Which CPU To Power My 9700GTX

Coolit · 9 Jun 2006 at 00:47

Which CPU To Power My 7900GTX

I just bought a 7900GTX from OcUK last week but found that my 3 gig p4 is causing a bottleneck so Ive decided to upgrade.

Ive almost decided on either an AMD 4000+ or a X2 4200+ but am looking for some advice to which would be better in terms of powering my gfx card.

Thanks for any replies

EDIT: woops! Yeah my typing skills suck, changed to 7900gtx

Murzo · 9 Jun 2006 at 00:52

Im confused :confused:

, do you mean a PSU to power your card or which CPU would be best to get to go with your card.

Post your budget up and exactly what you need i.e just cpu, motherboard or a whole new base unit.

Sir Random · 9 Jun 2006 at 00:54

Since you're upgrading mobo too, you should really wait for Intel's new conroe (July 23rd). Prices of current cpus will drop too, so if you can wait 6 weeks it's well worth it.

KizZ · 9 Jun 2006 at 00:55

Lol, the 9700GTX isnt out yet

, and dont you mean PSU :confused:

Coolit · 9 Jun 2006 at 01:00

What Im asking is which cpu between a 4000+ and x2 4200+ would give me the best performance when paired with a 7900gtx in games.

I like the idea of the dual core but Ive read it doesn't improve game performance much if any.

Murzo · 9 Jun 2006 at 01:02

Get an X2 3800+ better value for money and will easily clock to 4200+ speeds and above.

easyrider · 9 Jun 2006 at 09:07

Yeah I would go for the x2 3800 or the x2 4400 the 4200 is a waste of money due to the fact that the the 3800 will clock past 4200 speeds with ease.

The extra cache of the 4400 might be worth the extra.

TBH you really need a 2.6ghz and above not to "bottleneck" the 7900 GTX the faster the better, the x3800 will probably do those speeds anyway with a nice cooler and a bump in voltage.

Mine old x2 3800 did 2.6ghz without much fuss but at stock it held my 7900 GT back never mind the GTX.

lay-z-boy · 9 Jun 2006 at 21:19

9700gtx

Ender · 11 Jun 2006 at 10:23

wouldnt a am2 socket be better for you? as it would let you keep your ram (thats if its ddr2 type? ) something like the x2 4000

Coolit · 11 Jun 2006 at 13:45

A slight change in direction

Since posting I've spent my spare time looking thought various forums and sites and think I've found a good value for money combination that should work nicely with ,my 7900GTX

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-150-AM) - £117.44 from OcUK
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR) - £17.57 from OcUK
ECS KN1 SLI Extreme - £76 from another supplier

My plan is to OC the 3700+ past the 4000+ or 4200+ to 2.7gig+ which by all accounts is quite obtainable from the cpu.

Will my 7900GTX still be bottlenecked by the CPU with this combination, or will it be fine?

Thanks for the help so far

Murzo · 11 Jun 2006 at 14:17

If you clock it to 2.7 or higher it shouldnt be bottlenecked to much.

Mr Mister · 11 Jun 2006 at 14:34

3700 is single core though. The previous cpu's (3800/4200 etc) are dual core.

Coolit · 11 Jun 2006 at 15:22

I thought about the X2 but it seems that currently if your primary PC use is gaming you wont see much performance improvement over a single core, and because of that I don't think its worth the extra cost for my rig.

If I did more with my PC than games, email and surfing the net then I would probably go X2

Coolit · 11 Jun 2006 at 21:29

Just ordered everything so I guess it will get here mid week, I'll report back how I get on with the OC for anyone interested

quadboi · 11 Jun 2006 at 21:55

you should have gone x2 tbh

AceCard · 15 Jun 2006 at 11:32

Nah for gaming single cores *** for at least 6 months.

then we'll see more games filter through that actually take full advantage of dual core.

trojan698 · 15 Jun 2006 at 12:05

Damn, I really wanted a 9700GTX. Wouldnt surprise me if they released it next week tbh.

Stelly · 15 Jun 2006 at 12:17

I would wait for Conroe as well

Stelly

NightmareXX · 15 Jun 2006 at 12:47

AceCard said:
Nah for gaming single cores *** for at least 6 months.

Like people say, if you're buying some new kit, make it at least a year proof

Anyone upgrading now would be advised to go dual core even thought current technology doesn't take full advantage of it.

Jay_t · 15 Jun 2006 at 14:42

Sir Random said:
Since you're upgrading mobo too, you should really wait for Intel's new conroe (July 23rd). Prices of current cpus will drop too, so if you can wait 6 weeks it's well worth it.

That sounds like good advice, even if you decide to get an AMD chip the price will plummet.