CPU Bottleneck Question regarding 8800GT

[requiem1]

I have a AMD 3500 and a Geforce 6600GT - I plan on getting a 8800GT...I believe my CPU would cause a HUGE bottleneck. I really don't want to spend too much money...and seeing how I have a socket 939 - would a AMD 4200 x2 be a good choice? Would it provided me with almost full usage of the 8800GT? Would changing to AM2 mobo be to expensive? What do you guys suggest.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: requiem1
I really don't want to spend too much money...and seeing how I have a socket 939 - would a AMD 4200 x2 be a good choice?

Yes, but unless you're planning on overclocking it, don't bother with an 8800GT, unless you're planning on gaming @ 1920x1200, with Ultra quality in-game settings, plus max AA and AF (not that AF hampers performance much at all).

Would it provided me with almost full usage of the 8800GT?

Not even close, even if overclocked.

Would changing to AM2 mobo be to expensive?

Not for me, but it might be for you, since you'd have to buy not only the processor, but also the motherboard and RAM.

What do you guys suggest.

On a budget, I'd suggest an E4400/4500, two GB's of good PC6400 RAM, and run the cpu @ ~3 Ghz.

 

[biostud]

If you can get a cheap s939 dualcore I would definately go for it. I plan to upgrade this rig with a similar card once I get some money. The CPU will be somewhat of a bottleneck, but if you can run your games fine a 50-60 fps the it doesn't really matter if the CPU is a bit of a bottleneck.

 

[MarcVenice]

Wow, I honestly doubt a x2 4200 will be a real bottleneck in games with a 8800gt. If you push it up to 2.4ghz it should be a good enough CPU for most games. If it wouldn't be, then we would all need 2.6ghz C2D cpu's or better, which is pretty high-end, and we've never needed high-end cpu's to play the latest games at max settings.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: biostud
If you can get a cheap s939 dualcore I would definately go for it.

If it's your only choice, monetarily, I agree completely. I mean, it's got twice the power, in new games. People are saying that with the Crysis demo, a midrange video card, plus a midrange dual-core are considerably outperforming a 2.8-3 Ghz Athlon 64 single core, with a much faster video card. I can't remember where I read that, but I'm sure if you look around, you'll find something related to single core performance in these newest games.

The CPU will be somewhat of a bottleneck, but if you can run your games fine a 50-60 fps the it doesn't really matter if the CPU is a bit of a bottleneck.

I think that's what I left out of my first post. I was answering his question from a numerical perspective (FPS only, in other words). The cpu is still gonna bottleneck an 8800GT, unless you game @ very high resolution, with max AA, but, it isn't going to make the game unplayable by any means.

BTW, some of us around here, like myself for instance, have brand new Q6600's matched up with slightly older, slower video cards. My Q6600 is matched up with an X1900XT, which definitely isn't slow, but it's nevertheless a huge bottleneck, compared to the processor.