would my cpu limit me?

[jadbox1]

i have a xp 2800+
1 gb ram
cheap mb
9600xt

was thinking of getting a 6600gt
would it out perform the 9600xt by much?
i have a 300watt ps would that be enough for a 6600gt?

i mostly play css and maybe some farcry

i get around 1000 now with 3dmark 05

thanks for your help

 

[gac009]

what brand PSU? I hear NV says you can get away with having a 350w "quality" PSU is how they put it, meaning it better actually put out 350watts. Yes the 6600gt is a worthy improvement from the 9600xt IMO and also you can get a 6800 for not much more than a 6600gt and the performance gained will be worth it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133114

 

[jadbox1]

i already have a 6600gt in my better comp
was going to get a 6800 for that one

 

[coomar]

your not going to be cpu limited with a 6800 or 6600gt

 

[dnuggett]

What kind of calculations do you do to find out if you are CPU limited?

 

[Lonyo]

Why not try it out?
Swap the card from your other machine temporarily to see if the PSU can handle it, if not, you will know.
dnuggett, you don't calculate really, you look at reviews and things, and work out whether it's the CPU or graphics card which is likely to limit you.
Obviouslt if you have a 1.2GHz Athlon with a 6800Ultra, the CPU is the limiter. If it's a Geforce MX4000 with an AMD64 4000+, the graphics card is the limiter.
You can only make reasoned guesses, and it often depends on the games you play (some will be CPU bound, others graphics bound), but if you read enough reviews, you can make an informed guess. An XP 2800+ isn't too awful, a 9600XT isn't too great, so a graphics upgrade would probably be more worthwhile than a CPU upgrade.