CPU or GPU bottleneck...

[kallenin]

Hey,

Is there somewhere I can get maybe a general chart that shows the minimum CPU speed I need (for AMD and Intel) to take full (or at least most) advantage of my graphics card? Maybe there's some sort of "rule of thumb"?

-kallenin

 

[cleeve]

Not really. It depends on the game, and what res you run at, as some games use more CPU power than others.

In general, I consider 2.0 Ghz (or 2000+) as the baseline for solid gaming. If your CPU is at least this good, you should see a framerate increase with each tier of card, assuming you're playing at LEAST 1024x768.

At lower resolutions than that, the CPU becomes a bottleneck much faster. At higher resolutions, the videocard tends to be the limiting factor.

On a side note, a better CPU than 2.0 Ghz (or 2000+) will also show you framerate increases. An Athlon64 3000+ will probably get 25 fps higher in a demanding game than a Pentium4 2.0 Ghz, assuming the videocard isn't bottlenecking...

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<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>