CPU Bottleneck?

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cesium666

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As per my signature, I have a single-core 3700+.
I recently won a 8800gt in a contest, but won't be able to try it out for 2 weeks or so.

I pretty much plan on playing most newish games (cod4, bioshock, wic, assassins creed, maybe crysis, etc) at like 1280x1024 and maybe 1600x1200 for some games.

Do you think the 3700+ will bottleneck the GPU at all?
If it does, I might as well spring for a cheap 939 x2 in the next week or two. and no, im not going to upgrade my platform so that's out of the question.
 
cesium666 said:
Will it make a big difference at 1280x1024?
Click to expand...

Yes.

I went through the Gamut of having an AMD X2-3800, then an 8800GTS, then went to a Q9300..

The Video card was the most dramatic, but the Q9300 was also VERY noticable as well. I would wager to say that I gain a 25% overall increase in the playability of most games and it really took out a lot of the "bumps" in game play.

crysis was a world better.
 
I definitely think you will have a noticeable advantage by going to a dual core, to really see the full benefit of that 8800gt. I had an Opteron 165 overclocked to 2.7ghz, that's dual core and overclocks well. I handed it down to my brother, and he's running it with a 8800gtx and noticed a pretty big difference over an athlon 64 3800+.
 
A dual core Athlon x2 at 2.8GHz will give you approx 4/5 of the stock performance a GT can do.
Clocking the card will not make a difference.
To get more out of the GT, you need a faster dual core+ CPU.
It will still be a lot quicker than your X800, try it and see, theres nothing to lose.
It might be good enough for your needs.
 
cesium666 said:
As per my signature, I have a single-core 3700+.
I recently won a 8800gt in a contest, but won't be able to try it out for 2 weeks or so.

I pretty much plan on playing most newish games (cod4, bioshock, wic, assassins creed, maybe crysis, etc) at like 1280x1024 and maybe 1600x1200 for some games.

Do you think the 3700+ will bottleneck the GPU at all?
If it does, I might as well spring for a cheap 939 x2 in the next week or two. and no, im not going to upgrade my platform so that's out of the question.
Click to expand...

I am in the same boat as you. (I have a similar set up though I am at 2.2) Good luck trying to find one for a reasonable price. They are rare now and the used 939 X2 go for around 80 to 140 dollars on ebay. I have seen the new ones list form ~$75 for the 64 X2 3600+ 512MB to $250 for the 4200+. They are not on stock in normal stores now. They still have op X2 but they are going to run a lot more. I have pretty much given up on this route as it will be cheaper to replace the mother board with an AM2 motherboard and processor of the same speed then just get the CPU for 939. On the other hand if you find somewhere to get these let me know please.

http://search.express.ebay.com/__CPUs_Athlon-X2-939_W0QQ_nkwZAthlonQ20X2Q20Q20939QQ_fxdZ1

and it will be a bottle neck for us.
 
OK great thanks for hte information guys. I'll probably wait and see what type of performance I get.

@Valset: The opteron 165 came on sale a few weeks ago for $99. also, i randomly see 939 x2 3800+ and the sort in the fs/ft forum here and on anandtech for 50-60, which is probably what id go for.

EDIT: @thebluepill: wow, that's a pretty big jump in performance. i would like to upgrade to a c2d platform, but i dont have a lot of money :(
 
Intel Dual Cores, motherboards and DDR2 RAM are so cheap nowadays.


I bet you could get a decent Dual Core Pentium OC'd to 3 GHz, mobo and 2 gigs of ram for under 200.

Why someone would want to spend 125 on a Opteron or X2 just to prolong the life of their platform? It just doesn't make any sense to me.


I'd sell whatever 939 or AM2 set-up I have on ebay....make 50, 75 or 100 bucks...then upgrade.

To me that makes a lot more sense than trying to upgrade my CPU.
 
Here is an upgrade that is $197 After Rebate;


OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2G8002GK - Retail
Item #: N82E16820227124
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$45.99

GIGABYTE GA-945GCM-S2C LGA 775 Intel 945GC Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813128076
$50.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.2GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E4500 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115031
$119.99

Subtotal: $216.97 -$20MIR - $196.97


EDIT:
$30 More gets you the 2.6ghz Version: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115045
$70 More gets you a 2.4ghz QUAD CORE Q6600: http://shop4.outpost.com/ShopCartServlet?purchase=5101696
 
I don't want to upgrade because I don't have 200 dollars ;)
As I said, I have seen x2's for 50-60. If I can't find any that cheap, then I'll stick with what I have lol.

I don't game much anyways or even use my desktop for that matter (I use my laptop for 95% of the things I do) but figured if a cheap upgrade can keep my rig decent for another year or two then might as well
 
cesium666 said:
OK great thanks for hte information guys. I'll probably wait and see what type of performance I get.

@Valset: The opteron 165 came on sale a few weeks ago for $99. also, i randomly see 939 x2 3800+ and the sort in the fs/ft forum here and on anandtech for 50-60, which is probably what id go for.

EDIT: @thebluepill: wow, that's a pretty big jump in performance. i would like to upgrade to a c2d platform, but i dont have a lot of money :(
Click to expand...

For 50 bucks I would go that route and will look were you suggested. At 99 bucks the situation changes. The same 99 bucks (100 really in both cases) will buy you a new motherboard and dual core cpu. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3559714&CatId=2621

Why should we spend the same money on a CPU when we could upgrade to PCIe-2 and the dual at the same time? And keep my memory. For me it would be worth the 50 bucks just so I could pass my system down to someone when I am done with it but not as an upgrade for anything other then short term. And for $165 I can get a 2.8ghz CPU same config. The next step up (with amd) would be using a phenom for 234. (I would go intel at that point.)

That is just my take on it though, it might not be worth having to reinstall everything for some people. That is the only reason I can use to explain what people are paying for those 939

I am going to browse your suggested places, thanks for info.
 
cesium666 said:
I don't want to upgrade because I don't have 200 dollars ;)
As I said, I have seen x2's for 50-60. If I can't find any that cheap, then I'll stick with what I have lol.

I don't game much anyways or even use my desktop for that matter (I use my laptop for 95% of the things I do) but figured if a cheap upgrade can keep my rig decent for another year or two then might as well
Click to expand...

honestly if you don't have a lot of money just bite the bullet and deal with it until you have enough for a c2d/mobo/mem upgrade. it's really not worth it to put any more money into your current rig
 
cesium666 said:
I don't want to upgrade because I don't have 200 dollars ;)
As I said, I have seen x2's for 50-60. If I can't find any that cheap, then I'll stick with what I have lol.

I don't game much anyways or even use my desktop for that matter (I use my laptop for 95% of the things I do) but figured if a cheap upgrade can keep my rig decent for another year or two then might as well
Click to expand...

regardless you can't go wrong with a free 8800gt. it can only help. if you can get a dual core for 50 I would do it (and will if I find one)
 
I saw an x2 3800+ in the fs/ft forum while i was browsing earlier for 40 bucks. too bad it was already sold :p but it shows that you can get a cheap x2. i agree tho, anything more than 50 or 60 and its useless.

when i upgrade next im going to upgrade big, so id rather just keep this rig alive for another year or two. upgrading to a dual will make it powerful enough to make photoshop and video editing significantly faster, while allowing me to play the occasional game.

im locking this thread now because its gone from a simple question about bottlenecking to an upgrade frenzy lol


thank you everyone for your help tho
 
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