E5200 driving a 4870?

[ubersoph]

Hey guys, just trying to get some input on what kind of overclock I would need to make my system not CPU limited if I got a Radeon 4870.

Thanks guys!

 

[Nenu]

Check reviews.
You will want 3GHz+ and should be able to eke more from the 4870 depending on the game, up to around 3.5GHz.
The higher you clock the gfx card, the more CPU you will need to get the best from it.

 

[ubersoph]

Ha, I guess I never came across that kind of info when checking out cards. I tended to look at hierarchy charts as opposed to single reviews.

Thanks man.

 

[Casper312]

3.6Ghz on a E5200 will be enough for anything (Maybe Quad Sli), Which even for the baddest overclocking steppings is doable under the tech safe 24/7 Voltage.

 

[dennisjai]

Depends on the resolution, I saw reviews of the E5200 @ 3.6ghz losing to a E8X00 @ 2.66ghz in gaming..

 

[Nenu]

As you can see from this review, the 4870 keeps scaling upwards with more CPU in many games.
Check out the E8400 and E8600 scores, the E8600 is 11% faster (3GHz to 3.33GHz) so the max you should be able to see is very approximately 11% higher gfx performance and it does indeed get that in some benchies which are CPU limited.
(and you wouldnt think some of those would be CPU limited!)
http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/16382/4

Sadly the review doesnt show results for overclocked C2D chips but you can be sure if there is 11% fps difference between the E8400 and E8600 results, an even higher CPU clock will liberate more from the gfx card.

 

[brucedeluxe169]

i run my E5200 at 3ghz (my max stable OC w/o really pumping up the voltage), and my HD4850 ran much faster when i was running my E5200 at 3.5ghz.... much much faster.... i'd say approximately 10-15% faster

*will probably be making a WTB E8400 post one of these days..

 

[ubersoph]

bruce - did you have the same problem of a motherboard without multiplier adjustments?

 

[brucedeluxe169]

my motherboard adjusts multiplier no problem... its just that this particular combination of this particular MB (Gigabyte EP-45 DS3L) and CPU is just a dud....

when i swap my MB with a friend's, I can clock up to 3.6 without the ludicrous voltages my motherboard needs.... i have no idea why... and it makes no sense at all to me.....

 

[Varmint]

As you can see from this review, the 4870 keeps scaling upwards with more CPU in many games.
Check out the E8400 and E8600 scores, the E8600 is 11% faster (3GHz to 3.33GHz) so the max you should be able to see is very approximately 11% higher gfx performance and it does indeed get that in some benchies which are CPU limited.
(and you wouldnt think some of those would be CPU limited!)
http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/16382/4

Raise your hand if you game at 1024 x 768.

 

[Nenu]

Raise your hand if you game at 1024 x 768.

I know, I just spotted that, doh!
op pls ignore that review.

 

[tonyluu]

Depends on the resolution, I saw reviews of the E5200 @ 3.6ghz losing to a E8X00 @ 2.66ghz in gaming..

This is because of the increase in L2 Cache of the E8x00 series processor & changes in architecture.

3.6Ghz on a E5200 will be enough for anything (Maybe Quad Sli)

That is a lie
i7 is the only series of processors that will not bottleneck a multi-gpu solution
4 GPUs atm are being bottlenecked more from the drivers than any hardware solution.

 

[Jakalwarrior]

Hey guys, just trying to get some input on what kind of overclock I would need to make my system not CPU limited if I got a Radeon 4870.

Thanks guys!

You already have a 4850, do some testing. Yes there is a difference but they are close enough you can get an estimate, especially if you overclock it. Download FRAPs. Run some timedemos at different speeds.

Back to square one though, why a 4870? Better to wait a bit for something new if you already have a 4850.

 

[Varmint]

This is because of the increase in L2 Cache of the E8x00 series processor & changes in architecture.

Is the architecture any different, since they're both 45 nm process?

I think cache might affect minimum framerates too.

 

[ubersoph]

Jakal:

Ahh, just trading a friend my 4850 + 15 bucks for his 4870. Couldn't turn the deal down .

Oh my mistake, 15 bucks + Horchata

 

[ordovician]

Is the architecture any different, since they're both 45 nm process?

I think cache might affect minimum framerates too.

The E5200 is just a 2mb cache Wolfdale with a lower FSB. It's the same as the E8x00 series otherwise.

 

[dennisjai]

Depends on the resolution, I saw reviews of the E5200 @ 3.6ghz losing to a E8X00 @ 2.66ghz in gaming..

This is because of the increase in L2 Cache of the E8x00 series processor & changes in architecture.

Which is why I pointed out that review I saw, the L2 makes a huge difference to the point that a 1GHz overclock over a 6MB L2 still loses. Also the E5200 and the E8X00 = same architecture, just cache differences and maybe a missing a couple of features.

 

[Casper312]

This is because of the increase in L2 Cache of the E8x00 series processor & changes in architecture.



That is a lie
i7 is the only series of processors that will not bottleneck a multi-gpu solution
4 GPUs atm are being bottlenecked more from the drivers than any hardware solution.

I dont know man, I can get you a decent amount of people from xs that have done some good overclocking on Dual GTX 295 that said that i7 at stock & 3.0 seemed to bottleneck their clocks a bit.

As for your architecture comment, Like others said, The E5X00 series chips are the same as any other wolfy other than the cache difference.

I myself have tested a E5200 and E8400 at the same FSB/Core speed and E8400 of course won by a few frames, but nothing that big like denis said from his review that he saw.