Processor Bottleneck of HD 7750

[clay1987]

Will a Wolfdale E5300, 2.6, 2MB processor significantly bottleneck a HD7750 such that I should just go with a 6670 GDDR5 or DDR3 instead of the 7750?

My 12-yr old son has a Dell Inspiron 530 built in Feb 2009 with 3 GB RAM DDR2, integrated graphics, 300 W power supply, and a 19 inch monitor set at 1280 x 1024. His uses are Microsoft Office, web surfing/browsing, Facebook, video chat, watching youtube videos and on rare ocassions watches DVDs, and does mild gaming such as Minecraft (which the computer performance for Minecraft does not seem the greatest, an apparent victim of weak onboard graphics).

He also wants to do TF2. Portal 1, and Diablo 3, for example, and other forgiving or medium games, and possibly (who knows) more demanding gaming but is willing to go with lower settings if needed. He will likely get a new computer in 1-2 years, but for now . . .

I have settled on the following three possible choices for graphics cards with approximate prices, and will make a purchase in a day or two.

HD6670 (1 GB DDR3) ($69),
HD6670 (1 GB GDDR5) ($89),
HD7750 ($109).

I have no brand loyalty, but for some reason seem to generally favor Sapphire and Gigabyte, though will likely go with price over brand. I may avoid XFX, however.

Whatever card I get, I could carry over to his new computer he gets in the next 1-2 years.


Dell System Configuration

K086M 1 Processor, E5300, 2.6, 2MB Wolfdale, 65W, R0
JY167 1 Assembly, Heatsink, Fan, Mini Tower
WN585 1 INSTRUCTION..., DEVIATE L6 TO L5+, Pentium 4 Prescott DT, 3.0GHZ, 1 MEGB, 800FSB...
01323 0 INFORMATION..., NO ITEM
CN481 1 ASSEMBLY..., CHASSIS..., MNTW, Pentium 4 Prescott DT, 3.0GHZ, 1 MEGB, 800FSB..., NON PFC..., PWA INTEGRATED...
702EX 0 INFORMATION..., PREPARATION MATERIAL..., DEVIATION..., PRECISION WORKSTATION..., INCREASE..., #1
JY172 1 PLACEMAT..., GETTING STARTED..., DIMENSION..., DAO/BCC
83535 0 INFORMATION..., PART, ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY ATTACHMENT PACKET INTERFACE..., DEVICE
DJ331 1 KEYBOARD..., 104, UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS..., UNITED STATES..., ENTRY..., LITEON..., BLACK...
WG440 2 Dual In-Line Memory Module 512, 800M, 64X64, 8, 240, 1RX8
P005H 1 KIT..., SOFTWARE..., ROXIO..., 10.2-0, DE
T118F 1 Kit, Software, Mcafee, 9, Compact Disk Drive, English
K257H 1 KIT..., Software, VHP32SP1A, DigitalVideo Disk Drive, Multiple, 5
XN966 1 KIT..., MOUSE..., UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS..., 2BTN, OPTICAL..., LOGITECH...
DW623 1 KIT..., SPEAKER..., 12V, AX510PA, SHIP IN BOX..., TYPE1
DW804 1 Assembly, Dvd+/-rw, 16X, Half Height, BARE, Plds
R473H 1 HARD DRIVE..., 320GB, S2, 7.2K, SGT-BRINKS
UN492 1 Display, Flat Panel Display, 19 SE198WFPV, Silver, Dell AmericasOrganization
UN495 1 Kit, Software, MS Office Home and Student-2K7, English
CM633 2 Dual In-line Memory Module 1GB, 800, 128X64, 8, 240, 1RX8

 

[clay1987]

Also, his sister will likely be playing SIMS 3.

 

[beavermml]

even my old e5200 oc'ed to 3.6Ghz bottleneck my HD 4870 ( plays nfs run at 15-20fps no matter what at res) when i swap with i5 2500k the bottleneck shifted to my GC ( can play nfs run 60fps@1080 ).

 

[clay1987]

even my old e5200 oc'ed to 3.6Ghz bottleneck my HD 4870 ( plays nfs run at 15-20fps no matter what at res) when i swap with i5 2500k the bottleneck shifted to my GC ( can play nfs run 60fps@1080 ).

That's interesting. Thanks for the reply. However, the 4870 appears to be a much better performing card than the 7750 or 6670 I am looking at. (The 4870 does require a lot power)

http://www.hwcompare.com/11777/radeon-hd-4870-x2-vs-radeon-hd-7750/



With my motherboard, about the the best processor I can go to is the E8400, E8500, or E8600 max. I have seen them occasionally used on Ebay for $90-100. I don't I am willing to replace the motherboard.

 

[lycros]

I'd go for the 7750. Maybe later you'll want to upgrade him to a new system, then you can just reuse the 7750. Or perhaps you'll find a cpu upgrade for cheap on craigslist or ebay.

Have any friends that might have an old pc with a better cpu in it laying around? lol worth a shot

 

[clay1987]

I just bid on a used E8500 for $50 on Ebay from a top seller.

Is it worth to replace my Pentium E5300 with a used E8500 if I can get it for $50? See performance comparison in the link below.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/385/Intel_Core_2_Duo_E8500_vs_Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core_E5300.html


Again, I have a Dell Inspiron 530 built in February 2009 with 3GB (DDR2) RAM and integrated graphics. Vista 32-bit. 300 W power supply.

As mentioned, I am about to purchase an HD7750 graphics card (though have also looked at cheaper HD6670 GDDR5 or DDR3 versions).

 

[clay1987]

Best answer selected by clay1987.