7800GT + Processor

[thebrettman]

Just a couple of quick questions for you guys.

I have it in my mind to upgrade my graphics capabilities with a 7800GT PCI Express graphics card. Will probably go with Leadtek or BFG in terms of make. However what particularly interests me is this- what processor should I use with it? Would an Athlon 64 venice 3000+ do it justice or would I be better advised with the 3700+. If the 3000+ would do the job and would not limit the graphics card then I would be happy to save the money instead of buying a more expensive processor. All I want to do is play games. So any thoughts on what the best combination of graphics card and CPU would be?

Secondly- I am currently running a geforce 4 4600 machine with AMD Athlon 2400+ processor. Is there any point in just upgrading to a 6600gt (agp) or a 6800gt?

thanks

 

[003]

Get a 4400+ X2.

 

[thebrettman]

I am willing to spend the money on the 4400+ if thats what required to get the best out of the graphics card. But is it really worth me spending the extra money on a 4400? I am looking for value for money more than anything else. I don't want to be caught out spending like £100 more on a 4400+ processor for only a small performance difference you see.

 

[PZEROFGH]

the 3700+ is nice, you will see only about a 10fps difference between the two processors but i would go with the X2 if you can but the 3700+ san diego is a very good core

 

[thebrettman]

I appreciate the advice. Thank you all

Also would a 3200+ not do an adequate job?

You will realise that on one hand I want to get value for money where the 7800gt card is concerned. I don't want to severly restrict its preformance with an inadequate processor. On the other hand I don't want to break the bank for minimal performance increases overall.

Cheers

 

[kmote]

if you want value for money but think you want the dual core then get the 3800, you will pay an extra £65 to get an extra 0.2 extra GHz.

0.2 GHz =10% more performance
£65= >20% of the cost, so the 4200 is clearly not good value.

the 4400 is another £70 over the 4200 but for that you get twice the cashe. for me it was either the 3800 or the 4400 but i am going to go for the 3800 i think.

for gaming though the single core 3700 should be good, is quicker in terms of GHz than the X2 3800 and is cheaper.

 

[sk84blind84]

hey man, ive been thinking about running the same setup and ive been informed that i should go with either the 4000+ or the 4800+...right now the games do not support dual core processors, so if you get a 3800 its the same as running a 3200 slingle core...(or something around that)...its kinda a waste of money right now because nothing will take advantage of it...this is just what i have been told and i hope it helps you out some...ive decided to go with the 4000+ till the 4800 64x2 drops in price...like a year or so....

 

[PZEROFGH]

i would say dont go dual core yet, go with dual core once the new M2 sockets come out so you can have DDR2 memory

a 3200+ will do the job but i would go with a 3700+

 

[kmote]

unless you want to run multiple heavy applications then there is no point in the X2 right now, instead get it when there are more games that use the second core. idk i am great at ignoring my own good advice but this time i think that i will get the 4000 (single core) but am not sure yet.

 

[gaara]

To literally get the absolute most out of any graphics card the best choice right now would be the FX-57...the 4800+ will perform roughly the same as an FX-53/4000+ as only one of the two cores are in use

To clarify though a current generation processor won't really bottleneck a current generation GPU...obviously if you have faster core it will perform slightly better than slower ones but I'm talking like 5-10FPS difference which really isn't a justification for spending $800 more on an FX-57 versus a 3000+

I would recommend an Opteron 144 if you intend to buy the 3000+, and an Opteron 165 if you intend on buying a 3800+ Manchester...the Opteron 144 will perform roughly the same as the 3000+ but also has larger L2 cache and a higher probability of overclocking further...the 165 is about the same as the 3800+ but will also yield higher overclocking results and gives you the larger L2 cache without having to splurge on a much more expensive 4400+ Toledo