6800GT and Source

[PsharkJF]

Got my brother's 6800GT via hand-me-down when he upgraded to some other card.

I'm running on a:
2.53 GHz Northwood P4 (533 fsb, obviously), running on a Asus P4b533.

The key thing about the mobo is that the AGP slot is 4x. I've been having really shoddy performance in Fortress Forever on source (say, 20fps in heavy action at 8x6 with all the details turned down). Now, I know the 6800GT should really get better performance than that in Source, even if it is a third party mod I'm playing.

I know I have a weak CPU. I also know I potentially have a bandwidth-choked video card. The question is: Which one's more the problem?

I'm trying to get in contact with one of my amigos who could have a spare motherboard for me to test on, but I'm leery of:
a) spending money on an upgrade that wasn't entirely necessary
or b) spending money on a stopgap motherboard that doesn't fix the problem.

So which is it?

 

[Rage3kMoiz]

Well, the easiest way to check for a bottleneck (which is probably present), is by OCing the CPU and testing the game again. If you get better performance, the answer is clear. The fact that you have a Northwood CPU is good, since it won't burn a hole in your mobo when you OC it, unlike its Prescott cousins.
Also, I doubt the mobo will make a difference. There is not much real-life performance difference between 4x and 8x AGP cards of the same type. The only real difference lies with the GPU.

 

[Modular]

The problem is the CPU. You need to overclock it like mad if you can.

 

[j0j081]

yeah source engine is weak sauce by todays standards. my own 6800gt used to kill it so must be something else.

 

[PsharkJF]

I have the money to upgrade, it was just the question of spending 50 bucks or 700 bucks

I posted this on another forum and they agree it's the CPU too. Hello, Core2Duo, here I come.