Will my CPU bottleneck an 8800GTX?

midnilux

I have an E6300 Core 2 Duo running at 3.0ghz (OC'd from 1.86ghz) 2GB Ram, and I currently have an 8800GTS, I am considering returning this the 8800GTS and getting an 8800GTX for a little bit more, but would it be wise to do so with my less than stellar CPU?

fobis

If I recall correctly, even the latest and greatest CPU's are still bottlenecks when paired with a high-end card like the 8800GTS/X.
But honestly, I don't know if the extra $200 or whatever for the GTX is entirely worth it, especially with ATI's cards coming in the hopefully near future. If I were you, I'd just stick with the 8800GTS

midnilux

I can get the GTX for $50 more which is why I want to do it

Zardon

Lelisevis

I get 8300 in 3dmark2006 with my processor at 2.6ghz and I get 9500 with my processor at 3.0ghz.

Conclusion processor definitely has an impact on performance.

fobis

Well hell, for $50 bucks more, go for it. In the future, if you ever decide to upgrade your CPU, you have a GPU that can match up with it. Plus, for stuff like stream processing (ie - F@H for nVidia hopefully coming soon), the GTX will destroy the GTS.

Datagg

How does my specs accomadate my 8800 GTS?

Lelisevis

I'd imagine your GTS is being held back drastically by that processor and probably by your RAM too.

Datagg

Isnt my ram the newest for a AM2 Mobo...... As for the chip... Explain why you think that it is bottlenecking the 8800 if you would please.

I wanted a top rig when i bought my Mobo..... and was running a 7900 when I got it..... i just got the 8800GTS a few days ago. As far as what my Mobo shows as far as growth potential goes for cpu's is

AMD Opteron 1210 1MBx2 Santa Ana 90nm F2 2000 F5
AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 1MBx2 Windsor 90 nm F2 2000 F3
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 1MBx2 Windsor 90nm F2 2000 F3
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 512KBx2 Windsor 90 nm F2 2000 F3
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ 1MBx2 Windsor 90nm F2 2000 F3
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 512KBx2 Windsor 90nm F2 2000 F3
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 1MBx2 Windsor 90nm F2 2000 F3

in all honesty, would it be that much better with a 5200 on board?

i would sure liek to hear your guys opnions to make all parts of this rig work best together.

On a side note..i got some cash burnin in pocket... in your opinion, better to go with a new chip as the 5200($289 Newegg) or better ram as in DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)(around $250.00 Newegg)?
Besides getting both, which one for right now would let that 8800 breath better

fobis

Didn't you read Lelisevis' previous post? He has an AM2 X2 5200+ and he found that at 3.0GHz, his 3DMark06 score improved greatly from a clock of 2.6GHz. That just means that the card is already doing all it has to work with and that the CPU is not providing/processing enough data at once and not keeping up with the GPU.
But just FYI, the Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 will probably be a better choice than a AM2 X2 5200+, especially since the C2D's overclock like monsters and just perform better than a lot of X2's.

zaim

+1 to everything you said!

any 80 series video card, is trying to pump out more than it can on ANY AMD machine..

and him at 3ghz, he's already pushing his memory bandwidth to around 7gbps, and that helps alot also.

Lelisevis

Thanks Fobis your exactly spot on. These cards will eat all the processing power you can throw at them. I was suprised how much difference the CPU made to the scores.

I understand how frustrating it is that hardware goes out of date so quick, hell the day I got my 5200+ I logged onto AMD for drivers and they'd announced the 5400+ and the 5600+, then this week I see the 6000+.

As for your Ram the fastest the AM2 system supports is like you said PC6400 though it might interest you to know that because of the odd dividers they use the Ram will run closer to DDR760 rather than DDR800. To achieve DDR800 you need to run the processor at 2.8ghz. Using that theory i'd say find a 2.8ghz stock AMD or like Fobis said go for a Intel but that will mean changing the board too.

Edit: As for the overclocking this is a new system so I'm breaking it in slowly however I did experiment with the processor at 3.2ghz on air and it was 100% stable with some heavy stress-testing. Mind I am using a meaty Zalman cooler, I don't think i'd try it on the stock cooler.

Datagg

Well on that note..the cheaper path for now would be to jump on a 5200 amd. Im going to order one right after this post from Newegg....

Thanks

Datagg

Ok as stated above..i just ordered this...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103759

And whats nice about the timing is that vista will be here next week too via action pack... Now i can kill 2 birds at once with a fresh install. The memory will have to wait.. i hope the memory isnt going to suffacate the rig too much...

By the way, i downloaded 3dmark earlier and got 7936 for total. I guess that is pretty good for what i have now.... Cant wait to see it in action when vista and the 5200 take a stab at it.

fobis

I'm sure your score with the 5200+ will be greatly increased, but you'll still need to do some serious overclocking to get it to where Lelisevis's score is.
But good luck! Hopefully you'll get what you want out of the CPU/GPU combo. DX10 games aren't out for a while, anyways, so at least you'll be confident that your rig will tear through DX9 games for now.

Datagg

Thanks brah... Levi had 8300 in his stock, I had 7936 as of my test earlier with my 4200 stock with 3dmark....so hopefully ill be right on target or better when all is said and done.

by the way, if anyone wants to buy a 5200, newegg is offering free shipping on it..dont know if that is the norm for this chip, but at least it was today.