Graphics Card Or Processor

Memnoch · 7 May 2006 at 22:23

I have a AMD 64 3000+ and an nvidea 6600GT, and have been considering upgrading my graphics card to one of the 7900GT cards. Would I be better off upgrading my CPU before doing this, as it is also quite out of date and I think it would hold my graphics card back a lot if I upgraded.

sunlitsix · 7 May 2006 at 22:41

is the cpu overclocked?

Memnoch · 7 May 2006 at 22:44

Yep but not by much only from 1.8GHz to 1.98GHZ. I was thinking of overclocking it a bit more, but never really got there. I only have a retail heatsink and fan, but Im sure I could overclock it by another 0.20-0.30GHz.

Defcon5 · 7 May 2006 at 22:51

Memnoch said:
Yep but not by much only from 1.8GHz to 1.98GHZ. I was thinking of overclocking it a bit more, but never really got there. I only have a retail heatsink and fan, but Im sure I could overclock it by another 0.20-0.30GHz.

Id say it would reach 2.4 at least.

With 1.44v mione does 2.6, 2.8 with 1.6v

Memnoch · 7 May 2006 at 22:58

Sweet, Ill give that a go now

sunlitsix · 7 May 2006 at 22:59

myn does 2.5Ghz with 1.5v, a 7900GT wouldnt be that bottlenecked when the cpu is overclocked more

Jenks · 7 May 2006 at 23:04

heres a calculator to help work out things with some helpfull info aswell.
http://www.blurbdesigns.com/OcCalc/calc.htm
Graphics card is more important when gaming your cpu overclocked should be fine for a 7900GT for real world gaming.

Memnoch · 7 May 2006 at 23:56

Ok my computer is stable at 2.5GHz under load. Any further increce in FSB creates minor instability, however this could be fixed if my mobo allowed me to set my V-core higher than 1.55v.

Do you think I should bother trying to flash my bios, or is my processor decent enough for the 7900GT?

Minstadave · 8 May 2006 at 00:49

Memnoch said:
Ok my computer is stable at 2.5GHz under load. Any further increce in FSB creates minor instability, however this could be fixed if my mobo allowed me to set my V-core higher than 5.5v.

Do you think I should bother trying to flash my bios, or is my processor decent enough for the 7900GT?

What motherboard have you got mate?

I'd definately upgrade the GFX first, that CPU at 2.5Ghz should provide enough horsepower

Memnoch · 8 May 2006 at 01:14

Ive got an Asus A8N Sli Deluxe mobo, which I thought would enable be to raise my Vcore a bit higher than 1.55V

Minstadave · 8 May 2006 at 01:15

Memnoch said:
Ive got an Asus A8N Sli Deluxe mobo, which I thought would enable be to raise my Vcore a bit higher than 5.5V

I think you mean 1.55V mate, 5.5V would be killing every CPU in sight.

Memnoch · 8 May 2006 at 01:15

Yep sorry I edited it before you posted lol

Darkwave · 8 May 2006 at 01:19

Definitely upgrade the graphics card first, you'll be surprised at how long that CPU will actually last you. I was planning to go dual core recently, but overclocking my CPU a slight bit (only 200MHz) has breathed a whole new life into it.

I'll be upping it a lot more too as I have an Arctic Freezer 64 arriving tomorrow or Tuesday, anyone who says overclocking doesn't make a difference is on some sort of crazy drugs.

Minstadave · 8 May 2006 at 01:19

Memnoch said:
Yep sorry I edited it before you posted lol

You're right though, 1.55V is a poxy max Vcore, have you read around to see if a BIOS update gets you anymore (I would offer but I need some sleep).

Memnoch · 8 May 2006 at 15:32

Humm looking at the BIOS update I dont think it will help me, but if someone would like to confirm that I would be glad.

Goody_GTI · 8 May 2006 at 15:56

Memnoch said:
Humm looking at the BIOS update I dont think it will help me, but if someone would like to confirm that I would be glad.

Dont think so, i had the original 1002 bios i got with the board and was running my 3500 at 1.6v fine until i updated the bios to the latest version and now it wont let me go above 1.55v

Memnoch · 9 May 2006 at 16:34

Why would they do that, its pure evil :mad:

I hope they relese another update to fix this, because the board was supposed to be good for overclocking.

Street · 9 May 2006 at 18:39

Minstadave said:
You're right though, 1.55V is a poxy max Vcore, have you read around to see if a BIOS update gets you anymore (I would offer but I need some sleep).

But hes only got the retail heatsink... I wouldn't like to go over 1.55V with my SI-120 let alone a retail heatsink.

Minstadave · 9 May 2006 at 18:40

Street said:
But hes only got the retail heatsink... I wouldn't like to go over 1.55V with my SI-120 let alone a retail heatsink.

Maybe I'm just brave

I would go upto 1.6-1.65V on an SI-120 as long as temps were under control.

Street · 9 May 2006 at 18:42

Or foolish

I always get scared running more than 1.5V through mine, I leave the higher volts for the people with water/phase. My 3700 gets a nice overclock anyway, gets to 2.75GHz with 1.425V so I can't complain