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DFI LP SLI-Expert
150GB Raptor X
2x 1GB xms Expert ddr400
OPteron170 OC to 2.5ghz
EVGA 7900GT OC to 585/1790
Antec Neo HE 550watt
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My question is will my Opteron become a bottleneck if I was to purchase a 8800gts 640 mb version GFX card?
Ive been reading lots of articles on the 8800 series needing a really beeefy cpu, is this tru3?

no it would not be a bottleneck.

actually bluntside, i have seen you around here before, why ask this question, why not just look at some reviews?

what res do you play at anyway and what games.

No.

Any modern CPU, preferably a dual core is fine.

People who say you need a X6800 are morons. It won't provide a worthy improvements over a mid-range CPU.

1600x1200

I enjoy playing games under max graphical settings and the most rez that my lcd will handle

Your opty will be fine for everything except maybe some of the next gen games that really need dual core.

Supreme Conmmander is the first of 'em. It remains to be seen if Crysis will be one, too...

No.

Any modern CPU, preferably a dual core is fine. People who say you need a X6800 are morons. It won't provide a worthy improvements over a mid-range CPU.


This is about the 3rd or 4th time I have seen you posting this misleading info in regards to cpu's and the G80. Unless you have had any personal experience with a G80 or own one you really should not make assumptions that just any dual core cpu will do.


You cannot just assume that any modern dual core is fine with a G80. There are plenty of modern dual core CPU's from both intel and amd that will bottleneck the living sh1t out of a 8800GTS or GTX unless you do some good overclocking.


I have personally tested a GTX with a E6400 and a Opty 175 running at different speeds.


Testing with the Opty 175 showed there were big gains with the 8800GTX all the way to 3.2ghz before things started to level off. And this was at 1680X1050 mind you so the CPU bottleneck would be even worse at 1280X1024.


The E6400 did not have to be pushed quite as far as the Opty (2.6-2.9ghz with the E6400 was ideal for the GTX) but there was certainly a big bottleneck at the E6400's stock speed.

Bottom line is that pretty much any affordable modern day dual core CPU on the market right now will bottleneck a G80 unless you do some hefty over clocking.

I'll disagree on that. I've been using an 8800 GTX with my e4300, at stock 1.8 GHz speeds even... the system works great. I doubt there's a single game the 8800 GTX/e4300 combo couldn't beat compared to, say, an e6600/X1950 XTX combo at a decent resolution... say 1600x1200.

Sure, there'd be gains from a faster CPU. There will ALWAYS be gains from a faster CPU. But you'd see more of a scaling drop from a slower card.

The lion's share of gaming performance is still in the video card.

rob, i cannot believe you are one of these noobs who has no idea what bottlenecking is.

bottlenecking refers to something preventing the other components from giving adequate performance. it is not something not letting another component reach its full potential.

it is all about real world scenario's. if a cpu causes stuttering or slow FPS then yes it will be bottlenecking the GPU but if all you are referring to is max fps then it really aint the point.

too many people like you scare others into thinking their game will not be playable unless you have a high end CPU.

the Opteron's have played games well for ages and a new GPU does not change its performance.

also, where exactly do you get your evidence that resolution affect bottlenecking? in tests, res is lowered to show up the max FPS a cpu can send to the gfx card, it does not change. the only reason the lower res is selected is to alleviate any stress on the GPU.

i know you like your 8800's but do not blind yourself because of it. prozac knows what he is talking about, do not forget that.

I know exactly what bottlenecking is. Pair up a stock E6300 or a stock Opty 170 with a 8800GTX and both cpu's will bottleneck the shit out of a 8800GTX.

I cannot believe you are one of the noobs who doesnt realize this

ROTFLMAO Just because say for example a E6300 at stock speeds combined with a 8800GTX performs adequately enough for most games does not mean that there is still not a big bottleneck being created from the CPU

Come on guys, you should know better than to make such idiotic claims and strangestranger your the last person I ever expected to bend over and kiss a senior members ass just to appease him

No sh1t, and thats the way I tested. Not with 3dmarks or any of that but with actual games.

Actually I am referring to both min and max fps and once again you are wrong. Like I said earlier a E6300 at stock speeds might be adequat enough for most but it still doesn't rule out a bottleneck.

And to many people like you cause people to go out and pair up a high end GPU like the G80 with a stock amd 3000+ or something of that nature and then they wonder why they are not getting the performance they should get.

And you need to open your eyes and read, I never ever once said that people need a high end CPU, an E6300 or a E6400 is anything but high end What I did say however was that they need to overclock to a good level if they expect to fully exploit the power of the G80.

Yes it certainly does unless you do some overclocking. The G80's are extremely fast GPU's and there are tons of Benchmarks out there that back up my claims that overclocking will bring big gains.

Please I am not blind of anything.

Prozac may know his stuff to a certain degree but he is wrong here and so are you. Do not forget that.




Take a good long look at these benches.

You still want to tell me I am wrong

That would all depend upon the game and how CPU bound it was but you are still missing the point.

I realize that but your missing the point yet again.

FFS stop being silly.

you completely missed my point and to even think of mentioning bottlenecking is wrong.

thoase benchies for one were average frame rates and even then proved my point more than yours.

i am not trying to appease no one. i know prozac knows what he is talikng about and i know you don't in this case.

seriously, that opty is not going to prevent any game from running smoothly.

if a cpu is going to be a bottleneck, it will not matter what GPU it is paired with.

read my post again and take the blinkers off.

EDIT: on second thopught that comment about running any game smoothly might not be accurate but you get my point.

I'm not getting into the above battle only because I think the participants are both right, but for different things. I think there's confusion about bottleneck (can't get above 20fps minimum) versus holding back from potential (getting 100fps avg versus 150fps).

Blunt, the most important thing to remember is what game/app you expect to be playing. Some are more cpu-centric than others, and others don't even run near 100%.

So while you may be able to do better, it'll likely be quite gameable in most current games.

Am I?

The point, I would think, is that you would not recommend a person without a high-end dual core CPU to get an 8800 GTX because it would bottleneck them.

My point is that if they can afford the best card they can get, it won't bottleneck them to any significant amount.

Let's consider the results of the article at Tom's
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/1 [...] stest_cpu/

Co