What's my bottleneck

[AntiFreze]

I've just noticed general sluggishness in games lately and was wondering what my bottleneck is or if its just a combination of all three. Current Rig:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane 1.9GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor
Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100265HDMI Radeon HD 4830 512MB 256-bit GDDR3
Ram: 2gb - G.SKILL Value 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)



thoughts? comments?


Moved from PC Gaming

Anandtech PC Gaming Moderator
KeithTalent

 

[Jeeebus]

kinda depends on the games, resolution, eye candy options, etc.

 

[AntiFreze]

kinda depends on the games, resolution, eye candy options, etc.

well, I'm just thinking newer games like Bad Company 2, AVP, etc.

I would like to run at 1650x1080 on general high settings, but AA isn't that important to me.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Try the hardware forums, this forum is for discussing PC games.

 

[AntiFreze]

Try the hardware forums, this forum is for discussing PC games.

i didn't want to have to post in the memory forum, video forum, and cpu forum to get an idea of what would be good for PC games. I thought the PC games forum would be the best... since you know... its for playing PC games.

 

[zerocool84]

Your bottleneck is everything but since you're not playing at a super high rez you could get away with that 4830 so a little longer but it just depends on what high settings means to you. Your processor is old as well.

 

[Hyperlite]

i didn't want to have to post in the memory forum, video forum, and cpu forum to get an idea of what would be good for PC games. I thought the PC games forum would be the best... since you know... its for playing PC games.

We do have a "General Hardware" forum.

It's your processor. Video Card is fine. My 4670 runs everything but crysis maxxed, no AA @ 1680x1050.

 

[Marty502]

Definitely your CPU is a bit of a bottleneck.

Can you overclock it? I imagine you could squeeze around 2.6 Ghz out of it.
That should improve things. Your 4830 is a fine card, stick with it.

EDIT: How come you have DDR RAM with a AM2 CPU?
Were there AM2 mobos that could take DDR and DDR2? I can't remember.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Too many hardware threads in PC gaming at the moment IMO.

 

[Soundmanred]

Too many hardware threads in PC gaming at the moment IMO.

Too many NZ'ers bitching about petty shit in every forum they visit, IMO.

 

[happy medium]

I've just noticed general sluggishness in games lately and was wondering what my bottleneck is or if its just a combination of all three. Current Rig:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane 1.9GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor
Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100265HDMI Radeon HD 4830 512MB 256-bit GDDR3
Ram: 2gb - G.SKILL Value 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)



thoughts? comments?

You wanna play Bad Company 2 and Aliens vs Predator?

If you dont want to do a rebuild, just buy the fastest x2 cpu your board will take. There only cost about 50/60$ new.
Overclock your video card. or buy a hd5750. (130$) (perfect for 1650x1050)
Add 2 more gigs of ram 50$.
240$ will easily double your gaming power.

OR

buy a Gigabyte am2/am3 board 80$
pop in a x4 620 athlon II 99$ and overclock it.
buy a 5750 130$
Buy 4gb ddr2 100$
410$ Will give you even more gaming power (quad core) and a longer system life and better upgrade path.