Will my CPU hinder my fps no matter what video card I have?

[SummaDis]

I am running an athlon 1.4 with 512ddr on a biostar M7VIB ver 1.0. I also have a g-force 2 pro that I want to replace with the ATI 9700 pro.
I was told that my weak processor (I didnt think my 1.4 was weak at all) will hinder my framerate during gaming. I thought the new breed or video card was going to take the burden off the CPU. I really want to buy an ATI 9700 or 9800 but if I am going to lose out on performance because of my CPU I dont want to waste my money. If thats the case I would probably take my money and buy a new mobo and cpu.
My wife just had my twins so this could be my last upgrade for quite a while. 8)
any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanx!

 

[Corporate Thug]

welcom to anandtech. CPU and Video are the two most important aspects of FPS. If you have a good video card and a slower processor you are not gonna as many as FPS as having both strong CPU and video. However, some games are more dependent on CPU and others are more dependent on Video

 

[SummaDis]

Originally posted by: shady06
However, some games are more dependent on CPU and others are more dependent on Video

I play medal of honor...i am not sure if its a cpu hog or video hog.
Is my 1.4 decent enough to run most high end games if i buy a 9700 pro?

thnx for the warm welcome. been browsin this board for a while. Lots of good info.

 

[dguy6789]

while you wont get the most out of it, you could run any card and get good speeds, in fact, my friend has an amd athlon 1ghz with a radeon 9700 pro and he gets great performance.

 

[zsouthboy]

Get the 9700 or 9800 and crank up the eye candy, it'll be virtually "free" (because you're cpu bound) 🙂

 

[Bonesdad]

If you can squeeze out another $80, you can get a retail Athlon XP2100+, which (I believe) is good on that mobo.

 

[Blastman]

I think what shady06 said was right on the money.

A faster and faster graphics card like ? 9000pro --- > 9500pro ---> 9700pro ? can still improve frame rates on a 1.4Ghz Athlon. It depends on the game and whether the game is very graphic card limited -- or very CPU limited.

Take for eg. this test on a Duron 1.3 and the UT3 Botmatch. A GF4 MX440 gets 27fps and a 9700pro only gets 28fps. (very CPU limited).

The Aquanox game on the other hand scales very well with faster and faster graphic cards even on a Athlon 1.0Ghz ? THG? A very graphic card limited game because for the most part going to a faster CPU hardly gets you anything.

Get as fast a graphics card as you can afford as it will still help in a lot of games. It will also be a better card if you upgrade you system in the future.

here?s more examples of how some games scale with CPU and some don?t.

 

[titanmiller]

Yes your CPU will hinder your preformance, my 1.2ghz Athlon holds my Ti4400 back to 7950 in 3dMark2001. And in games with lots of AI your processors slowness really shows.

 

[SummaDis]

ide luv to get 7900....my g2 gets 4700. I score 192 on 3dmark2003, LOL.

I still think I will go with the 9700 unless I can wait for the 9800 to come down in price a lil bit. Thanx for the input guyz.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: SummaDis
ide luv to get 7900....my g2 gets 4700. I score 192 on 3dmark2003, LOL.

I still think I will go with the 9700 unless I can wait for the 9800 to come down in price a lil bit. Thanx for the input guyz.

if u get a 9700pro, you'll still be over 60fps on your current CPU with any game, and sense the human eye cant see more than 60 fps, you'll be fine

 

[Smilin]

I went from a 1.33 Athlon to an Athlon XP 2000 (1.67Ghz??) with a 9700pro. You are definately going to bottleneck hard on the cpu. The good news is this: just be careful with your in-game settings and you won't notice much. Crank up texture details, resolution, turn on antialiasing and anisotropic filtering. Turn down things like game physics, decals and 3d sound.

You will be held back by your cpu, but right now you are held back MUCH more by that GF2. To ease your fears: it's NOT a stupid upgrade for you. Go do it.


Edit: Welcome to Anandtech by the way!

 

[gtd2000]

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: SummaDis
ide luv to get 7900....my g2 gets 4700. I score 192 on 3dmark2003, LOL.

I still think I will go with the 9700 unless I can wait for the 9800 to come down in price a lil bit. Thanx for the input guyz.

if u get a 9700pro, you'll still be over 60fps on your current CPU with any game, and sense the human eye cant see more than 60 fps, you'll be fine

Can't see more than 60fps? That may be true in 2D - but you can see/feel more than 60fps in a 3D Gaming environment that rotates.

You are applying a true statement to a different situation which is not correct.

You will see/feel higher fps in 3D Gaming over and above 60fps - assuming your monitor refresh rate is higher than 60hz 😉

However if you game at 60Hz then you have eyesight issues and probably don't need gaming advice 😉

 

[sep]

Originally posted by: SummaDis

Originally posted by: shady06
However, some games are more dependent on CPU and others are more dependent on Video

I play medal of honor...i am not sure if its a cpu hog or video hog.
Is my 1.4 decent enough to run most high end games if i buy a 9700 pro?

thnx for the warm welcome. been browsin this board for a while. Lots of good info.

Yes, a lot of good info here. That's why I'm still a member.

As everyone mentioned your CPU will hold you back. I see you have four options.

Option #1 - For the cost of the 9700 Pro you could get the Retail 2100+ CPU and a Retail ATI 9500 Pro
Option #2 - Get a 9700 Pro and upgrade other hardware later.
Option #3 - Get a 9700 Pro and upgrade CPU
Option #4 - Get a g4 Ti4200 for now.

Option #3 is my recommendation or if you strapped for cash go with option #1.
-JC

 

[SummaDis]

thank you all. I am goin with option #3 🙂
I am getting the 9700 pro. I will upgrade my mobo/proccessor later. I think I will get the most out of the 9700 pro after reading all your posts.
Thnx again guys...you all rock!