Bottlenecking a 7900gt

[TCfromBN]

I'm currently running a gateway media center edition PC. Its got a dual core AMD 3800+ @ 2GHz and a Foxiconn motherboard (see here) with 1.5 gigs of kingston ram. Would these be a problem or bottlenecking point for a 7900gt? I'm thinking about upgrading from my 6600gt.

 

[hneaz]

no its not. it runs very perfectly. if i were u, i overclock the gpu.

 

[giant384]

bottleneck wouldnt be noticable even if there was one.

 

[Fliko]

if i were u, i overclock the gpu.

Overclocking GPUs don't show enough increase in power for the amount of heat it generates

 

[DEATHMASTER]

It's gonna be a while before something noticably bottlenecks the 3800+ X2, if ever.

 

[The Brick]

Why bother a 7900GT when there are loads of cheaper and faster cards around? Like the x1950pro, x1950xt, and best of all, the 7900GTO.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Got a point, especially for the price-performance compared to the 7900gt, the gto is pwnage.

 

[TCfromBN]

Why bother a 7900GT when there are loads of cheaper and faster cards around? Like the x1950pro, x1950xt, and best of all, the 7900GTO.

Well see... thats why I thought I'd post here in the hardware section, for the advice.

Edit: Well, I decided to go all out...

Motherboard

x1950xt.

PS: Do you think a 300w PSU is going to hold up? Any other suggestions?

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Probably not, this is a bit pricey but it'll do wonders + it's future proof
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817371002

Edit: If considering the rebates on both, this one is only 5 bucks more but 150w more!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817371001

 

[TCfromBN]

Ah yes. I'll have a look into both of thoes before I buy. Thanks.

 

[TCfromBN]

Sorry about the revive, but...

I was looking at a second computer I have that the video card will fit just fine in. It had a P4 @ 3.2 GHz with 800mHz FSB, single core.

I'm going to go ahead and assume that it would bottleneck a x1950xt. Please correct me if I'm wrong. If this option does turn out to work, the only thing I'll have to buy is a new power supply, instead of basicly a new computer.

 

[hneaz]

you could run it, but to balance it out, its better get a new cpu, most prefably core 2 duos

 

[hungryduck]

you could run it, but to balance it out, its better get a new cpu, most prefably core 2 duos

he already has a new cpu....he just wants to upgrade his video card, and it sounds like he already did.

have fun with that x1950

 

[TCfromBN]

No, I dont have a new CPU. I didn't get the card yet either. I decided to wait for the ATI dx 10 cards to roll out and see how it runs with my old P4. If it doesn't run well, I'll go get a new motherboard for my 3800+ x2. BTW, whats a good board to overclock an AMD with?

 

[The Brick]

Why get AMD? Intel has the best dual core chips. The core 2 duo cpus offer the best performance for the price (especially the cheapest ones) and they overclock over 100% combined with the right motherboard and ram.

 

[3ssence]

Because he ALREADY HAS ONE !!!! Why would he ditch a perfectly good chip in order to fall in line with the core2duo brigade !!! lol

 

[TCfromBN]

Yeah, I have 2 setups already. A P4 and an AMD 3800+ x2. My only problem is that a dual slot card wont fit in the AMD setup, so I'm going to see how the card runs on the P4 setup first. If its sluggish, I'm going to go buy a new motherboard for the AMD setup so that I can use it. I'm not going to be buying a new processor, specialy a Core 2 Duo. Too expensive, and aren't AMDs better for games anyways?

 

[3ssence]

Well, they were until the release of the Core 2 Duo's, but a decently clocked amd64 is still great for gaming, so don't worry !

Keeps my X1800XT running along well over a hundred fps at 1600 x 1200 4 x aa 8 x af in CSS, and that's perfectly good enough in my opinion.

If someone is in the market for a new processor then yes, Core 2 Duo is the way to go, however the amd's will do just fine for while to come.

 

[TCfromBN]

How about with the 8800gtx and such? Are the AMDs holding up with thoes? What I've decided to do is wait for the ATI dx10 card and I'm probably going to just get the new motherboard for my 3800+ x2 and stick the ATI card on there. I'm wondering if there anybody has any idea how it would hold up with dx10.

 

[hneaz]

8800 gtx = big waste of money.

i say wait till more mainstream video cards come out with better stuff.

 

[3ssence]

Nobody knows how the new cards will actually perform in DX10 yet, hence there being very good reason to wait until vista is out etc to start buying into DX10 technology. Your cpu should cope fine with the new generation of videocards, especially if you overclock it a little. The fact of the matter is that once you reach higher resolutions and settings the cpu becomes less and less of a limiting factor as far as framerates are concerned.

 

[TCfromBN]

Gotcha.