CPU bottlenecking at which GPU range (p4 2.66)

[ashrym]

I have a P4 2.66 ghz/Asus P4C800 Deluxe Mobo. Which range of graphics cards will I start to see my CPU bottleneck at? I was thinking about going with and AGP X800GTO/GTO 2.

 

[CompGeek]

Probably around the 6800GT/GS or X800 XT.
I have a P4 2.4ghz HT Northwood and tried a 9800. It didn't bottleneck my CPU at all. But it depends on the game you're playing. Some are very GPU intensive.
Thus i advise you to go with the 6800GS.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

I have a P4 2.66 ghz/Asus P4C800 Deluxe Mobo. Which range of graphics cards will I start to see my CPU bottleneck at? I was thinking about going with and AGP X800GTO/GTO 2.

Depends on the game, but usually when somewhat bottlenecked a better card will give you access to no penalty 2-4XAA, and in future games your bottleneck will likely dissapear as your VPU load increases.

Get the best card you can get for the best price, and then it will give you option lesser cards wouldn't, and also you can likely resell it for more.

The ones you chosen have great price/performance range so they would be solid choices too.

 

[MrCommunistGen]

My $0.02
I had an AthlonXP 2400+ (266Mhz bus) with a Radeon 9800Pro and 1GB PC2700 and I was definately being CPU limited. A friend of mine had a 9700Pro on an Athlon64 3200+ and he outscored me in Aquamark3, 3DMark2001, and 3DMark03 (by a decent bit). It was only in 3dMark05 where HE became seriously GPU limited that I pulled ahead. I was getting about 2400 and he was barely breaking 2000.
Now: before people start yelling at me. My computer was definately faster with the 9800Pro than with a lesser card. We switched cards and I did worse in all of the benchmarks. This meant that YES the GPU still scaled to the processor, but wasn't necessarily running to its full potential. I'm sure that if I put an x800, 6800, or 7800 class GPU in my old system that it would be even faster, though still held back by the CPU to some degree. Since I don't have any of these cards I couldn't tell you at what point a faster GPU would stop helping.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.
-mcg

 

[Snorkius]

This has become my favorite link in the past few days.

If you (want to) play any new particularly demanding games like FEAR...

Anyway, get the best card you can afford.

 

[Snorkius]

Also, 2 gigs of ram is a good idea.

 

[ashrym]

Yeah, I have 2 gigs of OCZ Enhanced latency Ram. I really want to find a good E-tailer that sells AGP ATI cards. I'm hoping to find an X800 GTO/GTO2 that can be unlocked, or an X850XT.

 

[Mr_Bill]

I also have a 2400+ but with the 9700Pro and see the evidence of CPU bottle neck. I have tested a couple of faster cards with only minor improvement. To make matters worse, I was limited to PC2100 and AGP4x. Any upgrade would have just shifted the bottleneck around slightly.

The "upgrade" ended up being a new (s939 PCI-E) system.

 

[ashrym]

Well, Keep in mind, I have a P4 2.66ghz/Asus P4C800 Deluxe (supports AGP 8x)/2 gigs of Corsair EL 2-3-2-5. I know I got the CPU and Mobo around 2 1/2 years ago. I just don't know how ancient it is, in terms of compatibility with good video cards.

 

[PX7800GT]

CPU Is Not A Big Matter In Games , Also You Can OC Your CPU To 2.8 or 3 With Your OCZ Ram I Think You Are Able To Go Pass 3 GHz, Any Way You May Want To Buy ATI X800XT , It Has Awesome Power ( But If You Get X850XT PE ... Oh , You Can Burn The Games Like Hell :twisted: )
If You Want To Pay For X800GTO , Its Waste Go For 6800GS or 6800GT (if You Find One)
:twisted:

 

[ashrym]

I just don't know of a good E-tailer or retailer that carries good AGP-based ATi X800 series cards.

 

[Mr_Bill]

You're not going to see a CPU bottleneck with AGP. The bottleneck you may see is the AGP-to-PCI-E bridge that is on the newer AGP cards

 

[Snorkius]

You're not going to see a CPU bottleneck with AGP. The bottleneck you may see is the AGP-to-PCI-E bridge that is on the newer AGP cards

What? WHile it's true that there is a limit on the data the bridge can handle, they don't make cards like that!

 

[MrCommunistGen]

This has become my favorite link in the past few days.

If you (want to) play any new particularly demanding games like FEAR...

Anyway, get the best card you can afford.

I'm just curious as to what kind of card is used for this graph. FEAR will GPU limit most non-enthusiast rigs at Max quality

 

[Snorkius]

It's right there in the link, a 7800GT.

And I think future games will become more GPU demanding than CPU demanding. On the one hand you have physics etc., on the other SM3 with HDR and FSAA (something no card today can really handle.)