X1900 Xt/xtx???

[Timaphillips]

I've been reading that if you don't have a cpu above 3.6 P4 comparison then you shouldn't bother getting the XTX? I use a D 820 (2.8) and am going to upgrade slowly. The 1st thing I'm gonna get is the graphics card. It is still in the air, a little bit, between the 1900 xtx/xt or the 7900. But I think I've at least settled on the 1900 by HIS. I know all about the XTX slowing down to meet the XT crossfire speeds, but I'm not planning on building a crossfire rig....unless someone shows me it really is worth it. That's a lot of $$$ tied up in the GPU's alone.

 

[gaara]

http://techist.com/showthread.php?postid=747926&highlight=cpu+gpu+bottleneck#post747926

 

[Timaphillips]

Wow, thanks. That was completely opposite of what I've read thus far (and it's been alot). Just to clarify, it's the FSB speed that is most responsible? I'm trying to wrap my head around an FX-60 not being all that much better than my 2.8 when talking about frame rates and quality...I'm assuming I'm missing a big point, so appologies ahead of time with me. Solid explanation in that other thread though.

 

[Timaphillips]

Nevermind, the proof is in the pudding so to speak. Here's an article from xbitlabs.com that tested a ton of the new CPU's with a 7800 card. It looks like you really don't lose frame rates (with about a 5 fps buffer) until you get into the lower priced CPU's.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/cpu-games2_5.html

I know you already know all about this stuff, but it's a good read none-the-less. F.E.A.R especially stands out as showing how CPU means NOTHING in FPS.