• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

8800 GTS/GTX and single core Athlon people

wunkley

wunkley

wunkley

Soldato
Joined
27 Jul 2004
Posts
3,943
Location
Yancashire
Got my 8800GTS today. I'll be brief as I'm about to have my tea after messing round with it all day, and I'm slightly drunk!

First up - I'm running a single core Athlon 939 3500+ overclocked to 2.4 so roughly equivalent to 3700+, 2 gigs ram etc, and perhaps importantly an Antec 480 watt Truepower psu (that 'only' has 22 amps on the 12v rail, recommended is 26 I know). I've swapped out the 7800 GTX 512mb I was running (and paid £500 for last year :( )

So...

- bit dissappointed with regards to benchmarks.

3dmk 06 with 7800gtx 512 - used to get 4700
3dmk 06 with 8800GTS - getting 5922

This is no where near what I was expecting. How much influence does a dual core cpu have on this benchmark???

Games are a different story though (or at least some are). Oblivion is the best example - the performance is amazing with the 8800GTS. Am running at 1680x1050 and can use 4xAA and 16AF and have much better framerates than with the 7800gtx. Will go into more details later...

Basically I'm trying to find out if my CPU is holding this card back or not gaming at 1680x1050. As it's clocked at 2.4 and hardly any games utilise dual core, is it worth considering a CPU upgrade yet, I thought not....

Also, is there any way my power supply is not supplying enough 'juice' and that's affecting the benchmarks? There are no signs of it struggling, crashing or anything and I've even overclocked it to GTX speeds and it seems to be ok!

Any advice much appreciated :)
 
Last edited:
The card WILL be a bit CPU limited in games... stick a 3.4ghz Core2 in there and you'd likely notice a decent boost in games etc.

However 3D'06 is pretty much largely GPU limited when you get to using CPU's like a 3500+ and higher... have you ensured you're not running AA/AF etc?
 
Its your CPU for sure.

Don't worry about dual core, its not that, even if your CPU was a dual core one its just not clocked high enogh.

You want to be using at least a 2.8Ghz Athlon 64 to be getting the best out of your purchase.

I don't know about core2duo chip, but they seem to beat the pants off AMD64s so one of those clocked at 2.2-2.4ghz should be seen as a minium to let the GTS strech its legs i would guess.

Also does your cpu have 512k or 1mb of cache, im pretty sure its only 512k on that model?

You can pick up a 4000+ for about £70 now, so I'd get one of those, a fairl decent cooler and aim for 3Ghz, they all pretty much do 3Ghz at the mo, at least the OEM ones.

This is all my thoughts, doesn't mean its true ;)
 
How do your games run, i wouldn't take any notice of 3DMarks, its well known that the G80 scores crappily in it, games is a different story though as they decimate every card out there, even 2x in SLi/Crossfire. :)
 
MeatLoaf said:
With a dual core CPU id imagine you'd get at least a 1000 more points in 06.

What you get in 05?
Click to expand...

In 05 I'm getting around 11,100. That sound about right? With my 7800 GTX 512 I got 9,400. Again not a big leap at all! I need to see some benchmarks/ reviews from people using single core athlons, but there aren't any which is a bit rubbish. You think theyd throw one in wouldn't you? Please someone reassure me it's not my power supply!

My 3500+ is 512 cache yes. Does 1Mb make that much difference, I thought not?

I would consider getting a 4000+ single core, or even an X2 4400+ or above, and then trying to overclock it more, but I fear my motherboard (Asrock 939 dual sata2) might hold me back. On my current set up I had a nightmare getting a decent overclock (only managed 200Mhz). Could this be cos my 3500+ is a newcastle core?

Arrrg. Don't want to throw any more cash away yet if I can help it, and some games are a definite leap over my 7800GTX 512 (Oblivion deffo, fear is also vastly better in the main but still dips low). The whole core 2 duo route is tempting me but it means new MB, new ram, new processor (obviously) which is a pain in the arsewallet...
 
Last edited:
wunkley said:
In 05 I'm getting around 11,100. That sound about right? With my 7800 GTX 512 I got 9,400. Again not a big leap at all! I need to see some benchmarks/ reviews from people using single core athlons, but there aren't any which is a bit rubbish. You think theyd throw one in wouldn't you? Please someone reassure me it's not my power supply!

My 3500+ is 512 cache yes. Does 1Mb make that much difference, I thought not?

I would consider getting a 4000+ single core, or even an X2 4400+ or above, and then trying to overclock it more, but I fear my motherboard (Asrock 939 dual sata2) might hold me back. On my current set up I had a nightmare getting a decent overclock (only managed 200Mhz). Could this be cos my 3500+ is a newcastle core?

Arrrg. Don't want to throw any more cash away yet if I can help it, and some games are a definite leap over my 7800GTX 512 (Oblivion deffo, fear is also vastly better in the main but still dips low). The whole core 2 duo route is tempting me but it means new MB, new ram, new processor (obviously) which is a pain in the arsewallet...
Click to expand...

Pretty much the same boat as me, being on a limited budget upgrading is a huge deal. Currently have an opteron [email protected] and 9800xt, i plan to get a 8800GTS and DFI Ultra-D in the next 3 weeks then later on (march-july) upgrade motherboard again and cpu/ram to get the newer AMD quad core or if that turns out to be crappy an intel core 2 duo and mobo.

It's just the whole ram+motherboard+cpu viasco that costs so much.

Atleast my current system will fetch a nice ammount of green in the local paper.
 
So are my 3D mark scores with my new 8800 GTS about right for my system do we think? -single core Athlon 64 512k clocked at 2.4ghz:

3Dmk06: 5,922
3Dmk05: 11,100

I know 3dmark isn't the be all and end all by any means, but it is a good constant to see how you're doing, and I get the feeling my scores are too low? They're just not much of a leap from my 7800GTX 512 at all...
 
3dmark2006 is definitely affected by CPU. I'm running a 2.5ghz Venice with an overclocked 7900GTO and only get around 5250. There's plenty of people with dual core systems getting over 6k even with lower clocked cards.

I'd recommend doing some testing in games - the likes of Oblivion and FEAR should benefit hugely from your upgrade.
 
But when you play games at much higher resolutions, you'll notice much less cpu bottleneck (if any). You may find that increasing the resolution may have no impact on perforamnce all the way up to 1920x1200 if your monitor goes that far. If you have a low res monitor than you'll need a new cpu (or a new monitor) to take advantage of the card.

The guru 3d review of the 8800gtx showed that there was no difference in cpu performance at resolutions above 1600x1200 iirc.
 
HangTime said:
3dmark2006 is definitely affected by CPU. I'm running a 2.5ghz Venice with an overclocked 7900GTO and only get around 5250. There's plenty of people with dual core systems getting over 6k even with lower clocked cards.

I'd recommend doing some testing in games - the likes of Oblivion and FEAR should benefit hugely from your upgrade.
Click to expand...

I mentioned earlier, FEAR and Oblivion especially both have a significant boost for me now. (I game at 1680x1050 by the way - 20" widescreen monitor's default).

The fact you can run Oblivion with HDR + AA now, and 16xAF at 1680x1050 and have 30 fps+ (and often double that even outside) at all times is almost worth it alone.
It's just the 3dmark thing bugging me. Last time I upgraded I saw my score virtaully double in 3dmk05 (went from a 6800GT to a 7800 GTX 512). I was kind of hoping for the same, though I knew it wouldn't be near double with my CPU in 3dmk06.
 
Last edited:
wunkley said:
It's just the 3dmark thing bugging me
Click to expand...

I do know where you are coming from, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it as long as games are performing as they should.

What you could do would be to compare the individual benchmark (game1 etc) results with that of other users.
 
Unless you get a faster cpu\overclock it more its going to keep bugging you, there's nothing that anyone here can post that will help with your score I don't think.

Just remember to forget dual core for now, its by no means neccasary like i said before you can pick up a 4000+ very cheaply now and overclock it.

just saying :)
 
you guys are crazy. you'd get a way better performance boost overall if you got a cheaper card and upgraded to conroe. the system works together, so you can expect to have an A64 single core with the 8800GTS and get great performance.

daven
 
daven1986 said:
you guys are crazy. you'd get a way better performance boost overall if you got a cheaper card and upgraded to conroe. the system works together, so you can expect to have an A64 single core with the 8800GTS and get great performance.

daven
Click to expand...

Eh?
 
daven1986 said:
you guys are crazy. you'd get a way better performance boost overall if you got a cheaper card and upgraded to conroe. the system works together, so you can expect to have an A64 single core with the 8800GTS and get great performance.

daven
Click to expand...

Upgrading to conroe isn't cheap, you need the cpu, motherboard and new high perforamnce ddr2 ram.

That works out at a lot of money, if you use a cheap conroe, you need good expensive ram so you can up the FSB.

I think your wrong anyway, with these new graphics cards you can just turn on all the eye candy and stay at the same frame rate.

If your buying a top end conroe system then your better of with the GTX.
 
ernysmuntz said:
Upgrading to conroe isn't cheap, you need the cpu, motherboard and new high perforamnce ddr2 ram.

That works out at a lot of money, if you use a cheap conroe, you need good expensive ram so you can up the FSB.

I think your wrong anyway, with these new graphics cards you can just turn on all the eye candy and stay at the same frame rate.

If your buying a top end conroe system then your better of with the GTX.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with Daven on this one. If I had a choice I would get good mobo, 6300 conroe and good ram for the same price as that card, sell the rest of the kit and put it towards the 8800 when he has a few more dollars and the price drops.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom