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Cpu Bottlenecking

Jono8

Jono8

Jono8

Caporegime
Joined
20 May 2007
Posts
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Location
Surrey
Ok im thinking of going for a BFG 8800gtx oc2 but i only have a loly old x2 4400(man it got outdated fast).

Im worried about all this talk of bottlenecking but from what ive seen you only really get noticeable extra frames with something like a core 2 duo e6600 when playing at 800x600 or 1024x768 or with no AA or AF. Once you ramp the the resolution and image quality settings it doesnt seem to matter.

So my question is, as long as i keep the rez and AA/Af up in games (which is the reason im buying a gtx anyway) will it really matter?
 
Jono8 said:
Ok im thinking of going for a BFG 8800gtx oc2 but i only have a loly old x2 4400(man it got outdated fast).

Im worried about all this talk of bottlenecking but from what ive seen you only really get noticeable extra frames with something like a core 2 duo e6600 when playing at 800x600 or 1024x768 or with no AA or AF. Once you ramp the the resolution and image quality settings it doesnt seem to matter.

So my question is, as long as i keep the rez and AA/Af up in games (which is the reason im buying a gtx anyway) will it really matter?
Click to expand...
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Maybe i'm reading it wrong but you seem to have it the wrong way around.
You get less frames as you increase the res /AA?AF
 
CS||nuTs said:
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Maybe i'm reading it wrong but you seem to have it the wrong way around.
You get less frames as you increase the res /AA?AF
Click to expand...

He means you don't get quite so CPU bottlenecked with high res/AA/AF :)
 
CS||nuTs said:
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Maybe i'm reading it wrong but you seem to have it the wrong way around.
You get less frames as you increase the res /AA?AF
Click to expand...

well i mean for example if playing something like oblivion at 800x600 the framerate differemce between a top core 2 duo and my x2 would be quiet significant. But as soon as you play it at 1280x1024 with 8xAA and 16xAf for example the frame rate difference between the two become negligible. So i'm basically wondering whether my x2 would bottleneck the gtx that much considering i'll be playing at very high graphical settings.
 
I have upgraded from a X1900 XTX to and very lovely 2nd hand X 2900 XT (Thanx Gerard)

My 3Dmarks 06 has gone up 3500 points. Yes there may be a bottle neck.

But again there is a good improvement.

If you game at low res 19" tft (poo whats the res) then maybe a GTS 320, if higher then a GTS 640 or the X 2900 XT.

But you will see an improvement.

Then later all you do is up grade CPU, board and RAM. like I will do later some time.

CV
 
If your cpu is bottleneck most people add AA and af to give the gpu something to do while its waiting for the cpu.
 
My X2 3800+ @ 2.5Ghz is still doing fine, I just set the AA to 8xCSAA or 16xCSAA and 16xAF and still have good framerates in most games.

As long as the CPU is fast enough to get 60fps it will be fine.
 
I would be in the same position if i changed my card, was thinking of going 2900xt myself, just waiting for them to settle down. No way going to be able to upgrade cpu mb etc.
Sure my cpu (as sig) will be good enough for another high end gpu yet..... :rolleyes:
 
A X2 CPU will give you a lower 3DMark score but this is not really reflected in games, as long as the X2 is running at 2.4Ghz you will not have framerate problems due to the CPU in most, if not all games.

I remember from the past that CPU upgrades are usually mostly not noticable in games, a GPU upgrade will be much better.
 
Another X2 owner here and to echo what others say if you turn up the AA/AF and play at a semi-high resolution cpu bottlenecking is much less evident to the point where there's only a few FPS in it between an overclocked X2 and an overclocked CD2 system.

Put it this way. I had 7800GTX 256mb in SLI and I've noticed a big difference going to a single 8800GTX. The IQ is much better as well. Do it. :)
 
Sounds promising guys, pretty happy with my x2 i must say and although it is not clocked it has performed very well. I know like many people here that upgrading the gpu is by far the best thing to do for games :D

So, just need the 2900xt's to show there true form.....sure it exists......maybe :rolleyes:
 
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