Will a Prescott @2.8 bottleneck a 7800GS AGP?

[Modular]

I have a Prescott 2.8 with a 6600gt right now in my gaming box. It does pretty well for me and I have been happy with it, but I have some tax $$ to waste and saw a great deal on the 7800GS AGP card. I'll be building a whole new rig when Crysis comes out, but for now a boost in FPS can't hurt me at all (I play Oblivion and CS:S, FarCry, BF2 and will be getting STALKER soon).

So will my aging 478 Prescott @2.8 limit the 7800GS to the speeds I am seeing now with my 6600gt, or will there be a marked improvement?

When I get home I'll do some CPU tests with the Source engine and see if I'm CPU limited now, but I'm pretty sure that I'm not.


Edit: Good call Thor. Most of my games are played online, so I use medium settings at 1024x768 to get decent FPS. When I'm playing singleplayer games I like to crank them up as high as I can, but my monitor is a limit for now as 1280x1024 is the max it can do (older CRT). Obviously games such as Oblivion are run at Medium-ish settings because of the power they require.

 

[Kromis]

I'm pretty sure no since the 7800GS isn't that good of a card anyways!

Actually, I *think* not.

 

[Thor86]

7800 will definately be an improvement over the 6600. But your cpu will still be a bottleneck depending on what resolution and detail levels you play at.

 

[Captante]

You'll see a significant framerate increase in just about any newer game, plus you should be able to crank up the detail settings too so I'd say its worth moving to the GS with your current setup.

 

[Summitdrinker]

7800gs vs 1950 pro

agp cards

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/01/agp-platform-analysis/

well I play different games than you do, but on my system, P4 2.8 with a X1950 pro I feel At 1280x1024 with the eye candy high the cpu and x1950 pro are about equal, at 1600x1200 i see signs that the graphics card is falling behind. the games I play are old, but were high loaders in there day. non of my tests or lack of tests really are scientific benchmarks, just going but what I see in the game with my eyes

as we have dicussed here many times before getting a high end graphics card may be too much for your power supply, esp the x1950 pro.

a 7800 will be a improvement over the 6600gt at 1280x1024 in most any newer game

how about a 7900GS?

 

[evolucion8]

A 7800GS is almost as fast as a X850XT which outperforms your 6600GT. I also agree with Summitdrinker that you can also get a 7900GS that is faster and more power consumption friendly.

 

[nerdye]

Am I mistaken, or is the 7800gs the top notch nvdia AGP graphics card available for the American consumers (I say that because there are more geforce 7 series cards available for Europeans in the agp flavor, yet it seems if you want to import them, they are not worth their price, no agp card should be more than < 250 - 300$ due to performance bottlenecks of legacy hardware). So you are generally looking at 7800gs and x1900gt agp cards? I would go with the x1900gt, but if you find a better deal on either, and considering you will be moving to directx10 in the future anyway, buy whatever you can get a great deal on and enjoy yourself for the time being. Just make sure your power supply is beefy enough, and has atleast < 18 amps from a single rail, or two rails combined (the cheaper method) to feed the new gpu sufficiently. I went from a 6800gt to a 7950gt and found my performance is 40% better, maybe slightly more, expect much the same from your upgrade, no more no less, enjoy!

 

[Captante]

Just recently there have been some 7900GS's as well as more expensive 7950GT's popping up in AGP form & they do draw slightly less power (& outperform) the 7800GS, however wether they are worth it or not depend on just how good a deal you can find on the 7800.

 

[Summitdrinker]

new x1950 pro and 7800gs agp cards can be had for 150 to 180 dollars now here in the USA

7900gs go about 190 to 210 dollars

 

[apoppin]

what is wrong with OVERclocking your prescott?


that way it won't be a bottleneck for an even faster card

that said, the GPU you mention or the other ones recommended would be a big improvement over what you have now ... as long as you current frame rate is satisfactory in the games you play.

 

[Summitdrinker]

really a 6800GT overclocked is about equal to a 7600GT or 7800GS in older games, with the newer cards pulling a head in newer games, so even in old games the 6600gt was a good step below the 6800GT

so he as plenty to gain at 1280x1204 with the eye candy on by upgrading, even with the p4 2.8

I was just playing deerhunter 5 at 1280x1024 with max eye candy game settings and card settings, the x1950 pro was over loaded, not cpu limited deer hunter 5 came out in 2002 I think

 

[Stumps]

overclocked, the P4 should be albe to make use of a 7800GS...they run pretty good with P4's around the 3.2-3.4ghz mark, especially if you overclock the 7800GS as well.

My 3.4ghz Northwood was able to get 6900+ 3Dmarks in 2005 and 3800+ in 2006 and had no problems running games like STALKER(at medium detail levels).

My 3.4ghz Prescott was almost as quick as well when I tested it with my BFG 7800GS OC@550/1350

Anybody who says the 7800GS is crap hasn't used one and are talking out their ass...they are a good Video card(especially the BFG model) and perform very well, Many benchmarks just don't do the 7800GS justice.

Have a talk to Apoppin. he used a BFG 7800GS as well with his 2.8ghz@3.2+ghz P4 and he would be well informed of their performance together.

 

[Modular]

Well I would overclock...but I can't - It's a Dell

I know, I know I got it a few years ago for school and it turned into a "gaming" machine. It does just fine that's for sure, I just can't mess with any of the settings.

As far as the price of the 7800GS, that's really the reason I was thinking of biting, $130 is less than I bought my 6600gt for almost 2 years ago. If the 7800GS can breathe some new life into my computer for another 8 months or so till Crysis and the new build, then I'll be happy.

Also, I did some CPU bottleneck checking with CS:S's ingame stress test. When I have everything all the way down and res @ 640x480 I get about 130FPS on the stress test. When I change the settings to high, but leave the res the same, I get about 100. That means that I'm not CPU limited but GPU limited, correct?

 

[apoppin]

if you frame rate is satisfactory - now - then your frame rate will basically remain the *same* with your new GPU ... that's what your CPU mostly 'limits'

the *difference* is that you will have more "detail" and more aa/af with the 7800GS

i think it is very worth it

and look in Hot Deals ... there are some AGP GPUs on sale that might be better for cheaper ...

 

[secretanchitman]

how about the 7950GT AGP?

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: Modular
Well I would overclock...but I can't - It's a Dell

I know, I know I got it a few years ago for school and it turned into a "gaming" machine. It does just fine that's for sure, I just can't mess with any of the settings.

As far as the price of the 7800GS, that's really the reason I was thinking of biting, $130 is less than I bought my 6600gt for almost 2 years ago. If the 7800GS can breathe some new life into my computer for another 8 months or so till Crysis and the new build, then I'll be happy.

Also, I did some CPU bottleneck checking with CS:S's ingame stress test. When I have everything all the way down and res @ 640x480 I get about 130FPS on the stress test. When I change the settings to high, but leave the res the same, I get about 100. That means that I'm not CPU limited but GPU limited, correct?

Even at 2.8ghz you should still get a pretty decent boost, especially in minimum frame rates over the old 6600GT.

I would say if you can get a 7800GS at a good price go for it...but a 6800GT or GS would probably do the trick as well on a 2.8ghz P4, it would also give a fairly good boost over the 6600GT.

now that I think about it a 7600GS or 7600GT or X1650XT would be a good buy too...they are usually considerably cheaper than the other 3 that I mentioned and they wouldn't stress your PSU as much, and all are considerably faster than a 6600GT.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: secretanchitman
how about the 7950GT AGP?

can anybody say overkill?

I would put that card (as well as the 7900GS AGP and if you can find them the Gainward 7800GT/7900GT AGP cards) in the same boat as the X1950Pro/XT..unless you have a beefy CPU (P4 3.2ghz+ or A64 3000+)and good PSU, don't bother with them because you are wasting your money.

 

[Captante]

For $130 the 7800GS is a great deal & I think you'll be very pleased with the upgrade... if it was still in the $180 range I'd say you should go for the 7900GS even though it would be bottlenecked a bit more by your cpu. As suggested you should also take a quick look at FS/FT & see if you can find a super-cheap deal on an X850XT or 6800 Ultra ... you might get lucky & find one for like $75 shipped & the XT in particular will be just about as fast as the 7800GS.

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: Stumps

Originally posted by: secretanchitman
how about the 7950GT AGP?

can anybody say overkill?

I would put that card (as well as the 7900GS AGP and if you can find them the Gainward 7800GT/7900GT AGP cards) in the same boat as the X1950Pro/XT..unless you have a beefy CPU (P4 3.2ghz+ or A64 3000+)and good PSU, don't bother with them because you are wasting your money.

This is not necessarily true. They will see improvements. Just not the same improvements someone with a really good CPU would see.

Just because the rest of somebody's system is old doesn't mean they shouldn't try to upgrade it. What might seem like a minor upgrade to you or me might be the upgrade that finally makes a favorite game playable for someone else.

 

[Summitdrinker]

a would say the practical limit power wise and money wise for his system is the same as mine, 7900GS or x1950 pro

plus it just depends on the games and the game settings

 

[A554SS1N]

The X1950Pro seems best for AGP....

 

[nerdye]

Conky said it right two posts back...


A 2.8 prescott may not be able to take 100% advantage of a new higher end agp card, but how does atleast 30% more gaming performance sound to a gamer? 30% will make you smile. DO IT!!!