Which GPU for slow CPU (X2 3600+) - 9600GT vs. 3850

[qualiarunner]

Hi,

I'm in control of my gf's rig and I'd like to make upgrade to GPU which is x800gto. My understanding is that whichever (new) gpu I pick I'm going to be cpu-bound anyway (3600+ is rather underdog with its 2x256kb sempron-like L2 cache). I can't find any info on the net if it is ATI or nVidia that depends more on CPU. My guess is that differences would be small, if noticeable at all, but still if I'm going to upgrade I'd like to think I'm making most of it. Does anyone have first-hand experience, or has a link, or just a nice thought?

 

[tuteja1986]

which ever is cheaper... 3850 is what i recommend if its the same price as 9600GT.

 

[s44]

Why, aren't you going to use it when you upgrade?

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986
which ever is cheaper... 3850 is what i recommend if its the same price as 9600GT.

Why should he get the slower card if both are at the same price? I don't understand your logic.

Anyway, I would get the 9600 GT and overclock the x2 to 2,6ghz, which I know that is achievable even on stock cooler. You'll still be cpu bound, but more on lower resolutions . Using higher resolutions and higher levels of AA will make you forget about the bottleneck.

 

[qualiarunner]

I would OC X2 if I could, but unfortunatelly seems I was out of luck this time - it's old 939 socket, good mobo (DFI nf4 ultra-d) but the best stable I can get from default 2.0Ghz is 2.2Ghz, so not a lot really, and a lot less than I'd like it to be.

But I guess I'm going to go with 9600GT - possibly at some point in the future the rest will get also upgraded and from what I know 9600gt outperforms 3850 in most situations. Although ATI's 3xxx can fold@home, and I'm a big fan so again decisions, decisions, decisions.

 

[magreen]

Pic of gf's rig?

 

[qualiarunner]

Sorry no pic. But upgrade to that one - afaik - requires a different approach, with methods ranging from quite natural to quite unnatural. Besides, I like it as-is.

 

[Munky]

The cpu bottleneck is blown way out of proportion, IMO. Even with your cpu, you'd still see huge gains by upgrading to something like a 9600gt, because modern games stress the gpu more heavily than the cpu. A faster cpu might give you 5-10% better performance, but the 9600gt or the 3850 would easily double your fps. FYI, I upgraded from a x1900xt to a 8800gt, and the jump in performance was huge, even with my aging Opty 165.

 

[qualiarunner]

Maybe so, but still your Opteron is not X2 with 2x256kb cache and supposedly it can make a difference in games. Speaking from experience during my last update (rig) when I first upgraded GPU only from X800GTO to 8800GT, in Crysis there was a huge difference in framerates between X23600+/8800GT and E8200/8800GT. I don't really think they speak of Crysis as CPU intensive.

Anyway, I can at least recognize the need to stop spending too much time on miniscule and almost irrelevant problems. When the time comes it's 9600gt for the old rig - it needs some love too.

 

[hooflung]

I just tossed another 8800GS SC in my Opteron 180 w. 4g ( eVga NF4 SLI ) and it works wonders. As fast as my 3.0ghz C2D w 3850 512. I am not much of a fan of the 9 series from Nvidia. I like the 8800GS SC from newegg. Little bit less bandwith on memory but they are dirt cheap and the SC performs as good as the 9600GT. 650mhz core, 1900mhz memory, 1620 shader clock.

I also have that same mobo you have. Its a shame the 939 Opteron 180s sold out from the egg... its a good 135$ investment to keep a machine with great hardware alive.