Waste to upgrade video card?

B

Bubby

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 2, 2008
Messages
82
My aging machine spec:
Pentium D 3.2GHz (Presler, Dual core, just before the Core2Duos came out)
8800GT
etc.

My burning question is: Is there any point in upgrading the video card because I may be CPU limited?

Barely acceptable performance in MW2, BC2 beta was a 10fps joke. The kicker is my Asus P5LD2 socket 775 mobo cannot be upgraded to anything better, unlike my other machine (P5B mobo). If I could make this machine run MW2 significantly better with just a videocard I'd do it.
 
Yeah, I'm not sure you'd gain much with a video card upgrade alone. Probably not worth it.
 
yea i hear BC2 is pretty heavy on physics so i think the cpu could've been the problem

if your graphics slot is agp i it's not worth it to upgrade

pcie? still not worth it.

but then again i don't upgrade anything after i've finished building i just add more stuff
 
Nah, get a whole new CPU/mobo. Some AM3 system or something more upgradeable, and then if you have money left afterwards consider getting a better GPU.
 
OK, thanks fellas, think I'll hold off until the next gen Nvidias hit the street and drop in price a bit before I upgrade the whole thing.
 
i had a 9800gt (same as 8800gt) with my pentium D at 3.6 and i was cpu limited im pretty sure. i downgraded to an 8600gt and didnt notice any difference in TF2 and L4D. didnt try anything more cpu-heavy, but i think that proc is pretty dated. i would agree with the suggestion of waiting to uprade the video card.

if you upgrade the rest of your computer now, though, youll get a little boost (when i went from my pentium D to an E8400 with the 8600gt i about doubled my framerate) and youll have more money later to invest in a video card if you dont have to worry about buying the entire rig. just a suggestion.
 
OP, you are already throwing a great deal of what an 8800gt right down the drain. you are likely to see very little difference in most games by upgrading from your current card. for some perspective your 3.2 Pentium D would be slower than my E8500 lowered to 1.6.
 
You will see the greatest improvements from other hardware or a whole new rig. Not much with the video card, but the plus is it moves easily into a new rig with a simple swap.

but yeah, I agree with others you should budget a new system. You may even be able to get away with the 8800 temporarily till you can afford a better vid card.
 
the 8800gt is fine for holding you over until you can get the card you want (fermi). my 9800gt got like 80fps in tf2 once i upgraded the rest of the rig. before that it got like 30. then when you get fermi you can drop it right in and go from ~80fps to ~200 :D.

thats on low settings of course. what youll really want to do is go from ~80 low settings, one monitor to ~80 on all cranked settings, using eyefinity and 3d vision etc. :p
 
Bubby said:
My aging machine spec:
Pentium D 3.2GHz (Presler, Dual core, just before the Core2Duos came out)
8800GT
etc.

The kicker is my Asus P5LD2 socket 775 mobo cannot be upgraded to anything better, unlike my other machine (P5B mobo). If I could make this machine run MW2 significantly better with just a videocard I'd do it.
Click to expand...

According to the Asus website that mobo can take up to an Intel E6700. Picking up a used C2D would unlock more of your 8800GT and would give you the ability to play games reasonably for now, until you are in a position do upgrade the mobo/cpu/gpu to a more current generation....
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.334818

problem solved. will run games just fine. should overclock OK. for a buck 40 its hard to beat. You can pick a different combo and reuse your ram if you want. when it comes to cheap gaming AMD pretty well has it covered. (now if they could compete on anything but the low end....)

cheap quad with DDR 2 (depends on what you have in your system) http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5241602&CatId=2417
 
Camberwell said:
According to the Asus website that mobo can take up to an Intel E6700. Picking up a used C2D would unlock more of your 8800GT and would give you the ability to play games reasonably for now, until you are in a position do upgrade the mobo/cpu/gpu to a more current generation....
Click to expand...
Great advice. Grab a cheap, used E6xxx series CPU and overclock it a bit. That should be more than sufficient to keep you going until you save enough money. Also remember to flash your BIOS to the latest available before you switch out the CPUs.
 
Mr. K6 said:
Great advice. Grab a cheap, used E6xxx series CPU and overclock it a bit. That should be more than sufficient to keep you going until you save enough money. Also remember to flash your BIOS to the latest available before you switch out the CPUs.
Click to expand...

Double check though because according to Asus only the rev. 2 boards support Core 2 processors.
 
Your GPU is your likely bottleneck, but not by much. Looks like system upgrade time.
 
obs said:
Your GPU is your likely bottleneck, but not by much. Looks like system upgrade time.
Click to expand...

No, his CPU is his bottleneck for sure. Upgrading his processor will double/triple his FPS in most games.
 
kirbyrj said:
Double check though because according to Asus only the rev. 2 boards support Core 2 processors.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm sure mine doesn't. Otherwise I would put the core2duo 2GHz I have sitting here in. Oh well, good info here, thanks for the ideas! Just upgraded my other machine to a C2Quad and gtx960 so I will wait a bit before changing the mobo and cpu/ram on this machine. Hell, I might just forget it and slap it over on the home theater and use it there instead of having it serve to my 360 as a media center. I just don't like the pic quality of recorded HD shows playing thru the 360 extender, looks dark and lower quality.

Decisions, decisions..... ;)
 
yeah htpc it or give it to a family member. i sold my p5ld2+pD 805+8600gt rig to my little brother for $50 since he needed something decent and cheap. you can downgrade that video card if you want though. the 8800gt will be fine in your new rig to hold you over for another few months.
 
All of this advice and no question as to what resolution the guy is running? Wow.
 
Wow. I have to say, you guys really amaze me with your thinking of absolutes here. It is all about scaling.
 
cannondale06 said:
are you kidding? have you tested a Pentium D lately with an 8800gt? that cpu cant provide a very playable minimum frame rate in many games and doesnt come close to providing the power needed for an 8800gt much less a faster card. 15fps at 2560 is no better than 15fps at 1280 so whats the difference?
Click to expand...

Do you know how many people are still running 1024 or 1280 monitors?

All I am saying is that a lot of you are passing judgement to this guy without having all the information needed about gaming.

That is my opinion and I am sticking to it.
 
hossdaddy said:
that 8800gt will hold u until fermi, just update the cpu, mobo and ram. Something like this,

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz Socket AM3 $90.99 + fs
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX $74.99 - $10 mir + fs can unlock dormant cores for quadcore
A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $98.99 + fs
Total: $264.97 - $10 mir
Click to expand...
no point in going with another dual core. thats already not going to get the job done in BC2 which he is playing.
 
I have a 1920x1080 and a 1680x1050 monitor on the gaming rig. I saw no or very little difference in MW2 performance at either resolution. I was wondering how far out of the game the Pentium D was, and apparently its worse than I thought. Like i said, just upgraded other machine, so I think it will become my gamer and this machine will stay as is and become the Home Theater rig.

I didn't bother mentioning my resolution because I figured most everyone who plays recent games is 1680x1050 or higher. :D

The AMD stuff looks tempting only because the geek in me needs the constant upgrades to quell my angst but I think I'm good for a while. BTW, the PentiumD running HDTV or playing back HD recorded tv does not perform well enough with Aero on, I have to turn it off to fix it. No issues when it becomes the HT rig though, I'll see nothing but the Media Center interface.
 
Bubby said:
I have a 1920x1080 and a 1680x1050 monitor on the gaming rig. I saw no or very little difference in MW2 performance at either resolution. I was wondering how far out of the game the Pentium D was, and apparently its worse than I thought. Like i said, just upgraded other machine, so I think it will become my gamer and this machine will stay as is and become the Home Theater rig.

I didn't bother mentioning my resolution because I figured most everyone who plays recent games is 1680x1050 or higher. :D

The AMD stuff looks tempting only because the geek in me needs the constant upgrades to quell my angst but I think I'm good for a while. BTW, the PentiumD running HDTV or playing back HD recorded tv does not perform well enough with Aero on, I have to turn it off to fix it. No issues when it becomes the HT rig though, I'll see nothing but the Media Center interface.
Click to expand...
you do not want to go with another dual core at this point. BC2 is recommending a quad and several other games are now needing a quad for best experience. if you are going to upgrade the there is no point in going with any thing other than a decent quad.
 
^^^ True unless you're have that rev. 2 board, and you can put a Core 2 Duo in it. It will be better than the Pentium D and maybe allow you to wait until i9 if you're so inclined.

If you're going to build a whole new system, go with a quad for sure.
 
Buying a new high end graphics card is a waste. I'd use that money for a new build. Sell your remaining pats.
 
Bubby said:
I didn't bother mentioning my resolution because I figured most everyone who plays recent games is 1680x1050 or higher. :D
Click to expand...


Well, you are still running a Pentium D so I am not going to make any assumptions about the rest of your equipment.

Yeah, if you want to game at 1680 in today's climate, you need to move to a Core i5 or Core i3 rig at "the least." I would suggest going ahead and moving to quad core since you seem to be the guy that will hold onto his CPU for a while.

You can OC damn near any new Intel CPU (1156/1366) to mid-3.5GHz levels and that will give you more than enough CPU power for any of your gaming needs currently.
 
cannondale06 said:
how many people run a Pentium D for gaming?
Click to expand...

I think you are missing the point. Get all the facts so you can give the best advice is my point. If the guy is gaming on a 1024 screen, we have a few other issues to talk to him about before we just tell him to get a new CPU.

Unless you really think I am not aware of what a Pentium D is and what it can do????

Bottom line, get all the facts before you open you mouth is always a good credo to live by and that is what I like to see done in our forums.

If you don't want to do that fine. But don't think that I will not call you on it again.
 
cannondale06 said:
no point in going with another dual core. thats already not going to get the job done in BC2 which he is playing.
Click to expand...

"GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX $74.99 - $10 mir + fs can unlock dormant cores for quadcore" from post which you seemingly missed.
 
hossdaddy said:
"GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX $74.99 - $10 mir + fs can unlock dormant cores for quadcore" from post which you seemingly missed.
Click to expand...

That's not guaranteed though. You never know what you'll get, and you could get "stuck" with only 2 cores.
 
hossdaddy said:
"GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX $74.99 - $10 mir + fs can unlock dormant cores for quadcore" from post which you seemingly missed.
Click to expand...
yeah I missed it because you had it in with the link. and there is a chance it might not unlock.
 
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