CPU bottle neck?

Here's my spec first:
Pentium 4 C 2.8G
ABIT IS7-E mobo
Kingstone DDR400 512M x 2
9800pro 128MB
17'' CRT

Here's the problem:
I will change to a new 20'' widescreen LCD monitor, the res will go straightly up to 1680 x 1050...so it's obviously my 9800pro won't go smooth in the LCD native res. It would cost me much $$$ if I switch to the PCI-E...so i'd rather go just switch my vid card here...if I go 6800GS AGP or 7800 AGP, will my CPU 2.8G be bottleneck for me? And I go with the 7800 AGP, will I see a boost on my gaming? Actually what I'm playing usually are the FPS, like DOOM3, HL2, FEAR etc.....will it be good if I run these games @ 1680 x 1050 rez and with AA AF?

Thanks dudes.

7800gs will be fine with new monitor.

not with aa/af but the 7800gs will run that res no problem otherwise. you really need to get that cpu up to 3.2 though and add more ram.

Thanks dudes!
Mine 2.8G haven't OC yet...will it be a problem if I OC to 3.2G? Anyway, how is the 2.8G intel compare to the AMD 3000+ in gaming area?

I'd say upgrade the vid card only and at the lowest possible cost, get a 6800GS (or a cheap used X850XT/6800u) and see what it can do. You'll at least be able to play HL2 at 1680x1050 with decent framerates and some AA/AF. Don't upgrade the CPU/RAM/PSU unless you really have to, save the money for a new system based on next-gen CPUs.

jon67 said:

I'd say upgrade the vid card only and at the lowest possible cost, get a 6800GS (or a cheap used X850XT/6800u) and see what it can do. You'll at least be able to play HL2 at 1680x1050 with decent framerates and some AA/AF. Don't upgrade the CPU/RAM/PSU unless you really have to, save the money for a new system based on next-gen CPUs.

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Yes, that's what I'm thinking...save the money up to next PC.....and HL2 which I think is the lightest game in my list.....FEAR and DOOM3 prolly is really the bomb....anyway, if I upgrade a vid card for example, 6800 or 7800, is that mean i also need a powerful PSU?
Thanks for your advice!

jon67 said:

I'd say upgrade the vid card only and at the lowest possible cost, get a 6800GS (or a cheap used X850XT/6800u) and see what it can do. You'll at least be able to play HL2 at 1680x1050 with decent framerates and some AA/AF. Don't upgrade the CPU/RAM/PSU unless you really have to, save the money for a new system based on next-gen CPUs.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice! Someone told me that if I upgrade 7800GS AGP that will be a big waste. Since the 7800GS AGP will definitely NOT perform it's best due the CPU will cause a serious bottle neck...is that true...? Thanks for all!

The Intel will run the same as an AMD 2800+. You get how it's done? I would suggest OC as far as you can within cool temps. I would say get more ram since you can use it in the next machine and ram lasts forever Unless you want to go down the DDR2 path.

Anyone know what a [email protected] runs the same as about?

EDIT: I would say to get a 6800GS instead of aa 7800 since it's not a good type of card to keep for ages since the next time you upgrade unless you get one of the AGP+PCI-E boards which arn't bad and the same thing my brother is doing. To bad you can't run SLI with them lol. The 7800GS actually might be worth it. There's a difference in price but I would personally go for it. I currently have a 6800GS PCI-E. Good card but you won't get great grahics in BF2 with it at that resolution.

Hawk said:

The Intel will run the same as an AMD 2800+. You get how it's done? I would suggest OC as far as you can within cool temps. I would say get more ram since you can use it in the next machine and ram lasts forever Unless you want to go down the DDR2 path.

Anyone know what a [email protected] runs the same as about?

Click to expand...

Yes, that equals to the 2800+. I've tried OC to 3.2G...and unfortunately WINXP didn't start properly even...so I aborted....Anyway, I'm a newbie to computer stuff, so the DDR2 is compatible to the DDR.....what I have is 2 x 512MB...I wish I had 1 x 1G....

jekyll917 said:

Someone told me that if I upgrade 7800GS AGP that will be a big waste. Since the 7800GS AGP will definitely NOT perform it's best due the CPU will cause a serious bottle neck...is that true...? Thanks for all!

Click to expand...

That's a silly way of thinking. It's sorta like saying:

"I'm going to buy a battery-electric vehicle to travel interstate because the highway road limits won't allow me to run a petrol powered sedan vehicle at it's full speed!" and then getting stuck with 40mph instead of the full speed limit!

Sure, the 7800GS won't perform at its absolute ultimate potential, but it'll still perform bucketloads better than the 6800GS! It'd have you gaming better for longer, and that's all that matters if you can meet the purchase price, isn't it? Anyone would think a 'CPU bottleneck' stopped a card from performing at all, the way some people carry on.


If you're sucessful at overclocking your processor then that's an added bonus!

Read the OC'ing guide but that's for AMD64's but I would guess it works the exact same way. Helps if you have a temp measuring program. The mobo if you bought it retail comes with a program, like asus's AIBooster.