is Barton too slow?

L

liquorman

Weaksauce
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Aug 18, 2004
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I didn't know if I should put this in Processors or Video Cards but here goes:

I have a Barton 2500+, overclocked to 2200, and I am thinking about upgrading the video card to one of the last generation AGP cards. It currently has a 9800pro, which just doesn't cut it anymore with modern games.

My question is will this processor be to slow to really utilize a new higher end AGP video card? No websites do any benchmarks using a processor this old anymore, they are all using 64-bit dual core systems. I am willing to bet there is a glass ceiling on the performance I can get with this processor and a new videocard. At some point the processor is gong to bottleneck and it would be pointless to buy a higher end card without gaining any performance.

Anyone have an older Barton system with a newer video card that can give me some benchmarks?
 
I would think that you CPU will be the bottle neck for anything better than a 6800 AGP...

you let your system get to old now it looks like its time you need both, CPU and GPU
 
My old gaming rig has an OC'ed 2500 Barton. I was running it @2.1 Ghz. When I finally upgraded from my tried and true 9800pro to a X800XL, my 3D 05' score more than doubled. With the X800XL installed, that rig scored in the 5,000 range ( without any tweaking ). On another system with a stock 2800 Barton and a BFG 6800GSOC, I scored a 4,500 ( 5,100 after using riva tuner to open all the pipes and pixel shaders ).

It really depends on what you mean by "cutting it with modern games". How much eye candy do you need and at what resolution ? I noticed a dramatic in BF2 when I upped to the X800XL, especially when paying online. I don't know about using an X1950pro or a 7800gs on your system, but I think if you went with the higher end X800 ( or X850 ) series, or maybe the higher 6800 series you'd be pleased.

As far as you "needing both cpu and gpu", the top Barton is the 3200. I've benched an OC'ed 2500 to a STOCK 3200. The stock 3200 is actually a tad faster, maybe 3%. IMO, it's not worth the cost. And, I'm not about to suggest you upgrade to PCI express because then you'd need a mobo, cpu AND videocard.

So, it really depends on what you want to achieve vs what you want to spend. I bought the X800XL for $119 and it's gotten me alot more mileage outta my old gamer. It plays all the newer games with enough eye candy and acceptable frame-rates for me. But I definately would've had to take a really close look at the X1950pro AGP, if I hadn't built my socket 939 rig.
 
Check out the Blackmamba rig in my signature

I play co-op F.E.A.R. on my Cyclops rig and the Blackmamba plays it great once you turn down the "eye-candy" - its still mega fun for my guests and its quite playable for me when I let guests try the Cyclops rig (I can still kill them quite effectively :p )

With the 6800 (its 8x AGP) and the barton cpu at almost 2.5Ghz (ram is only at 213Mhz 11-3-3-2 bc I killed it in the Cyclops but its prime stable as longs as i dont change the timings :eek: ) the good old Blackmamba still is able to play most games in a half decent manner and if the game is made before 2005, you should have no problems

But as a previous poster stated - time to get a new computer!!.. Well, at least start saving....lol - I'm no Donald Trump, either

what M/B and cooling do you have? Is the barton in question have an unlocked multiplier? What ram do you have - if you could add some memory bandwidth to the equation, that makes things even better
 
I put a 7800GS OC in my old 2500+ Barton OC'd to 2.1 Ghz, and it plays Oblivion very well with almost all sliders maxed except shadows.
 
find the information on your own from REPUTABLE sites but, all i can really tell you that when i made the jump away from my old 2500+ barton it was night and day. and that was just to a 3800+ 939 A64. now i have a [email protected] and an 8800gts. the difference is retarded between what i have now and my old barton rig with an x800AIW
 
Estrella said:
find the information on your own from REPUTABLE sites but, all i can really tell you that when i made the jump away from my old 2500+ barton it was night and day. and that was just to a 3800+ 939 A64. now i have a [email protected] and an 8800gts. the difference is retarded between what i have now and my old barton rig with an x800AIW
Click to expand...

So.. yer saying this isn't a reputable site ?

Liquorman only asked for an opinion and some benchmarks, which were given. He wanted to know if he could get more out of his CURRENT system, perhaps by upgrading to one of the newer high-end agp cards. He didn't ask how the great a difference there was between HIS system and a current high-end system.

It's pretty much a given that an overclocked, dualcore opteron and an 8800gts would smoke "an old 2500 Barton" and an X800. Just like my old 2500 Barton and a 9800pro smoked my slot-a 900 Athlon and geforce3. You jump several generations in technology, and that's what happens.
 
I used to have Barton 2500 and I had 6800GT and later upgraded it to 7800GS. Here is how I scored on 3DMark2005 with 7800GS 5751 points. Posts are right 2500 barton is a bottle neck...I just upgrated to AMD 64 San Diego 4000(combo 140) and 7900GS(160)...I sold my 7800GS for 220 and my old bartom with board for 40...keep my ddr400 so I upgraded for 40 to an AWESOME system. MAN the difference is amazing...I recomend you to buy new MB ...well 939 because AM2 also needs new DDR2 they are expensive modules....good luck to you
 
Seeing that you can get an AMD64 chip for about $50 on this forum, you should really consider upgrading. The low end ones still support DDR so it'll be a cheap upgrade.
 
Any last generation AGP GPU will greatly increase your gaming performance and your personal enjoyment. Don't listen to the "upgrade the whole system" folks, they're rich ;)
 
I wrote a short review back in late January 2006 comparing the performance between an Radeon X850 XT AGP and GeForce 7800 GS AGP on an overclocked Mobile Athlon XP 2600+ @ ~2.5 GHz (Barton) system. You can check out the review here:

http://ckturbo128.proboards4.com/index.cgi?board=computerhardware&action=display&thread=1138544120

Upgrading from a 9800 Pro to a card like the X850 XT or 7800 GS will definitely yield a noticeable performance jump, even on an older Athlon XP Barton-based PC. It's just that when doing the same upgrade on an A64 AGP system, you will notice a higher performance jump than on an AXP-based system, depending on the game and the graphic settings/resolutions you use.
 
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