X850xt on a 2500+?

[goob3r]

I just bought an ATI X850XT to replace a AIW 9800 Pro. I haven't opened the box yet because I'm still debating wether or not to keep it yet. What's holding me back right now is the fact that I've been getting the impression that my processor, Athlon 2500+ (Barton) will be a serious bottle neck to the video card. Is this true? I don't intend to upgrade my processor to a higher socket A chip.

Will I see the improvement gains as most reviews seem to give, given my old CPU? I've also got the impression that the x850xt will be the last AGP card made.

Am I better off just upgrading everything (cpu, mobo, pci-e, etc) when I finally get fed up of the speed of my machine?

 

[imported_thefonz]

You could just keep it and upgrade to a socket 939 motherboard with apg with some dual channel memory.

Theres one motherboard I looked at a review for that had both PCI-e and APG so that would be a good option if you want to upgrade your vid card to pic-e one day. x850xt's are the best apg cards out right now and from what i've read there wont be anymore high end APG, maybe just some midrange stuff.

 

[killnine]

If I was you I would just upgrade everything when you can. I mean, that processor is definitely going to be a bottleneck and while the gfx card isn't bad, your computer is going to be very dated in another 9 months. I would put it toward a new rig with pcie and such.

 

[KeepItRed]

I don't think that will bottleneck. Lots of people have an AMD 3000+/3500+ with a X1800XT and their fine. You should be good with a 2500+ and your X850XT.

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: KeepItRed
I don't think that will bottleneck. Lots of people have an AMD 3000+/3500+ with a X1800XT and their fine. You should be good with a 2500+ and your X850XT.

Well... it will definately bottleneck. The question is how much? I think you will notice a big enough difference if you installed it to be worth keeping it, but it definately won't be as good as it could be.

 

[KeepItRed]

None, or slight bottleneck is my assumption.

 

[CKXP]

have you tried OCing your barton?, 2500 bartons were some of the best OCers

 

[golem]

Originally posted by: KeepItRed
None, or slight bottleneck is my assumption.

It will depend on the game, but that processor will definately be a bottleneck on most games.

 

[Philippine Mango]

Overclock the processor but otherwise you should be fine, An Processor from a P4 2.0A with 133 ram and above will not severely bottleneck the card in 3D Mark 2005 scores, anything below and there is a very large drop, but anything above and the FPS increase gradually and not drastically like from 1.7 to 2.0.

 

[goob3r]

Thanks for the responses.

I bought the 2500+ Barton knowing it was a good overclocker, but also knowing that I would probably never OC it. I have a small case and try to keep it as quiet as possible.

The only game I really play these days is FFXI, and since it's an older game, I pretty much assume that the bottleneck would be my CPU rather than GPU.

 

[Noid]

Your going to see a huge improvement

My r9700pro (fastest air cooled on the planet) marked 3061 on 3dM05

Now ... same system with an Stock x850xt ... 6122 on HQ

6266 on Performance ...

Now I'm OC'd with modified AIR cooling at 550 / 616 ... 6681 3dM05 on performance settings

But would probably have higher marks .... but I installed 2gb XMS sticks using Dual.
I lost 10 fsb but bumped my multi up to 11.5

 

[imported_Oderus]

I would agree with KeepItRed. Bottlenecking would be marginal. I have a Barton 2800+ with 1 gig of ram and the X800 XT AIW and I can play all games at 12x10 4xaa 4xaf without issues. My rig will last me for 12-18 months easy and then I 'might' upgrade to an X2 or something. I also just upgraded my Radeon 8500 to the X800 XT so I've never been the kind of person that runs out and buys the latest greatest just because.

 

[Killrose]

Depends on what games you play. I think a stock 2500+ Barton will not push an X850XT to its potential. A 3200+ might be close. I'm in nearly the same boat and would like to find some site with some good info.

I have a 6800U and a Barton Mobile @2.4gig and have been wondering if I should go A64 yet. I know my 2.4gig Barton falls short of a 3200+A64, but I would like to know what processor pegs my 6800U.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: goob3r
I've been getting the impression that my processor, Athlon 2500+ (Barton) will be a serious bottle neck to the video card. Is this true?

Not likely (if you playing FPS games, the answer is "no". There are a few games which are more CPU depended than the vast majority).

I'm not familiar with the game you mention,. But in testing with my cpu set @ 2500 speeds compared to (in excess of) 3200 speeds I didn't notice a diff with my 6800GT in games like FarCry, Doom3, Painkiller etc.

Fern

 

[Mojoed]

I have a very similar system to you, goob3r.

I have an XP2600 OC'd to ~3400+ level and recently upgraded from a Ti4600 to a X850xt. There was a MASSIVE performance increase. I scored 5920 in 3dMark05 with the X850xt on my ancient Socket A system. I was concerned about a possible bottleneck too but honestly now that it's installed I don't even think about it anymore. My system feels quite fast gaming, even though I "only" have a Barton CPU.

Will your CPU bottleneck you? Yes it will to some degree, but you probably won't care because it is such a HUGE upgrade. You'll be able to play any game you want at reasonable resolutions.

For example, I now get ~55fps average over an 8 hour play session in WoW @1920x1200 4xAA, 8xAF. Now granted WoW isn't a super demanding game GPU/CPU-wise, it's still quadruple the performance I got with my previous Ti4600 with no aa/af and at medium settings.

Take it from a fellow Athlon XP owner. You WILL be happy with your x850xt. Install it already! ;p

 

[Mojoed]

You also mentioned you don't OC because you want to keep the noise down. Keep in mind the Barton is a cool-running chip. They're either 35-45 watt designs, which is significantly lower than more modern CPU's. I'm OCing mine significantly on stock cooling, no extra noise at all and temps in the low 40's.

 

[CKXP]

Originally posted by: Mojoed
You also mentioned you don't OC because you want to keep the noise down. Keep in mind the Barton is a cool-running chip. They're either 35-45 watt designs, which is significantly lower than more modern CPU's. I'm OCing mine significantly on stock cooling, no extra noise at all and temps in the low 40's.

well it depends if he's running a XP-M or just XP, the mobiles ran on lower watts(35-45) compared to the XP desktop 65+ watts

 

[Philippine Mango]

Originally posted by: thefonz
You could just keep it and upgrade to a socket 939 motherboard with apg with some dual channel memory.

Theres one motherboard I looked at a review for that had both PCI-e and APG so that would be a good option if you want to upgrade your vid card to pic-e one day. x850xt's are the best apg cards out right now and from what i've read there wont be anymore high end APG, maybe just some midrange stuff.

AGP/PCIe combo boards aren't very good on the side of AGP because it runs off of the PCI bus which is significantly slower than the regular AGP bus, I can see some problems with this..

 

[beserker15]

Originally posted by: Philippine Mango

Originally posted by: thefonz
You could just keep it and upgrade to a socket 939 motherboard with apg with some dual channel memory.

Theres one motherboard I looked at a review for that had both PCI-e and APG so that would be a good option if you want to upgrade your vid card to pic-e one day. x850xt's are the best apg cards out right now and from what i've read there wont be anymore high end APG, maybe just some midrange stuff.

AGP/PCIe combo boards aren't very good on the side of AGP because it runs off of the PCI bus which is significantly slower than the regular AGP bus, I can see some problems with this..

I think you're thinking of those ECS mobos with "agp-express". The Asrock mobo reviewed by anandtech has a fully working agp slot and works great.

 

[Unkno]

Return it, get a socket 939 motherboard (with PCIe) with a Athlon64 3000+ Venice and get like a X800GTO2 and unlock+overclock it to exactly X850XT PE speed.

 

[imported_thefonz]

Originally posted by: Unkno
Return it, get a socket 939 motherboard (with PCIe) with a Athlon64 3000+ Venice and get like a X800GTO2 and unlock+overclock it to exactly X850XT PE speed.

Agreed, you would probably spend maybe 450-500 (just guessing) denaro and have a way faster system, Also venice chips overclock awsome. You could probably get it around 2.4 ghz on stock air cooling. The x800GTO2 is just a x850xt in disguise so you would have the exact same video card with a better proccesor.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: gorcorps

Originally posted by: KeepItRed
I don't think that will bottleneck. Lots of people have an AMD 3000+/3500+ with a X1800XT and their fine. You should be good with a 2500+ and your X850XT.

Well... it will definately bottleneck. The question is how much? I think you will notice a big enough difference if you installed it to be worth keeping it, but it definately won't be as good as it could be.

open the box . . . yes it will bottleneck . . . but then offload as much work to the GPU as you can by cranking the details and AA/AF as far as you can go . . . you will see a big difference over your current videocard.

And o/c that Barton . . . just don't go beyond 'stock voltage' . . . that way you won't need a louder cooling solution.

i just ordered the $200 afterMIR x850xt . . . i plan to open the box

btw, IF it is the Microcenter x850xt, i don't believe there is a restocking charge - if you are not satisfied and return it.
:thumbsup:

 

[VIAN]

Great card, although if I were you, I'd upgrade everything. I don't know how much longer that Barton would last.

 

[amenx]

Something interesting I found out. The processor has the greatest effect on FPS or 3dmark at LOW resolutions. Thats why when reviewers are doing processor reviews, and if using graphics benches, they choose the lowest of resolutions like 640x480 for a more accurate indicator of the processors performance.

Once it gets to 1280x1024, it becomes less apparent and at 1600x1200 it becomes mostly GPU driven and with very little difference between mediocre processors and top performers like an FX-55 for example.

 

[VIAN]

CPUs matter for minimum frames per second.

It makes sense to lower graphics settings to test CPUs, because the graphics card becomes less of a bottle neck. That's why they do it.

It doesn't mean that if you play at high resolutions you don't have to worry about CPUs.