P4 system, GPU limit/bottleneck?

[estebanrey]

Hi all, doing one last major upgrade to my P4 rig to see me through the next 6 months before Windows 7/DX11 is worth getting and was wondering if there's a ceiling on what Graphics Card I should get seeing as I'm still running a single core system.

Asus P5AD2-E Premium Mobo
Intel P4 3.0GHz Processor
4GB Crucial Balistix PC2-8500 RAM
{and currently} ATi X1950 Pro GFX card

All I currenlty play is Battlefield 2 and Pro Evo 2010 and I'm not interested really in playing bleeding edge DX11 titles just yet but at the same time although I'm playing old/non- intensive games I wouldn't mind having the scope to play Crysis or similar modern titles.

So I was looking at the 4890 and the GTX 275 both at around £150 but is it worth me paying that much or could I just get away with 3850X2 at around £75?

I could upgrade my processor if needed but reluctant to spend a penny on a single core upgrade (my mobo won't allow dual core) as I'm planning to build a new machine in 6 months or so.

So will my limited P4 cause a bottleneck with the newer cards, is it worth me getting one?

 

[SfnX]

owch only single core, my man your in the stone age. my office pc is a pentium 4 and tis terribly slow at everything in todays standards, invest in a new processor to start or it will bottleneck your gpu from getting higher fps!

But if your upgrading then dont do anything and keep the money for extra cash in your future upgrade

 

[magicroundabout]

if you're upgrading in a months time anyway i wouldn't bother to be honest.

plus that cpu is a huge bottleneck so again not worth it in my opinion

 

[Sasahara]

Put it this way, my X2 3800+ was a huge bottleneck for my 8800GTX.

 

[spirits247]

Grab a cheap 3850 to see you over, or if you want a bit more power a 4850/8800/9800GT/9800GTX series of card until you do the upgrade.

Anything more powerful is a waste.

 

[kerrgreg]

a 4890 will can bottle neck some dualcores it will be wasted in yours but you could get it and and then transfer it to your upgrade

 

[estebanrey]

owch only single core, my man your in the stone age.

Hmmm yeah but as I said I play BF2 and PES 2010. The former is definitely NOT a multi-threaded and I'm pretty sure PES 2010 doesn't need to be. (I did manage to get almost constant 60fps on it with my current set up before my old ram blew up).

As I understand it a decent single core is as good as (if not better than) a mid-range dual core when using games/apps not specifically designed for multi-core PCs...

invest in a new processor to start or it will bottleneck your gpu from getting higher fps!

Yeah but that would require a new Motherboard...ergo a new system which I simply can not afford right now.

I can throw a couple of hundred (the RAM I mentioned I haven't got yet, will be ordering tomorrow) at it now.

I've always been under the impression that the processor isn't that important for gaming anyway as the GPU does 90% of the work.

if you're upgrading in a months time anyway i wouldn't bother to be honest

6 months mate

 

[magicroundabout]

6 months mate

ouch. gonna be a long 6 months.

 

[estebanrey]

Grab a cheap 3850 to see you over, or if you want a bit more power a 4850/8800/9800GT/9800GTX series of card until you do the upgrade.

Anything more powerful is a waste.

a 4890 will can bottle neck some dualcores it will be wasted in yours but you could get it and and then transfer it to your upgrade

Cheers guys for the advice. I will be going for at least the 58XX in my future rig as I do it for DX11 so looking to a card to sell with the machine (a mate who just wants to play Pro Evo will buy it off me for £100 when I come to sell).

I think I'll go for a 3850/3870 then. Not worth stretching to £75 for the 3850X2 though I suppose?

 

[kerrgreg]

i would go with the 3870

 

[StevenRaith]

Nah, 3850/70 should wipe the floor with BF2 and there's no point going to a 48xx for what you are doing IMHO.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

As I understand it a decent single core is as good as (if not better than) a mid-range dual core when using games/apps not specifically designed for multi-core PCs...

No, a 2ghz C2D will wipe the floor with a 3ghz P4 even in single threaded apps - the C2D has a much better architecure allround even discounting the multi core aspect. In fact, an AMD Phenom will wipe the floor with a P4 was well.

3870 is about the right ball park for your system - any higher and you'll be cpu bottlenexked.

you haven't mentioned the res you'll be running at?

 

[estebanrey]

cheers again guys, you've probably saved me £100

 

[estebanrey]

you haven't mentioned the res you'll be running at?

Well Ideally 1920x1200 to go with my OcUK 24" monitor. The funny thing even with mix-matched poor RAM and my X1950 I manged to get 60fps on PES2k10 with only minor slow down during congested pitch situations.

I'm wondering now if it's even worth me bothering with the PC2-8500 Ram when I could just get PC2-6400

 

[estebanrey]

What would be the max nVidea card you'd use with my rig then? 8800?

 

[jigger]

I would say a 4670 DDR3. But I think I would sit tight with the x1950 TBH.

I have a rig with a 8800gs and q6600 and it plays BF2 at 1920 x1200 with x 4 AA no problem.

 

[spirits247]

What would be the max nVidea card you'd use with my rig then? 8800?

8800 series, or the 9800, or the GTS 250 series. They are practically all the same anyway! A huge jump from a x1950.

I saw a 9800gtx+ going recently for £60 delivered at a certain auction site. The new cards coming out means many people are offloading some good deals.

The brand new prices are still pretty good though. The 4870 is tempting and very re-sellable, but does use quite a bit of power. It would allow you to turn up more eyecandy in the drivers and keep the same framerates at your choosen resolution, since you are CPU limited.

I wouldn't get a 3850 x2 - they are more powerful than a single 4850 or 9800gtx/GTS 250 but they suck quite a bit of power (is your PSU good enough) and they are long cards (will it fit into your case). Also can have some driver and scaling issues. £75 is a good deal on one however.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

8800 series, or the 9800, or the GTS 250 series. They are practically all the same anyway! A huge jump from a x1950.

I saw a 9800gtx+ going recently for £60 delivered at a certain auction site. The new cards coming out means many people are offloading some good deals.

But all way overpowered for a P4 system so they would be a waste.

I have a rig with a 8800gs and q6600 and it plays BF2 at 1920 x1200 with x 4 AA no problem.

You can't compare a system with a P4 to one with a Q6600 though

 

[estebanrey]

I would say a 4670 DDR3. But I think I would sit tight with the x1950 TBH.

I have a rig with a 8800gs and q6600 and it plays BF2 at 1920 x1200 with x 4 AA no problem.

Cheers, just looked up rpices on 8800 figuring they'd be cheap as they are old but for some reason they are more expensive than the 9800s????

Anyway, the X1950 does pretty much do want I want but I do get some slow down in some of my games. BF2 takes about 5 mins of gameplay for the FPS rate to stabilise and can't get 1920*1200 with 4AA at the moment but I think that may be down to my poor RAM set up as much as anything (will be getting a RAM upgrade tomorrow, currently have 2.5gb of mismatched RAM).

The reason I need to replace my X1950 is the fan has become very noisy, I've put the stock fan from my old ATi 750 (or sum fing) for the time being but not sure it's doing the job so a new card will be needed.

 

[estebanrey]

I have a 550w Antec PSU by the way