Any reviews of HIGH end GPUs with LOW end CPUS

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: Ulfhednar
Akshayt is an expert on CPU limitation, ask him. You could run an X1900XT-X with a 386 and any problems with performance would mean the card "is crap," at least that's his reasoning behind his X1900XT-X underperforming with a 3200+ behind it.

Seriously though; I don't know where to find benchmarks like those, but a 3700+ would be my personal limit with recent graphics cards. When I gradually OCed my 3400+ to 3700+ I saw considerable increases in performance with my X1800XT all the way up to 3800+, but as I went up from there the performance increase was marginal at best.

DEAR GOD.
HOW DARE YOU INSULT AKSHYT, LORD OF IDIOCITY.
THE CURSE OF LAGGING IN SINGLE PLAYER GAMES IS UPON YOU.

lol. no akshyt's problem wasn't an underpowvered cpu. its was his haed. he was getting fine fps. according to fraps his fps never went below 30 but he said his game was "LAGGING"

 

[Ulfhednar]

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven
DEAR GOD.
HOW DARE YOU INSULT AKSHYT, LORD OF IDIOCITY.
THE CURSE OF LAGGING IN SINGLE PLAYER GAMES IS UPON YOU.

lol. no akshyt's problem wasn't an underpowvered cpu. its was his haed. he was getting fine fps. according to fraps his fps never went below 30 but he said his game was "LAGGING"

ROFL. Yeah, I voted that it would be a bottle neck but would still play fine.

While CPU limitation wasn't causing his problem, I just love to rattle his chain because he so vehemently denies being CPU limited at all.

 

[Sonikku]

Originally posted by: nwrigley
Unfortunately it is very hard to find any benchmarks like what you're talking about. Benchmarks tend to test hardware in combination with all cutting edge parts as opposed to what people are actually likely to have in their systems.

Yep. Because everyone looking for a low end or middle end video card is certain to have some Core 2 Duo X-Treme to da max CPU in their systems.

 

[The Raven]

Hey bro, I had posted a question about my CPU becoming a bottleneck before I went from a 128mb 5200 to a 256mb evga 7600gs and people said that it would be a long time coming before my CPU was bottlenecked (I have an soc 754 Athlon 64 3400+ Clawhammer). Well they were right, but...

What I realized, while playing FEAR Combat, was that my CPU was being worked over pretty good. My CPU fan started going crazy and I went back to the options and turned down the CPU requirements (like physics for example) and kept the graphics ones maxed out. The thing plays wonderfully now with the graphics maxed out.

So my point is that I think the GPU can handle what it can handle and the CPU will do likewise since they work separately for the most part. You would just have to adjust the settings to maximize performance of each. But I would speculate that there is a slight bottleneck there anyway.

Sorry I'm not that knowledgable about the tech. Maybe someone could explain in more detail. Anyway let me know if you have questions about my rig. I know the 7600 is not exactly up to the specs you were askin' about, but it just goes to show that with an even less powerful GPU, my CPU can be in a world of hurt.

And by the way I'm getting 3594 on 3dmark05 for reference's sake.

 

[GreenMonkey]

Originally posted by: Crusader

For me, overclocking my 3200+ that I bought years ago now is something that I cant let go of till it dies or 2.4ghz Athlons arent the magic number anymore for unchaining GPUs.

Agreed.

In my experience, people spending gaming boxes spend too much on CPUs. This has always been true IMO. It really isn't needed.

I'm still running socket 754 for my gaming: Venice 3400+ @ ~2682ghz + x850xt

I'll stick with this until I need more CPU power for games - that'll probably be a while...maybe AM3. Normally I buy 1 CPU per generation: 750mhz t-bird -> 1800+ -> a64 2800+.

This time I did a mini-upgrade to the Venice 3400+ instead of a whole motherboard change. A CPU upgrade simply isn't needed for gaming at this time.