Bottleneck?

[Shadowknight]

I recently got a X800 XT Platinum Edition. I have an Intel 3 gig processor. I'm trying to figure out which is my bottleneck for performance; the video card or the processor?

 

[Avalon]

I'd say you are fairly balanced, but the gaming prowess of a 3ghz P4 leaves a bit to be desired.

 

[mOeeOm]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
I recently got a X800 XT Platinum Edition. I have an Intel 3 gig processor. I'm trying to figure out which is my bottleneck for performance; the video card or the processor?

Looks fine, but if anything it should be the processor. Run 3dmarks and see if you get the score where you should be at.

 

[Shadowknight]

What score shoud I be at though? I have no clue...

 

[carlosd]

CPU

 

[mrkun]

Those Northwoods overclock quite a bit don't they? Try that?

 

[Shadowknight]

I go more than a 5% overclock and my motherboard won't even boot.

 

[zip1385]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
I go more than a 5% overclock and my motherboard won't even boot.

Do a manual overclock. Don't use the setting in bios do it yourself.

-Alex-

 

[Ashen Shugar]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
I go more than a 5% overclock and my motherboard won't even boot.

You're using a fanless sycthe Ninja Heatsink... which means your overclock headroom is going to be very limited.

Anyway, its seems that you've put together a very good silent system, and in that respect it is very balanced. For BF2, you could go up to 2GB of RAM (if you haven't already) and that should improve things for you if you need to upgrade.

I have a very similar HTPC System with a 3 GHz Northwood + X800XT-PE with 2GB RAM, and it perfoms admirably in BF2, Far Cry and Doom3.

 

[VIAN]

I don't think you have much to worry about with that system. The CPU is the bottleneck, but other than moving to a new platform, there really isn't anything you can do. Especially since you just bought an AGP card. Keep the other components straight: make sure you have enough RAM and you video card kick ass and upgrade your CPU when you have to.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: mOeeOm

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
I recently got a X800 XT Platinum Edition. I have an Intel 3 gig processor. I'm trying to figure out which is my bottleneck for performance; the video card or the processor?

Looks fine, but if anything it should be the processor. Run 3dmarks and see if you get the score where you should be at.

3D Mark is useless.
<-- 19k with a 9800/Athlon XP @ 2400MHz
<-- 22k with a 7800GT/AMD64 @ 2200MHz

Games? Over double the frames in VST (Source stress test)
UT2004? MUCH higher settings AND 50%+ faster.

 

[selfbuilt]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
3D Mark is useless.
<-- 19k with a 9800/Athlon XP @ 2400MHz
<-- 22k with a 7800GT/AMD64 @ 2200MHz

Games? Over double the frames in VST (Source stress test)

Thats 3DMark 2001. With 2003 or 2005, my score doubled from a 9800pro to an x800xtpe on an AMD64 @2.3Ghz - in keeping with my Doom3 and UT1024 performance increases. As an end on to itself, "3DMock" take a lot of deserved hits on this forum ... but it's good for at least verifying you GPU subsytem is working as should.

 

[Concillian]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
I recently got a X800 XT Platinum Edition. I have an Intel 3 gig processor. I'm trying to figure out which is my bottleneck for performance; the video card or the processor?

It depends HIGHLY on what game you are talking about and what type of framerates you are talking about.

People like to think of one or the other as "THE" bottleneck, but this doesn't really happen in practice. Generally people crank up the settings such that at times the CPU is the 'bottleneck' and at other times the video card is the 'bottleneck'.

The real answer is significantly more complex than a yes or no.

Take a look at the seperate component isolation for BF2 done here:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=23973

In the CPU and memory section you can see that an A64 going from 1.6 to 2.4 does increase average FPS, it only increases in a place where FPS is already quite adequate (70+ FPS). Once you get to the point of 'pure' CPU bottleneck the CPU speed is quite low indeed.

The source engine is known to be pretty CPU dependent, so in that you will almost certainly be CPU bound, but in other engines, I suspect you are at the point where at your playable resolutions you will be limited by both, but each in different situations.

 

[hans030390]

Don't worry about bottlenecking.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: hans030390
Don't worry about bottlenecking.

What he says

Fern

 

[Powermoloch]

Your doing fine...look at my rig...it's a 3100 + sempron !