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X800 Too Fast for Me?

A

AHSGoose

Junior Member
My rig is an Athlon XP 2600+ running of an MSI K7N2 Delta motherboard with 512mb PC3200 Corsair SDRAM.

If I buy a Radeon X800 Pro, I am concerned that the card's performance in next-generation titles like Doom3 and Half-Life 2 would be CPU-limited (i.e. the X800 can't run at max b/c the CPU is too slow to keep up with it).

I read somewhere that CPU bottlenecks were slowing next-gen cards like the Geforce 6800 Ultra and Radeon X800 even with 3 ghz Pentiums, and the 2600+ is surely slower than those.

So my question is, should I buy the X800 Pro or get the Radeon 9800XT? I read that the X800 represents double the performance of the 9800XT, but if the CPU limits the max performance in games anyway, I would be wasting money on the X800.

Any feedback appreciated.

P.S.
If I double my RAM with another 512mb stick of Corsair PC3200,
and run using dual-channel on the K7N2 (it supports 400 DDR FSB,
whatever the heck that is), would that reduce CPU limitation in regards
to video card performance?? I plan on doubling my RAM and running
the motherboard in a dual-channel configuration once the prices for
that RAM go down.
 
9800Xt is by far the biggest waste of money right now. for very little more, you can get an X800 will is far more future proof even of your current CPU will bottleneck it
 
What is your budget like? If you have enough money get the X800 anyways because as shady says it is future proof. If your budget is tight look to get a 9800 now as the prices are dropping.
 
I can spend about $400. Is there any way to know if the CPU will be bottlenecked by the X800 Pro?

And sure, the 9800XT is a horrible value now, but a month from now, which is when I will probably buy a new card, the X800 will be widely available and 9800XT prices ought to fall through the roof.
 
Yes ofcourse the CPU will be bottlenecking every card. EVen Pentium 4 EEs will. There is no solution to this, until intel/AMD comes out with faster ones. So its not a valid point for your decision to buy a graphics. You can always upgrade later to a faster CPU.

AT this point, games rely mostly on the graphics card. SO no matter how crappy your CPU, your going to run anything that comes out (doom3/hl2 etc) at blazing speeds @ 1600 w/ AF/AA.
 
This is what i'd recommend.

1. Sell the 2600+ on ebay or post an ad somewhere. ( you should get at least $60, Don't take my word for it though)
2. Buy a mobile 2600+ for $99 off of and overclock that to 2.5 Ghz
3. In a month see how prices are and go for the x800 pro or 6800 GT!

BTW if you plan on playing doom3 and Halflife 2 I would recommend NOT getting the 9800XT as it might get you by but i have a feeling it will just barely 😱 A sure bet would be to get one of the cards from the newest generation.
 
Correct me if i'm wrong but even if the cpu is a bottleneck, with a newer card you would be able to use higher levels of AA and AF than you would with a lesser card without taking much of a performance hit. For that reason alone it's worth it to me to have a faster/newer card.
 
I like ForceCalibur and nippyjun reasoning. Even with your current setup, the new card will rock. You can always upgrade the rest later. If your a hard gamer, you would love the card. The reviews I read the x800 and 6800's are pulling 10,000 plus on 3DMark03. Thats awesome!
 
Originally posted by: SpitFire

BTW if you plan on playing doom3 and Halflife 2 I would recommend NOT getting the 9800XT as it might get you by but i have a feeling it will just barely 😱 A sure bet would be to get one of the cards from the newest generation.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say "just barely"...if Valve and iD plan on selling ANY amount of games they will be playable on ~9600np class hardware or less, albeit without any major eye candy. Personally, unless you have a LOT of money I think it's worth getting the 9800p right now. Sure, the CPU bottleneck may be removed on the X800 "in a few years", but by then there will be faster cards. It's best to keep your hardware mostly within the same generation.
 
Well I have a Geforce4 Ti4600 now, and am unhappy with performance in games like Silent Storm, Homeworld 2. I didn't think a 9800 Pro was that much faster?

And again, is adding another 512mb PC3200 and running it dual-channel going to have any appreciable affect on gaming performance?
 
9800 Pro will be alot faster. It won't be nearly as fast as Geforce 6 or X800 though.

ANd no, if your game never accesses your hardrive while loading, more RAM isn't going to help you.
 
Force, I would have to disagree about the ram. I really am sold on the idea that you need at least 1GB for a good gaming machine. Sure you can get away with 512MB but you will notice a large increase in smoothness going from 512MB to 1GB. Battlefield 1942 loved the extra ram and I got a nice 10% increase in performance a year ago. Just think about what HL2 and D3 are going to be like.
 
That doesn't make any sense. RAM is only there if you need it. If you have 2 gigs of RAM it isn't going to make an ounce of difference if a game never makes use of more than 512. Maybe Battlefield does, or maybe future games will, but right few games do.
 
Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
That doesn't make any sense. RAM is only there if you need it. If you have 2 gigs of RAM it isn't going to make an ounce of difference if a game never makes use of more than 512. Maybe Battlefield does, or maybe future games will, but right few games do.
Click to expand...

Well the need is already there. Some games (e.g UT2004, Far Cry) do need 1GB to run smoothly.
 
Originally posted by: jagec
Sure, the CPU bottleneck may be removed on the X800 "in a few years", but by then there will be faster cards. It's best to keep your hardware mostly within the same generation.
Click to expand...

And those faster cards will make those future cpus slow for them and will be bottlenecked once again and so on. With this logic you can go on forever and never buy a faster graphics card.

Think about it a 2500+ with X800Pro will still beat a 3400+ A64 with 9800Xt at anything at or above 1280x1024 4AA/8AF and will be A LOT faster at those settings providing playable gameplay. As games become more intense the graphics card will matter even more due to the increased use of shaders. Besides what do you mean by the same generation of hardware? That doenst make a lot of sense. Can you classify what generation a hard drive, sound card, or RAM are? It's very difficult because PC3200 has lasted forever now and will keep going for at least another 2 years with A64 at least. Switching motherboards from KT333 to KT400 to KT600 to nforce 2 might give you 5% performance increase OVERALL tops so you know motherboard chipsets BARELY matter unless you are looking for features or overclocking. Western Digital 8mb cache goodness has been around for a long time also so that's not an issue. As such I don't think "generational" approach to pairing components is all that great. The performance the components provide is what matters the most. So this brings us to Cpu or Gpu generational "bonding" only (and still a Barton Mobile 2.5ghz will be just as good as a A64 3000+ so generational approach is faulty at best). Of course since most of us agree that per $$$ a gpu will always be more important than a cpu for performance increases in gaming (unless your cpu is REALLY slow), it makes sense to buy a X800Pro for $400 instead of buying a 9800Pro for $200 and a new cpu for $200.

You are right it makes sense to pair the fastest components together, but sometimes you have to make compromises with $$$. I would probably agree that for the average user $200 9800Pro is great, but if he has the $$$ to spend why not? There is only 1 thing that would stop me from buying the X800Pro for $400 => 6800GT. Since Nvidia cards will come out within a month I think i'd wait and see how things turn out.
 
just about every freaking cpu is gonna be a bottleneck to the nextgen cards so upgrading your processor to solve the bottleneck is moot...i'd say get the x8 and when you have the money further down the road, there will be cpu's that'll be able to run with the card.
 
you speak of a dilemma we all face.
i'd upgrade the mobo and cpu with the 400 dollars. I bet d3 and hl2 won't be out until next spring, and by then the x800 will be around 250 dollars.
 
Originally posted by: James3shin
just about every freaking cpu is gonna be a bottleneck to the nextgen cards so upgrading your processor to solve the bottleneck is moot...i'd say get the x8 and when you have the money further down the road, there will be cpu's that'll be able to run with the card.
Click to expand...
 
Excuse me for hijacking this thread, but I have a similar question. I have an AMD 2000+ with 512 MB of ram. I currently have an old GF 3 TI200, and need to upgrade. For my processor, should I get a 9600XT or a 9800 Pro? I know either one would probably be too fast for my processor, but would my rig be able to take advantage of the power of the 9800 Pro?
 
Originally posted by: Colrenea
Excuse me for hijacking this thread, but I have a similar question. I have an AMD 2000+ with 512 MB of ram. I currently have an old GF 3 TI200, and need to upgrade. For my processor, should I get a 9600XT or a 9800 Pro? I know either one would probably be too fast for my processor, but would my rig be able to take advantage of the power of the 9800 Pro?
Click to expand...

Three things:

1. get another 512 ram

2. Get the best vid card you can afford. My philosophy: Even if you can't run the game at the highest res, you will be able to use higher levels of AA and AF with a better vid card. It does make a difference. The more powerful the vid card the less of a hit it takes with AA and AF.

3. Hold out as long as you can on the vid card as with the new ones hitting shelves now you will see lower prices on existing 9800's and 9600's.
 
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