Huge Bottleneck????

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Chopstick217

Senior member
Jun 9, 2004
379
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Hi all, I currently have the following setup:

-Amd Athlon XP 2500+@ 3200+
-Abit Nf7-S v2 Mobo
-768 Crucial PC2700 in dual chnl
-2x WD 74 GB raptors in raid 0
-80 GB 8 MB cache Maxtor HD
-Creative Audigy 2 Platinum
-Liteon 52x32x52 Burner
-Visiontek Nvidia G4 Ti4400
-1.44 Sony FDD
-Linksys 10/100 Lan card

I'm running everything @ stock voltages and prime doesnt error after for days of testing. Everything is stable. However, i was wondering if my ram and video card are serious bottlenecks for my current setup. Equally important, what would be the cheapest and most efficient upgrade for my comp??? Thanks in advance.
 
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mAsTAd

Member
May 29, 2004
196
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Your Ram is a bottleneck but not a huge bottleneck. IMO your video card is a pretty big bottleneck. How much do you want to spend in upgrades?
 
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Trey22

Diamond Member
Oct 31, 2003
5,540
0
76
Running your RAM at PC2700 speeds?

Only upgrade your video card if you are or planning to play any of the newest/next gen games. Also, upgrading to 1GB of RAM wouldn't hurt.

If I had to choose 1 upgrade on that PC, I'd go with the graphics card.
 
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Chopstick217

Senior member
Jun 9, 2004
379
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0
I have an Antec Sonata w/ a 380 Watt power supply. I heard that you need around 480 watts for the new Nvidia 6800 cards. So am i better off w/ the ATI xt800??
 
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FreshFish

Golden Member
May 16, 2004
1,180
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From what I hear, the 6800 may be a slightly better buy...if you have free PCI slots...
 
SneakyStuff

SneakyStuff

Diamond Member
Jan 13, 2004
4,294
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You are most definately OK with your current power supply, Antec PSUs are quality, so I wouldn't worry too much there, and if I remember correctly, the Sonota comes with a 380 Watt PSU so that sounds good. Consider upgrading your video card, newegg has the 9800 pro for $195 now :) dealio
 
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robcy

Senior member
Jun 8, 2003
503
0
0
Do 2 x 512 ddr3200. Even DDR3200 Cas 3-4-4 will be way better than DDR2700 Cas 2-2-2. Considering you can afford an XT800/6800GT/Dual Raptors/Audigy 2 Platinum, then a ram upgrade to meet minimums should not break the bank. Unless your present ram can overclock to DDR3200 speeds then all is well in the universe.

On the video card flip a coin, and then buy the cheaper one of the two. Honestly the 6800GT does better in the benchmark when run at the lowest setting which no one uses to play games. Once you at a little AA & AF which everyone used with these cards things equal out. The diffrence between both card can only be noticed in the imagination of highly tuned fanboys of either camp. So the 800Pro or the 6800GT will do just fine.
 
SneakyStuff

SneakyStuff

Diamond Member
Jan 13, 2004
4,294
0
76
Originally posted by: robcy
Do 2 x 512 ddr3200. Even DDR3200 Cas 3-4-4 will be way better than DDR2700 Cas 2-2-2. Considering you can afford an XT800/6800GT/Dual Raptors/Audigy 2 Platinum, then a ram upgrade to meet minimums should not break the bank. Unless your present ram can overclock to DDR3200 speeds then all is well in the universe.

On the video card flip a coin, and then buy the cheaper one of the two. Honestly the 6800GT does better in the benchmark when run at the lowest setting which no one uses to play games. Once you at a little AA & AF which everyone used with these cards things equal out. The diffrence between both card can only be noticed in the imagination of highly tuned fanboys of either camp. So the 800Pro or the 6800GT will do just fine.
Click to expand...

except the 6800 GT has 16 pipelines and the x800 pro has 12?
 
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robcy

Senior member
Jun 8, 2003
503
0
0
Originally posted by: SneakyStuff
Originally posted by: robcy
Do 2 x 512 ddr3200. Even DDR3200 Cas 3-4-4 will be way better than DDR2700 Cas 2-2-2. Considering you can afford an XT800/6800GT/Dual Raptors/Audigy 2 Platinum, then a ram upgrade to meet minimums should not break the bank. Unless your present ram can overclock to DDR3200 speeds then all is well in the universe.

On the video card flip a coin, and then buy the cheaper one of the two. Honestly the 6800GT does better in the benchmark when run at the lowest setting which no one uses to play games. Once you at a little AA & AF which everyone used with these cards things equal out. The diffrence between both card can only be noticed in the imagination of highly tuned fanboys of either camp. So the 800Pro or the 6800GT will do just fine.
Click to expand...

except the 6800 GT has 16 pipelines and the x800 pro has 12?
Click to expand...

True, but when you set them at 1280x1024 with with 4xAA/8XAF they perform the same + or - a couple of frames per seconds, or a tie. Now if you would of stated that the 6800GT has PS3.0 support and the X800PRO does not I would consider that a plus for the Nvidia card.
 
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Chopstick217

Senior member
Jun 9, 2004
379
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0
So basically there isnt a huge performace different between higher CAS latency 3200 ram compared to 2-2-2 3200 ?? Also, i was wondering if i got the 6800 GT, what should my AGP aperture size be? I remember reading in an article that it ought to be roughly half the amount of ram in the system. I could be wrong though. And thanks everyone for their imput.
 
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robcy

Senior member
Jun 8, 2003
503
0
0
Originally posted by: Chopstick217
So basically there isnt a huge performace different between higher CAS latency 3200 ram compared to 2-2-2 3200 ?? Also, i was wondering if i got the 6800 GT, what should my AGP aperture size be? I remember reading in an article that it ought to be roughly half the amount of ram in the system. I could be wrong though. And thanks everyone for their imput.
Click to expand...

While there is a difference between Cas 2-2-2 and Cas 3-3-3, its pretty small. About AGP Aperture size, well 5 people will tell you 5 different sizes. I set mine to equall the amount of memory on the video card, I dunno, but its worked for me.
 
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howdyduty

Senior member
Feb 21, 2001
490
0
0
Nice system.
Only with the latest games would you need a new video card.
Recommend you upgrade video card first, if needed. Then, build an entire new system (such as A64) if you want a significant improvement after that.
Good Luck!
 
D

dakels

Platinum Member
Nov 20, 2002
2,809
2
0
Originally posted by: howdyduty
Nice system.
Only with the latest games would you need a new video card.
Recommend you upgrade video card first, if needed. Then, build an entire new system (such as A64) if you want a significant improvement after that.
Good Luck!
Click to expand...
I agree. I see no need to upgrade your system for a while unless you are playing high requirement games. Most high end games now also use between 500-800mb RAM so you would want at least 1gig of physical RAM. I'd get a gig of ram and look into a better vid card. Best performance/price right seems to be R9800 pro's. Thats what I use and I run farcry and other demanding stuff on very high settings. Next gen for me will be a total revamp to mature A64's and PCIe.
 
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txxxx

Golden Member
Feb 13, 2003
1,700
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0
Originally posted by: mAsTAd
Your Ram is a bottleneck but not a huge bottleneck. IMO your video card is a pretty big bottleneck. How much do you want to spend in upgrades?
Click to expand...

Memory's no bottleneck - AthlonXP's arent bandwidth hungry.
 
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txxxx

Golden Member
Feb 13, 2003
1,700
0
0
Originally posted by: Chopstick217
Hi all, I currently have the following setup:

-Amd Athlon XP 2500+@ 3200+
-Abit Nf7-S v2 Mobo
-768 Crucial PC2700 in dual chnl
-2x WD 74 GB raptors in raid 0
-80 GB 8 MB cache Maxtor HD
-Creative Audigy 2 Platinum
-Liteon 52x32x52 Burner
-Visiontek Nvidia G4 Ti4400
-1.44 Sony FDD
-Linksys 10/100 Lan card

I'm running everything @ stock voltages and prime doesnt error after for days of testing. Everything is stable. However, i was wondering if my ram and video card are serious bottlenecks for my current setup. Equally important, what would be the cheapest and most efficient upgrade for my comp??? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...


Leave it alone for now, when you see it dieing in HL2 or whatever you have your heart set on, then go for an upgrade.
 
V

Vee

Senior member
Jun 18, 2004
689
0
0
Ti 4400 should be fine until the moment you decide it isn't.
Then, the videocard is definitly what you should upgrade!

Don't worry about ram, you're fine.
 
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Cawchy87

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2004
5,104
2
81
with your set up, i would go for the 9800pro, but if you got the money... go for it. there was a guy in the video fourm who did his own benchies with the gt and the 9800pro and the results were very simaler because he didn't have an fx53 or something. If it was me i would buy the 9800 pro, but its not, so do whatever you want! Sure your going to love whatever card you get.
 
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