6800GT & CPU scaling benchmark wanted..

[jose]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for info on cpu scaling w/ a 6800GT card. I'm interested in how the following processors perform compared to each other. ie. all running HL2 or Q3
at 1280 x 1024 & 1600 x 1200 on the following processors:

P4-3.0c, 3.4c
A64 3000+, 3500+

Does any site have anything close to this info.

Thank you very much for the info.

Regards,
Jose

 

[RussianSensation]

It's difficult to find a cpu scaling benchmark with 6800GT for Half-Life 2 because that game runs faster on X800XT cards.

Choosing the Best CPU for Half-Life 2

You can also use this review to try to extrapolate the performance of 6800GT:

Half Life 2 GPU Roundup Part 1 - DirectX 9 Shootout

Pretty much, A64 cpus will be faster than P4 cpus if that is what you are looking for. Also 3.4 vs. 3.0ghz P4 isn't going to be too dramatic to notice.

And as far as Quake 3 goes, do you care if it runs at 200FPS or 600FPS?

 

[Matthias99]

Several sites have done this (or very similar benchmarks); I'm sure a Google search would find the info pretty easily.

OTOH, I've never understood the whole "CPU limited" argument for video cards. If you're CPU limited at a certain setting, that just means you can run at a higher resolution or with AA/AF enabled without lowering FPS. Plus, even with a relatively slow CPU (like, say, an AthlonXP 2000+ or a P4B 2.0Ghz), few GPUs will be throttled at all running at 1600x1200 with AA/AF enabled in UT2K4 / FarCry / Doom3 / HL2, or other similarly demanding games coming out (STALKER, etc.) A 6800GT/Ultra SLI might -- but also costs $1000+ and is not an option for most people. If all you want to do is to play older games like Quake3 or the original Counter-Strike, anything faster than a GeForce4Ti or so is ridiculously massive overkill -- but if you want to play games produced in recent years, faster cards can always be put to good use.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Matthias99
Several sites have done this (or very similar benchmarks); I'm sure a Google search would find the info pretty easily.

OTOH, I've never understood the whole "CPU limited" argument for video cards. If you're CPU limited at a certain setting, that just means you can run at a higher resolution or with AA/AF enabled without lowering FPS.

That senario doesn't account for the CPU demands of the new physics engines and AI does it? I ask because I don't spend much time researching the topic, and just presume that the demands of the newer more advanced games place greater demands on a CPU than older games due to advancements in these areas and others, or am I missing something here?

 

[DaveSimmons]

For Doom3, CPU limited means you might not get 60 FPS even at 800x600 if you're running something like a Celeron or P4/AMD under 2 GHz. See the AnandTech Doom3 CPU scaling article under the "CPU/Chipsets" tab.

link for lazy sods

jose read the "AMD vs. intel" page of that article. Doom3 seems to be more CPU-dependent than HL2, but it is where games are heading and there will be a lot of D3-engine games.

 

[jose]

Hey thanks alot guys... 🙂

I will get a 6800GT for my brother, the only choice we're look at are cost for the mobo/cpu systems. Those 4 cpu's are the one's we're looking at.

We'd like most bang for the buck on this purchase. It will probably have to be after christmas because prices are going up everywhere for everything....

So we're looking at the P4C processors w/ p4p800e or A64 754 socket DFI NF3 mobo or some bleeding edge NF4 Asus A8N-SLI. We'd like to keep the cost down to about $300-$450 for the cpu/mobo.

I know the best solution would prob. be a A64 939 3500+ w/ the Asus NF4 mobo but there are alot of fixes/patches that will probably be needed in addition to greater cost.

I know all 4 processors can bo oc'd but I figure that the hiar. is 3500+ > P4-3.4 > 3000+ > P4-3.0 more or less. I just wanted to know by how much.

Again thanks for the info.

Regards & Merry Christmas

Jose

 

[jelifah]

I'm not sure what "fixes/patches" you are referring to.

I just purchased a GigaByte Ultra 939 mobo and AMD 64 3200+ which prices out at $312 from NewEgg before shipping costs. If you went closer to your $450 mark you could even get the 3500+.

Either way, upon arrival I flashed to current Bios, installed Windows XP SP2 with a slipstream CD, installed ZoneAlarm, ran Windows Update, then installed HL2, FarCry, and WarCraft 3. No extra fix or patch steps that you wouldn't be doing with your 754 board.

Remember the 939 processor will run cooler than its faster 754 brether AND you get dual channel memory. And seriously, if you want to game, or OC, real brothers don't do Intel.

I suppose if you want a more 'mature' mobo you should go 754, but from my personal experience the 939 has been a pleasure.

Jelifah

p.s.
btw, off topic but, I hadn't done the install/patch process for so long I'd forgotten how annoying those steps are. It made me appreciate the drop and play ability of consoles 🙁

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: Matthias99
Several sites have done this (or very similar benchmarks); I'm sure a Google search would find the info pretty easily.

OTOH, I've never understood the whole "CPU limited" argument for video cards. If you're CPU limited at a certain setting, that just means you can run at a higher resolution or with AA/AF enabled without lowering FPS.

That senario doesn't account for the CPU demands of the new physics engines and AI does it? I ask because I don't spend much time researching the topic, and just presume that the demands of the newer more advanced games place greater demands on a CPU than older games due to advancements in these areas and others, or am I missing something here?

This is true -- but I haven't seen anything showing that even D3 won't run acceptably on a moderately fast CPU. Obviously with a really slow Celeron or an old Duron processor you might be seriously constrained with some newer game engines -- but in most cases with non-obsolete hardware the difference is not night and day.

AT CPU scaling on D3 -- P4 2.4Ghz-3.2Ghz

AT CPU scaling on D3 -- AXP 2000+/P42.4Ghz - AMDFX-53/P4EE 3.4Ghz

The AXP 2500+ pushes nearly 60FPS, and the 2000+ nearly 50FPS. And you're only going to hit those framerates in Doom3 at low resolutions with very fast graphics cards. Again, all this means is that you should be running at 1600x1200 -- possibly with AA and AF -- if you have a 6800U and a slower CPU. You'll just be getting 50-60FPS with high IQ instead of 100FPS with lower IQ. Older games are likely to only be "CPU-limited" well above 100FPS even with a fairly "slow" processor.

I'm just not seeing a move towards game engines requiring incredibly beefy processors. Doing so cuts out a large segment of your potential market.

 

[jose]

I was referring to mobo bios fixes on a new released platform. ie the soon to be released A8N-SLI . There is always something manf. have to fix once a product get released to the masses...

I read the 2 links on HL2 & D3, it seems once you get a processor in the 3ghz range your video card makes a bigger difference when running 1280 x 1024 res. on up..

So far I've found that P4-3.4's are hard to find and not worth the cost because a 3.0 can oc'd to 3.3-3.5 ranges.. Also the A64 3400+ 754 looks to be a great value right now.

P4C 3.0 + mobo ~ $375
A64 3400+ 754 DFI mobo ~ $310
and estimating a new 939 sli w/ A64 3500+ ~ $485

The biggest diff. is the 6800GT agp vs pci-e $380 vs $450 , that will add $80 to the 939 option.

I'll wait till Jan 01, not a day later for prices to come down... 😉

Also that will give me some time for feed back from you guys that would have gotten the SLI mobo's for Christmas...

Regards,
Jose