Is my 4870 being CPU bound by my E6400?

[stuartmanton]

Is my 4870 being CPU bound by my E6600?

I have just replaced my x1900 with an Asus 4870 1Gb. Whilst there has been a big jump in performance I am not sure I am getting the full potential from the card as I as probably being CPU bound? I have: -

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS4
E6600 (originally thought it was a E6400)
6Gb Corsair XMS2 6400

If I am CPU bound what are my upgrade options? Is it worth replacing just the CPU with something like a E8400 which I believe the motherboard will support? How much improvement would I see? I am running at 1920x1200.

 

[Efour]

Well im using that overclocked to 3.2ghz and a 4870 and mine seems happy enough..

I am only at 1650x 1050 res - Id try overclocking the CPU first to get some real data.

just whack multi. to highest (8) ?? and 400fsb, that will take it to 3.2ghz

should be no need to raise voltage.

 

[stuartmanton]

I will give that a try.

At stock, 3D Mark 2006 with default settings was around 10500 which seemed low.

 

[gurusan]

Just overclock the E6400 to 3.2+ghz and you'll be fine Even 3ghz is sufficient.

 

[stuartmanton]

Its actually a E6600 (initially type it wrongly then couldn't change the original thread title). I will give the overclock a go at the weekend.

 

[pastymuncher]

I had a E6600 that was happily running at 3.8Ghz. Ran it at 3.6Ghz most of the time though as the extra performance was'nt worth the voltage increase. To see the gains to be had by clocking the E6600 have a read of my comparison thread here.

 

[gurusan]

Its actually a E6600 (initially type it wrongly then couldn't change the original thread title). I will give the overclock a go at the weekend.

Good news then. Higher multi, more cache, and a better overclocker in general.