CPU limited?

[coolkev99]

All, I have an AMD Opteron 185 (≈ Athlon X2 4800+) paired with a 8800 GTS 512mb (the first generation of this card).

While it may not be cost effective, at what point would upgrading the video card yield little to no returns? ... Nvidia GTX 260? ...already there??? 😉

Oh, and I'm running on 22" 1680x1050.

Thanks for thoughts on this.

 

[coolkev99]

Good question, I haven't benched that, but its noticeble although not huge. Basically it's not really an amazing difference, but helps in a few games. I tend not to run on MAX details anyway.

Some games like Supreme Commander it doesn't matter how low I set things.. it still chugs when a lot of things are going on.

 

[efeat]

Try doing some benchmarks of your favorite games with your normal gameplay settings, and then run the benchmarks again with the lowest possible graphic detail, but keep CPU sensitive options (such as physics) untouched. The framerate you get with these lowered settings will be the highest framerate you can achieve with your CPU, no matter what graphics card you get. You'll likely end up somewhere in the following 3 results:

1) You see little/no gain and you are happy with the image quality you normally use. There's little value in upgrading.
2) You see little/no gain but you would like more eye candy in your games than you normally use. It might be worth it to upgrade, depending on how much you want increased image quality.
3) You see a big increase. Upgrading would be a decent idea.

With your CPU, I'm expecting you to fall somewhere between scenarios 1 and 2, depending on what games you play and what graphic settings you like.

Edit: 4) You're unhappy with your performance on the lowest settings and decide for a CPU upgrade. I can't believe I forgot that scenario >.>

 

[invisik]

I smell a cpu upgrade!