CPU Bottle Neck With New Shiny Cards.

[Stewart]

A lot of people have been saying that unless you have a P4EE, Athlon64 3200+ \ 3400+ or an FX-51 \ 53, then its not worth getting an X800XT or 6800Ultra, as the bottleneck will result in pretty much the same performance as current high-end cards, like the 9800XT and 5950Ultra.

So, are we all buying new CPU's when our new graphics cards arrive? Personally, I'll be buying a 939 socket Athlon64 around the end of June, when I get my X800XT, assuming both are out by then, of course.

Just wondering if anyone has a X800pro on a 'low end' CPU, like maybe a 2700+ Athlon, and has any comments on the performance gains?

Anyone planning on keeping their current CPU that isn't one of the one's mentioned, and getting a next-gen card?

What do we reckon?

[Kezzer]

I think there will be a good performance difference although it's limited just think, there are many other factors as well surely? The DDR3 and all that stuff. It's sure to make performance a lot better.

[Stewart]

As I understand it, you should be able to crank up the res, and AA, AF and in-game effects, and keep the same performance, but gaining performance at the same res, effect etc, will be hard to do, if your CPU isn't up to scratch.

Must be someone with a X800pro and a non-PentiumEE, non-Athlon64 \ FX CPU out there... give us some results.

[Rod911]

What about these specs (do you think they're low end?):
P4 2.8e @ 220FSB (3.08Ghz)
1GB Geil Dual Channel DDR (2.5/3/3/8)
Asus P4C800 Deluxe
Hitachi 160GB SATA HD
GeCube Radeon x800 256MB
Fresh Windows XP SP1a install. Latest Intel INF & Catalyst 4.5 Drivers (Used supplied drivers for X800)

The benchmarks can be found here. Just 3DMark01 and '03 tests though.

[BlackSheep]

By looking at a lot of benchmarks, you will probably notice that the bottleneck at higher resolutions is almost always the graphics card which means essentially that even on a lower spec pc you are going to get gains at higher resolutions (where the graphics card hurts the most).

It might not make a very modern game smooth on a low spec pc, but what it will do is allow you to crank up the res and the FSAA/AF + effects and not see any hit.

With games like UT2004 where the subsystem seems to be the biggest driving factor in performance you are better off upgrading the cpu, but then it all depends on what graphics you are running now as to how much of an improvement you will see. With Far Cry I'd imagine you'd see a massive improvement all round as the game is packed with graphics-intensive effects.

[Kezzer]

Rod you can't view that site you need to be a member.

I want to see more benchies dammit! >_<

[Rave]

I'm pretty sure the CPU will only be the bottleneck if you're running low resolutions and no AA/AF- which would be a criminal waste of an X800/6800.

Rich :¬)

[Spud1]

i'm plannin to wait out on these new cards, my 9800pro serves me well at the moment, no real reason to upgrade yet, my CPU will be the next thing to be upgraded i think as i want to be able to get full performance from the new cards. Plus the PCI-Xpress versions will be out soon - might be worth waiting for these as if you get a new mobo that has PCIXpress u mite aswell get a new CPU =)

[Stewart]

Yeah, but waiting is hard. Come the end of June, I'll be sitting here with a load of cash, and my eye on a Athlon64 939 socket and an X800XT. Waiting any longer without my new toys will be a killer.

[IBM]

Back in January, I had all my cash ready to buy my uber-system, and 90% of the people in here said wait for 939 and the next-gen GFX cards. Well, four months and far too many glorious hours playing Far Cry, UT2004, Call Of Duty and Halo I can truly say I'm glad I didn't wait....and I've still got enough of a CPU (and system) to run both the Nvidia and ATI cards....good enough for me

[paradidle]

Im gonna wait, probably a top of the range pc at xmas. defo a x800xt ...who knows I may be blessed with a hefty student loan and a get a vapochill....

[StarkMjolk]

paradidle - doubt I will hear you say the same thing around xmas... both ATI and nvidia keeps a 6 month product cycle, both X800 and 6800 will have gotten their succeedors by then. The Vapo is a great idea though...

[paradidle]

paradidle - doubt I will hear you say the same thing around xmas... both ATI and nvidia keeps a 6 month product cycle, both X800 and 6800 will have gotten their succeedors by then. The Vapo is a great idea though...

heh, well the xt scores look very nice...im gonna wait tho till it calms down a bit. but the vapo very much appeals to me, was talking to my parents about it, they couldnt understand a word I was saying!

[StarkMjolk]

Indeed the XTs scores look nice... so does all the 6800s. But the question is: If you look at one in 6 months, will the score still look nice? I'm not convinced The evolution goes extremely fast now...

As for Vapo, I must still say it is the best single computer investment I've ever done I say go for it, you won't ever have to regret it.

[chrisf6969]

Looking at all of the reviews. Even on some highend machines you could see all the cards performing the same with out AA/AF (system bottleneck), then you could turn on 4xAA/8xAF and still have almost the same exact fps!!!

So even if your system is bottlenecking your total performance, you could turn up all the eye-candy, AA/AF with probably only a small hit since most of that is all done on the videocard.

[myth]

What about these specs (do you think they're low end?):
P4 2.8e @ 220FSB (3.08Ghz)
1GB Geil Dual Channel DDR (2.5/3/3/8)
Asus P4C800 Deluxe
Hitachi 160GB SATA HD
GeCube Radeon x800 256MB
Fresh Windows XP SP1a install. Latest Intel INF & Catalyst 4.5 Drivers (Used supplied drivers for X800)

The benchmarks can be found here. Just 3DMark01 and '03 tests though.

Actualy YES! I find the system lacking in a few areas, such as storage, Mem timings and that dam P4 E version Proc