8500 to a 9700Pro - will i feel a drastic difference?

[nRollo]

There's no doubt that going to a faster cpu with a Radeon 9700 is always better because I don't believe there are cpus now that make the the 9700 your limitation.

As that is the case, every cpu available is "cpu limited", just to varying degrees.

There's a threshhold of cpu power you have to cross where it makes it more advantageous to own one card than another. For example, in the review I posted a link to they state the difference between the 4600 and the 9700 doesn't become tangible until you have a 1500+ Athlon.

As he has a 8500, which is much slower than a 4600, his gains would definitely be noticeable on a 9700.

Beyond that, if he upgrades his cpu sometime soon, he'll be set with his 9700. I just wanted to accurately answer his original question.

 

[nRollo]

When I'm wrong, I admit it, and here I was wrong about one thing:
My 3dMark did go up about as much going from Athlon 1600+/9700 to P4 2.53/9700, as it did when I went from a 1600+/4400 to a 1600+9700. (2800marks 4400>9700, 2300marks 1600+>2.53)

So I can see why you guys say "upgrade both is the only way", it does gives about double the performance increase.

It also costs a fair amount to do both, and if I were going to do one or the other, it would definitely be the card.

 

[CraigRT]

As he has a 8500, which is much slower than a 4600, his gains would definitely be noticeable on a 9700

1. First of all, an 8500 is not really that much slower than a 4600.. it IS a bit slower, but it's not brutal.
2. His gains would not be noticeable at all on a 9700 vs. an 8500 if his main game is CS.. there is just no way a Radeon 8500 could not run that game at max everything completely fine.. which means a 9700 is an utter waste of money.... i whole heartedly believe that.
3. and finally.. the Radeon 9700 isn't even worth the money upgrade being how expensive it is.. especially compared with the rest of his system.

You should keep your current setup, wait until something comes out that doesn't run how you want it, and then upgrade.
I know my 8500 runs CS pretty damn nice.. even my old GeForce2 GTS ran CS extremely well. 9700 pro is not meant for CS games... it's far too easy for it.

 

[Soulkeeper]

It's funny how some old games still don't seem to run fast enough on new hardware
you can always notice the diff
once you play a game a lot

 

[nRollo]

"First of all, an 8500 is not really that much slower than a 4600.. it IS a bit slower, but it's not brutal."
That would depend on the game/resolution/settings/cpu, but you're right that for CounterStrike, both are overkill. He might want to play a game coded in this decade someday though...