Question about bottlenecking.

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Fynath

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Oct 29, 2005
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Alright, my Radeon 9700 is dying on me, I believe (it's either stuttering really badly, or it's artifacting constantly... it started stuttering yesterday, then after rebooting a few times and leaving it alone, it started artifacting, and now it's stuttering again today.), so I need a new card. My question is, at what point would buying a better card be moot to me, due to bottlenecking? I have an Athlon XP 2200+ (I know, it's old.) and I don't really have the money to buy a new mobo/cpu and a new video card, so this is my only option right now. I also have a gig of ram, and plan to be playing BF2, CS:S, and such. Thanks.
 
I know a lot of Athlon XP people use 6800nu's with their rigs so you might want to check that out.
 
yeah, 6600gt or 6800nu are great paired with older processors. cheap too
 
yup; any model 6600gt as well as 6800nu are good choices; just depends on what you're willing to pay
 
Fawkes said:
Is it just me...

Or do alotta Radeon 9 series cards seem to die :S
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They are hot running cards, and the 9700/9800 series of cards has had one of the longest functional lifespans for a 3d card that I can think of.. You can still play the newest games with them if you turn some eye candy off.. Hence people have keep them longer and the probability of failure due to heat, bad power, over oc, etc just goes up the longer they are used..

OP I'm with the others a 6600gt or 6800nu is prolly your best bet.. Whatever you can pick up cheapest..
 
I'm running XP3200+ with my 6800GT. Good combination.

I'm really close to breaking 6k in 3DMark05 with overclocking.

I run all the latest games: FEAR, BF2, Quake 4 (and all Doom 3 powered games).

CoD2 is a bit of a pig on my system, as is CoD2. I had to turn down some settings.

My advice: Don't skimp too much on the graphics card, you will be sorry.
 
Why don't you get a 6800GS? $200 and once it's overclocked it'll be near 6800GT performance. and no unlocking worries.
 
remember guys that he's running a 2200; that isn't going to show the potential of a 6800gs or above, and it's just going to end up costing a little more.

if he upgraded his cpu as well, then yeah, the gs or gt would be great solutions.
 
6600gt has been a great card for me.
Not the fastest thing out there, but BF2 runs just fine.

Red
 
Russ said:
Why don't you get a 6800GS? $200 and once it's overclocked it'll be near 6800GT performance. and no unlocking worries.
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The 6800GS is PCIE only isn't it?

If he has an Athlon XP you can be sure he's got AGP.
 
NumbLock said:
I'm running XP3200+ with my 6800GT. Good combination.

I'm really close to breaking 6k in 3DMark05 with overclocking.

I run all the latest games: FEAR, BF2, Quake 4 (and all Doom 3 powered games).

CoD2 is a bit of a pig on my system, as is CoD2. I had to turn down some settings.

My advice: Don't skimp too much on the graphics card, you will be sorry.
Click to expand...

Did you overlock the card or the CPU? I thought the Barton was pretty much at its limit at 2.2-2.3ghz. With my 6800GT at 416/1100 I'm only hitting 5519 in 3Dmark05. What are you doing to get such a great score?
 
the gs is coming out in agp format soon enough; but i stand by my point that if he buys that card, his cpu will be holding it back. 6600gt or 6800nu are the ways to go.
 
quadnad said:
the gs is coming out in agp format soon enough; but i stand by my point that if he buys that card, his cpu will be holding it back. 6600gt or 6800nu are the ways to go.
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GS = GT performance wise
 
i will say it again, get the best card you can afford, bottlenecking or no, its always best to get the best card you are comfotably willing to pay for. I'd say wait a few weeks and see if the agp 6800GS actually shows up, if it does, it'll be worth the wait, cuz it costs the same as some of the nicer 6800nu, and performs equal to a 6800gt stock. i won't comment too much on the overclocking cuz its possible the agp iteration could use a different core with different potential, but for the record, the PCIE version is known to be a consistently great overclocker. in short, it'll be worth the wait to get over a 6600gt or 6800nu, if it actually sees a release.
 
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