Best Videocard for P4 2.4 Ghz

[Pappa]

Hi all out there

I am about to upgrade my videocard GF4 4600 TI to a new one,
my spec are as follows:
P4 2.4 Ghz, 1 GB RAM, AGP x8, 160 GB HD, 340 W

What AGP card should I choose to get the most performance and price.
I want to play all the latest games (BF2, Doom3, etc) and some future titles to.

 

[PrayForDeath]

I'd say the Geforce 6600GT AGP is your best bet, next comes the 9800Pro. I think the 6800/X800 are too powerful for a 2.4Ghz CPU. But that's just my opinion.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: PrayForDeath
I'd say the Geforce 6600GT AGP is your best bet, next comes the 9800Pro. I think the 6800/X800 are too powerful for a 2.4Ghz CPU. But that's just my opinion.

good advice

9800 pro is dirt cheapand still a very good card, 6600GT is a little more powerful all round, and pwns in d3, but costs (relatively) a lot more...i'm almost tempted to say go for a 6800NU AGP rather than the 6600GT, a fair bir more more for not too much more IIRC...

 

[Pappa]

Thanks for your advice. Do anyone know if there are some tests with newer graphicscards and slow CPU:s like 2.4 P4?

 

[GrayWolf8]

I have the PNY 6800nu - running on a 2.4 Prescott
9666 score on 3DMark03 -- unlocked
Got it for $156 at NewEgg

 

[HDTVMan]

Originally posted by: GrayWolf8
I have the PNY 6800nu - running on a 2.4 Prescott
9666 score on 3DMark03 -- unlocked
Got it for $156 at NewEgg

I second that the 6800 non ultra is a good deal.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: PrayForDeath
I'd say the Geforce 6600GT AGP is your best bet, next comes the 9800Pro. I think the 6800/X800 are too powerful for a 2.4Ghz CPU. But that's just my opinion.

For a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4... probably. But think of it this way... if you buy a really good video card and your CPU is the bottleneck, you'll get "free" AA and AF. If/when you decide to upgrade your processor, you won't necessarily have to upgrade the video card too.

 

[coomar]

get a 6800 vanilla, far better to have the cpu bottleneck in some games than have the gpu bottleneck in most

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: coomar
get a 6800 vanilla, far better to have the cpu bottleneck in some games than have the gpu bottleneck in most

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: Pappa
Hi all out there

I am about to upgrade my videocard GF4 4600 TI to a new one,
my spec are as follows:
P4 2.4 Ghz, 1 GB RAM, AGP x8, 160 GB HD, 340 W

What AGP card should I choose to get the most performance and price.
I want to play all the latest games (BF2, Doom3, etc) and some future titles to.

I say "Bah" to CPU bottlenecks in gaming. I think it's way overstated.

My mobile is usually OC'd past 3200+ speeds. But I've run my 6800GT with the cpu underclocked to 1.8ghz and my ram timiings waaayy loose (damn SPD these days!).

I had set it back for a OS reinstall and went about playing D3, FarCry etc. I didn't even notice it. In other words, I couldn't really tell any diff in games with the CPU at 1.8ghz (FSB 166) and 2.4ghz (FSB 200).

There's a little bit of diff in benchies (3D mark 05 & Aquamark), but not much and I attribute it to the CPU portion of these tests.

If you've got the $ get a 6800GT or X800XL

Your P4 at 2.4ghz shouldn't be much slower than a 1.8ghz athlon (I'm guessing cuz I don't mess with Intel these days)

Fern

 

[VIAN]

I don't think I'd get a 6800GT. You may not get full use out of it in the near future. I say get either a 6800 or 6600GT.

These are the only benches I could find, but at least the slope looks predictable.

http://www17.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030217/cpu_charts-24.html

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: PrayForDeath
I think the 6800/X800 are too powerful for a 2.4Ghz CPU. But that's just my opinion.

Somewhat.....but not exactly

2.4C are awesome overclockers. If you have one of those and you push it past 3.0ghz, then 6800GT or X800XL are better bets.

Otherwise I'd look at 6800nu and try to unlock it. 6600Gt will be a huge jump for you as well. But you will still get better performance with the higher end cards even if being cpu limited as linked in my post above.

Specifically with the 2 games you mentioned:

BF2 - CPU speed doesn't matter
Doom 3 - want to get the fastest graphics card you can get your hands on
Here:
Doom 3 - Radeon 9800Pro + P4 3.4ghz EE 1280x1024 (medium settings) - 30 frames
Doom 3 - 6800Ultra + P4 2.4ghz 1280x1024 (high settings) - 60.4 frames

With future generation games, things will only get more graphics card limited. Plus that 2.4 wants to get overclocked

A lot people tend to exaggerate the importance of cpu speed to some extent. I find it's a bit useful to post benchmarks so people like you can decide on their own and make their own conclusions.

You can also view AMD cpu dependence - this is useful since AMD is faster than P4 at gaming. So depending on the game and settings, you can see how cpu limited you will be - 1800mhz S754 (AGP platform) corresponds to 2800+ A64. So 1400mhz is about as fast as a P4 2.2ghz. Look at AGP Platform benches - CPU dependence for AMD examined

 

[BillyBobJoel71]

6800nu is your best bet, then unlock it. oc it then get a 6800gt instead.

 

[Cruise51]

9800pro or 6800nu