• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Will this cpu be a bottleneck for a new video card

G

gplracer

Golden Member
My son has a dual core opteron 939 socket processor overclocked to 2.6ghz. Although it will do 2.9ghz. I had it at that speed for over a year. I backed it down for the summer. His current video card is an 8800gt. He wants to upgrade his card for Christmas. Will a GTX 260 or GTX275 be bottlenecked by the cpu? Would you reccommend a different video card choice. I figure we would have to go this high to see a decent difference. His 22" monitor runs at 1680x1050.

If I need to upgrade the cpu and the motherboard what is the lowest I could go with and not have a cpu bottleneck? Thanks!!!
 
There will be a bit of a bottleneck, but you'll still see improvements in framerate if you upgrade from an 8800GT to GTX260.

If you were to upgrade, at the very least I would suggest any Phenom II processor and overclock it (especially the cheaper models) or any Core 2 processor and overclock it (again, especially the lower models). So this would basically mean a Phenom II X2 545, Phenom II X2 550, Phenom II X3 720, Core 2 Duo E7400, or Core 2 Duo E7500.
 
What games are struggling with 16x10 with an 8800GT (assuming a 512MB version, not the original 320)? Try cranking down detail and resolution a notch or two and see if performance improves. If performance is still poor with low detail, resolution and AA then a GTX 275 is not going to help matters much. But I suspect your CPU will not be the problem in a vast majority of games.

Go ahead and get the video upgrade (but consider a 5870 or coming NV equivalents instead).
 
Originally posted by: v8envy
What games are struggling with 16x10 with an 8800GT (assuming a 512MB version, not the original 320)? Try cranking down detail and resolution a notch or two and see if performance improves. If performance is still poor with low detail, resolution and AA then a GTX 275 is not going to help matters much. But I suspect your CPU will not be the problem in a vast majority of games.

Go ahead and get the video upgrade (but consider a 5870 or coming NV equivalents instead).
Click to expand...

A 5870 or nV equivalent would be a huge waste of money at that resolution with that hardware. There's no need to spend that much unless the OP is planning a major overhaul. The advice to crank down settings and check is good as, if the performance doesn't change, the CPU may be the bottleneck rather than the GPU (depending on the game.)
 
Yeah an 8800GT 512 (there was no 320mn version, that was 8800gts) should fare pretty well at that res. You'd probably see better gains updating the CPU/mobo/RAM. You'd probably spend ~$150 on a GTX260 right now, or you could spend $50 on 4gb DDR2, $65 on an Athlon II X2 245, and $75 on a Biostar TA780g. Slightly higher cost but I think worth it over the GTX because it gets you to a much faster AM3 processor and DDR2. Also chances are your sons comp only has 2gb ram so a jump to 4gb would help a lot. If you wanted to spend another $5 on a gigabyte MA770t which is AM3 and another $25 on upgrading the RAM to DDR3 you'll have an even more up to date platform that has the ACC enabled southbridge which you can use to unlock that X2 to an X3 or X4
 
Originally posted by: gplracer
He wants to upgrade his card for Christmas.
Click to expand...

You have plenty of time to consider your options. ATI should have filled out their mid-range line-up & pricing, and we may even now what Nvidia has in store.

FWIW, my Opteron struggled to get the best out of my 2900OC, even at 3GHz, so the gains by upgrading from an 8800GT aren't going to be huge (at 1680x1050), although ultra-detail high AA frame-rates should improve with a modern card with a large fast vRAM buffer.

Consider the graphics upgrade as one step in a larger project 😉
 
i would just upgrade the whole rig tbh. doesnt do much good to upgrade the GPU when you are already bumping up against the wall of your CPUs limit with an 8800GT as is lol. i would spend the money you have now on a new CPU/mobo/ram and then go for a new graphics card in around black friday when you will probably be able to find the first super sales of the year on the HD5800 parts
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top