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CPU vs GPU?

C

CountZero

Golden Member
I'm going to be upgrading two computers shortly I think (if all goes well) and my options seem to be more or less:

If I have more funds:
A64 2800 w/ 9800pro
AthlonXP 2600 w/ x800

If I have less funds:
A64 2800 and stick with old GPUs (ti4200 and 9700pro, though I'd try very hard to upgrade the Ti4200)
AthlonXP 2600 w/ 9800pro

Which is going to give better gaming goodness if all else is equal? For one of them it will be used almost exclusively for Sims 2 probably and MMORPG action the other will be playing a bit of everything HL2 included.

I'm having a hard time figuring it all out since every option is times two. I'd like to keep the two systems fairly similar in order to prevent CPU envy from my girl.
 
If you go with a Mobile Athlon XP I think that combined with the X800PRO would be unbeatable by the other options you put forward. If you overclock the mobile to 2500mhz or so, you will be very happy with the performance and would be hard-pressed to notice a difference between that and an A64. The only time an A64 would be faster is if it were to be overclocked to 2400mhz or so.
 
CPU will last you longer than a new video card will
Click to expand...

And thus my conundrum because when I look at my budget I will more than likely not be able to upgrade video card within the next year or more so whatever I get now I will have to stick with.

Never thought of going mobile but I alsoe don't really want to OC. Aside from OCing are there any other real benefits/drawbacks from this route? (ie compatibility with memory or mobo?)
 
There should be no compatibility issues. If you don't want to overclock, the benefit would be that they run at the same speed as the desktop chips, but at much lower voltage. That means that they will run much cooler if that means anything to you.

Honestly though, the whole point in buying the mobile right now is to overclock.
BENCHMARKS

I think an X800PRO would last you just as long as a new CPU would BTW. The X800 is a brand new architecture. It will not be eclipsed by a new architecture within the next year IMO.

You should honestly get over your inhibitions and go with the mobile/X800 combo. You will get over double the gaming performance for around the same price.
 
No inhibitions just curiosity, I've seen recommendations of the mobile before but mostly for OCing.

The only thing that worries me with going XP and x800 is how much of a bottle neck the CPU will be on the video card.
 
There was an article on that too, I just don't know where it is at the moment. In a nutshell, a 3200+ Athlon XP pushes the X800PRO just fine at 1280x1024 w/ 4XAA/8XAF. Without all the features turned on it's CPU-limited though. The X800XT is overkill IMO, but I think it actually is faster than the X800PRO even on the 3200+ XP setup.
 
Great! Thats exactly what I was looking for, I'm still not 100% decided but I think should my budget allow I'll be going XP w/ x800pro. Gotta agree that the XT just wouldn't be worth the extra cost in this case.
 
Yep, nice.

You'll have a gaming rig that will make 99.9% of AT Forum members jealous. :beer:

By the way, make sure you wait a couple of weeks for the prices to stabilize and for widespread availability of the X800 cards. Right now they're going for more than the MSRP, so be careful.
 
The difference in gaming between AXP 2600+ and A64 2800+ might be 20-30% but the difference between the 2 videocards will be 100%. Furthermore, the reason why many say that CPU will last you longer than a GPU is because CPU is a lot less important for gaming and many end up going through 2 or more videocards before switching their cpu. The more intensive the games will become in the future, the more importance will be swayed towards a faster videocard, especially once the games start to incorporate more and more shaders. In games like Halo and Far Cry going from X800Pro to 9800xt drops your frame rates more than 2x. But going from AXP2600+ to A642800+ will NEVER give you 2x the performance increase. Besides you can overclock that CPU for some extra headroom, but overclocking a 9800Pro will not give you much. And like SickBeast is recommending, just get a Mobile 2500+ or something along those lines. But remember, most importantly, do not upgrade until the games you play become slow. And until HL2 and Doom 3 come out, you can still hold out a little longer => hopefully 6800GT will available by then.

Also, it's been proven and discussed time and time again - a GPU upgrade almost always gives more performance per dollar than a CPU upgrade.
 
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