAM upgrade. Any card more powerful then the GTS450 will be held back by your CPU.

thanks, yeah your right thats why i dont want to spend TOO much.. I only currently play just D3 anyways.

 

[lreyes66]

is the gtx 260 the equivalent of the 4870?

 

[lreyes66]

ok well ill be getting either the 260, 4870 or 9800gt soon

 

[lreyes66]

Ok i bought a xfx gtx 260 black edition for $64 including shipping. I had a chance to jump on a 4890 for $65 locally but i snoozed.

Hope i made a good choice.

Also would it be worth it to SLI a 260? or just getting something like a 6870

 

[lreyes66]

scratch that. I picked up a xfx gtx 285 locally for $70.


Huge card. It has somewhat smooth out my gameplay but i still remember my friends gameplay alot smoother and crisper? is that signs of bottleneck?

Im thinking of slowly upgrading... The seller also gave me legit 3x2gb ddr3 1066 so i might get a mother board and after that a phenom processor.

 

[lreyes66]

on idle w/ new memory card the cpu usage idlesaround 60% and higher during d3 gameplay

 

[Sunius]

Crispier? Are you running at native resolution?

 

[nforce4max]

Dual core CPU's except for the most modern ones are just far too weak and for cpu bound games like D3 and wow ect there isn't much you can do. Sure you got lucky with that GTX285 but there is more to it than just having a great card, you also need a good cpu to back it up. That is why your friend's rig runs as well as it does.

The good news is that you can upgrade to a Phenom 1 at least and they are not as terrible as the rich people here say. The xx50 models are somewhat similar in performance to Phenom 2 but don't hit as high clocks. The e models are 65w models and are in general decent overclockers % wise. By the way pickup a pack os enzotech or switftech vram or mostfet coolers and apply them on the mosfets on your board near the socket to improve stability at higher loads. The non e models are 95w on up and they do run hot.

 

[lreyes66]

more then likely, D3 is not GPU demanding and your card is up to the task. could also be your PSU, what exact rosewill 700w do you have?

rosewill green series 700w

 

[lreyes66]

i see, i wish d3 had a straight offline mode to test if its the blizzard server or not.