When does the CPU become a bottleneck

[russ75]

I'm thinking about getting a new graphics card - my current setup is P4 1.4/512 RDRAM 800/Geforce 2 GTS.

After getting a new card, i'm not planning on upgrading for a while - so I want to get as powerful of a card as I can - but dont want to waste money if the CPU is going to hold me back

i'm considering a 128 MB TI 4200, would this be a good choice?

 

[Bahumut]

Ti4200 is probably the best bang per buck out right now.

As far as bottlenecks go, it depends on the gaming engine. The quake engines depend on your video card and CPU about half and half. In these engines, your CPU would definitely be the bottleneck. Though you would still see improvements using these engines.

Most other engines on the market rely more on the video card than the CPU. These engines (as well as 3DMarks) stand to see huge benifits from the proposed upgrade.

If it were me, I'd go for it.

Pain is the realization of your own weakness.

 

[eden]

Yes but, seeing as the P4 1.4GHZ is the second P4 Wilamette grade, it holds crappy performance in almost anything, including games. I suggest, if your board supports Socket 478, to get a P4 1.8A, you can safely overclock to 2.4GHZ, and then you can also trade-in your video card for a small rebate and get a Ti4200. In total, you get so much bang for the buck, some for free as well, that can easily boost your gaming to the best point!
For CPU upgrading info, ask in the CPU forum.

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[russ75]

Thanks for the advice guys, no my board doesn't support Socket 478 - and its a prebuilt dell system, so upgrading the CPU isn't really much of an option (not to mention, i dont really have the cash for a new board, cpu and vido card).

even though the processor is far from great, i'm really not getting horrible performance, even now with the GTS card, i can still play all the games coming out now just not with the best details and speed.

in a year or 2 , i'll probably get a new system (maybe build it myself this time) - but for now, i just wanna see what card would push this processor as far as it can go - i'm assuming the power of a 4400 or above would just be wasted on this CPU?

 

[dhlucke]

I think you're kind of screwed if you want the best performance since that CPU is really not that great, but in the end you said it best:

even though the processor is far from great, i'm really not getting horrible performance, even now with the GTS card, i can still play all the games coming out now just not with the best details and speed.

As long as you're happy then great. Pop in a $100 card and when you're ready to upgrade do it then. I wouldn't spend more than $150 for a card with that Dell.

What's going to be scary though is when Doom3 comes out with possibly some outrageous requirements.

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[Spitfire_x86]

With your Dell box, a 128 MB MSI GeForce3 Ti200 will be enough. $105 at newegg

<b><font color=red> Long live piracy! </font color=red></b>

 

[ejsmith2]

For most games, that ti4200 will pair up really well.

Quake3 (obviously), Medal of Honor, Max Payne, Neverwinter Nights.

But for the really new games like UT2k3, no; that cpu will be the limiter.

Especially if you have "hardware" sound turned on in UT2k3; it really drops your frame rate noticably.

P4's @ 3600Mhz ()wNz J00 4LL!!!!!!