CPU + videocard bottlenecking?

6shiw1

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Mar 8, 2005
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I just bought a 7900gt and I plan to do the volt mod to get gtx performance.

This is on an Athlon 3500 OCed to 2450mhz. The venice don't OC well :(. I can get an extra 50mhz or so by raising the voltage a bit. It's running at 1.425v at the moment.

Is my CPU a little too slow for my video card? Should I pump some more volts in or purchase a new CPU?

On a seperate topic, I lost the packaging to the cpu and I'm trying to figure out a way that a processor can be shipped without getting any bent pins.

Thanks in advance for any responses.
 

6shiw1

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Mar 8, 2005
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Is there anything backing that statement up? Not that I doubt you or anything.

I was reading the xtremesystems forums on how to voltmod the 7900gt and i think some of them thought their a64 3200+ was bottlenecking the performance of their card.

My thoughts may be not be completely logical, but I thought the top of the line video card would probably require something near the top in the spectrum of processors.

I was gonna nab a proc from monarch :-\.
 

1Dark1Sharigan1

Golden Member
Oct 5, 2005
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Your CPU @ 2.45 GHz will not bottleneck your GT at high resolutions with AA/AF . . . maybe if you were running 1024x768 but higher resolutions and higher IQ settings will be GPU limited.
 

Goi

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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Just look at the many CPU scaling articles out there. For the most part, unless you have a really high end/dual card system and/or running at low resolutions, most newer games are GPU limited, and anything higher than say an A64 3200+ is enough.
 

obeseotron

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Oct 9, 1999
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If you turn up all you settings and play at a reasonable resolution (1280x960+) all you games will either 1. be GPU limited or 2. Run perfectly. For single threaded applications (almost all games) there is very little available faster than your chip and as a result there will probably not be games where it is a major bottleneck for a while.
 

FP

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2005
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I am in the same boat. I have a 6800GT right now with a 3500+ winny. I want to upgrade to a 7900GT but can't find any good articles on the real-world difference. I just bought Oblivion so I am looking for the most bang for my buck.
 
Feb 19, 2001
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Hell no. You could have a 3000+ and it shouldn't be a problem. As long as you're having 2GB of memory, the limitations today are on HD and video card. 1.425 volts is nothing. You can easily push it to around 1.5 for 24/7 use. Once I get my 2GB sticks in, I think I'm going back to 2.63 ghz @ 1.49 volts.
 

imported_rod

Golden Member
Apr 13, 2005
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A 3500+ at stock will handle any single graphics card out there. Also, is that the best OC you can get? I can get my 3200+ winchester to 2400MHz at stock voltage, and 2550MHz at 1.5V. Your Venice should be able to beat that.

RoD

BtW: For a winchester (and i think a venice) the stock voltage is 1.4V, so 1.425V is nothing.
 

obeseotron

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Originally posted by: binister
I am in the same boat. I have a 6800GT right now with a 3500+ winny. I want to upgrade to a 7900GT but can't find any good articles on the real-world difference. I just bought Oblivion so I am looking for the most bang for my buck.

Check Anand's own Oblivion article. If you're upgrading just for Oblivion, an x1800 xt might be better in the same price range as the 7900gt, better performance and the ability to turn AA on if you choose. No single card seems to run the game perfectly, there is a strong argument to be made that an Xbox 360 is more bang for you buck than a new video card.
 

FP

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2005
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Originally posted by: obeseotron
Originally posted by: binister
I am in the same boat. I have a 6800GT right now with a 3500+ winny. I want to upgrade to a 7900GT but can't find any good articles on the real-world difference. I just bought Oblivion so I am looking for the most bang for my buck.

Check Anand's own Oblivion article. If you're upgrading just for Oblivion, an x1800 xt might be better in the same price range as the 7900gt, better performance and the ability to turn AA on if you choose. No single card seems to run the game perfectly, there is a strong argument to be made that an Xbox 360 is more bang for you buck than a new video card.

Merci...

I pulled the trigger and bought a 7900GT for $258 thanks to the Hot Deals section here. I can't believe the 7900GT only gets 20FPS in certain areas of the game. :Q
 

6shiw1

Member
Mar 8, 2005
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To Rod -> I bought the batch of venice 3500+ from Fry's with that mobo+cpu deal. Was very disappointed with the OC. at 1.5 volts I can do 2.55 MAYBE.

This was also why I was looking for an excuse to get another cpu :p.

To binister -> $246! Hah. Bought a $216 cc gift card on ebay for $190 while I was looking for one of those cc coupons. Ended up paying $11 for a 10% off coupon :-\.

I wasn't very blown away by Oblivion. IMHO everything in that game is ugly, from the spell effects to the people, to the way everything looked all shiny.

1680x1050 resolution btw. I'm upgrading from an C3d x800gto 16pipes, which is currently on sale in the FS section. It got me 25-45 fps with most settings on medium and high drawing distances.