CPU does make a difference

G

getnate

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Sep 26, 2006
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Here is my recent upgrade path:
1. AMD X2 3800+ , 2GB DDR400 RAM, 8800GTX
2. Core 2 Duo 6850, 2GB DDR2 800 RAM, 8800GTX

With #1 I could not run Oblivion @1920x1200 with max in game settings, it was too choppy almost a slide show at times so I had to turn off some shadowing features and turn down some sliders. After I upgraded my CPU and RAM I can now run silky smooth with all the sliders and options maxed!

If you have an old AMD X2 and a 8800GTX I certainly recommend an upgrade to Intel Core 2 Duo to get more out of your setup.
 
That x2 3800 is much less powerful than the 6850, now throw something like an x2 5600 or 6000 in there and the disparity gap in performance would surely close.
 
furthermore, sounds to me like the X2 rig might have been suffering from a bit of bit rot, maybe out of date drivers.

Your test is hardly scientific.
 
MrWizard6600 said:
furthermore, sounds to me like the X2 rig might have been suffering from a bit of bit rot, maybe out of date drivers.

Your test is hardly scientific.
Click to expand...

No not really, but he wasn't testing, just giving personal experience :rolleyes:

Besides, it's been known for a long time that a stock x2 3800+ would bottleneck an 8800GTX.
 
Well you are comparing AMD's 2nd slowest dual core versus Intel's fastest dual core. So of course you're going to have a noticeable performance disparity. Little bit common sense here.

I should remind people using a Pentium 3, to upgrade to an FX-57, you will see a noticeable performance increase, no matter what video card you're using. :)
 
It might be the RAM instead of the X2 3800+. Despite being AMD's second-lowest desktop offering (to the X2 3600+), the X2 3800+ is still a very powerful processor; I can't imagine it not letting you play games smoothly except in RTS where you have lots of units on the screen.

I remember going from a 1GHz Pentium III to an Athlon XP 2600+ with a GeForce2 MX in both. Games went from 640x480, choppy, to 800x600, smooth. Ha ha ha...
 
Was your 3800+ at stock 2.0 GHz? If so you probably could have gotten a similar result just by overclocking it to 2.6.
 
So, you upgraded your CPU, motherboard, and ram, and the CPU gets all the credit? What do you work for Intel or something? haha J/K. Grats on the new build.
 
The CPU makes a pretty good difference and benches prove it.

I've had a similar experience:

Setup #1: P4 3.4GHz (single-core), Asus P5B-E, 2GB DDR2-667, 7950GT
Setup #2: C2D E6600, Asus P5B-E, 2GB DDR2-667, 7950GT

Only the CPU changed. Went from 120fps in the CS:Source Stress Test up to 200fps (at 1280*1024, graphics maxed).

Of course, the performance impact will be different depending on the game.
 
I loved my upgrade path, talk about huge difference

1. P4 2.8GHz with a Radeon 9250 and 512MB DDR
2. E6850, Asus P5K, 2GB DDR2-800, 8800GTX

Now I can run all my games at Max on a 20'' widescreen. Boy it feels nice!:D
 
I see a 10 fps increase in Farcry and Halo just overclocking my 2.8c to 3.4 with my x850 xt. CPU does make a big difference from my personal (non scientific) experience.
 
Suit on

Went from an opty 170 skt939 @ 2.7 to Q6600 bone stock @ 2.4 and 3dmark06 went from 8700 to 10300.

Unscientific analysis of playing through my collection of games reveals much smoother gameplay @ 1600x1200 everything maxed in games that before required 1280x960 to have everything maxed. It is a NOTICEABLE improvement. Don't say its the quad core either because most of these games don't use but 1 core anyway.

Those saying AMD @ 2.6 - 3.0 would be comparable just don't know or can't upgrade yet.:D
 
Upgrade paths:

From 80286 1mb to 80286 4mb to Athlon 1200mhz, 256mb ram, Geforce 2 GTS to Duron 800Mhz to Athlon XP 768mb with 6600GT to E4300 2gb with X1950pro. Really nice path :p

The most common difference were the memory upgrades, systems looked almost twice as fast. (having the same cpu of course).
 
lol I'm amazed I can still remember my upgrade path.

1997 - Cyrix 133MHz, 16MB RAM, 2GB
2001 - Pentium 4 2.0GHz, 512MB PC800 RDRAM, 64MB GF2 MX, 80GB IDE
2003 - Athlon XP 2600+, 512MB PC2700 DDR, 128MB 9700 Pro, 80GB IDE
2004 - Athlon XP 3200+, 1024MB PC3200 DDR, 256MB 6800GT, 2x80GB RAID 0 SATA
2005 - Athlon 64 3500+, 1024MB PC3200 DDR, 256MB 7800GTX, 2x80GB RAID 0 SATA
2006 - Opteron 170 @ 2.4GHz, 2GB PC3200 DDR, 256MB 7900GT, 2x250GB RAID 0 SATAII
2006 - e6600 @ 3.0GHz, 2GB PC6400 DDR2, 512MB X1900XT, 3x250GB RAID 5 SATAII

Congrats on the upgrade, man. That 3800+ still had some life left in, I'll bet. Even if you bumped it to 2.4GHz (almost 100% guarantee you could've at stock volts) you would have noticed a nice bump in frame rate.
 
Citizen86 said:
No not really, but he wasn't testing, just giving personal experience :rolleyes:

Besides, it's been known for a long time that a stock x2 3800+ would bottleneck an 8800GTX.
Click to expand...

being that 2.0 ghz was out for the past 4 years now, it seems like it wouldnt be a big surprise to see some sort of bottleneck. most benches are based on 2.4-3.0 ghz. that's a 50% clock increase on the higher and right now, really chip end.

if he went to ddr2 with better memory, that could free up 3-4 frames easily.
 
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